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

The three mowers you are looking at are probably equal in quality. All are light duty. The Husqvarna is equipped with ball bearing wheels. This would probably be easier to push than the troybilt and craftsman. The Kohler engine is actually a Chinese design that has some good features including a cast iron sleeve and double ball bearings on the crankshaft. On the negative side, the engine is designed with several layers of trim that make access the the engine more difficult and perhaps heavier. I worked on several of these for "will not start" conditions related to last year's fuel. When testing, I found the engine seemed to be under powered for a 21" Ariens mower. Consider this carefully, as the engine has only 149CC - a very small engine. None of the kohler dealers in my area carried any parts for the push mower engine. The other mowers have the regular plastic wheels without the ball bearings. This will probably require more effort to push. The engine on both is the 190cc Briggs quantum series with ready start. This engine has good power and is easy to start. Parts like carburetor kits are usually stocked at dealers and the parts are cheap. On the negative side, the automatic choke sometimes gets confused - resulting in a will not start condition. The condition goes away if the mower sits for a while - or the home owner can manually open the choke to start (provided he knows how to do this).

well i did some experimenting tonite following your directions....first i mowed a small area mowing it at 3 inches and the results were excellent it did a very nice job.....then i mowed the same area again at 2 inches going the opposite direction and again the results were excellent, the area looked great after i did it....the only thing i noticed is with the gator blade creating so much suction it is pulling all the old thatch out of my lawn when i mulched that little area tonite...looks like im gonna have to bag my clippings the next time i mow just to get all the old thatch vacumed out before i go back to mulching again....looks like i just needed to learn how to use this blade, there really wasnt any problem....thanks for the help

Finally found what model the mower is and was able to download A Maintenance/Parts manual from MTD. Will cost about eighty bucks to get it in mowing condition. Looking forward to trying it out on the leaves this fall.