It seems like the manual transmissions are only in the cheaper mowers which may be good or bad. Are manual transmissions in riding mowers like real manual transmissions? What I really want is something that will actually restrict the tire rotation when going down a steep hill. I want to say a hydrostatic will do that but I'm also a little afraid of how a hydrostatic will hold up when subjected to steep hills. I'm not looking to buy the cheapest mower out there but I don't want to spend $3k either.

I had a CVT transmission and when the mower got moving faster than the transmission could takeit , it would just free wheel and I'd go flying down the hill out of control.