I tried both and I find the rear-drive very awkward and very difficult while pivoting the mower to the other direction. With front-drive, all I do is raise the front and quickly turn the mower to the other direction. My target is to quickly and efficiently mow my lawn and not tinker with the clutch at all; who wants that? With rear-drive, I have to disengage every time when I need to turn directions ... making my expensive mower a push mower during the attempt and tremendously slowing my momentum ... and of course, I have to engage again to move forward. If you have the mower on fast while doing this, you will find yourself fighting the mower every time you want to start on the new direction. You are not controlling the mower, its controlling you. Think about it, being able to raise the front wheels will allow you to turn the mower on 2 wheels; that is turning on a dime. If you have 4 wheels, you are going to make several small movements to realign your mower to the new direction while stroking your clutch on every attempt. IÂm returning my rear-drive today for a front-wheel drive.

you could get a husqvarna 128LDx trimmer($200) and then get the edger attachment for $100 and keep the $250 left over for beer when your done. That way you kill two birds with one stone, you have a trimmer and a edger.

A lot of people like stick edgers and I respect their opinion. However, I've always preferred a wheeled edger, and that's what I use. When I lived in Southern California the Power Trim was my first choice and I used a 200 and then a 300 for years. When I moved East, I was able to find a Little Wonder 6032, which is also a great machine. Unfortunately both makes are very expensive, $400+ for Briggs, and as much as $700 for Honda. The McLane is also competent, but more of a homeowner machine. If you go McLane besure to get the 100 or 101 and avoid the 137. The 137 is a "dumbed down" version and only fractionally less expensive. I prefer the wheeled edger because they are more stable and believe they provide a better cut. I also have two weedeaters, an Echo SRM2100 for lighter work, and an Olympyk 400 for the real heavy stuff.

Hum, I don't know exactly what is in the Element, but I'd guess it is like the AWD Subaru. This is really one wheel drive, but the good news is the one wheel driven is the one that isn't slipping. This works rather well, but not as well as 4WD, which I'd call 3WD. In street machine 4WD that is normally Front Wheel Drive, also called part-time 4WD, when you engage the 4WD you end up locking the rear axel, both wheels to the drive line. Thus both rear wheels drive/push locked together, not good going around corners on dry pavement, that's why they are "part time", use only when the street is slippery. In addition to the two rear wheels driving, you also have the normal front wheel drive, which means if one of the front wheels starts slipping you have no pull/push from the front as all the power goes to the wheel that is slipping, that's why I call it 3WD. If you're not going off-road, Full time AWD is the best, it is just there, you don't have to think about it. That the way I understand it.