You must be pricing the 48" deck size. I have used and sold these mowers for the past 3 years. Have had no problems with either engine. If I was to purchase one. I would buy the Z445. The Kawasaki has a better track record with Deere than Briggs. Briggs makes your dealer to jump thru lots of hoops before warranty is approved on any engine repairs. Your service manager and tech. makes the call if something is warranty with Kawasaki powered units. Deere has used Kawasaki since 1983 in some of their premium mowers. I can count the number of complete engine failures on one hand since 1987 at our dealership. I hope this helps out. Resale value would also be better for a Kawasaki powered unit in my area.

My wife and I did a little research on that mower last year for my mother in law. The Toro has some high ratings for a light duty home owner mower. I've seen a few of them mowing while traveling about at work. The Toro seems to do a good job. My mother in law's neighbor is a farm home and garden equipment salesman. He had one at his house for a while mowing his lawn. It always looked good. Heck, that's a $1,000 off sales price. What Ya got to lose? Get an extended warranty with the money saved. Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews

They prefer and do best in afternoon shade, Gina1962. An east exposure is best although my roof extends north enough to where I can grow them there too. The cement under the house can leech minerals and make the soil alkaline so plant them a few feet away from the foundation if you decide on that setting. If your soil is alkaline (nearby local nurseries can usually tell you or you can get a soil pH test kit) then you may need to ammend the soil in Spring and perhaps once-twice more to prevent the leaves from turning yellow, except for the leaf veins. If planted under trees, just consult with someone to determine if the tree's root will grow near the surface and compete with the hydrangea's roots. I cannot plant them in the open here because the leaves fry under our rough summer sun but, in the northeast, they can do just fine because the sun is weaker in the summer months. They also do well in full shade where the shade is "bright shade". Macrophyllas, usually called mopheads or lacecaps, will do fine -usually- through Zone 6 but there are a few sensitive ones that are only hardy thru Zone 7 so it pays to look at the plant label or info on web pages to confirm. These come in reblooming and non-reblooming versions. Invisible flower buds develop in July-August and open in the Spring. Then the rebloomers bloom again several more times depending the length of the growing season. Deadheading the blooms of the rebloomers encourages new bloomage faster. Oakleaf hydrangeas (their leaves look like oak leaves) are also hardy but I always mention not to place them where their root will get wet feet. If they do, they can catch root rot and die quickly. Paniculatas and arborescens also do well. They are very, very hardy. Paniculatas tend to produce panicle shaped white blooms and the shrub is hardy to Zone 3 or so. Arborescens produced usually mophead blooms (white or pink aft first) but sometimes a lacecap bloom and is hardy to Zone 4 or so. Luis

LOL! Here they are: Oberon -- 22 pounds of attitude! He'll be three on Nov. 6. Zora the Diva -- she just turned 3 on June 22 (she actually climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over herself) Zigfried (125 pounds, but Obie punks him out all the time. His bark is definitely worse than his bite!) and Zelda (she's a Pepper & Salt Giant, and one of 10 -- yes, TEN -- of Zora and Zig's litter born March 1 and 2 of 2007. Her coat is beginning to get more gray in it now; this pic was taken at the first of April) And finally, Zena (Zena is a puppy mill rescue that I intended to foster, but she fit in so well with my pack that she stayed) So, I guess you understand that I don't just want a pool -- I NEED a pool! Giants literally have webbed feet and will swim for hours if allowed to do so. Making the trek to White Rock Lake for swimming with my motley crew is no longer an easy thing to do. LOL! They are really humans in fur! Oh! And here's the ten little Giants last year, about a week before they went to their new homes (at seven weeks, they were alreay weighing between 20 and 25 pounds -- the size of my Mini! LOL!):