If you don't use a landscaper and choose instead to maintain your own yard, you know that not all lawn mowers are made the same, especially when it comes to major lawn mower brands and how they move.

Riding mowers operate differently from most vehicles. The deck, which features the cutting blade, typically runs at a consistent speed. That means the mower's transmission controls its overall speed.

To test lawn mower and tractors, our testers and engineers travel every winter to specially prepared grounds in Florida, where we plant 1,800 pounds of grass seed (predominantly annual rye, prized for ...