Zero turn mower reviews

[Justin Ludwig]

I got to mow my place with a friend's 60" BadBoy last night to see just how economical one would be. Now I feel like a kid in a candy store.

I'll need an extra write-off this year as 3 cabinet jobs paid after Dec 31. So the wife is allowing me to buy one, FINALLY!

A 60" deck would be nice, but we're setting the budget cap close to $4k. Do any of you have a ZT around that mark? Give me a review of your mower if you do, please. I'm not brand loyal yet - I'm quality/durability loyal.

I take very good care of my equipment, but I don't want something I'll have to replace pumps or spindles on in a few years. My current 42" Lawn Chief was free (hand me down from a friend) and I've made it last 10 years - and it's still going. I mow about 2 acres of my place and it's moderately hilly and fairly rough in spots, but I keep the rocks cleared.

[Ole Anderson]

Just curious, how is buying a ZT a write off?

By the way I have a JD Z425 and am happy with it. Went with the 48" version due to storage space in my garage, and my lawn really isn't all that large. My son has a Cadet and has driven both and says mine is twice as fast. I am thinking something is wrong with his.

[Brad Adams]

You have to have equipment to mow around the shop. Easy tax write off. As for the zero turn, I would stay away from it if your terrain is hilly. I struggled with a Dixon for two years on my hills, before trading it in on a lawn tractor. The zero turns are miserable if your hills have any slope to them. I would try one out first before you commit to buying one.

[Jerome Stanek]

You have to have equipment to mow around the shop. Easy tax write off. As for the zero turn, I would stay away from it if your terrain is hilly. I struggled with a Dixon for two years on my hills, before trading it in on a lawn tractor. The zero turns are miserable if your hills have any slope to them. I would try one out first before you commit to buying one.

I have a Dixon that handles hills very well the first one was to small for hills but the newer bigger ones are nice. I like the Exmark units but they are a little pricey. I did trade show display for Exmark and saw most of the brands out there and I would look at the Badboy mowers.

[Mike Lassiter]

I have a Kubota ZD331 with 60" deck. Excellent machine! I think we've had it going on 7 years now. Paid around $12K for it new with zero percent financing. The "D" means diesel engine, 31 hp - it's a beast. I was working 12-16 hours a day and mowing constantly was getting away from me. I have a tractor with a 6' bushhog also but trees, lots of trees make it slower than something with a smaller deck that is faster and more maneuverable. I mow about 5.5 acres at my house and more on rental property and farm (bushhog there mostly). The mower cut mowing the field above our yard from 2-1/2 hours or so to 1-1/2 hours. Seat made of material that your butt seems to stick to. What I mean is I have some fairly steep slopes going by roadside on field and so forth that machine is tilted enough that when I mowed with riding mower you would slide to the down hill side of the seat and kind of have to brace yourself to stay seated. The seat has arm rest that raise up (keep mine that way) and the material really holds you in place so you aren't sliding from side to side while mowing. A Cadet mower I used at previous work and a very slick seat cover that I disliked a lot after running my mower. Maybe too much for what you need, but smaller engines hp's are available. The only thing I have that to do so far is replace the blades and change fuel filters. The ZD331 comes with run flat front tires and wide rear tires - machine weight a bit over 1700 lbs. It DOESN'T like muddy ground. I got stuck in it twice the day I got it trying to mow my yard a couple of days after a good rain. Too heavy to push, had to pull it with the tractor....

[Lee Schierer]

Where I used to work, they had a zero turn mower. You could see the divots left by the non-turning wheel at each place it turned.

[Matt Meiser]

$4K won't get you a new commercial grade machine. You need to spend about triple, including the pretty-much-not-optional MowJack for accessing blades (unless you get a Kubota which has one built in) and a couple sets of good quality blades so you can rotate fresh ones on regularly. I bought a Husqvarna because I like and trust the dealer but first I price shopped in my area a little and I wasn't going to save much buy buying something from a small-time dealer. The other decent size dealers carried Dixon which is Husky painted blue, and Scag.

I sold mine to the guy who bought my house since I wouldn't have even been able to fit it through the gate at my new house. I took it in for the scheduled valve adjustment and they replaced the spindle bearings under warranty just because one of their commercial accounts had a bearing go bad. He said he thought he heard a noise in one of mine but couldn't pinpoint it One of their accounts also hit a manhole cover that was sticking up which made a mess of the blade but that was it. I don't plan to own enough yard to need one again, but if I did I'd buy another in a hearbeat.

Regarding blades, I found the Oregon Gator G6 blades to be outstanding. Our sandy, rough yard was hard on blades and these took a beating with lots of meat for lots of resharpenings.

The divots are caused by an unskilled operator. The trick is to turn by getting one wheel going forward and the other backward. It takes some practice and skill (one I never mastered.)

[Justin Ludwig]

You have to have equipment to mow around the shop. Easy tax write off. As for the zero turn, I would stay away from it if your terrain is hilly. I struggled with a Dixon for two years on my hills, before trading it in on a lawn tractor. The zero turns are miserable if your hills have any slope to them. I would try one out first before you commit to buying one.

The BadBoy handled the hills just fine.

I don't need a commercial grade machine as I'll only be mowing my place and around the shop and FIL's gardens. I mow about 2.5acres with LOTS of trees, old White Oaks and Hickory and ornamentals. FIL's place is another couple acres. What usually takes me 4-5hrs on the old mower took me 1.5hrs last night.

[Wayne Lovell]

I have had a ExMark for about a year and love it. It is a 54 inch, I considered a 60 inch but gates were a problem. I did a lot of research on line and then went with my most reliable method, when I went to Dallas to see the grand kids I looked for which brand was most common on the lawn service trailers (I think there must be a law in the Dallas area against mowing your own lawn) Exmark was the most common followed by Scag. We have a local dealer who has both and I was able to try each of them. The Exmark was about 1K less but the deciding factor was that you sit real low on the Scag (like sitting on the floor), I am 72 and have back problems and don't thing it is going to get any easier to get up as I get older. My Exmark was about 5K.

[Ole Anderson]

Ah, write off for a commercial shop, got it.

My JD Z425 was $4k with the bagging attachment about 5 years ago.

I have the turns mastered, I do a K turn, my problem is around the trees where the wheels track the same each mow, it tends to wear a track in the grass.

[Scott Hearn]

Check these out. They have fabricated decks and good engines, they are a good step up from the normal box store models and the box stores have them sometimes.

http://www.hustlerturf.com/

Edit to add: The 42" model that I'm looking at is about $2800 while the 52" is only a couple hundred more. Lowes has them on their website.

[Dave Lehnert]

I own and like my 19 hp, 52" Toro ZTR. I can get any part through my dealer in one or two days. 7ga fabricated deck.
Purchased it in 2007. It is called an Toro Z400 Estate Mower. Built to commercial standards but on a smaller frame for home owners with a lot to mow. In my case 2 1/2 acres. $5,699 in 2007
I am a Kawasaki engine fan. This is my second mower never a problem. First mower was 15 or 20 years old and engine ran like new. A friend has an old walk behind with a Kawasaki and I believe it is 20 or 25 years old.
Kawasaki engines put out more torque so they will be a little less HP than the same mower with different brand engine.
I noticed the other day Home Depot has new Toro ZTR on display with a fabricated deck. I believe in your price range. May want to check it out.

* Just checked out HD web site. The one I saw in store is $3,999. My mower has separate wheel motors and pumps. This model has a hydrostatic transmissions.
I would look at a Toro Dealer and see what they have.

[Dave Lehnert]

Check these out. They have fabricated decks and good engines, they are a good step up from the normal box store models and the box stores have them sometimes.

http://www.hustlerturf.com/

Edit to add: The 42" model that I'm looking at is about $2800 while the 52" is only a couple hundred more. Lowes has them on their website.

+ 1 on the Hustler. They are well liked ZTR on Lawn forums. It was on top of my list but local dealer was no good. They had brand new ztr's with weeds growing up through them 3 ft tall. They went out of business a short time later.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I had a Walker which was a good machine. They best thing about it was that everything was rebuildable, and superb quality. Would recommend a used one, the new ones are quite expensive.

[Justin Ludwig]

Thanks for the replies. I'm still reading up. My area has a Toro, Bushhog, BadBoy, Exmark, and another brand I can't remember at a Yahama ATV dealership. I'm not limited on choices.