Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Mower and tractor testing in Florida

Florida's a major tourist destination this time of year, as fans head to the Sunshine State in search of balmy weather and to watch their favorite baseball teams in spring training.

Consumer Reports has a team in Florida too, though this squad isn't getting their pitching arms in shape or honing their batting eyes—they've spent the last six weeks testing lawn mowers, zero-turn-radius mowers, and tractors. (The photo shows me in the red shirt next to Peter Sawchuk—wearing his trademark straw hat—with Frank Rizzi on the far left and Frank Spinelli on the far right.)

The latest mowers and tractors start showing up in retail stores in January, so that's when our crew makes the 1,278-mile drive from our Yonkers, New York, headquarters to Fort Myers, Florida.

The annual testing process actually started last October, when we began preparing the six acres of grass where we test the mowers. The local grass in Fort Myers is a very stiff broad-bladed variety, but we plant our test fields with annual ryegrass, which is more like the grass most mowers deal with throughout the rest of the country.

This year we're testing about 30 new walk-behind gas-powered push and self-propelled mowers and corded electric and cordless electric models. We're also testing about a dozen new tractors, including the tight-turning Sears Revolution 28933, $3,700, which uses a traditional steering wheel but is still able to provide a zero-turning-radius cut.

Look for the results of our new tests in the May 2009 issue of Consumer Reports, on newsstands and on ConsumerReports.org in late March.—John Galeotafiore, Technical Division, Associate Director of Home Improvement

Essential information: Our Complete Lawn & Yard Guide has easy-to-follow how-to advice that will get your yard and lawn gear in shape this spring and save you money all summer long.

Comments

[J. Cotter]

I would like to find a self propelled electric mower...not electric start gas powered, but electric self propelled mower. Is there such?