Home and Garden:

Lawn & Leisure delivered my new Ariens Mini Zoom 1540 riding lawn mower on Friday the 8th, and I tried it out pretty much right away. Initial thoughts are that this thing is unbelievably noisy. Hearing protection is a must when operating the Mini Zoom for more than a few minutes. It is also more than a little scary because it is very fast.

I was not really aware of how fast I was walking behind my old 22" Sears Craftsman 4hp self-propelled mower, but it turns out to only be about 3 mph. That was the speed it rolled forward when the drive was engaged and I was not applying drag to slow it down for taller grasses and weeds. With that speed I typically mowed my entire yard in about 4-6 hours, more if I'd neglected mowing for a few weeks. The Ariens is startlingly fast. I estimate it can top out at about 6.5 mph - though I am not comfortable mowing at that speed (heck I can barely hold on at top speed with the mower engaged). The most amazing thing is that the purchase is a huge success on the time savings. I mowed the whole yard in less than one hour on my first attempt at mowing with this 500 pound monster I have barely learned how to control. I have to mow again in about two weeks and re-time the work, I can't believe it (update: I've mowed three times now and I am averaging one hour per mowing). The other good news is because it mows so much faster, I think I actually burned a lot less gas (which is a surprise, it certainly burns more gas per hour than the little mower). It must be that mowing for ~1 hour is such a gas savings over mowing for ~6 hours, that burning fuel faster is more than mitigated by the time savings.

As a note of irony, the information brochures and videos came in for the Walker Mower just after I ordered the Ariens. The Walker Mower certainly looks impressive, and is clearly a better mower than my Ariens, but at nearly 3 times the price. I simply could not justify ~$8000 for my little 2.2 acres of yard. If you are a professional, or have 10+ acres of yard to mow with some complex borders or contours - you should give the Walker some serious consideration. As for me, this Ariens will do the trick.