I have a John Deer riding mower bought new a couple years ago. I did a lot research and felt that was the best brand for me. I didn't feel I overpaid and am happy with the quality. If you can, watch out for the best sale. I struck when it was the lowest price of the season + free yard trailer + free delivery.

I spent a lot of time researching on mower forums and read a lot of poor advice though there was some good stuff too. A lot people will suggest to buy used at a great discount. I have no idea where they're living but around here, 5 years and 50 hours will knock of 10 or 15% which is definitely not worth it. You have to get down to a 10 or 15 year old mower with 200+ hours for any kind of sizeable discount.

The other thing I noticed is mower snobs hate the mowers at Lowes and Home Depot. Advice was repeated ad naseum to buy the mower from a dealer, even if its the same model, because the ones at big box stores are not the same. Well, I ordered from Lowes and the mower was delivered from our local John Deere dealership out of their stock... so take what you read with a grain of salt.

I'm happy with it so far. I mow about an acre and it hauls fine even with the trailer overflowing with yard debris. I probably would have bought a JD garden tractor series with more power instead but we hire a local Ag tractor to cut our fields for hay and do any heavy work on the property.