Wow, I missed this thread. I just bought a 100 series John Deer as well.
Like you, I have only about an acre of cuttable property so no need for a big machine. I did a lot of research on a lot of brands. I won't discount that there are better machines at a higher price point and even the bigger model Deer owners love to belittle the 100 series, just because they can. However, it still proved to be the best hydrostatic unit in my under $2000 (taxes in) budget.
It's very hard to find anything bad about them while almost all the other brands in the under 2k price point had at least one serious fault. Metal-framed front axils instead of solid cast iron, much lighter guage frames, flaky transmissions, CVT transmissions (on a lawn tractor? Really?), poor service records, etc.
Biggest complaint, not a great turn ratio at all, but my lawn is mostly wide open so I did not penalize it for this in my comparisons. The Deer forums recommend going up multiple jumps to an M340 for the heavier transmission as you will double your life expectancy but it costs over three times as much..... The math just didn't work for me enough to seriously break my budget target.
I also bought at Home Depot. I was warned against the Home Depot models by 'helpful' friends who claimed they were different than the dealer models but soon discovered that the current 100 series models are exactly the same as those 100s sold at the dealers. Also, here on PEI, the local Deer dealer assembles them, inspects them, and does the service work, even if you buy from HD.
I even went to the dealer as I know a few guys there and asked if they could match the HD deal so I could buy direct. They said, "Nah, we could 'almost' match the price but just go get it there for the free wagon and we'll see you back here if you need service." So I did, bought Tuesday, delivered Wednesday. Not bad.
Now my only regret is that you got $300 off and a wagon and I only got $200 off and a wagon. You are probably in US though.
Last edited by Murph; 04/12/12 02:18 PM.
