Mkaiser, I'll take a stab at a couple of these questions, as I am sure you will get some others to respond. You didn't say anything about your budget for a new machine. That does make a difference. 2. You should really consider a blower, whether it be one for the mower or a stand alone. You will run out of space to dump the snow. Perhaps others will have more experience with pushing snow with a mower. 3. The brands you mention all make good quality mowers. A good dealer/service is a big PLUS. Go to a dealer and see what they have for used machines. You can step up in size while spending a similar amount of money. 5. The tractors in the "Big Box" stores aren't necessarily of less quality, just the lower end. I would fine an independent dealer. You should consider looking at Simplicity, John Deere, Kubota, Case. All these make lawn tractors as well. Good luck

All good points but No. 4 regarding the transmission is particularly important. Manufacturers are giving us more horsepower and less transmission year after year. Compare the older model JD's such as the GT 235 to today's equivalents. Were I to replace my JD, I'd have to seriously consider the Cub Cadets given their offering of really solid transmissions at reasonable pricing.

Lots of important determining factors: Normal depth of snowfall, how wet, inclines to negotiate, likelihood of ice on drive. You've got a couple of steps you can take before you get all the way to a 4 X 4, but I will tell you from many years of experience in many snow conditions that traction is often an issue. Back to your other options: Chains and weights make a huge difference on traction. Depending on your drive though the chains can be tough on the road surface. You could also use chevron tires, way more grip than regular turf tires. But means you have to do tire swaps each year. If I could afford it I would absolutely go to 4 X 4. Sure cheaper than a shovel and a heart attack.

Thanks for all the comments. I've gone back and forth on this decision so many times and looks like I'll go back and forth maybe another couple more times before deciding. Good thing is I have time to weigh the options. So the driving factors behind getting a lawn tractor are dealing with leaves in the fall and needing to cut the lawn more often during the growing season. I do own a regular mower, a leaf blower, and a weedwacker. I've tried many things to deal with these leaves. I've tried raking and bagging, leaf blowing and bagging, leaf blower mulching and bagging, mower mulching and bagging. In the end I, and sometimes my son too, end up being out there for several hours on the weekends cleaning up leaves during the fall. Things I've ruled out: so-called standalone leaf shredding machines, mowing the lawn twice (once to mulch up everything real small, and another pass to pick them up. I think my poor push behind would get bogged down trying to mulch all those leaves). I've decided to start a compost pile with my mulched leaves so maybe that will help by eliminating the bagging. I stopped by one of our local dealers the other day. One of the Toro mulching mowers (twin blades) was selling for $1000 I believe it was. Maybe a walk behind mulching mower would do better than what I currently have, not sure how much better though. Mine for the most part just throws the leaves in the bag with very little mulching. I saw the Honda HRX (about $700) where supposedly you can barely open the bagging opening and it will mulch up the leaves until small enough to pass through to the bag. It's not clear to me how effective this would be though and I have a feeling both these mowers would bog down with all those leaves under the deck. Part of my thought process was that instead of buying a quality new push mower, I could add some money to that and get a quality used tractor. Maybe I should look into how much it would cost for a lawn service to do my lawn in the fall. I do mulch the leaves into the lawn early in the season but it's not long after that that is no longer viable. As for the lawn tractor and the leaves, after some more reading, I concede the point about needing to empty bags just like you would with the push mower. Although, the tractor bags do hold more than the push mower bags. I see some people have opted to mulch the leaves and use a lawn sweeper in tow for pickup. Reason is the sweeper can hold much more and dumped easily. As far as cutting the grass more often, some have suggested that a push mower might be just as fast if not faster than the tractor. I don't know. A couple of my neighbors (tractor owners) lots are about the same as mine and I start mowing before them and they finish before me. It takes me 1 hr 15 mins walking pace. Doesn't take them more than 45. Actually one of my neighbors does 2 yards in about the time it takes me to do mine. He does have one of those Deeres with the foot pedals so maybe that helps. If I do go this route that may be the way to go. As for the leaves, one of my neighbor uses a bagger and it goes relative quickly. Although he doesn't have the leaf volume that I do and he goes over it about twice a week. He doesn't allow it to accumulate. My other neighbor goes the old fashioned route (rake, leaf blower, bag). He's got 5 huge trees that are all by his property line in the front so the area he has to cover is small. Plus much of those leaves fall on the road and just get blown into my lawn, increasing my leaf volume considerably. As far as buying used, if I go that route, maybe I can pay a lawn/garden tractor mechanic for his time to check it out for me. Same as you would for a used car purchase.