re: Best Zero Turn Mower... SIAP...

Have a ZD18 Kubota bought in 2000. Has mowed Louisiana twice over and only preformed basic PM work oil, air filter, fuel filter etc. Changed deck belt once and 47 plugs and patches in front and back tires. Damn thing want die. Fires up runs all day and doesn’t give a shite shite what you run over. That’s all I got.

I have a grasshopper front mount deck I love. Front mount is a game changer

SCAG

Spartan mowers. Give them a look. Probably best bang for the buck. Make sure to get the Parker hydraulics

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in the minority here, but commercial grade stuff is a waste of money for most people IMO.

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7 acres. A 12 year life expectancy. 1 breakdown every two years and he is paying to have it mowed ad getting it fixed. That is worth more reliability thst you will get w a better mower


I have 1.25 acres. I got the residential exmark w a 22 hp mower. It will hopefully last a very long time

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7 acres

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Is not much. You're still only talking ~ 5 hours a week of mowing for a portion of the year.

I used to cut about 8 acres a week for several years. We had a mid grade scag that rarely had a problem. When it did it was easy to fix. Even that mower was overkill.

The diesel mower I used was cutting grass all day every single weekday for most of the year.

My 2 cents

Best Bang for your buck is the Bad Boy Rebel, $10,300 for the 35 hp Kawasaki. You will not find a better price in its class.

Best Mower, Front mount Grasshopper 700 or 900 series. Grasshopper front mounts are considered by many to be the most reliable mowers. Also, the flip up deck is awesome! Cost will be $15 to $22k depending on options.

Smoothest - BigDog/Hustler. As already mentioned BigDog is mostly the same as a hustler but with a better warranty (7 years). However now that Black and Decker bought the company you will not be able to find any BigDogs commercial mowers left.

Fastest - Dixie Chopper Eagle HP is a bad dude. The 40 hp vanguard is capable of 18 mph but you can’t cut that fast. They also have the Xcaliber commercial mower in a 74” cut that is really popular with municipalities. Both will be close to $15k

Best Cut - Scag, I have always heard one of the best cuts. I don’t have prices though.

Like everything else. Mowers have increased in price significantly over the last couple years.

As far as Joh Deere. Their residential line falls far behind some of the other brands I looked at. I know they make some good stuff especially commercial but not the residential units I looked at.

Check out the Gravely HD line.

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hope to get 15 years out of a purchase

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With 7 acres that'll be roughly 4,200 hours or so (7hrs per week, 40 weeks a year). You could buy 3 residential mowers in that time period (if you replace the whole mower because the engine blew up) and still be money ahead.

I appreciate heavy duty overbuilt stuff more than anybody. The only point I'm trying to make here is that commercial stuff is made to be ran all day every day, and you're paying a lot for that increase in capability. If you're only cutting once a week, regardless of the acerage, you're paying a lot for duty cycle you wont meet. You're towing a bateau with a peterbuilt.