I dont know about mowers, but I had a Briggs & Straton generator w/o OHV. It was noisy, stinky, and used a lot of gas. When it died, I bought a similar size one with a B&S engine with OHV. Much quieter, less smell, and used less gas. (And its still running strong)
Consumer Reports only tested one Cub Cadet mower in the 30 self propelled models. It was right near the middle of the ratings, but was only $270, while most of the others were more expensive.

yzhai said:Thanks a lot for the great review. Could you explain more on the advantage of OHV engine? I just went to HD and took a look at the mowers there. There's a Cub-cadet cc-500 mower (link) with OHV engine for about 200+ bucks. Any inputs on cub-cadet mowers' quality?

I should have qualified the my last statement about the OHV and steep hills. What I should have said is that I wish i sprung the extra cash for the OHV engine when going up hill on the sides of my home when cutting tall growth. An OHV engine will give you more torque. Go to the manufacturer websites for the engine of the mower you are going to buy and see what kind of torque it can generate. Torque = Cutting power. Torque is what will be pushing the blade system around in the deck. OHV engines are more fuel efficient (bought my mower before gas was 3 bucks a gallon) so if you have a lot of hills on your lot you will save on gas. Also OHV engines tend to be more quiet than older side cam engines. The big downside in my opinion with the OHV engine is that it is a heavier engine. But with a self-propeled model mower that shouldn't be much of an issue. The engine is just ONE thing you would need to look at when getting a mower.

I have not used any CubCadet mowers so I can't give you any more insight on that mower. I would look at teh following features before making my choice for a mower:

1. Engine/torque power
2. Deck Design: Some decks are designed more for mulching or bagging. Figure out which you will be doing and go with a mower deck that will be best for that
3. Self-propelled or not
4. Warranty
5. Electric vs Pull start
6. Easy storage options.

Just a FYI about the Toro, Lawn Boy and Honda mowers at Home Depot. Home Depot will not have the higher end models of these mowers. To see all the models with the different features you will need to go to a dealer. You should be able to go to the manufacturer websites to find a local dealer near you. The dealer will obviously tell you that their mowers are the greatest in the world but they will however know their mowers inside and out. Get your information and make a good educated choice. Honestly Toro, Honda and Lawnboy mowers are probably the best consumer grade mowers on the market. Each have their pros and cons but you really can't go wrong with any of these manufacturers.

Was on the fence earlier, but went ahead and jumped on the new lower price. Anyone have any idea how long these normally take to arrive?

Homedepot guy said that the lawnboy models are going discontinued. He said basically toro bought lawnboy and is letting this brand die, so he wouldn't recommend me buying the lawnboy models.

yzhai said:Homedepot guy said that the lawnboy models are going discontinued. He said basically toro bought lawnboy and is letting this brand die, so he wouldn't recommend me buying the lawnboy models.

Well I guess you couldn't ask for a more credible source then the "Homedepot guy". I'm sure the #1 or #2 brand name for lawn mowers in the country is going to be put out to pasture. It must be true though because the "Homedepot guy" said it.

yzhai said:Homedepot guy said that the lawnboy models are going discontinued. He said basically toro bought lawnboy and is letting this brand die, so he wouldn't recommend me buying the lawnboy models.

I would have to double check with my local dealer about this one but I think the Home Deopt guy misunderstood what Toro corporate had told Home Depot. It seems more likely that Toro will be doing away with some of the the Insight "Silver" series to align the Lawnboy mowers with the comparable Toro models. This way both brands have two tiers of mowers available to the consumer. As a business model it makes more sense. Less inventory to maintain and less skus to sell. Anyway the "Silver" Series is on the lower end of the lawn boy ladder. These models are models 1068X; They have steel decks, a Tecumseh engine and a 2 year warranty. The "Gold" series mowers all have the quieter Honda engine in them, a three year warranty and these models all come standard with the Lawnboy handle adjustment and stow features. If you were to compare feature sets the "Gold" series would be more aligned with the Toro "Recycler" series mowers whereas the Lawnboy "Platinum" = Toro's "SR4 Super Recycler" mowers.

Like I said in one of my earlier posts Home Deopt carries the lower end mowers from Toro/Lawnboy. With the lower end Lawnboy models being phased out then that means either A. Home Depot will now carry the "Gold" series LB or B. they will no longer carry the LB brand and only sell Toro from this point forward. Like it was said by many of the posters here Lawnboy is a well established, trusted name when it comes to lawn care. I doubt a company would let such a strong, well established brand just die.

Any thoughts on this one for only $177 shipped??? Self Propelled Mower

Thanks OP! Passed this deal on to my neighbor who just bought his first house and is looking for a mower around $300. This should be way better than the el cheapo WalMart mowers he was looking at

do you have to mix the oil and gas together with this model?

quickNdirty said:CookieMonsterMD said:I read on an SD thread that HD was clearancing these models out for $98 about a month ago; fat chance but it may be worth it to stop by and see if you get lucky.

That was the 10682 model (cheaper), not the 10687 model in this thread.
Yes, but are the added functionality of the 10687 worth ~$200 more?