When you buy a new riding lawn mower, you’re dropping a lot of money on a tool that will hopefully give you many years of reliable service and make your life easier. A standard self-propelled mower costs a fraction of what you’ll lay out for a tractor or zero-turn, but you pay the price in extra time spent mowing.
I live on a roughly half-acre suburban lot, and when I became a dad for the first time, it dawned on me that I’d have neither the time nor the energy to continue guiding my old reliable 21-inch Honda lawn mower around my yard every four to seven days. In the time since that realization, I’ve tested a variety of riding lawn mowers as part of my job at Popular Mechanics (this is the most fun part; let’s be honest). And I’ve discovered virtues in each of the mowers I’ve tested.
I spent a couple months using our Best Overall Riding Mower, the Toro TimeCutter 77401 42-inch zero-turn, and one of that mower’s best attributes is its long-term value and viability. It’s not a fancy mower, and it’s not made by a boutique brand. The TimeCutter is like the Toyota Corolla of zero-turn mowers—straightforward, uncomplicated, and sold in large quantities by a well-known brand with a big dealer network. It’s powered by a Briggs & Stratton gas engine, which is a known quantity in itself.
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| Type | Zero-turn |
| Cutting Width | 42 in. |
| Power | 22 hp |
| Transmission | Automatic |
The ubiquity of the TimeCutter means that if something breaks (and this is bound to happen with any mower), somebody will know how to fix it. There is likely a Toro dealer nearby that can perform most repairs or supply you with original equipment manufacturer parts should you decide to get a mower repair degree from YouTube University (highly recommend) and attempt a fix yourself. There are individuals in your neighborhood who moonlight in small engine repair and can fix your TimeCutter’s clogged carburetor or broken drive belt when the time comes.
Obviously it would be nice if the mower you buy would run perfectly for as long as you owned it, but that’s not realistic. Riding mowers are machines with parts that will wear out and need replacing. When you buy a mower from a brand like Toro, you’re not just buying the mower—you’re buying into the potential to keep your machine running for a long time with the brand’s dealer network and vast supply of parts.
Buy the Toro TimeCutter 77401»
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Best Wide-Cut Walk-Behind
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Colin Aylesworth attended Binghamton University and is a Deputy Editor with the Gear team at Popular Mechanics and Runner’s World, where he has been since 2022. Prior to joining Hearst Magazines, he worked for 11 years at U.S. News and World Report on the autos team.
His personal pursuits fit in well with the work he does for PM and RW. Aylesworth was on his college’s club rowing team and has maintained a routine running habit through most of his adult life as a means of getting exercise and spending time outdoors. Running creates a hearty appetite, which brings us to Popular Mechanics. That publication's expertise in the area of grilling is relatable to Aylesworth, who is an adherent to charcoal grilling. In fact, he’s been primarily using the same Weber charcoal kettle he bought on Craigslist in 2012.
Aylesworth also has experience in the lawn mower industry. Not only has he been mowing his and neighbor’s lawns during adolescence, one of his more recent endeavors is a side gig of repairing and restoring gas lawn mowers given up by their previous owners. Since joining PM, he has gotten more involved with the publication’s mower testing efforts and especially enjoys testing out new electric and zero turn mowers.
Will Egensteiner has been reviewing products for 10 years, testing and writing about everything from climbing gear to video game consoles to cars. He began his career as an intern at Popular Mechanics, then worked as an editor at Outside, spearheading the magazine's gear coverage and biannual Buyer's Guide. Now that he's back, he leads product reviews for PopMech, as well as Runner's World, Best Products, and Biography. His favorite stuff to review is still outdoors equipment, and he can tell you from memory what ePTFE stands for.
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