When we bought our house, the previous owner threw in an older model walk-behind mower for free. Actually, it was old enough that they probably just didn't want to be bothered by getting rid of it. But for five years I managed to get it to work well enough to mow our lawn. I shouldn't have been surprised when it finally died and couldn't be resurrected.

In spite of the sales people's attempts to sell me a riding lawn mower, I was able to convince them that my yard wasn't big enough to warrant purchasing one. So I had them direct me to the walk-behind mowers, and in spite of there being mowers with the same sort of engine capacity and cutting width that had less expensive price tags, I kept finding myself drawn back to the John Deer JS26. Maybe it was the simplicity of the design, or maybe it was the distinctive green and yellow paint job or the voice in the back of my brain that kept saying that John Deer had an excellent reputation, but it was the John Deer JS26 that I ended up purchasing. And I haven't regretted it.

The John Deer JS 26 has a Briggs& Stratton 190 cc engine, a mulch bag with a standard 3-in-1 blade, wheels that are fat and can run over just about any ground surface, it can also be adjusted to cut different heights of grass, the controls are easy to operate and the handlebar is adjustable.

But perhaps the biggest selling point, for me, was what John Deer bills as their MowMentum drive system that adjusts the ground speed of the mower to the stride of the operator - which means that even my wife can manage the mower without being dragged along behind it.

All in all, I have absolutely no complaints regarding the John Deer, and while the price tag - at $349.00 was a bit on the steep side in my opinion, I have every confidence that it will continue to perform well for some time.