My back yard is failry big and uneven. I've had riding mowers before but kind of hand-me-downs that had a lot of ware on them for what I thought was a decent price. It's time for what will be my third and I want a new one but don't know really what to look for or what brand I would want to gowith. Any suggestions or potetntial pitfalls would be incredibly helpful.

Riders take a beating, I have allways been a fan of used because the new one will have the same failure points such as, blade spindles, steering issues, bad batterys and contaminated fuel. If new is your choice then dollars are the issue, when buying under $1800.00 they are all about the same with different features, I would not buy from Lowe's or Home Depot unless you have a servicing dealer in the neighborhood that will honor the warranty and stock components. Don't take the box stores word for it check them out yourself but be ready for the sales pitch from the dealer trying to sway you.

Craftsman is allways a reasonable choice, the quality is slightly better than the box store stuff and parts are a breeze with the web site, if going this route buy the service contract (I NEVER buy service contracts) It will be money well spent.

There is a difference between lawn tractor and garden tractor generally the garden tractor has a beefier drive and transaxle assembly.

When spending over $2,000.00 Then the obvious choice is john deere if you have a dealer local, Do NOT be fooled by the John Deere in the hardware store it is no better than the Scotts or any of the other budget stuff.

Good Luck,
Don

The biggest thing is how big is your yard? Price wise 1 acre or less anything around 11 or 12 hundred with a 42 inch deck if you can fit that in your yard. There are only a few manufacturers of lawn tractors, a pretty good one is America Yard Products, formerly known as Electrolux/fridgidare products are made in SC, and sold under brand names such as Craftsman, huskavarna, and a few more, they always look the same just different colors.
You want a fully pressurized engine. Brigs has come a long way with these. Basically the bigger your yard the bigger the deck. The advantage to a two cylinder engine is a little less vibration, that's about it. These machines all travel at about the same speed. Zero turn mowers are nice but are a lot more exspensive, and kind of tricky to drive. Your yard sounds a little larger than usual, but the bigger deck is really just going to cut down on your mowing time. The automatic transmision is nice, but many people do not like the pedal drive types. Shop around, the best two places to but one is probably Sears od home depot
That manufacturer I was talking about is good because they are the largest manufacturer of mowers in the world. And the warranty is good, 2 year, and the service is good. I know that sears sells them but they are also sold as Weed Eater, Senator, Poulan Pro and huskavarna. They make Huskavarna ones with Kawasaki engines. These are the best. But here is the most important thing, read and follow the owners manual, many people refuse to believe there is any difference between the new tractor and the one they had that was 15 years old. Two most common mistakes, not replacing the blades, most people think they are supposed to sharpen them. Using the wrong oil, briggs all use single viscisity 30 weight, Koler and kawisaki 10 w 30.