Strengths The diesel is the best part of this machine. No failure, no troube at all after 110+ hours use. Sufficient power for everthing around home plus half acre garden.

Weaknesses The mower deck would make a nice boat anchor. All four guide wheels sheared off at least twice. Deck is properly adjusted. Guide wheels are very poorly engineered and are not caster-type, so if you are even slightly out of adjustment, you rip a nice slice out of your lawn making turns. Spline cracked in half after 30 hours use. Front steering arm cracked in half after 114 hours use. Hydralic fluid completely bled out. U-joint for front wheel drive shredded the shroud and is out of allignment. Metallurgy, clearances, and tolerances on this machine are abysmal. I have 50-year old Massey machines that cost me less in maintenance and wasted time. I don't know if I got a lemon, but this is certainly not what I expected from a John Deere.

Overall Poor. Won't make this mistake twice. Check out Kubota. Better quality, better price.

Strengths 250 hour update. The power to weight ratio of this little tractor is scary (I call it attitude). As the Deere ad says "you can move mountains one bucket at a time" and they aren't lying. As I wrack up the hours (trouble-free), my earlier post commenting that Deere engineers got it right with this tractor are spot on. In fact, the 260 Backhoe will be my next implement!

Weaknesses Hydraulic speed (although I did test out a 2305 w/260 BH and found there is plenty of capacity for this attachment. In fact, you can run the BH at idle--thank you very well--so a newbie to a BH can dig without inflicting an accidental oh no!), location of 4WD lever, lack of graduated position control on the 3PH.

Overall Other than that, I would buy another in a heartbeat!

Strengths Like I said inlast review it's a lot of tractor for the money.

Weaknesses I was concerned about the brakes because they developed a squeak when applied hard. Ritchie tractor of Maryville was kind enough to pull it completely apart (even though they did not sell me the tractor) and found nothing wrong!

Overall They did this under full warranty at no charge to me at all! Now that's what I call a good dealer!!! They did put in new brakes,and it makes the same exact noise, so it appears to be the material JD is using and not really a problem. Thanks Ritchie!

Strengths Excellent tractor for it's size/price. Loader is extremely easy on and off. Must be ballasted properly for safe use of FEL. Read your owners manual and DO what it says!!! I installed a catalic converter/muffler from NET technologies in Canada NO MORE diesel smell!

Weaknesses I have had no problems at all, but I too think the brakes are ready for replacement, they still work good but squeak when using.Only 100 hrs.Dealer service and prep are awful at Newport tire. I now take it to a fullsized dealer for competent service.

Overall Excellent tractor and would recommend to anyone! Just make sure the dealer is good!It took 3 months to get me the FEL The dealer ordered a 200x when I wanted the 200cx

Strengths Hard working dependable

Weaknesses 123 hours of use and now brakes are worn out. I have to pay $800 to the dealer or do it myself.

Overall Okay but as the maintenance bills mount my score will drop. How about the kubota?

Strengths For the money and HP can't do much better

Weaknesses best in its class

Overall Dropped at 75ft pine tree on my tractor today. Couldn't have place it any better between the steering wheel and the seat if I had 100 tries. The front hydraulic control, forward/reverse shifter and the rear hydraulic lift speed handles were bent unbelieveably. Except for that the thing runs fine!! UNBELIEVABLE. must be the green paint!

Strengths Plenty of power for the size of tractor. Loader is so handy, I don't need a wheelbarrow anymore, easy to get lazy. Mower works great, I mow 3 acres and it cut my time in half and only used half the fuel compared to my JD317. Tiller and Rotary cutter work great, plenty of power, could have gone with bigger units, but didn't want to chance it over the long term. Very easy to change oil and do maintanance.

Weaknesses Would have been nice to have the mid lift separate from the rear 3PT lift. Would have saved taking the mower off to use the rotary cutter or tiller quickly, but all attachments come off easily so it still isn't too bad.

Overall Overall, this is the most bang for the buck, you can't get all of this from other makes and have everything that you can depend on. A+

Strengths Power to size ratio is nice. Gets into some small places for landscape work. Turning radius and very little turf damage great. Always starts in the cold, but would of liked a block heater anyway, just, just makes me feel better about using it in the cold.

Weaknesses Balance. Very dangerous in hilly conditions. Have to be very careful especially with the FEL. This unit will tip very easily. Biggest problem I have as I have very hill ground. I really need a bigger unit as I am disappointed in the FEL lifting but the problem is I really need a bigger unit. Let's face it it's only 22hp.

Overall Nice unit for it's intended purpose. Just be very careful with heavy loads in FEL as it will tip!!!

Strengths FEL workes great easy to take off and on after a couple of tries. Greeat for moving mulch, top soil and gravel. Used it to build paver patio to my backs relief. Mows great, can cut three acres in about an hour. My wife and daughter masterd it in no time! Clears 300 ft diveway with ease, but when its snowing hard have to stay ahead of it. My neighbors love it also as they get plowed out too!

Weaknesses Hydro hoses on snow plow don't stay in place and wrap around front tire, had to ad bungy. 4x4 lever in awkward place, sometimes difficult to disenguage. I agree that the fuel tank is too small! Bettter have the seat belt on for bumpy ground. Dealer prep was poor, attachments were not properly adjusted, When dealer came out charged for time to fix their mistakes when loader was obviously miss aligned. There were even a couple of bolts missing! The fella that delivered it was not able to give any instruction as to operation etc. Felt like I was on my own to figure it out.

Overall Over all this is a great machine. After I figured it all out I love it, though I had to do this with just the users manual and experimentation. I got the best price from this dealer but little support. Next time I'll pay the extra and go with a different dealer

Strengths I purchased the tractor strictly to move snow. I was worried when I purchased that it might not be up to the job with smaller wheels. But I have lug tires and four wheel drive and the thing moves snow with no problem. I can typically leave it in two wheel drive, but occassionally start to slip. I toss it into four wheel drive and it takes off. I have over 400 feet of drive way to plow in mid Michigan and have experienced no problems. It is a great tractor! I have also used it to drag logs and grade around our home. It works better then our old Ferguson TO-30.

Weaknesses Getting locked into four wheel drive and setting the parking brake are a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it is no problem. Additionally the hydraulic control for the front blade is very sensitive and took some getting use to its use. But those are minor adjustments, but the closest thing to a weakness I have seen.

Overall I am really glad I got a Deere. At first I was considering going really cheap and buying one of the less expensive models from Asia. But this thing is incredible and I know I will never have to worry about parts or service. It is a great little tractor!