1/3 acre of thick fescue, budget around $300. What gas self-propelled are you guys running?

So I just closed on a place in Cedar Park last month, about 1/3 acre, mostly tall fescue. Previous owner clearly let it go for a while cause the grass is thick and uneven all over, some spots are easily 6-7 inches tall.

Been pushing my dad's old 20 inch push mower and my legs are DEAD after every cut. The fescue is so thick that the push mower just bogs down in the dense patches and I have to go over everything twice. Need to upgrade to a self-propelled, budget is around $300 give or take. Gas, not battery, I don't wanna deal with chargers and runtime stuff.

So far I've been looking at the Toro Recycler, Craftsman M220, Yardmax, and the SENIX model on Amazon, but after staring at spec sheets for a couple of nights they all start looking the same. Toro is the one my dad swears by but the self-propelled recycler is closer to $400 which is above what I wanted to spend.

Anybody running one of these on thick fescue? Just want something that'll get through it without me having to double-pass every strip.