I'm not 100% clear on the post above about buying from big box stores. If the meaning was that the cheaper mowers from there are just not going to last 25 years, then yes but saying that buying a Honda mower from HD is of any lesser quality than buying from a lawn care shop just simply isn't true. There are benefits to both. At places like Home Depot, you will usually save about $100. Thats where the benefits stop with them. At the local lawn stores you will probably pay a bit more but the benefits are usually worth the extra cash. They will assemble the machine for you, adjust the cables/etc, fill it with fluids and normally go over the operation of the new mower as well. Your choice. Depending on your budget there are many mowers you can choose from. IMO, the best home/commercial (in instances where its not being treated poorly and is maintained properly) mower that offers the best cut and ease of use is the Honda HRX line. They offer a key actuated electric start on the top of th line but with how easy my mower is to start, seems like a $100 option thats not necessary. I honestly barely have to pull the cord, maybe 10% effort max to get it to start right up. They also have a feature I find amazing the blade brake or what Honda calls "roto stop". This allows you to keep the engine running without having to have your hands on the handle as when the lever is released, the blades stop spinning. I'm sure this aids in the ease of starting too. I recently acquired a HRX217HXA (slightly older model and has been updated with the HRX217HYA) that is 4 years old. I actually drove about 5.5h one way to pick it up in Indiana! Link to the HRX line on Hondas site. http://powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/hrx-series-lawn-mowers If the HRX line is too pricy then I would suggest the HRR line. The lower two (HRR216VKA and HRR216VYA) on the page offer great features and the same unsurpassed reliability. The main differences between the HRX line is the deck material, no hydrostatic tranny option and they have the 160cc motor instead of the beast 190cc unit. link to the HRR line. http://powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/hrr-series-lawn-mowers The cut supplied by the micro cut two blade design is amazing. Since I have a hectic schedule I have to cut the grass when time allows even if that means early in the morning when the grass is still damp or even right after a storm. The very first time I used this mower it was on an early Sunday morning where it had been steadily showering the past 24h and only stopped raining late in the evening the night before. My grass was easily 9"-12" long and soaked! It handled my super dense lawn (I use a lawn fert service provider) in the above conditions without bogging once and hardly leaving even the slightest remnants from the mulching action even though I had it set to 100% mulch. The Hydrostatic tranny is wonderful too. Simple and rugged. You can go from barely creeping at all (has to be about .25-.5mph max) all the way to a super brisk walk/slight jog depending on your build. Im 6'1" and in decent shape when cutting I have the speed set to about 65%-70% of full capacity. Not the cheapest machines out there but very well worth the price. My father in law is still running his first year Harmony (top of the line back then) that is 20+ years old and has only had to replace a throttle cable which was his own fault for snagging it on the fence!

Not to throw you off track but see if you can find a Pioneer Elite. I have two in my house now and just purchased the Pro 60 and 50 inch monitors for our new house. To show home much I like these tv's, we have not even broken ground on the new house yet. I purchased the 50 inch from Eastcoasttv.com. They had one 50 left. The 60's are harder to find. Reviews on these sets are second to none.

It was only the second problem I ever had with the washer. The shocks broke last summer, but that was a cheap fix. It did a good job until the sudden very loud banging last week, then I found out about it's disposable nature. If I would have laid down several hundred to get it fixed, then it only would have been a matter of time until the arms corroded again. I sure will give my impressions of the Speed Queen after we've had it for a while. It's going to get a workout getting the laundry caught up from this week!

One of the reasons why I'm asking this question is that I have found a particular installation deal for an energy star water heater from a well respected company in my area. It is a GE/Rheem 40 gallon water heater, model gg40t06axk00. I haven't been able to find out anything about it, can't find it on the internet. I also don't know if I'm elgible to install it where my current water heater is (in a cabinet in my garage with an outside door). The other two non-energy star water heaters are GE/Rheem prog38-38urh62 and GE/Rheem prog48-40urh60. These two I've been able to find on the internet, just wondering if there's any comments on them here in regard to reliability and longevity. Is anyone familiar enough with water heaters that they could look the energy star one up for me and post a URL or some way that I could potentially look at specs and reviews? Thanks so much.