weren't most commercial mowers F style, with outfront decks, before the zero turns came into popularity?
If you've ever mowed an apple orchard, or any fruit orchard, and want to get under the lower limbs without hurting the tree or yourself, the advantage of an outfront mower is immediate. Why did the Z turn become so popular? Because it went faster? Or faster for much less money than a commercial outfront...
Let's see, eight thousand for an Exmark or twenty thousand for a commercial mower. Is one commercial Kubota worth three Exmarks? Would be interesting to do a long term cost per hour of operation comparison. Of course you could never get a diesel Exmark for eight grand either.
If you mow thirty hours a year, might be a bit of overkill to get one of these commercial mowers.
But I bet they sure are a pleasure to run.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Thing is, I have about 5-7 acres around the house that is "lawn", kind of rough with about 55 trees without the treelines on both sides.
Long story short, I wanted a diesel for two reasons, longevity (as long as it's properly maintained of course) and the biggest reason, torque (have another 10 acres I mow out back, including the boys little soccer and baseball field.
Ultimately a "deal" I found out about on another 3680 was going to be a big roll of the dice for a piece of abused equipment that had some major work done on it. I was actually lining something up on a new 730D grasshopper, and in communication with John, ended up getting the 3080 for less than the grasshopper (including shipping, my gas up there and a hotel for the night for the boys and myself to boot) and considering John's regular maintenance and the fact that he doesn't abuse his equipment, made it a no brainer, at least for myself.
I probably average about 80-100 hours of use a year around the house, and maybe 5-10 extra hours for voulenteer work (thus the reason why a 72" side discharge deck would not work for me, because it wouldn't fit on my trailer).
I tried a ZD331 local, with only 450 hours on it for a lot less than the F mower. Thing is, some of my hills are actually steeper than John's, and with the Z's short footprint with all that weight you're sitting on, I really wouldn't be that comfortable with ANYONE else in my family riding it on the hills (even the guy selling the Z when he saw my property told me I'd have to be very careful on how I handled it). The deck on the F also was a big plus as far as getting to the blades.
My wife has already rode the F and she understands it. By chance if anything should happen to me, my wife will probably stay here with the boys until they graduate high school. Ultimately I feel more comfortable with them riding the F than a Z or any other zero turn on the hills (hey, perhaps just another "justification", but not a bad one LOL).
Long story short, which we're past now, if I had 5 acres of flat land, the F wouldn't even be a consideration due to the price alone (let alone a used price).
Have 6 hours on the F now, checking the oil (oils) before hand each time and going over the manuals. Some very dumb quetsions will be coming shortly (I'll start another thread on it as it will probably be long and time consuming lol).
John takes very good care of his equipment. He's worth the visit if he ever decides to sell something else, and Steve Barlow is SUPER easy to work with. As mentioned, my boys absolutely loved John and the trip up there (although the drive with them to and from was not the most pleasant at times for myself, but they had fun, which was an added bonus).
John was even nice enough to give me a wand extension for blowing off the machine after mowing due to the rear discharge deck. Turns out my Stihl BR600 blower was being used only for burn piles as I found out a long time ago blowing acres of leaves is kind of fruitless. That Sthil blower makes quick and easy work on cleaning up the mower LOL
On a forgotten sidenote, the adjustable seat on the mower is remarkable. Very comfortable and very forgiving over the bounces.
The only thing I don't like about the mower is that my previous mower was a one handed joystick control model, that sat close to the ground with no ROPS. Very easy with previous mower to get under low hanging trees. With the F mower, because the driver sits so high, I've found I get poked with more low hanging tree limbs lol
As far as getting another mower, if I ever make another buy, on my mothers grave it will be a tractor with implements!
