"This mower has had the following issues: - All engine oil disappearing in a period of two days with no sign of leaks - Multiple broken link lifts (so the deck can't be raised) - Deck belt needing replacing multiple times a season - Ignition coil replaced (and the other side had to be fixed because it was installed improperly) - One tire (always the same one) keeps needing to be re-sealed - The safety interlock had to be replaced, because the blades wouldn't stop spinning - The main belt had to be replaced, which necessitated the removal of the steering column -All at once: The brackets holding the deck to the mower snapped, causing another link lift to snap, digging into the ground, and breaking the deck belt. At the same time, something in the electrical system fries and has to be replaced, as it can no longer start. There is also the idiotic design that puts springs on a mower deck that get clogged with debris within minutes, making removing the deck, or even adjusting the anti-scalp wheels, ten times harder than using a linchpin. Or the hood that has to be reinforced because the cheap plastic breaks. Or every little detail that makes it hard to maintain by yourself, without taking it to the dealer."

"I added a review on the X500 at 600 hours and gave John Deere a great review. My opinion of the X500 for power, traction and pulling a load hasn't changed. I have had no problems whatsoever with the engine and transmission. But, that's not the primary reason I bought it... I bought it to mow grass and the 54-inch deck is great. I grease it regularly and have never had to replace a pulley or bearing at the 710 hour point.... But the suspension parts that hold the deck in place are pieces of junk. They are made of bad quality metal according to the dealers, and it fatigues quick. The "eye bolts" have snapped once, the suspension "knob" that holds the eye bolts have sheared off twice now and the parts that take the load of the deck have snapped twice. So for a rating - The tractor and the deck I give 5 stars. All of the downgrades from 5 stars in this rating are for the deck suspension hardware. What good is a mower if it can't mow grass without breaking every 50 hours. Repairs done by dealer.."

"It has a 54 inch deck and I am mowing 3 to 4 acres on a 14 acre homestead with steep inclines in a few places. The maintenance and servicing is done by dad. The lawn mower is driven by family. Mowing is not done at a leisurely pace. It is full out most of the time. Transmission and Oil changes, air filters etc are all done according to the book. The deck is greased frequently and air blown after mowing. It is averaging about 120 hours of mowing per year. Issues: 1. Seat plastic split at the two year point. 2. The anti scalp wheels wear: The ground here isn't "pool table flat". 3. The rods that support front of mower deck: Someone obviously jammed the deck into something and bent the rod (and didn't tell gad). We got a new bracket rod and everything is working well again. 4. Another issue was that the deck couldn't be raised and after disassembling it I found that the bracket weld had busted and wasn't lifting the deck. It had snapped right at the weld point. (defective weld???) This mower has not been treated as a prized possession. It's been put to work every summer. It mows extremely well and covers the property in good time with 54-inch deck. The wheel engagement (orange foot knob) is extremely handy on the hills. I have no doubt that there are very few mowers that could take the abuse that my offspring have thrown at me with this mower. I've seen my neighbors equipment at 600 hours and it all looks ready for recycling. The X500 performs extremely well and the 26 HP Kawasaki engine is performing very well. It is an extremely nice mower with one of the cheapest plastic seats on the market. If they could only add some quality to the plastic seat. "

"The X500 is a well-built reliable John Deere garden tractor. Never had any problems, mows the grass well and performs many other material movement tasks with the use of an attached Johnny Bucket and rear weights. Also pushes a snow plow pretty well. "

"The good: I purchased the X500 along with the 44" snow blower in the Autumn of 2012. I live in Western NY State and when I first tried to use the snow blower, it the PTO belt would come off. I called the dealer on 12/24/12 (Christmas Eve Day) and kudos to them, they sent a mobile mechanic out an hour later. The mechanic found a bracket holding the PTO belt in line was bent & he was able to straighten it out enough for the snow blower to engage. I used the X500 with the snow blower regularly that winter (2012 - 2013) to do my 300' long driveway, which on a fairly steep grade. It worked fantastically and I didn't need chains with the HDAP tires. The engine ran strong and never bogged down, moreover the snow blower never clogged and threw the snow 30'+, even with heavy wet snow. The only issue with snow blowing is the front turf tires have poor traction. Detaching the snow blower in the spring was easy, but I discovered that the PTO belt was damaged because of the defective (bent) bracket. It was later replaced under warranty by the dealer. Mounting the 48" deck was fairly easy, as was leveling it. The deck cut beautifully and is easy to adjust the cutting height, plus detaching it is reasonably easy. Attaching the snowblower last winter was easy and went smoothly. Maintenance is simple and straightforward. The Bad: After using the X500 with the snow blower this past winter 2013-2014, it still performed well (we had 138" of snow). One day near April, as I checked the oil, I noticed a strong smell of gas in it at about 64 hours. I ran some Seafoam through it, then immediately changed the oil and filter. *I always use Startron in my gas. I used the X500 for 3 hours thereafter and checked the oil again. Unfortunately, there was a strong smell of gas again, so I changed the oil and filter for a second time. This time, I used the machine for one hour and checked the oil. Still, there was a strong gas odor in the oil. I contacted the dealer, who replaced the carburetor under warranty as the "actuator needle was defective causing the float to stick open." The dealer was good, except for having the machine for 3 weeks. The dealer also had to change the oil/filter twice to relieve the gas smell in the crank case. After using the X500 for 3 hours, regrettably the gas smell in the oil was still there. I was told by a small engine mechanic to put a gas line shut off valve in the fuel line, turn it off, then run the engine to stop, which I did. I changed the oil/filter and used it for 3 hours and checked the oil, but again there is a strong smell of gas in the oil. I contacted both the service manager and district customer service manager from my area with my dilemma. Both responded that it is "not uncommon" to have gas in the oil and said it is not an issue. In conclusion, the X500 and snow blower attachment work/run well, but the quality issues with bent bracket, plus the carburetor/gas in the oil are upsetting especially with the low number of hours. "

"This mower is an over priced, over-hyped piece of junk. Out of the box, after special ordering this thing from the local Deere dealer it did poor job of just ordinary mowing. Turned out when they installed the mulch kit the blades were replaced backwards. The machine came to me with several major scratches. Sure I'm going to scratch it up soon enough myself, as they reminded me, but when you pay this much for a lawn tractor you would like to have it arrived in good shape. I still, inspite of working this thing pretty hard, have not matched the length and depth of the wounds that it came with. Early operations proved difficult. First, I would not and will not now evenly. Secondly it loved to eat its very expensive belt. Returned it to the dealer under warranty and was told It was in perfect working order. Even though it had less than ten hours, the pricey belt was on me. It continues to eat belts. Only dealer belts are strong enough to hold up for even a short time. The seat is shameful. Split in two places way before its time. This mower replaced a Scotts mower from home depot. The seat on that little beast lasted through its long life, 8 years. It was tarped not garaged like the x 500. It bogs down at the hint of tall grass. Blades are kept super sharp. I bought the X 500 so that I could rototil with it. The sales person could not quote me a price for the tiller before the sale. After the purchase I found that it was cheaper to buy a tiller for my 870 compact tractor than for this little pig. I have gone on too long. Just one more point. It is a gas guzzler. Stay away from the the X500 john Deere garden tractor."

"I replaced a John Deere L100 mower/bagger with this mower so I could mow a rough field a Christmas tree field and a couple of rental homes. It has worked great from the start, no problems whatsoever. I like it handles rough ground well the diff. lock was my reason to buy it. Seems to be relatively easy on gas. I initially had some reserve spending this much on a lawnmower but my neighbor has a John Deere mower that is 21 years old and still working well with a minimum of repairs over the years. I would happily buy one again."

"Just got my first ever John Deere X500 and wow it's a huge leap from what I had before (Craftsman LT1000). It use to take me about 3 hours to mow 2 acres, which consisted of mostly flat but tight turns and some steep slopes, but now I just did it in under an hour. The differential lock has come in handy cause of some softer ground that I use to avoid or haul through but now just push the pedal and go right through no spinning out. The RIO seems to be a pain and I think I'll bypass it as goes for the seat switch too. I can't wait to hook up some attachments and really see what this bad boy can do."

"The mower, looks great, feels great, and runs wonderfully. I put four hours on the mower and the 12.5 volt battery died. The 48" deck cuts very nice for my taste. However, in a foot and half (maybe 2 or three feet in some cases) grass/weeds the mower can struggle and I need to slow down some. I had a JD 317 with less horse power, but 15cc more than my x500. That 317 seemed to perform better in those situations (high weeds). I'm not sure if the difference in the cc accounts for the performance or not? The plastic cover has already cracked since I accidentally hit a steel piece of metal on the end of a farm wagon. I used some epoxy to stop the cracking on the hood. I've mowed in the dark, the lights give plenty of illumination. The traction while locking the wheels (differential lock) is wonderful. This has become a very welcome assist! The "safety" which cuts out the blades while in reverse is annoying. However, disabling that "feature/bug" is fairly simple. "

"Overall it's a good machine. It has the necessary power and abilities to do most of what I want it to do, but the lack of a decent sleeve hitch (the JD version is manual and thus undesirable, the Hayes is no longer made, and the Johnny Products is a universal rather than made specifically for the X500) makes it extremely difficult to take full advantage of those abilities. It should come standard with a linear actuated sleeve hitch or at the very least have one available as an upgrade. Otherwise it's just an overpowered lawn mower. Though I couldn't justify the cost at the time, in hindsight I wish I had just bought a used JD 2305 or Kubota BX."