Hi lawncare folks,

As the title says, I'm in the market for a new push mower. My little Cub Cadet Sc100 finally kicked the bucket. What I'm looking for is something that can handle thicker grass and can handle bagging primarily as the Cub didn't seem to handle it well.

I'm up in the northeast where we can get some pretty obnoxious weather changes, between the snow and rain. (This year we went from 20 degrees to mid 70's in less than a week, I'm over it.)

Due to some drainage issues in the backyard that I haven't been able to afford to fix yet, a half day of soaking rain will flood half the backyard and I'm stuck waiting for several days of dry weather to be able to get to mow each time. As a result I end up with real thick and long grass that constantly clogs up the mower even on the highest cutting level.

Doing a little research it seems like a bit higher cc engine might be in order. My first thought was the Toro timemaster, but I'm a bit leery of dropping that much on a mower. The only other feature I'd really prefer is being able to keep the engine running but stop the blades. Any other recommendations? Thanks!