Jim wrote:

My aging riding mower is nearing replacement. Although it has served
its purpose I think this time I'll go for a lawn tractor that better
fits my 6'4" frame.

For my needs most of the advertised models in the $1,000 - $1,500 range
seem sufficient. Question is the relative value of the automatic
transmission over the regular.

My rider has the manual and has served well without any tranny work.
Other than laziness is there any other advantage warranting the extra
cost to go automatic?

How much area do you mow and how often? Unless it's a large area, I'd
expect the possible time differential between operating the two
virtually indeterminate. Also hydrostatic are nice for no-clutch
shifting forward/reverse cycles if you need that kind of movement, but a
ZTR will eliminate more of that than the hydrostat will in most
situations. If you have really large areas, you may find that unless
the hydrostat has a fixed velocity mechanism it gets tiring holding the
pedal all the time--I notice it quite a bit w/ the JD 955 here (of
course, it's more than a "lawn" tractor, it's a utility for the areas
outside the lawn, but I think I'd find the same issue if the mowers were
similar. It does have a hand lever-lock, but many smaller ones don't).

In the end, I'd try to look at places that will let you actually
test-drive them first, even if it is more expensive than the box
places. As someone else noted, good quality machines may last 30 years
or more...I know the JD 110 Dad bought is at least 40 now and the S92
mower that I'm using routinely must be nearly 30 if not...the smaller
GX70 I had in TN and brought out is 10 or so and might as well still be
new...