As a Toro, Honda, Simplicity ( who just ended north American distribution ) and an ex John Deere dealer I've a couple of
thoughts. First thing is you basically get the quality you pay for...equal equipment will be equal money, NO manufacture
is magic and can get around that idea. Second buy something big enough for the job...personally if I was mowing 1.5 acres
and planned on doing it for several years I'd budget somewhere in the $3800 to maybe $5000 with the higher end getting
better service life and a slightly bigger cut. 50-54 in deck range is about right to most people with that size lawn.
Look around your area at brands well represented at SERVICING dealers, pick one represented by a least a couple of dealers
in your area so you have choices for parts or service if needed. At the same price points the name brands are sorta interchangeable
amongst each other.
Now if a customer comes in and says they're moving to a condo in a few years and don't care how long it lasts, fine go cheap $2000
to $2800 range, to me those are short lived throw-a-ways on 1.5 acres. Now before someone comes along and says " I've got this
$899 machine that I've used for 37 years and it still runs great ".....good for you, go buy a Lotto ticket.
On the other side is a young guy comes in and says I'm living in this house for the next 47 years and never want to buy another mower
then the costs start to look more like $8000-$10,000.
Next thing is myth busting a bit...IF...IF the model number/skew on the "box store " and the dealer unit is the same, it's the EXACT
same machine. A Toro 75750 as an example is the same at Lowes or Home Depot, Billy Bob's, or Toro .Com ..same damn thing!
Regionally in my area dealers and box stores are pretty much the same price, once and a while a promotion or inventory issue
might effect that, but generally speaking about the same pricing.
On the industry side of it Toro and John Deere are brands that'll likely be around for years of support and historically have been good
about that with older equipment.
