2013 Troy-Bilt Pony 42 in 17.5 hp Lawn Tractor Model 13WN77KS011 Review

This is the least expensive TROY-BILT PONY you can buy. Lowes sells a ton of these but before you buy I want you to be sure it is the mower for you. It features a good 42 inch deck, a 17.5 hp B&S engine, and an easy to use 7 speed shift-on-the-go transmission. For a basic, no frills mower, it has a very good reputation. This mower can be equipped with a bagger, mulch kit and will pull a small yard cart!

Is this the right lawn tractor for you? Please read this entire review before you buy this tractor. I am going to spend some time and go over this mower completely. This mower is a great value but it is not for everyone.

Is this the right mower for you? The positive:

If you just want an inexpensive mower and you have a flat lawn about 1/2 to 1 acre, this tractor will do the job. This mower does not have special features. It is just a good, basic lawn tractor. It does not have anti-scalp wheels on the deck and it does not have a deluxe seat. If you have a flat lawn without a lot of trees and other landscape features to mow around this may be a good choice for you. This tractor will mow up to 1 acres an hour.

Most owners today prefer a tractor with a hydrostatic transmission: A “hydro” is easier to shift and saves you time when mowing around many obstructions. If your lawn does not require you to change speeds or back up a lot though the 7 speed shift-on-the-go transmission is a lot easier to use than the manual transmission in your old mower. You don’t need to use the clutch when shifting up. In other words when you shift from 1st to 2nd to 3rd you just move the dash mounted shift lever. When you want to use a slower gear or stop then you have to use the clutch. The transmission also has a “shuttle.” If you want to back up just depress the clutch and move the fender mounted lever from “F” to “R” and the mower backs up at the same speed as you were going forward. This is a nice feature that really improves the maneuverability over the older manual transmissions.

– You can use a 2 bin bagger on this mower. Many mowers in this price range do not accept a bagger.

Is this the right mower for you? The negative:

– This mower is a great value, but it is not for everyone. It is designed to primarily mow lawns. If you need a rider that will pull a heavy yard cart, sweeper or ground engaging attachments look at a different tractor.

– The specifications state it will mow from 1 to 4 inches, but in reality it will only mow up to about 3 1/4 inches. If you like a thick, lush lawn and mow high this mower will not mow high enough for you. If you install a mulch kit this mower may not mow high enough for you to get the best cut.

– If your lawn is very rough this mower does not have anti-scalp wheels on the deck. There are no after-market wheels available.

– This model has very basic tires. If you have a lot of sticks and other debris you mow over or if you need all the traction you can get because you are mowing slopes look at a different mower.

Drobo S Review (USB 3.0, 2nd Generation)

This is a review of the new Drobo S second generation 5-bay storage array by Data Robotics. Although the Drobo S is officially known as the 2nd generation unit, my PC recognized it as a 3rd generation Drobo S, so I’m not sure what I should call it. I guess I will simply call it the “new Drobo S” for this review. There are several reasons why I decided to write this review. First of all, Drobo products are gaining more and more popularity among photographers and in many cases are becoming a part of their workflow. While some well-known photographers have already endorsed Drobo as a photo storage solution, I wanted to see exactly how fast and reliable this unit is for storing photographs, compared to internal and much cheaper single/dual disk external storage. Second, I have been working with some of the best DAS/NAS/SAN storage solutions during the last 5 years (from small business to enterprise-level storage solutions like EMC Clariion) and having a pretty good idea on what to expect from a storage array, I wanted to see what Drobo has to offer compared to other similar products like Netgear ReadyNAS Pro. Lastly, I wanted to test and see how well the new Drobo S works with the latest technologies like USB 3.0 and how the new eSATA port performs in comparison. I will do my best to make this review as objective as possible, with plenty of data and screenshots to back up my words.
1) Introduction to Drobo S

Drobo S is a 5-bay Directly Attached Storage (DAS) device developed by Data Robotics, targeted at “creative pros, photographers, videographers, small office/home office”, as stated on their website. While designed with simplicity and reliability in mind, the Drobo S uses a fairly complex, proprietary “BeyondRAID” technology with a single or dual drive redundancy, which means that your data would be safe even if two drives were to fail at the same time, as long as dual drive redundancy was enabled before drives failed. On top of that, “BeyondRAID” has some great features like mixed drive size utilization, which allows mixing any size SATA hard drives, and instant expansion, which allows users to insert additional drives when more storage is needed. Traditional RAID technologies such as RAID 5 and RAID 6 have certain limitations and do not provide as much storage as BeyondRAID, especially when mixing small and large hard drives of various sizes. Lastly, the self-managing and self-healing features of the Drobo family are very attractive – if a drive experiences a failure such as a bad block, the system switches to a “self-healing” mode, where it will try to work around bad sectors and return to normal state. During such failures, the system will blink with red lights in front of the unit and will prompt you with warnings (through Drobo Dashboard), indicating which drive must be replaced. Drobo S also proactively monitors the amount of free space available on the unit. If you get to near full capacity, Drobo S will notify you through lights and its dashboard software.

In short, the Drobo S is a single large storage unit that is designed to consolidate your data into one place, or serve as a backup device to store data from multiple machines on your home or office network.

A Guide to Trail Camera Features

Low Glow, No Glow, Hyper Burst, ARD, Freeze Frame Shutter, the list goes on and on. And if you’re in the market for a new trail camera it is important to understand what these terms mean, which features you need and which are largely just “niceties”. Here we go.

Trail Camera Flashes

Perhaps the most highly debated feature of a MOULTRIE ALL IN ONE TIMER KIT is the type of flash it emits once it is triggered. Different flash options are available and choosing which is best really boils down to your opinion on how mature bucks react to a camera flash. We recently had some opinions on how different flashes can spook bucks. Aside from that debate, the following flash options are available.

No-Glow Flash

Cameras with a “no-glow” flash feature are equipped with black LED’s which are totally invisible to not only game animals but humans as well. It should be noted that all images captured at night with this option will be black and white.

As a side note MOULTRIE ALL IN ONE TIMER KIT with no-glow flash are a favorite of ours, especially when placed in sensitive areas. The flash range might not be as long as other camera flashes but that usually isn't as big of an issue as making deer aware of your camera.

Low-Glow Flash

This feature will emit a visible flash but it will be drastically reduced. Most often the color will be a faint red glow. If you don’t wish to pay for the no-glow feature then this is a good alternative. Nighttime images will also be black and white.

White-Flash

While white-flash MOULTRIE ALL IN ONE TIMER KIT have come a long way, I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining what this feature is. All images will be color; night or day. They might provide the best photos but they are going to scare your deer to the next county. We are joking... a little bit.

Some trail cameras are easier to operate than others. The Primos camera that took this photo is drop-dead simple to operate. Just turn it on and go.

With regard to flash options it should be noted that you can expect night pictures to be darker and grainier when using “No-Glow” as opposed to the standard “White-Flash”. Also, flash range will differ when comparing no-glow, red glow (low-glow) and standard flash trail cameras. Typically the white-flash will fare better due to its ability to light up the forest at a further distance.

In addition, the number of LED’s your trail camera of choice boasts should be considered. Basically, there is a direct relationship between the number of LED's and flash range. Cameras that carry a larger number of infrared LED's will most often have more illumination than cameras that have fewer LED's.

Trail Camera Megapixels

Buyers should pay close attention to megapixel numbers. In short, simply because a company touts high numbers doesn’t necessarily mean your images will be high quality. The reason is simple. Megapixels mean nothing if the lens quality of the camera is low. The easiest way to determine real-world image quality is to look at real world images. This can be accomplished on company websites, talk forums or other social media outlets. Do your research.

Camera Capture Modes

When it comes to capturing images your trail camera can do it in two ways; still-photos and video. Still photos are great. However, the advantages to having a video option is that with video the user has the opportunity to actually glimpse into the game animals world (for a minute or so) and watch how they behave. Quite often this can reveal more info than a single image frozen in time. 

Historically, trail camera users have had to choose between capturing a still image or a short video clip. However, companies such as Bushnell now offer cameras that can actually capture both varieties simultaneously giving you the best of both worlds.

Trigger Speed

Trigger speed or trigger time is essentially how long it takes a camera to snap a picture once a subject like a deer is seen. Trigger speed is a very important feature no doubt and can be the difference between seeing, or not seeing, particular bucks. However, it may not necessarily be the most important feature on a camera that is placed over a food plot or corn pile because deer are expected to be in the area for several minutes before moving on. This gives a camera with a slow trigger speed more time to “wake up” and capture an image. 

How Can Customer Reviews Help Small Business?

Customer reviews are a valuable assessment when it comes to seeing how well your business is currently performing. Try not to consider a review as something that is going to give your business a bad name; a negative review from time to time can actually help your business improve its standards. Whether it’s online or in print form, reviews are going to happen, and inevitably, your business will be reviewed at some point too.



Rather than avoiding reviews like the plague, Guy Arnold, an employer expert, believes that a business should relish reviews and collect them. This is because reviews can be used as a sign post for any company looking to validate the product or service they’re trying to sell. For example, when somebody uses Amazon, they are likely to read the reviews section for advice on the product; for Arnold, this is what’s known as the ‘buying signal’ for potential customers.

Social media and Trip Advisor are both crucial when ensuring your reviews are positively recognised by the public. Generate greater interest in your business when someone Tweets about it by retweeting that tweet and liking it. By doing so, people who wouldn’t usually recognise your brand are being exposed to your good product or service. Trip Advisor is particularly good if you want your business recognised nationally or internationally if you include more than one language on your page. Keeping your profile up to date, with your most recent picture included, is a good way of appealing to new customers on a regular basis.

5 Tips for Business Owners Applying for a First Mortgage

Business owners face a number of challenges when applying for their first mortgage. They lack the clear process of income verification that many employers provide, and they don’t have the same consistent income someone with a job does. Underwriting processes often penalize small business owners for that very reason with higher interest rates while other institutions simply say no to their business. Here are five tips for business owners applying for a first mortgage.

1. Disclose Everything

If you are an employee of a company and own a stake in it as an original founder, you need to disclose this when applying for a mortgage. You should know your ownership stake in the business. If you own a quarter or more of the company, you will need to file a corporate tax return as part of your mortgage income. The profits and losses of the company could affect your mortgage application, but failing to disclose this information (which lenders can easily find out) risks lenders tossing out the application.

2. Secure Proof before Applying

When you work for someone else, your W-2 is proof of your income. Depending on the employer, human resources could verify the loan applicant’s income. What can a small business owner do to provide similar income verification? A letter from a Certified Public Accountant or enrolled agent proving your income is almost as good with most mortgage lenders, while two years of business tax returns and personal tax returns are proof of your income. For skilled tradesmen, bond insurance policies can be used as proof of self-employment.

3 Surefire Strategies for Super Selling

Marketing is one of the real key parts of running any business, and as a business owner you need to be aware of what your strategy is and how you approach the subject. With a proper focus on your marketing, there is really nothing that your business cannot achieve, and that is well worth bearing in mind. However, it is often difficult to know exactly what it is that marketing needs to look like in order to work at its best, or how it needs to operate. In this article, we are going to go through three of the most important strategies to bear in mind when you are designing your marketing. Follow this advice, and your sales should go through the roof in no time.

Bolder, the Better

Basically, being bold is the brunt of the game. As long as you are presenting yourself, your business and your products and services in a bold and engaging way, you are producing the kind of marketing that really sells. We all know this, and yet marketing is so often tricky, and hard to pin down. Being bold is much easier said than done; the trick really is to just do it. Experiment with it, see what works for you. If you find that hoisting up banners from www.selbys.net does the job, then go for that and stick with it. Or if you are looking to make a website that shows off with strong testimonials on the front page, give that a go. Whatever you do, do it with full effort and you can’t fail but make some kind of impression on someone. With any luck, you will make that impression on many people.