congrats Polen. sounds like you guys really made out on the house and i hope the new one's a real good fit.
i would avoid zero turns for a 1/2 acre unless you really need to slice and dice around complex landscaping. they're more expensive, complex (hydraulic lines), harder to master and you can't do nearly the miscellaneous yard work with them that you can with a traditional front engine'd mower in terms of pulling a yard trailer or soil aerator, attaching a snowblower, etc. the upside is that zero turns can be quite fast....but on a 1/2 acre you shouldn't be on any mower more than 20 minutes anyway.
buy from a powersports/tractor store. the big box hardware mowers are disposable garbage, as you probably know. something like the Deere that Thayer has would be perfect, that's the lowest trim small yard tractor they sell with a proper locking diff and good HD construction for doing actual work aside from cutting grass.
i would avoid zero turns for a 1/2 acre unless you really need to slice and dice around complex landscaping. they're more expensive, complex (hydraulic lines), harder to master and you can't do nearly the miscellaneous yard work with them that you can with a traditional front engine'd mower in terms of pulling a yard trailer or soil aerator, attaching a snowblower, etc. the upside is that zero turns can be quite fast....but on a 1/2 acre you shouldn't be on any mower more than 20 minutes anyway.
buy from a powersports/tractor store. the big box hardware mowers are disposable garbage, as you probably know. something like the Deere that Thayer has would be perfect, that's the lowest trim small yard tractor they sell with a proper locking diff and good HD construction for doing actual work aside from cutting grass.
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
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Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
--------------------------
Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT