Ariens or Craftsman Riding Mower?

Osiris

Hi There,

I am trying to decide between two riding mowers, contestants are as follows:
1) Ariens A20BH42
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

2) Crafstman YT3000
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...aftsman+yt3000

The lawn is half an acre, but I don't have a lot of free time to mow with a walk-behind mower and I have a bad back. Their are 6-7 large trees on the lot, with some roots at ground level. There are some uneven and sloppy areas, but for the most part its pretty level.
I intend to also use it to deal with the carpet of leaves, pine needles, and pine cones that blanket my lot every year. If anyone knows if a lawn sweeper will pick pine cones up that would help.
At some point I may get a snow plow for it.

I am certainly leaning towards one of these mowers but I don't want to color anyones opinion. The main difference between the two in terms of specs is the ariens is a vtwin with a 42" deck, and the craftsman is single cylinder with a 46" deck. The price is the same for both.

Which would you buy in my situation and why?

Tom Struble

i wouldn't base the purchase on the engines they are both pretty comparable in performance,id go for the ariens for the cut in reverse feature

Jdorf40

I just purchased this Ariens mower and I live on a 1/2 acre of land. My front yard is really steep so I wanted to go with something that had at least 20HP. After doing a fair amount of research I chose the Ariens. There were a few reasons why. They get very solid reviews from the people that own them. Craftsman reviews were all over the place.

The other reason I went with the Ariens is because even though the Craftsman has a 21 horse motor, it runs on a single cylinder. The Ariens is a V-Twin and I wanted to buy something that would have a longer engine life. I basically thought it was more logical since the twin cylinder will run cooler and not have to work as hard, that it would probably last longer...especially considering I have to drive up and down a hill.

Overall I'm beyond happy with my purchase. I bought the bagger on Amazon for $249 and didn't have to pay tax and got free 2 day delivery. If you haven't already made your purchase, I'd say go with the Ariens. The cut is phenomenal, the hydrostatic transmission works like a charm and the reverse is slick too. If I get 10-15 years out of this mower and it continues working like it does so far, I'll be replacing it with another Ariens.

handy man88

I have an Ariens snow thrower and just love the brand.

It's made in the USA.

Consider also their zero turn radius models.