Wow that's what I was curious about. I thought the timemaster could be labeled as a premium mower I'm not sure how I heard that the mowers at HD were worse than Toro dealers. Probably from a Toro salesperson.

Years ago it was just the local shop selling the Toro line; which was all high quality stuff. Then the big box stored came along and cut a deal w/Toro to sell a 'cheaper line'...crappier wheels, steel decks etc. The little guy suffered a bit as most of the buying public figured they were getting a Toro for $100+ less.

Well, the little guys have caved and now sell both lines usually for the same price as the box stores. I doubt they were thrilled about it. I know our local shop tries to explain the quality differences. I am sure they sell their share of the cheaper stuff and perhaps that leads to additional repair work for them...but perhaps angrier customers. I respect them for the thin line they must have to walk...

I see no real value in purchasing from the box stores at this point. Do you really want them controlling who services your equipment. My local guy seems to have his hands full with his own stuff. I have no idea where the box stores send their stuff for repair, the turn around time etc. I feel more comfortable with my local guy.

I agree I prefer my local shop but they're pretty restricted with everything going on now so I'm trying to do my due diligence so I don't have to waste time of the sales associate in the parking lot. So far I'm leaning towards the time master because of the wider cutting deck but I am concerned with the quality of the parts involved. I do like Hondas but they don't make push mowers that have that size deck. They are cheaper too compared to the time master.

ZT forget the Timemaster way over priced for a Residential mower . If you really need a 30" cutting deck check out the Turfmaster twin blade 30" Commercial unit . Actually I currently have a 22' Toro Comercial 22298 for 4 yrs great unit with the fj180 Kawasaki BBC. Lots of torgue & power with cast aluminium deck unfortunately also only available via a Dealer . Got mine for a great deal during their customer appreciation sale in April .

That turfmaster looks beefy haha. For that kind of cash I can get an exmark 30 inch cutting deck.

Actually Toro owns Exmark . The primary difference is within the deck designs . Both manufacturers have stayed true to their original mower deck design principles ! P.S. You are correct commercial grade mower pricing has risen significantly over the past 3-5 yrs .

The folks that have the Timemasters seem to like them. Personally I think that there is value in them. You can spend 800$ for a consumer Honda!

I to am looking for a new mower, from what I have learned if the big box and local dealer are selling the same model, go for the cheaper price. There is one more criteria. With John Deere mowers the servicing organization for the tractors sold a the big box store is the local John Deere dealer. So for all practical purposes the same model at the big box store and the dealer are the same.

If I was looking at some other brand, one of the considerations high on the list would who does the big box store use for the warranted work. They are the ones you are going to deal with for that type of work not the big box store.

exactly... my experience is they may use the local dealer for warranty work but you probably go to the bottom of list. My shop tells me they take any work but their customers are priorities.

Actually only cheaper Residential Toro mower models are sold at the box outlets . The high end Residential Super Recyclers etc . and Commercial are only available within local dealers . The Timemaster is a very good example of this marketing scheme . It is actually a downgraded copy of the Turffmaster . It has composite wheel bearing rather than full ball bearings design , lighter stamped steel deck and transmission , rather than forged steel , smaller 1.8 quart fuel tank rather than 1.3 gal . Smaller single stage air filter rather than larger dual stage . Splash lubricated engine without oil filter , rather than pressurized auto motive style oil filter and delivery system . I could go on however I think you get the picture . Pricing for both the Residential Timemaster $ 1200.00 vs $ 1795.00 for the Turfmaster HDX . Bottom line if I was to be spending over $ 1000.00 on a mower , I want Commercial grade performance and lifecycle along with Competent Dealer Warranty and Support . As Tomplum has advised a cheaper Residential Honda mower with a composite deck and commercial grade engine can be had for half the price of any 30 " mower today .

but a Toro PP ( not the box store one) will mulch much better!

Toro,s in general are the finest mulching mowers currently produced , have been for a long time across the model lineup . Honda with their inherent high domes style decks have always been favoured for their very effective bagging qualities , however within the Commercial Mower niche Toro has gained much ground within bagging effectiveness !

So glad with all the feedback. With all this info I might just wait a little bit. I got a cub cadet push mower and this things fires up every year. It just sucks for how long it takes to mow so my 51% is leaning towards the time master.

I had a 30 inch Toro Riderr for 15 years that perform pretty much flawlessly until something happened with the governor. The shop told me 'cheap part' but would cost more than the mower was worth to fix if I recollect correctly.

Anyway, I was not interested in a zero turn... too expensive. The shop was honest enough to tell me that at that time the Toro riders they were selling were crap and not to waste my money on one.... is overpriced for what they were. They said to avoid the entry-level Deers if I wanted them to service it because they had issues with warranty work, getting parts and part cost. They suggested getting anything cheap by MTD and just taking care of it and they would have no problem servicing it.

I ended up getting a 42" Cub Cadet .... which I think is made by MTD but with a Kawasaki engine.... it's been good to me so far I still miss that little Toro tho.