It looks like a good powered rear drive mower designed to compete with other comparably priced models at the box stores. JD Mow-Mentum speed control does essentially the same thing as Toro Personal Pace - tighten and loosen the drive belt. Whether the JD hinged bar control is as easy to use as the sliding bar on Personal Pace is open to question. My first reaction is that it might be more difficult.

If you can find a dealer with one in stock then ask to try it out.

A couple of weeks ago I was searching for a new walk behind mower so I will give you my experiences. For the past five years I had a toro recycler. The 3rd time mowing this spring the engine seized. I take good care of machines and I was very upset the engine went after just five years. Anyway, I went out and began looking at mowers. I read all the reviews and saw the toro rated out very well again. I really liked the personal pace feature on my old mower, but like I said I was very unhappy my mower fell apart after five years. I wanted to take a look at the lawn boy (yes I know it is made by toro) the snapper, (at my local sears), the honda, and the John Deere. I couldnt find a lawn boy in my area, but looked at the other four. Here is what I saw. The snapper looks similar to the deere, but has a hand throttle for the personal pace, and I didn't like that at all. The honda you use your thumbs, and again I didnt like how that operated either. The John deere intrigued me. I liked the single deck height adjustment. I wanted to try the "mowmentum" drive system. I tried to purchase one from two john deere dealers, and neither had one in stock, and couldn't get one for a week and a half. Well with my lawn looking like a hay field already, I called lowes, and sure enough they had one in stock. The selling point for me was I was told I had thirty days to try it out. Well I have mowed with it twice, and here is what I can tell you. It is very quick to assemble, and started up on the first pull. Cutting was very impressive. Honestly I was a little worried because I mulch and never bag, and that is supposed to be the JD's specialty, but I thought it did a very good job of mulching and compared very favorably with my toro. The single lever deck is great and easy to move, but watch out you don't bump it on something or it will drop.(did that on our wood swingset and made a pass before I noticed). It is a little heavier than the toro, but it is actually easier to push on its own. There is also a feature on the JD that allows you to lock the handle and use it as a push mower if you so choose. The self propelled system works very well and is less jerky than the toro. I had no problem gettting used to the drive, and actually liked it better than the toro. Also liked the fact that the back wheel is a little bigger, because it didn't seem to bounce on my yard the way the toro did. I was somewhat concerned at the 3.6mph max on it, vs. the 5 mph on the toro, but if you are walking and not running you will never feel that you have to wait for the deere. The engine tore right through my grass on mulch without any issue. I had my wife mow for awhile with it, and she actually sited many of the same compliments I just posted. She also likes the way our lawn looks afterwords (striping) better with the JD. But I did have one negative that I am still tussling with. Cleaning under the mower is a royal pain! The toro had just the deck and washing it out was easy. The JD has a chute underneath that leads to nothing and grass gets caught up in there. The only way to get it out is to reach up and in there with your hand, and pull the grass out. If you go to the store and look under the deck look under the mower to the back on the oil dipstick side, and you will see what I am talking about. Anyway, it turns a five minute job into a 10-15 minute job that is a great deal more hands on. (literally). However, if the mower lasts me ten years like a mower should then I guess I will live with the longer clean up. Oh one more thing. There are virtually no reviews online of this mower, but I did read a bunch of JD complaints, most stemming from big box store models that are only available at lowes and HD. The walk behind mowers are sold at dealers, which made me feel a little better I wasnt buying crap. Sorry this was so long, but like I said there were no reviews on this thing for me to read, so I thought I would post a detailed response to help others. Time will only tell if the deere out lasts the toro, but right now other than the clean up I really like my Deere (Price was a little higher too, 399 vs. 349 for the toro) It is the same price at your JD dealer.

Hi Everyone,

A few weeks ago I saw a new John Deere JS25 sitting out front of my Lowes store.. The price on the tag was $300. I asked the manager what was wrong with it, and he just said it was last years model and since they changed the plastic cowling on the engine, they needed to replace the display model. I told him I had been looking at it for a few weeks. He said he could come down a little and would probably let it go for $275, and I replied that I really didn't need a new mower. To my surprise he came down to $250, so I bought it. I got it home and I love it !! I'm still getting used to the fact that it has not throttle,but I love the MowMentum drive system. It is much more powerful than my previous mower, and cuts through my 3 inch thick lawn like it was butter !! I hope this feedback helps !! I vote thumbs up on the JS25 !! .. by the way, there was a JS35 sitting right next to it for $350 !! if anyone's interested .. Happy Mowing everyone !!

Hmmm, my Craftsman self propelled walk behind just died after 9 years, time to get a new one. First I checked out the John Deere JS25 AKA Snapper at the John Deere Dealer, great quality, built to John Deere standards, then checked out the equivalent Snapper at Sears, MUCH poorer quality. Also checked out the TORO SR4-20092 at a REAL TORO dealer, quality lookin' good, checked out the equivalent TORO model at Home Depot built to their standards, once again MUCH poorer quality. Our local John Deere dealer handled TORO during the past few years but dropped them because of getting poor service from the TORO rep and parts orders not being filled promptly, that cooled me on TORO. I ended going with the John Deere MowMentum JS25, I am extremely pleased, the MowMentum drive works great. Being a lawn mower racer and having torn apart old John Deere riders, their quality is amazing, this deffinitly helped push me toward genuine John Deere as well. Yes, I am a happy camper.

Hi
The JS25 is a great mower!I have only heard great things about it but I just found that the JD mowers were a bit over priced so I ended up going with a Honda Powered Husqvarna 21inch 3in1 pushmower that was much more affordable.
Last year I tried buying a JD self-propelled model but the dealer here in town (Green Power Ltd)told me that they were no longer carring walkbehinds anymore just the JD line of lawn tractors,chainsaws,and trimmers.I was really disapointed with the dealer cuz at the time I really had my heart set on a new JD mower.
Well if my new Husky dies in the near future then I will get a JS25 or some other JD model and to hell with the price!