Lawn Mower Brands To Steer Clear Of (And Better Alternatives To Consider)

When preparing to drop a few hundred dollars — or quite a bit more — on a lawn mower, you want reliability and high levels of performance. Whether you want a zero-turn or riding lawn mower or a walk-behind self-propelled or push lawn mower, you want to receive a good value. When sticking with a brand name that you can trust for your lawn mower, you expect to receive better product quality and customer service. You might pay a little more, but by buying a trustworthy brand, you expect the product to be ready to work when you need it.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to track who owns different mower brands now. Snapper is a brand you may know, but the Snapper brand name has had different owners since 2002. Craftsman was once a well-known lawn mower brand, but Sears, its parent company, eventually sold the Craftsman name on its way to bankruptcy. As companies change owners, you can't remain certain of the quality of the brand name. A new owner may try to improve profits by cutting costs too far, affecting quality. New owners may fragment the product line by going into too many areas of the market at once, diluting the overall product quality.

We've studied several lawn mower brands currently in the market for quality and price. Learn more about the quality of today's lawn mower brands and which ones you should avoid at all costs, as well as a couple that you can trust as the right lawn mower for cutting your grass.

Troy-Bilt began making garden tools in 1937, but it's one of those traditional brand names that has had numerous different owners over the years. Troy-Bilt's parent company filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and after the brand went through a couple of different owners, Stanley Black & Decker bought it in 2021 as part of buying MTD Holdings.

Over the years, Troy-Bilt has become a brand known for extremely low prices and, unfortunately, poor performance. Although you can find Troy-Bilt walk-behind mowers at big box hardware stores like Home Depot, they don't have great customer reviews. One of the priciest models from this brand, the Troy-Bilt 28-inch self-propelled mower ($1,399 at Home Depot), has just a 3.5-star rating out of 5, and only 60% of customers would recommend this model to friends and family members. One Home Depot reviewer disliked the build quality of this Troy-Bilt mower, as it broke down repeatedly. If you want to bag your lawn clippings, Troy-Bilt mowers tend to struggle with this capability as well.

On the Consumer Affairs website, Troy-Bilt has a 1.2-star rating out of 5, with more than 600 reviews logged. Its customer service team doesn't seem to respond well to complaints, either, leaving customers frustrated.

You might recognize the Cub Cadet brand of lawn mowers from its yellow machines. However, a bright color doesn't guarantee brand quality. International Harvester debuted Cub Cadet in 1961 when it wanted to enter the residential garden tractor market. However, Cub Cadet's current owner is Stanley Black & Decker, as International Harvester broke up in the mid-1980s and sold off most parts of its business. MTD Products owned the Cub Cadet brand for many years before Stanley Black & Decker bought MTD in 2021.

Modern Cub Cadet lawn mowers tend to have poor customer reviews, including a 1.2-star rating on Consumer Affairs. Cub Cadet walk-behind mowers struggle to bag lawn clippings. However, its riding mowers tend to have better performance. One of Cub Cadet's most popular riding mowers at Home Depot ($3,399) is the XT1 Enduro 54-inch model, which has a 4.0-star rating. One reviewer at Home Depot said the frame cracked after a couple of years of use, and Cub Cadet did not cover it with the mower's warranty. Additionally, customer service for Cub Cadet is not a strong point, as it's difficult for customers to register complaints and seek help.

Yard Machines is a brand that delivers some of the lowest prices that you will find for walk-behind lawn mowers. According to customer reviews, the old saying — you get what you pay for — fits well with the Yard Machines brand. It is a brand that struggles with durability, performance, and engine reliability. Yard Machines is another brand that Stanley Black & Decker now owns through its MTD Holdings subsidiary.

You can find Yard Machines lawn mowers at Walmart and Ace Hardware. Walmart carries both riding and walk-behind Yard Machines mowers, including the 42-inch riding mower for $1,894. This is a low price for a riding mower, but customer reviewers at Walmart give it just a 3.9-star rating. Multiple reviewers mention the poor build quality of the deck, which rattles and doesn't seem stable.

The 20-inch Yard Machines walk-behind mower costs $299.99 at Ace Hardware. It has a 3.9-star rating at Ace Hardware, and only 50% of reviewers would recommend this mower to friends and family members. One reviewer said the mower is hard to start due to a lack of a choke. Another said it uses cheap, thin metal throughout the frame, making it susceptible to bends and dents.

If you want a trustworthy lawn mower brand that doesn't break the bank, Toro has a long history of creating excellent lawn care products, including mowers. Toro became a company in 1914 and continues to make lawn mowers today, meaning it doesn't seem to suffer from some of the reductions in brand quality that the other brand names on our list have had over the years as they pass among different owners.

Toro makes both walk-behind and riding mowers. Its zero-turn lawn mowers rate excellent for customer satisfaction and very good for reliability.  The Toro 54-inch zero-turn riding mower costs $3,999.99 at Tractor Supply. It has a 4.3-star rating, and 81% of customer reviewers would recommend this riding mower. One reviewer at Tractor Supply said the Toro zero-turn mower did an excellent job cutting thick brush.

One of the more popular walk-behind Toro models is the Toro Recycler 22-inch self-propelled lawn mower, which costs $479 at Ace Hardware. It has a 4.4-star rating at Ace Hardware, and 87% of customers would recommend it to friends and family members. One reviewer said it operates smoothly and cuts the grass evenly on both flat and sloped areas.

When it comes to the most reliable lawn mower brand, it's difficult to beat the distinctive green and yellow of John Deere models. John Deere makes garden tractors and zero-turn lawn mowers for residential use. It also makes commercial mowers for golf courses and sports turf. This brand of commercial mowers offers up to 2,500 hours of use, showing the durability of the John Deere brand. When Consumer Reports surveyed lawn tractor owners, John Deere received the award as the most reliable brand.

You can purchase the John Deere S130 42-inch riding mower at Lowe's for $2,899. It has a 4.3-star rating, and 85% of customers recommend the product. One reviewer appreciated the smooth performance and excellent turning radius of this John Deere model. You can buy the Z515E zero-turn mower for $5,199 at the John Deere website. It has a 4.7-star rating, and one reviewer mentions the excellent cutting pattern with this mower, which avoids creating a stripe pattern in the lawn. You can also purchase John Deere mowers from most local dealers that sell the green-and-yellow farm equipment.