I sold my Lawnboy (v-series) and Toro 20038 - the TimeMaster 30 was able to get everywhere I needed - so time to clear some garage space. Have mowed 3 times with the TM30 now - when loaded down with a full bag of grass, she gets pretty heavy - otherwise I am liking it alot. I have cut some pretty tall grass and it handled it well - I feel the same about bagging - I have mulched and it does a very good job in that role. The deck has alot of "head room" so you really have to try to bog it down in the deep stuff to have an issue. So far I have no concerns about power....seems to have plenty to handle cutting and propelling the mower. I have alot of experience with the B&S 190cc Intek from my 20038 - this 190cc does seem to have a bit more grunt as the torque rating indicates. My main gripe about the old Intek was hot starts - I found you MUST have the right spark plug and gap or it was a real pain in the rear to hot start (cold starts were always easy). And plugs don't come gapped to .020.....so you have to change it. That is the plug gap on the TM30. My only other complaint is the traction assist handle gets in the way of using the normal personal pace. I could remove it - but I want to see if I get used to it. I have pinched my fingers on it a few times - not bad, but annoying. 10+ years on my 20038 spoiled me into putting my hands pretty much anywhere I wanted on the drive handle. You have to be a bit more selective with the traction assist handle. There are no grease zerks for the rear drive wheels - which is a bit of a concern for longevity of the mower. Things seems pretty well built - but the "standard" is more a step up from a Recycler than a Super Recycler. The 3 year warranty sort of confirms that as well. That all said - there is no competition for this size of mower in the residential market - so Toro can charge a premium. I would assume a competitor will show up fairly soon - which may drive the price down closer to the 800-900 range where it probably belongs. Next on the list.....consideration of a blade upgrade (next year). I have read a few comments the TurfMaster blades are better than the "atomic" blades that come with the TimeMaster....I might go that route....especially once I see how it works in the fall with some clean-up bagging/mulching. I have not been able to find any other blade options.....maybe in a year or 2 "Gator" will have something.....loved the Gator on my Lawnboy. This post was edited by jimbosc on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 16:09

Hi Nancy, I am just a home owner with a 1/2 acre lawn. It looks like you have quite a large property that requires, and indeed has quite an investment in machinery. One thing that I found useful is this web-site. http://www.lawnserviceforum.com/index.php They have a discussion area "Commercial Equipment Discussions" that various professionals talk about mowers, tractors etc and the pro's and cons. They have quite a bit of history as well, so you can usually get a good feel of what equipment is good for what type of lawn. Hope this help. Warmest regards, Mike.

It's broke?I don't think you understood my question or what part I was referring to.Need to replace cable pull-wire.It has a hook at the end of the wire attached to a round hole.I cannot remove that hook.Not sure if i need to disaseeble other parts inorder to accomplish this. The cable is not broke but need to remove it because the new driver throttle i purchased comes with the cable attached.Even if i do cut the hook,(if thats what u meant)will i still be abke to insert the new hook without disassembling other parts?If so then i won't mind cutting it

Sounds like a job for a compact, sub -compact. You can get a belly mower that should cut good and of course the needed implements. If you find you get to heavy for parts of the lawn, that may tell a different story.