I'd love a competent, efficient, reliable person to mow my lawn. I hired a Thai kid of about 18 once and after assuring me he knew what he was doing, drove the wheels off my 6-month-old 15,000 baht push mower, overfilled the oil reservoir and left the job unfinished. I have almost three rai to cut (with 100 fruit trees) and with a push mower takes me about eight hours to do it properly (four hours x 2 days) I prefer to do it myself, but I'm no spring chicken and a ride-on mower would be nice. I'm not prepared to spend $3k for a used one though. That's absurd.
Not everyone lives on a tiny little council estate with a back garden the size of a bathroom and neighbors so close they can hear you fart. The cost disparity is equally wide regarding push mowers. Home Depot sells decent mowers for $150. The cheapest new push mower around here is over $300.
STEVE G wrote:Ride on mowers! I can't believe that some people are just too lazy to go out and find someone else to mow their lawn.
I'm sure it's not a case of being lazy, in fact quite the opposite - a lazy person would go out and find somebody rather than do it themselves. My somewhat limited experience of gardeners in Thailand has not been that good which is why I decided to do the garden myself, but if a ride-on had been available (at a reasonable price) I would have gone for that rather than a smaller self-propelled mower.
STEVE G wrote:Yes, I wasn't being completely serious about that. I'm presently having a bar built in my garden to reduce the amount of gardening I'll have to do!
Maybe I should do the same because by the time I'm half way finished, I ready for a drink
Top advice Steve, I often consider plowing the whole thing under and paving it.
(Paved Paradise, and put up a parking lot) But the monthly two days of drudge make the remaining 28 so nice.
Back to the OP -- good luck finding a new mower, let us know what you decide upon.
The cost disparity is equally wide regarding push mowers. Home Depot sells decent mowers for $150. The cheapest new push mower around here is over $300. 
