Ok, mowed twice so far with the new mower - it's been raining every other day since I got it. First time, couldn't do the whole yard - too many flood areas with water still standing but I was mowing 5-6 inch grass down to 2 3/4 inch. With my old set up it would have been about a 4 hour job over probably 2 days using about 5-6 gallons of gas, with the new mower, it was 1 hour 45 minutes and about 4.5 gallons of gas. Second time mowing I was able to do the whole yard but had to stop 3 different times for sticks, and people stopping by (which is odd since I rarely get any company stopping by - must have been the mower - hahaha), anyway......mowed 4-5 inch grass down to 2 3/4 inch, old set up would have taken 2-2 1/2 hours and about 4-5 gallons of gas, new set up took 1 hour 35 minutes and 3 1/2 gallons of gas. Cool thing is, I can also wait longer in between mowings. Used to during a rainy spring I would have to mow every 4 or 5 days to keep up with it, now I can go almost 2 weeks between mowings if I need to and I don't have to worry about being hard on the mower or mowing every day for a week to get caught up. It'll take all summer to get everything set up on the mower (adjustments everywhere - 3 way sticks, 4 way seat, 4 position shocks, etc.) and get the trees trimmed up high enough so I can go under them easier. Very happy with it so far though - it flies and the motor never stutters no matter how fast I go or how tall the grass seems to be. Should save me a lot of time and gas in the long run.
Thanks again to everyone for their input, advice, opinions, etc. Later.