Help me decide on a great Zero-turn mower.

Scagg or Toro

So I was researching these pretty hard about 6 months ago. I was really leaning towards the Bad Boy Maverick.
I wanted a Scag but to get anything above the Patriot Level was just not in my price range. Scags are awesome though.
I only have 1 acre and not 3. My dad has had a Scag for 15+ years cutting 3 to 5 acres. Great machines.

There is a youtube guy that I enjoyed watching that runs a mower dealership. I enjoyed his side by side comparisons between Bad Boy, Scags, Grasshoppers, Hustler.
YT-Kevin
What did I end up getting?
I just happen to find a Grasshopper 125V 52" with 25 hrs on it. It was a bank repo and this guy buys the repos from the banks. He usually does only boats and few lawnmowers. I picked up a $8000 ZT for $4500. I would've spend $6500 on a upper residential or entry commercial. So I made out like a bandit. This thing is pretty bad@ss. The deck is incredible and the spindles are massive and you can actually knock the bearings out and replace the bearings on them instead of buying a whole spindle like most require.
I would highly recommend a Grasshopper but the entry price point is pretty high.

Depends on if you like Ford or Chevy? Or maybe a Tundra guy?

Point is that you’ll get a ton of different opinions. There’s obviously a price factor that was also mentioned.

My one uncommon recommendation (that you’ll soon see over and over) is to NOT get a “commercial mower”. Everybody loves to push this opinion, but honestly it’s just not necessary. For the average homeowner, even on 3 acres, you’re only going to put 50-75 hours per season. I have 4 acres, so can definitely confirm this. A solid residential machine will easily last 300-500 hours before needing any major repairs. With the “commercial” mowers costing anywhere from 1.5-3x the cost, it just doesn’t make any sense.

I have a Gravely ZT-HD. It’s a nice, solid machine, but very heavy. I’ve also had a Hustler Fastrak (pre-moving them to commercial only) and Hustler Raptor SD (XD now I believe).

My current eye is on the Bad Boy Maverick. The integrated suspension is intriguing to me.

Overall, anything not a big box store model (ie lowest residential grade) sold by Gravely, Hustler, Bad Boy, Big Dog, Spartan, Scag, etc. will be a quality machine. They all typically copy features from one mode to next, so it really comes down to what you like and how much you want to spend.

Key, in my opinion, is a Kawasaki motor, ease of maintenance, availability of parts (ie dealer close by), and reliability of the hydros. They pretty much all come with welded/fabricated decks and lift plates over the pulleys.

My experience is limited to gravely and toro. My dad bought the lower end commercial gravely with the suspended seat 52”. I bought the higher consumer grade gravely 52” without the suspended seat. A buddy has the toro 52” with suspended seat. All 3 have been super reliable with the Kawi engines. The suspended seats are so much nicer than non suspended seats. The toros order of operation is a little more cumbersome than the gravely. But the hydraulic controls on the toro are so much more fluid than the gravely. If I could do it over again, I’d get the toro that my buddy got. But seeing as how these things last 20 years regardless, I got about 12 more years before I think about it again. Highly suggest getting the suspended seat whatever you get. My back takes a beating mowing 2.5 acres of bumpy ground.

Eta - the blade deck height adjuster in my particular model is the dumbest design ever. There is a pin with holes in non-sensical order and you have to look very intently at the diagram to figure out which hole is which height. This is perhaps the most infuriating part of this mower. Nothing that makes it unusable but it takes more time and focus than it should to figure out which hole correlates to which height.

Hustler, which has a Kawasaki engine. I have had mine for a year now and I am very happy with it.

What dealers are close by? This should be your first question for narrowing down options.

I hate to be that guy that recommends based solely on what I own, BUT I've had a Ferris IS 700Z for about six years now. I've done nothing but change the engine oil, and the hydraulic drive oil twice. It has the Briggs commercial 27HP engine.

Still has the original belts. Used to, I mowed about 2 acres every week, and would mow all five acres every three weeks. With our new house, I mow about 2 acres every week, and all 3 1/2 or so every month.

I have nothing bad to say about it.

quote:

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thats complete BS, kohlers are full of plastic parts, briggs is still all metal. you couldnt give me a kohler engine, they are pure trash

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My brother has business cutting grass. He's the one that ranked the motors. That being said, I really don't want anything other than the Kawasaki motor, but I would take a Kubota with that 3 cylinder diesel! I just can't see spend that kind of money to just cut my grass every couple of weeks.

Hustler with the Kawasaki motor