Craftsman Push Mower, Briggs & Stratton Engine. June 21, 2011
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I opened the box, pulled out the unit, put the oil in the motor, filled the gas tank with gas, primed it, and with a second pull the motor started up. I used it only once sofar and it has done an excellent job. I am very happy with this purchase. An excellent choice who would not mind a little effortless push

Only thing missing: someone to push the darn thing! August 27, 2010
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I've had it for 2 years, and it works fine.  Starts promptly, mows without bogging down.  Other reviews say "no oil drain plug," but mine has one.  Easy to assemble.

Craftsman 5.5 gets the job done smooth on small lawns August 25, 2010
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This mower is the epitome of a strong running inexpensive push mower. Not many features as one would expect for 149.99 in store but this thing should last a generation with proper care.

Usually you get what you pay for... In this case-I got far less August 13, 2010
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Junk - or maybe mine was defective.  Very unusually bad quality in my experience.  We have a lot of beds around the house and a very big yard.  The wife wanted to help (and get some exercise in the process) by using a no-frills push mower to do spots my big ********** struggles with.  For the price this looked pretty nice.  But here's the deal...

- No conventional carburetor.  Because there's no bowl, you have to prime the carb with a plunger/primer.  Not a big deal, but what a cheap way to go, I thought. 

- As is the case with many small engines these days, there's no choke, no throttle and no way to adjust anything except spark gap.  Infuriating when there's a problem.

- No oil drain plug - and no easy way to get it out without major spillage of oil and gas.  You gotta be kidding me.

- First time use was great...  Wife loved it.  She put about an hour on it.

- I gassed it up for its second use and it wouldn't run.  Pumped the primer and the engine fired but couldn't sustain itself without more priming.  Pulled the air filter and it was covered in oil, obviously from the factory.  Cleaned the foam air filter and tried again. No joy. Tried ether starting fluid.  No joy.  After about 50 pulls, I noticed that black oil was leaking from the exhaust port area - no idea where that came from.  Checked the spark plug and was surprised to not see it drenched in fluid (oil or gas) - gap was perfect.  Checked the oil and its level was fine.  Drained the gas and added new gas from a different container.  No joy.  Loaded it in the truck and headed back to Sears.

This is an extremely low quality mower built to last one or two seasons, IMHO.  The Briggs engine caries the "Silver" standard - other Craftsman mowers have Gold and Platinum.  Since the selection of low end mowers is so poor, I bought the same model with the Gold engine at the urging of the sales person.  He said they've never had a problem with the Gold but see SIlvers returned a lot.  Caveat Emptor.  I've successfully re-started the new one several times (same gas as was used in the old one) and it starts easily and runs well.  Has an oil drain plug and a "real" carburetor.  I'll review it after we've got a few more hours on it.

My wife thought I was nuts buying another Craftsman (not even sure if MTD still makes these).  I did because I respect Sears' return policies and willingness to work with you in cases like these.  Sure hope someone in Purchasing reviews stuff like this.  Sad to let something like this tarnish your reputation.

Usually you get what you pay for... In this case - I got far less.