!8: Good Bargain Weedeater Blower Parts: October 2011

!±8± Review of the 2010 Craftsman 190cc 22'' Briggs & Stratton Rear Bag Front Propelled Lawn Mower

In May 2010 I decided to purchase a new self propelled lawn mower for use at my home and decided to stick with a brand I've known and used for many years, Sears Craftsman. After some research online and speaking with the Sears rep at the store I decided to purchase the Craftsman 190cc 22'' Briggs & Stratton Rear Bag Front Propelled Lawn Mower and I believe I made a great choice.

The Craftsman 190cc 22'' Briggs & Stratton Rear Bag Front Propelled Lawn Mower was easy to assemble as it was about 90% together right out of the box. It took maybe 15-minutes to assemble the handle, add the oil (which was included) and fill the gas tank and before I knew it the mower was ready to go. I was very impressed with the quality of the mower as everything appeared to be well made which is why I chose to go with a Sears Craftsman again. I've owned two other self propelled lawn mowers from Craftsman in the past and this mower is definitely in a class of it's own. Here are some of the features that I think make this Craftsman mower a good buy:

1. Easy to start - This particular Craftsman mower comes with a 190cc Briggs & Stratton engine that is considered the Platinum engine in their line. The Sears rep basically said the difference between this 675 Platinum engine and their Gold engines are the spark plugs that come with it that deliver a surefire spark each time. The 675 Platinum engine also has a starting promise which states that Sears guarantees the engine will start within 2-pulls every single time. From my experience I've never (so far) had to pull more than once to start this mower and right out of the box it fired up on the first pull too.

2. Height Adjustment is made easier - On my old Craftsman mower it was much harder to adjust the mowing height as the wheel adjustments were sometimes hard to see and you were never 100% sure you had each wheel at the same height. On this new Craftsman 190cc 22'' Briggs & Stratton Rear Bag Front Propelled Lawn Mower each wheel has an easy to use pull handle with numbered slots. So I can adjust (for example) every wheel to be at a #6 height and the handle fits snugly into each slot so I know all of them are the same. Much easier than the past Craftsman mower I had last season.

3. Front Wheel Self Propelled - My yard is basically flat except for the front yard which slopes down and I've found the front wheel self propelled mower to be excellent on this type of terrain. This particular model has a long bar on the handle to engage the front wheels and I find that it's easy to control the speed of the wheels and it pulls the mower nicely through my yard. If I had a yard that had more hills and uneven ground I may have chosen the rear wheel self propelled but I think most yards will do well with this front wheel drive version.

4. Price and Terms - For under 0, the price was excellent for such a well made mower. I did have the option to spend an extra -40 and bump up to a Key Start (which is an electric start mower) but Craftsman only had rear wheel drive versions which I was not interested in. Plus Sears has been running a great promotion this Spring where if you purchase anything over 9 on your Sears card you can finance it interest free over 12-months. It was a no brainer to finance it and pay it off over time interest free so we definitely took advantage of that promotion. However if you choose not to use the 12-month interest free promotion you can also receive a rebate online for 5% back so make sure you look into that on the Sears website.

All in all I think the Craftsman 190cc 22'' Briggs & Stratton Rear Bag Front Propelled Lawn Mower was a great purchase. It's a great machine, cuts our lawn evenly and efficiently and is a joy to use. Now if they could just include someone to actually cut my lawn for me I'll be in heaven!