Bought a new house last fall, moved in over the winter. Went from a quarter acre to 9 acres, mow about 2 acres, so time for a new mower. Priced zero-turns and looked at lawn tractors. A cheap zero turn costs at least a grand more than a same size deck tractor. Zero turns are slick, better if you have a lot of obstacles to mow around, probably faster, definitely much more expensive - I bought a lawn tractor!
Ended up with a 46" deck Cub Cadet XT2 LX46. The Cub Cadets get pretty good reviews. Mine was a 2019 model left over from last year, so got a little price reduction. Hydrostatic drive, 24 hp kohler v-twin engine, and a tight 16 inch turning radius. If you haven't looked at lawn tractors lately they've really improved steering and turning radius - still not a zero turn, but much improved. No regrets choosing the tractor.
