If a public high school in the USA has a shop class, they often refurbish old mowers and sell them at a nominal price.

I manage some large properties and have to use a push mower on the grass I can't hit with the tractor. I buy a piece of crap mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine for close to a hundred bucks at Home Depot, and even though I change the oil and keep it inside, in a couple of years it's toast. I buy that type of mower primarily because it is light. I have to push it a long distance and move it in and out of a truck, A heavy, well made mower will wear you out unless it has traction, and that is just a pain in the butt. Another thing to break.