Best entry level riding mower?

This is my opinion. Any Entry level riding mower like you are considering will be all about the same. I have owned several of them to flip and I have learned that they are all basically the same machine with different paint. The engines are pretty well all Brigggs. The frames are the same. The decks are pretty well the same and even the transmissions are close to being the same. They are all not completely identical but you get my point.

I have owned 2 Poulan Pros and I originally thought that they were junk but later realized that they are just Husquvarna machines branded as Poulan. They were good machines that cut just fine for me. I have not had much experience with MTD though. I did have a super old MTD that was a piece of crap so I got rid of that, but that was super old so that does not count.

I think that you will be happy with whatever rider you get. The only real differences will be whether or not it will be manual transmission or automatic hydro tranny. Then there is the cutting width. With the width I am a believer that the wider you go with those decks the less quality of cut you get. More room for error with deck and contour of land.

IF you can stomach the money for a automatic hydro tranny then get that. They are much better and easier to use.