Strengths Turning radius, adjustable seat. Smooth ride, bit faster cutting speed than most other tractor design. Kohler engine has been very dependable thus far with the only gig on this being the electric controls on the carb messing up.

Weaknesses Blade lift mechanism poor design, less than satisfatory welds. No bearing for blade hubs available through dealer. Very poor deck design for blade overlap, least bit of blade wear and you have high sprigs left in grass. Parts and service department for the lawn series tractor poor at best through dealership. The carb is junk at best with the electric solenoid valve. Recommend by-pass of this feature. Reverse is almost worthless in speed and power. Deck itself and the blade leveling wheel brace on the left side is afterthought design..could be better..this wheel also digs heavy on turns. The blades for this mower is very light duty, no real metal here folks, aftermarket blades voids warranty per dealer information.

Overall For the money, I could buy two Murray tractors with Briggs engines that pull the John Deere backward if so desired...parts are measily available for the Muray and overall less expensive to maintain. Blade engage lever broke about 13 hours, carb solenoid went south short time later taking out the lower engine seal due to gas collecting in sump..this sump is poor in design and the seal should never be the lowest spot. Blade hub bearings were not fitted with gease fittings on manufacture. Granted this is just a generic tractor with John Deere painted on it but with that name people expect better and in all right, should receive a better overall product and at least parts support. Parts support is very poor. I had to do my own warranty repair or lose the moswer for about 30 days due to shop backlog....this should NEVER be a factor an owner should face with service. Though this is a nice unit when in use, the aggrivation in maintaining and cost of blades of poor quality is enough to anger a saint and not to mention the distance most people have to travel to obtain parts if you are lucky enough to have a desler in the area with high enough lawn tractor sales to support parts inventory.

Strengths It's still running after the third season. Cuts well when all blades are new and just been serviced. Holds up better than a Craftsman. Good power.

Weaknesses Too many safty features. Safety features will break and then tractor won't start, then they need to be bypassed {done ourselves} to work. The wheel bearings are week in the front wheels and the deck spindles. Had to replace just about all of them in 2 years. JD service is TOO EXPENSIVE, and they keep it for over a week, sometimes 2. OH, and belts go fast too.

Overall Overall, this is a good tractor for the money. First I should tell you that we have about 5 acres of grass to cut every week, some with steep inclines. We give the lawn tractors a beating. Although, I think the bearings in the deck spindles and the front wheels should hold up better. Have to replace every 1.5 years. Do ourselves because the service time and price is too much at JD dealer. Our last tractor was a JD with only 2+ years and the rings went in the engine. (Kohler 17 hp)Traded it in at the Dealer. Gave us $500. So we upgraded from 42" deck to this 48" deck tractor. So far so good. Our last series of tractors was from Craftsman. Now the craftsman are a real piece of junk and the only thing I could say is for the money, this JD is holding it's own a lot better.

Strengths None

Weaknesses Replaced just about everything on this lawn mower. Dealer sees me weekly needing another part. Transmission and Clutch now need replacing. Over $1,000 to replace these two parts. This lawn mower is a piece of S*!T

Overall Do not purchase this product, you will be sorry.

Strengths None

Weaknesses Everything, this is a hunk of junk. John Deere doesn't care. Dealers don't want to mess with it. I've spent more money in repair parts than I was offered on trade ($250.00) at 6 months. This has got to be one of the worst mowers ever built.

Overall

Strengths Good to set on when its not running. Mowes good when everthings set up right.Goog power going up hill.

Weaknesses My first problem,it would run fine the first 5 min. then it would start miss fireing and loading up.It would do this for 5 to 10 min. back fire and then run the rest of the day just fine.Had no luck with the John Deere dealers. One wouldn't look at it because I didn't buy it off them.The other chaged me $112.00 FOR TWO PLUGS, AND A FUEL FILTER.Got it home and it still runs the same.Had the mower 3 years, replaced blades 3 times. Bearings in the deck, replaced 3 times. Done that myself because the dealer said the bearings couldn't be removed from the housings. Wonted me to buy housing and all.Replaced fuel lines, rubber lines were dry rotted after 2 years. Now having problems with wires pulling out of clutch drive unit.Mower never would back up fast and almost not at all up hill.Front wheel bearings need replaced after two years.

Overall I have a John Deere 420 Dozer and a 40 model tractor that was built in the late 50's. They are great machines. This L-20 is nothing but junk. If this is how John Deere makes machines today and how they teat their customers they wont be around long. I wont buy another piece of equipment from them....

Strengths works well in all aspects. I have about 1 acre lot. it goes up the inclines easy .

Weaknesses needs abbetter oil drain pipe and it is noisy muffler

Overall

Strengths power, looks,starting,(4th season on battery), ease of use,durability, warranty, service, bagger works nice, i can mow for about 3 hours on a tank of gas. This mower has done way more than one should expect of a cheap box tractor. I have pulled trailer fulls of shingles all over the place(at least 1500 pounds)no problem.In thr fall I hook up agri fab leaf machine. when those babies get full they arent light either and I pull that thing over some pretty hilly terrain. I have mow approx 3-4 hours a week this is the 4th season for my business. Its paid for itself at least 4 maybe 5 times. I have replaced the electric pyo clutch (135.00)once at about 210 hours.(unit has 230 hours. Pto switch did go bad under warranty. Backup safety switch for blades went bad but I just snipped the wires and wired them together.(should have done that a long time ago)

Weaknesses really cant think of any . yeah maybe everything about is a weakness compared to jd models that are 2 or 3 times the price but you get what you pay for and this ole girl dont owe me a thing

Overall I'd recommend this mower to anyone that can only afford a 2000 dollar tractor.

Strengths Reliability, Briggs and Stratton engine is a work horse. Hydrostat works flawlessly. Have not even had a belt show any wear after 4 seasons of mowing 2 acre lawn.

Weaknesses Weak battery, will crank dead in cold weather fast.

Overall I have now owned this mower for 4 mowing seasons. It has performed better than ANY mower I have ever owned, and thats alot!

Strengths NONE! The belt kept coming off. After just 83 hours of use and STILL UNDER WARRANTY, the engine bursst into flames-- just hours after being returned from the dealer for it's pre-season blade sharpening and checkup--and yes--another belt replacement

Weaknesses John Deere didn't give a d*** about the fact it burst into flames--my son just managing to get away-and causing THOUSANDS of dollars worth of damage. When a fire totally immolates the machine--the customer can't PROVE a defect--THEY WIN!!!

Overall JOHN DEERE HAS LOUSY CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND my insurance agent says they have MANY MANY JD fires, and JD NEVER steps up to investigate---I wonder what other insurance companies are finding. He feels they are too big to worry about us mere mortals!!!

Strengths I have owned Snapper and Murray. This is the best mower I have ever owned! I just replaced the drive belt in less than 30 minutes.

Weaknesses Frequency of changing blades.

Overall Noting in this price range or size comes close to the L120!