Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Zero Turn mower

Might look at Bunton...

We got a 42" (gotta mow between lots of trees) with a 19 hp Kawasaki, and it's the cats meow!!

Try this test... Raise the mower high enough to get it completely off the ground. Now stand on the edge of the deck! Did it go down any? A Bunton wont! Stepping on the deck is like stepping on concrete steps, it doesnt move!

They make bigger than 42" decks, but I dont know if it will fit in your budget range.

Just my 2 cents!

I have a 6 7 year old SCAG. Runs like a cham[. Cuts like a banshee. My mowing time went from 4.5 hours t 45 min. Weedeating down to almost nothing.

The May 2012 issue of Consumer Reports has results for the mowers they tested including ZTR types. You might find a copy still on sale or in a local library.

Of particular interest is the brand reliability data from 2,223 owners of ZTR mowers. Over a four year period 15% of John Deere ZTR's needed repairs, 20% of Toro ZTR's needed repairs, and 23% of Cub Cadet ZTR's needed repairs. Those are the only brands they had enough data for.

In their ratings the Cub Cadet Z-Force S ($3,700 46" deck) got the highest rating, but wasn't recommended due to Cub Cadet being repair-prone. The CR Best Buy is the Craftsman 25001 ($2,300 42" deck) followed by the Toro TimeCutter SS4235 ($2,600 42" deck)

A friend of mine mows 2 1/2 acres and was using a lawn tractor with a 60" deck and then bought a Toro ZTR with a 42" deck and found that it took no more time to mow with the 42" ZTR than with the 60" tractor. The more obstacles you have to mow around the greater the advantage of the ZTR.

BTW, Briggs & Stratton owns Simplicity, Snapper, and Murray.

A buddy at work mows about fifteen lawns each week after he leaves our real job. His mowing time is very valuable to him.

A couple years ago he purchased a new Husqvarna 42" zero turn mower. He is very satisfied with the machine.

There's alot of worthless information there. Part of my job is to mow two parks and 2 cemeteries within the village limits of the town I work for. I've been doing it for 15 years now and have used a wide variety of mowers/tractors. I'm also responsible for maintaining/repairing the equipment so I know how they're built and how they compare in build quality/reliability to one another. One thing you can't do is just compare lawn tractors in general to zero turns in general for mowing speed. That depends entirely on the specific machine and the type of ground you're mowing, hilly vs flat terrain/ lots of obstructions vs open ground .. Some tractors are far faster than some zero turns as relates to actual mph you can mow and still get a good cut. Aside from that, there are individual decks that allow faster ground speed while still giving a good, clean cut than others. You also can't just in general compare "Cub Cadet" to "John Deere" for build quality and reliability as there are several different grades within each brand and they vary greatly in quality/durability. As I find is quite normal with these expert "consumer report" type evaluations, they don't know WTF they're talking about and their information/evaluation is close to useless.

Mac, thanks for all the info.

I was sitting in a dentist office a while ago and reading CR to pass the time(I don't know which issue, but likely last years) and CR said to avoid ZTR because they can be harder to steer.

I find it somewhat hard to take them seriously after that statement.

Kenneth, Ive owned Scags & now own a Dixie Chopper. IMO commercial mowers are the only way to go. My ex-neighbor bought a cub-cadet zero turn and it was a POS. He sold it and now owns a Hustler commercial mower. Bad Boys are priced good & popular in TN, but I have no experience with them.

And the best advice I can give is that they are great on flat lawns, and figure out which one you want and keep an eye out on craigslist, you can get equipment that's nearly brand new for half what it is new.

If you are willing to pay four or five grand look at $8000 commercial models that you can get for what you are willing to pay. I'm always happier with the better quality equipment that's made to last ten time longer than the cheaper junk.

You come up with that because you have actual experience with different brands over 15 years and consider yourself an expert. What do you know about the team at Consumer Reports who tested and rated these machines? Likely not much. They have been doing these tests for over 15 years and have tested more mowers than you'll see in your lifetime.



The reliability data is derived from over 2,200 owners over a four year period. It doesn't depend on anyone thinking they know how they're built, it's the actual repair experience. They do say that not all models within a brand are the same, which is true of anything, but just as with cars, certain brands tend to have higher quality than other brands.



This is all 4th grade stuff. Consumer Reports anonymously purchases several of each model they test and puts them through a battery of tests under a variety of conditions. Reading their article I see that they consider the factors you list and many you didn't list such as mulching, bagging, and discharge location. Also, instead of casters that swivel freely some of the new ZTR mowers use steerable front wheels that give them better control on hills.

Consumer Reports is not always right, but for those who don't have an aversion to leaning, it's a good source of independent test data. Being they don't sell advertising and anonymously purchases everything they test, the value of their testing is what they sell for living. Likely they are better at it than you give them credit for.

ZTR's are harder to steer if you intend to go in a straight line and particularly if mowing across a hill. The older models were basically a carnival ride with a mower deck under them. New models are much better and some have a steering wheel instead of levers and also have steerable front wheels rather than casters that swivel freely. The steerable front wheels makes them much better on hills than before.

Mac, I meant no disrespect to your opinion,I hope you realize that.

I'm looking for thoughts and you provided yours, I appreciate that and thanks.

I'm mowing a yard that has zero slope, other than the mound system, so I guess casters in front will suffice,and steering shouldn't be an issue.

I didn't even know they were putting steering wheels on the front, New and Interesting.

Bought a used 60" commercial Marty J made by Deines in western Kansas about 7 years ago. Front flip up deck with crazy wheel outriggers in front,two main drive wheels slightly ahead of the seat and one crazy wheel out back. Built like a tank, it'll probably outlast me.
I mow about 3 acres with lots of junk to mow around( wife seems to think flowers and trees should be placed at random all over the yard). I mow nearly twice as much as I used to with a Craftsman 42" and do it in half the time. If I had any amount to mow at all you couldn't talk me out of a commercial model mower!

^
this.

although......don't get all caught up in the ZTR hype if all you're doing is a large area with few obstacles.

Ariens home is in Brillion, WI. They make quality equipment. I see a lot of Jacobsen equipment at the golf courses and municipal maintenance departments lately- the guys I've talked to have said it's very reliable.
As with the garden tractors, avoid the box and dept. stores. You'll get into the quality equipment. The same is said here often about pro chain saws vs. box store saws. You get what you pay for.

Ariens and Jacobsen are one and the same?

No- separate entities, with similar product lines.
I believe Ariens is still privately held in Brillion

Jacobsen is a subsidiary of Textron, which owns Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Greenlee Tool, EZ-Go, many others. They are VERY commercially oriented in turf machines for commercial use i.e. golf courses and municipal maintenance- Charlotte, NC

Just bought a Husqvarna zero turn with a 46" deck and a 23HP Kohler engine. I really like it alot. We bought the lot next door so we doubled the size of our property from two to four acres. I cover all four acres in under 3 hours. Saves a lot of time campared to using the old machine.

Quite the pompous ass expert as usual aren't you ? So Consumer reports "tests" mowers ? Whoopy schitt. I and my crew put over a thousand hours a summer on these machines. But consumer reports "testers" know more. OK [bleep] you buy what you want and believe what you want. I'm sure you know more about medicine than your doctor, more about cars than your mechanic and more about firearms than your gunsmith too. As does consumer reports no doubt.

Kenneth - I just found your thread and will repost what I wrote to you in the PM regarding my thoughts on the Hustler I recently purchased. It might come in handy for others that are researching mowers in the future:

I did quite a bit of research on the different brands and models of ZTR mowers and I kept coming back to Hustler. The Fastrac IMO is second to none that I looked at in that residential/commercial "tweener" unit. It has the best warranty (4 years) and a lifetime warranty on the frame and leading edge of the deck.

It's just overall way better built (IMO) then the others. The ONLY knock I have on it so far is that the deck idler wheels are plastic vs. steel but if one ever breaks, they are only like $8 bucks to replace.

I went with a 2011 54" deck because that is what my local dealer had on hand. He had four of these brand new and 3 big commercial units. I paid $5,599.00 for it which was about $700.00 less than what the same 2012 machine brings. My cousin, who is in the professional lawn care business, kept telling me to get a 48" because anything wider and you start having scalping problems and getting into tight areas isn't as easy. I have had no such problems with the 54" and am very happy with my choice.

It used to take me 4 1/2 hours to mow with a 44" Cub garden tractor and while the grass still isn't coming up thick and heavy like it does in May and June, I can now do my yard in less than 2 hours. When the grass growing season is in full swing, I still expect to be able to mow in that 2 hour range because the blade tip speed is so fast on these things that you can mow at very high speeds and still get a beautiful cut.

This is huge when you have wet year like we did last spring and summer and I had to mow 3 times a week just to keep up. Time is a valuable thing so I feel the rather large initial investment will pay for itself pretty quick. On top of all that, its fun as heck to drive! The more stuff you have to go around the more fun it is!

All in all I LOVE it!

This is what I wrote in the PM about my personal feelings on the Hustler I bought. I would just like to say though that this is my thoughts only and if you want to go a little cheaper price wise, I'm sure many of the machines mentioned in this thread would be a good choice.

If I'm not mistaken, Cub has a patent on the ZTR's with 4 wheel steering. If thats the case, it sucks because my yard is steep and a regular ZTR won't cut it (Pun intended_ . I know, I had a Husky ZTR for a few short months, and really struggled to steer it on the slopes........

"really struggled to steer it on the slopes"........

Maybe CR did know what they were talking about. I didn't know there was an issue with slopes,

But since my yard has little pitch, likely a mute point.