Hello. As for the mechnical Subcompact

[Steve in MT]

My Kubota L3400DT with gear drive transmission works just fine for me. Most of the work that I do with the tractor is pulling a 72" woods finish mower over almost 4 acres a few times a year. Then throw in some snow plowing, loader work, drilling post holes and other misc work and I really dont have much use for a hydro. However, if you plan on running a tiller for the garden on a regular basis, then a hydro would be the way to go. The flip side to that would be to find a gear drive tractor with a super low first gear. My .02 cents.
Steve

 

[Soundguy]

lots of the gear models are also the ecoomy models too.