Best Zero Turn Mower?

 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 5:03 pm

Mulching is not good unless you cut very frequently. I never mulch or even own the attachment and cut an acre plus in 45 minutes. no clippings are visible. the machine blows a tornado and really spreads the clippings. It even works very well as a leaf blower.

For a very fine lawn I don't doubt that what you say about bagging is true, but most of us don't have that kind of lawn or care to go crazy trying to achieve it. It still looks great after a cut as long as you are not too close. I drive by great looking lawns all the time and none are what would be called fine lawns and I have yet to see anyone bagging.

Some of the commercial machines probably do have higher blade speeds along with higher horsepower and heavier duty bearings but for a home owner I don't think they make economic sense. You can buy 3 or 4 machines for the price of one heavy duty machine. Bottom of the line machines are about the same price they were 30 years ago and they are much better machines with bigger decks, and much higher power.


 
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Post by dcrane » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 5:14 pm

I agree with Franco that for most tiny lawns a craftsmen is fine and you can be like 20 million others with your white picket fence... BUT...If your Smitty from NepaCrossroads you want to ride home on your Road King yell out to the lil woman to grab you a beer and have lawn done and your boots kicked up on the front porch before she arrives with the Bud :lol:

 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 5:44 pm

If you want to cut foot high wet grass then I agree with you. Most cut 2 acres or less which I don't consider tiny. If on the other hand you want to cut really big then there is not much better than the 15 foot Toro for getting done in a hurry.

 
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Post by dcrane » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 7:29 pm

Opps, I made mistake... the Walker is $18,000 new
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Smitty!!!! go buy that damb machine for $3,500 :clap: Its the bargain of the century! Then come back on here tell these guys they all on crak :mad:

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 9:06 pm

:funny: :funny: :funny:

Only problem is, I've got to sell my J/D first - don't have the cash for it at the moment ... and as luck will most certainly have it, it'll be long gone by the time I do.

Only reason I want one of these things is so I can get done FAST, and with ZERO lawn care besides the mow. This lawn is over 100 years old. I couldn't kill it if I wanted to ... and I've had that thought cross my mind a time or two ... :D I definitely won't mulch, no way in hell I will thatch, and this damn lawn grows like a weed WITHOUT fertilizer - who the hell needs that stuff??? :lol:

With the 54" deck and the powerflow, it takes me an hour to mow, but only if the grass is dry. I always wait until the grass is at least 6" long, so if there's any moisture whatsever, that hour turns into 1.5 .. or worst case even 2 .. but I usually give up at that stage because I start beating on the mower. Bagging is a pain in the ass, but it works here, and has for the past 10 years.

I figure if I spend some dough on a commercial unit, that will be the last one I'll ever need to buy.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 9:11 pm

Smitty, why is bagging so important for you? I mow my lawn at 3" and have never run a bagger. :confused:

 
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 9:18 pm

I tried without the bagger the first year we were here. With yellow strips of dead grass, the lawn looked like hell, and then made the NEXT mow even worse. It would probably work if I kept on it, mowing twice a week, but I'm not that motivated - got 10,000 other things to do besides deal with the lawn.

It looks like a rich man's lawn bagging. 8-)


 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 10:07 pm

Looks damn nice. With all those trees a zero turn would be best. With side discharge you should only have to cut in less than a week when we get all this rain and not too hot. When the hot dry comes the grass grows little. It also helps with a good strong discharge from the mower and cutting dry. Bagging would drive me crazy and take twice as long.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jun. 11, 2013 10:15 pm

SMITTY wrote:I tried without the bagger the first year we were here. With yellow strips of dead grass, the lawn looked like hell, and then made the NEXT mow even worse. It would probably work if I kept on it, mowing twice a week, but I'm not that motivated - got 10,000 other things to do besides deal with the lawn.

It looks like a rich man's lawn bagging. 8-)
If you get a mower that discharges the clippings better, you might not have to run the bagger. :idea:

 
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Post by dcrane » Wed. Jun. 12, 2013 5:55 am

whow smit, that's a great yard! :shock: Its looks like fruit tree's to left, dogwoods in center and blueberry to right? Your lucky not to have pine tree's but rather oak and birch lining the yard (pine needles reek havoc on most mowers and fill stuff fast). 48 inch deck on the Walker will be fine for you and you will be able clear up in and around the blueberries no problem as well as make an area to the far right for your compost/dump area drive by's (it would be ideal if you had an area that was low like a trench, depression, cliff), probably 3 dumps each time you mow that area in the photo taking a total of about 8.7 seconds off your mow time. Id be surprised if it took more then a total of 15-20 minutes with 48 inch deck on a Walker to do that entire yard including the area to left that appears not to be mowed (a landscaper would charge about $50.00-$60.00 each time he mowed that). If you have a chance when your driving around look for those Yellow Walkers on landscape trailers at someone's house and stop and watch them do a yard, some landscapers have 2 of them Buzzing & Zingging around like lil' racer bee's and then....Zoooom drive em' right up on the trailer and gone! Its amazing to watch how fast these mow if you never seen them in action (it almost appears like there riding lil' yellow go-carts around and they are about as fun also :P ) The trick is to become proficient at the turns with them (after some time you will learn at how rapidly your able to make the swings at each end of the lawn... to fast will leave a tear up mark, I now make a HUGE spiral so I can keep the thing pegged out till im done, but most like those checkerboard line looks or diamond patterns :lol: Either way you wont regret owning one of these formula one racers ;)

 
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Jun. 12, 2013 8:48 pm

Too bad you guys live so far away...I would love to do half of that lawn with my setup and see how it compares to the bagged side. I mow a tad over 4 acres...I can't imagine how many times I would have to empty a bagger. I normally mow the lawn once per week, but with all the rain lately that has been tough. The John Deere units have their shortcomings, but the deck is fantastic. It moves a lot of air and does a great job of dispersing the clippings.

Image

 
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Post by dcrane » Wed. Jun. 12, 2013 9:07 pm

we call that a field up here :lol: but holy cow what a nice field you have :shock:
Ive got the perfect mower for you!
hay mower.jpg
.JPG | 8.8KB | hay mower.jpg

 
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Post by freetown fred » Wed. Jun. 12, 2013 9:23 pm

Damn Doug, over here we call THAT a trimmer:)--nice riggin

 
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Post by dcrane » Wed. Jun. 12, 2013 9:38 pm

freetown fred wrote:Damn Doug, over here we call THAT a trimmer:)--nice riggin
:lol: :lol: :lol:

 
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Post by SMITTY » Fri. Jun. 14, 2013 4:00 pm

Dcrane those are apple trees in the center, to the left is a pear tree ... and behind that are some peach trees, more apple trees, and a dark pear tree (bad with names ... :roll: ). Blueberry bushes are to the far right in the back as well. Plus a mammoth Christmas tree. :D Lots of things to mow around. I also probably do 100 3-point turns to get that striping look to the lawn. I know I could cut the time in half easily with a zero turn.

I've got probably 2 acres of grass - maybe more, maybe less. There's a good chunk of our property that is in the woods, so I subtracted that from the total size.

We get TONS of oak leaves in the fall from every direction. Makes a mess. The bagger sucks them up like I giant vacuum. Sucks emptying the bags 200 times, but sure beats raking. :)

I didn't realize the power those zero turn decks have - Rob's lawn looks mint! Would've thought you bagged if you hadn't told us otherwise. 8-) Looks like I could probably get away with it, but in the fall it would get messy, I think ....

Definitely going to need an expensive seat whatever I buy. My kidneys will be bleeding. One part of the lawn is REAL rough going.


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