Were back from Iowa. Our host Terry (TBN tbunce7) was very gracious and let us play with his PT425 for a couple of hours. We mowed some of his lawn and generally messed around to get a feel for the thing.
Terry's machine is two years old and has the Robin engine. He has had no problems with it or the rest of the 425.
It will take a few hours of experience for us to get used to the F/R drive pedals. We both shot backwards at an alaming rate when we first tried to back up. I notice that there is quite a dead space between forward and reverse, so its hard to anticipate when it will move.
I had a lot of trouble getting the parking brake disengaged because of the sudden response to the peddles. I'm wondering if there isn't some way to reduce the response, a kind of low speed mode.
We were both impressed with the QA and with the power of the PTO. And with the general tank-like construction of the thing. It is easy for me to get in and out with my bad back.
We have decided to buy a 1430 this fall, and a FFC 60" snowblower. So it probably won't snow in Minnesota this comming winter.