5 Gas Riding Mower Brands With Better Ratings Than Craftsman

While there are plenty of highly rated riding lawn mowers that run on batteries, many situations still call for a gas-powered machine. This is especially true if you have a very large area to mow or must tackle thick, overgrown grass. When looking for gas-powered mowers, you might want to consider one of your favorite tool brands as an option, such as Craftsman.

Craftsman makes many hand and power tools that earn high ratings from experts and customers, but its riding lawn mowers leave something to be desired. The company produces both lawn tractors and zero-turn riding mowers, and neither one is particularly beloved. Among all the brands that Consumer Reports has tested and surveyed owners about, Craftsman's gas riding mowers are the third-least reliable of the bunch. Publications like Popular Mechanics, Pro Tool Reviews, Better Homes and Gardens, or The Spruce don't spotlight a single model from the brand in their respective rankings of the best options on the market.

Because there are so many better-rated gas-powered riding mowers out there, we're going to look at five different brands that surpass Craftsman in overall satisfaction. Our selections are based on expert recommendations and positive feedback from actual owners, along with a strong reputation for reliability. Although you can find affordable riding lawn mowers, they are often very expensive, so a genuine consensus from various sources can help you choose the right model for your needs.

While Craftsman offers a wide range of tools, Cub Cadet stands in direct contrast with a dedicated focus on lawn mowers. Yes, it also sells snow blowers and utility vehicles, but the vast majority of its product lineup is mowers, including both lawn tractors and zero-turn riding mowers. In both cases, you're getting products with higher ratings than Craftsman's.

Popular Mechanics rates the Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Series LT46 as the best gas-powered lawn tractor on the market. This mower features a 747cc Kohler engine with an output of 22 horsepower, a powerful component that the publication highlights. It also provides a dozen different cutting heights to accommodate various mowing needs. The Spruce concurs with an appreciation for this model, naming it the top pick for large lawns. 

The Cub Cadet XT1 Enduro Series offers cutting widths from 42 to 54 inches. The series as a whole comes recommended by Pro Tool Reviews as the best value you can get from a riding mower. The products range from $2,399 to $3,499, which are pretty reasonable prices for machines that often cost a lot more when you get to these sizes.

On the zero-turn side of things, Consumer Reports gives its "CR Recommended" stamp of approval to four different Cub Cadet riding mowers. The highest is the Ultima ZT2 50, but the Ultima ZT1 50's overall rating is just a hair below it, earning top marks for every in-house test (aside from noise production) and boasting a strong owner satisfaction score.

Gravely specializes exclusively in producing zero-turn riding mowers. The company offers different zero-turn mowers of various sizes for residential use, all of which are powered by a Kawasaki engine. Its mower deck widths range from 34 inches to 60 inches. Gravely divides its mowers into four core series — the standard, X, XL, and HD models — with each subsequent model providing additional mowing capacity. That output could stretch from 2 acres up to 4.8 acres of coverage per hour.

Where you see the true raves for the Gravely brand is with Consumer Reports. Among all of the gas zero-turn mower brands measured by CR, Gravely as a whole had the third-highest reliability score of any of them. Meanwhile, Craftsman ranked third from the bottom for dependability, a position it also held for its lawn tractors.

When it comes to the model-by-model breakdown, CR has the Gravely ZT X 52 with the third-highest overall score of any zero-turn mower. This is due to the machine having strong reliability and a top-three owner satisfaction score, in addition to acing all of CR's tests, except for noise levels. To be fair, all large, gas-powered models CR tested had a poor noise rating. Gravely's zero-turn riding mowers are available through local authorized dealers, so you'll need to check with them for pricing.

When it comes to gas-powered riding lawn mowers, no discussion can be had without the inclusion of John Deere. The company goes all the way back to 1837 and has been a fixture of the agricultural and landscaping industries for as long as anyone can remember. That reputation is well-earned, as the high ratings for its gas-powered riding mowers serve as a microcosm of the company's vast product line.

Consumer Reports recognizes John Deere as the second-most reliable mower brand for both lawn tractors and zero-turn mowers. Of the nine lawn tractor models that the publication gave its "CR Recommended" badge to, eight were John Deere machines. For zero-turn mowers, CR endorsed 18 models, and six of those were John Deere. For comparison, zero Craftsman lawn tractors were recommended, and only two of the brand's zero-turn mowers earned that badge, though they were the two lowest rated of the group.

Other publications also rate John Deere riding mowers very highly. Popular Mechanics calls out the John Deere S100 lawn tractor as the best entry-level mower, while the S120 model gets the top budget-friendly nod from The Spruce. The love goes beyond that, though. Pro Tool Reviews calls John Deere's X500 Series the best lawn tractors on the market, praising its available four-wheel power steering, build quality, and a four-year, 500-hour warranty. 

The company's lineup is so consistently strong that SlashGear's own ranking of the best John Deere riding mowers barely overlaps with the models mentioned above. It's one of the biggest brands in the business for a reason!

The Japanese brand Kubota specializes in mowers, tractors, UTVs, and other equipment for farming and construction, making this business area its core strength. It has one of the more wide-ranging product selections when it comes to riding lawn mowers. Not only does it offer common lawn tractors and zero-turn mower models, but it also has a variety of front-mount and stand-on mowers.

Where Kubota really shines is with its reliability. Although Consumer Reports has performed in-house testing on only one of the brand's riding mowers, it highlights how incredibly reliable these machines were based on the owners it surveyed. Among all gas-powered lawn tractor brands, Kubota earned the highest reliability score by a wide margin. John Deere was a distant second place, and Kubota's score was nearly as perfect as you would want.

For its zero-turn mowers, CR has Kubota ranked fourth overall for reliability. While that isn't quite as impressive as its score for lawn tractors, it still far outpaces the dependability Craftsman delivers. The zero-turn Kubota Z231KW-42 mower was tested by CR itself and earned a "CR Recommended" distinction. It performed exceptionally well for its side-discharging and mulching capabilities and received very good scores for handling and evenness. The machine also posted the highest owner satisfaction score of any zero-turn mower CR evaluated. While maybe not the most well-known brand, Kubota delivers very well-liked and incredibly reliable gas-powered riding mowers.

Instead of producing a wide variety of gas-powered riding mowers, Toro focuses on zero-turn models. The company has two different residential zero-turn lines. First, there is the TimeCutter series. This is a more basic, lightweight design for typical residential users, though they still deliver plenty of power. Second, there's the Titan line of mowers. These are more heavy-duty and sit between residential and commercial usage, so they're ideal for larger properties.

For the best gas-powered zero-turn mower on the market, Popular Mechanics recommends the Toro TimeCutter 42-inch model. It found the mower to be very intuitive to use and was quite impressed with the 22-horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine. The TimeCutter line is designed to accelerate mowing jobs. With a forward ground speed of 7 mph, the publication liked that it could cut through a lawn in short order.

Pro Tool Reviews spotlights a different model for the best residential zero-turn mower, and that's the Toro Titan Max, which has a 60-inch mower deck. It really appreciated its power and size, noting how much more professional it felt than most other home-use models. The mower only comes with one deck size, which does make it more specialized. But based on its recommendation, the results you get from it seem hard to argue with. 

The brand's products can be quite expensive, with many wondering if Toro lawn mowers are worth the cost. The Titan Max, for example, has a starting price of $7,399 at the time of writing. Given the high ratings and performance, the steep price tag may be justified.