GardenTooly answers practical questions about lawn mowers, zero-turns, riding mowers, UTVs and ATVs, snowblowers, fuel, and lawn and garden care. This page explains how those answers are put together, what they are based on, and what happens when one turns out to be wrong.
Who writes GardenTooly
GardenTooly is written by a small team under pen names, one name for each job: Jeff Mercer is the name on our mower and small-engine guides. None of us is a certified small-engine technician, an engineer or a lawyer, and the site never presents anyone as one. Every post is reviewed against this policy when it is updated.
What an answer is based on
- Manufacturer information. Owner’s manuals, service specifications, torque values, fluid types and maintenance intervals published by the equipment and engine makers. Where a published figure exists, it is the answer, and the post says so.
- No hands-on claims. A post never says a repair was done or a machine was used unless it was.
- Owner reports, described as reports. Problems that owners of a model report again and again are useful, and they are presented as reported patterns, not as test results.
- Official sources for safety and legal questions. Fuel handling, emissions rules and product recalls change over time; posts point to the official source for what to check.
Accuracy rules
- No invented numbers. If a figure can’t be confirmed, the post tells you where to find it for your model instead of guessing.
- No invented studies or statistics. GardenTooly doesn’t quote research it can’t point to.
- No pretend testing. Nothing is described as tested or measured unless it was.
- Safety is stated plainly. Blades, fuel systems, raised machines and transmissions come with clear precautions, and a clear “have a shop do it” where that’s the right call.
Images
Many images on GardenTooly are illustrative: they are made to show a machine, a part or a technique clearly, and they are not photographs of a specific machine anyone on the team owns or a product the site claims to have tested.
Updates and corrections
Posts are reviewed and rewritten as models, specifications and better information change. When a post is substantially revised, its updated date changes with it.
If you find an error, email [email protected] with the page and what’s wrong. Corrections are checked first and, when confirmed, the post is fixed.
Independence
GardenTooly is funded by advertising and may earn commissions from affiliate links. No free product buys a recommendation, a commission never changes an answer, and a post a brand paid for, or one with a brand’s paid link to its product, says so in its first line. See the disclosure page.