Unless you have a yard with a lot of holes (in which case you'll want large rear wheels) I recommend a mower with rear drive. You'll get better traction, especially if the grass bag starts to accumulate weight from clippings. You can't go wrong with Toro or Honda or John Deere. All are quality designs, are built with fairly good materials, and will come with reliable engines. I would absolutely recommend against any of the other brands of mowers sold at Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, or other similar stores. As has been pointed out, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. do not service or repair mowers. This is yet another reason to buy a Toro, Honda, or Deere, as most mower shops will have parts and trained mechanics for those brands. Many mower shops will not stock parts for mowers like Yard Man, Task Force, etc. Don't worry about horsepower. Any mower you buy today will have adequate horsepower for most any lawn, unless you let your grass grow to 6 inches tall between cuttings. PLEASE educate yourself about how to maintain your mower, especially at the end of the season as this will save you substantial frustration, money, and trips to the repair shop in the spring. In short, you should learn how to add fuel stabilizer to your gas tank in the fall, and how to replace the mower's spark plug and air filter. All are VERY easy steps to take, even for someone with little mechanical knowledge. Look at: http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engine_power/mowers/buying-guide_walking-mower.pdf Watch this video: http://www.yardsmarts.com/videos/index.asp?v=4

The 2 stroke was a sweeter machine, but the 4 stroke model still gives you what you want...superior side discharge, aluminum deck, and self propelled. Most mowers made today are "crappy" side dischargers. Side discharging is not really popular anymore, the the most you typically get is an oval opening on the side of the deck (garbage design). I love my LB for side discharging, I can effectively mow down the highest of grasses in my yard in several areas I only mow once or twice a season, and this is very much because the side discharge LB can really shoot out the clipping. As TPA mentioned...the design here is key, the discharge is at a tangent to the deck, giving it the highest velocity over other mowers. Here is a link that might be useful: New LB

I just got a Cub Cadet CC550SP and it is a great mower. My yard looks much better after one cut. The suction on this mower is outstanding when using the bag. It's amazingly quiet and its the easiest thing to start. Starts on first pull EVERY TIME! Did not or would not ever buy from the big box stores. I did some comparison shopping and even though the models had same numbers the mowers had small differences. First being the wheels. Home depots mowers had these narrow hard plastic wheels and the one I got had 2" wide heavy duty wheels. At box store your new mower is sure to have loose bolts on it somewhere. At the store I bought mine, DEWYNNS in San Antonio Texas, they set up my new mower serviced it and step by step showed me all the features. Try finding someone at a box store who could even find where the lawnmowers are. In closing, don't rush out to lowest or home depot to try and save money. I spent the same amount of money at a store that just sells lawn equipment and the service was outstanding. I've bought a couple pieces of lawn equipment there and will only go there in the future.

'The toro 20333 mower's "Personal Pace" drive system has a learning curve and is difficult to operate.The mower body is also very heavy' Dude: Your inane comments have now entered the fantasy realm. I am sure that a few regulars here could esily get you banned for deliberately making false statements relative to someone's major purchase of a new premium mower. I plan to contact the administrator as soon as I finish this post. Goodbye.