quicksandfarmer
Elite Member
To summarize the thread so far, we have 70 replies. Two of them are from people who have actual first-hand experience with the unit:
Then we have 68 responses from people who've never seen it with their own eyes but are sure it's a piece of junk.
The HF website also has three reviews from (presumable) owners and they're all positive.
I'm willing to believe that the quality is comparable with a rider mower that you'd buy at a big-box store. I'd imagine that on a $2,000 rider the deck contributes about $400 to the cost, and this is basically a mower deck. While a $2,000 mower is obviously not going to be as durable as a $10,000 mower, for the vast majority of people it's a far more sensible purchase. There are lots and lots of people who buy a big-box mower and use it an hour or two a week for about 20 weeks a year, and get ten or twenty years of service out of it. That might be a lifetime of 400 hours of operation, which wouldn't even get you through your first summer if you were a landscaper, but is all a homeowner needs.
It's not like there's a lot to a mower anyway. Gearbox, belts, spindles and blades. The gearbox looks like a standard 40HP unit that you can get on Ebay for about $200.
My experience is that HF has good parts support. My experience with American brands is not always so good. In 2007 I bought a Woods rough mower. Last summer I ran over a big rock hiding in the grass and broke the stump-jumper. According to Woods that piece is no longer available and they had no replacement. Fortunately I was able to get one off Ebay, but it didn't leave me much faith with Woods.
and
Then we have 68 responses from people who've never seen it with their own eyes but are sure it's a piece of junk.
The HF website also has three reviews from (presumable) owners and they're all positive.
I'm willing to believe that the quality is comparable with a rider mower that you'd buy at a big-box store. I'd imagine that on a $2,000 rider the deck contributes about $400 to the cost, and this is basically a mower deck. While a $2,000 mower is obviously not going to be as durable as a $10,000 mower, for the vast majority of people it's a far more sensible purchase. There are lots and lots of people who buy a big-box mower and use it an hour or two a week for about 20 weeks a year, and get ten or twenty years of service out of it. That might be a lifetime of 400 hours of operation, which wouldn't even get you through your first summer if you were a landscaper, but is all a homeowner needs.
It's not like there's a lot to a mower anyway. Gearbox, belts, spindles and blades. The gearbox looks like a standard 40HP unit that you can get on Ebay for about $200.
My experience is that HF has good parts support. My experience with American brands is not always so good. In 2007 I bought a Woods rough mower. Last summer I ran over a big rock hiding in the grass and broke the stump-jumper. According to Woods that piece is no longer available and they had no replacement. Fortunately I was able to get one off Ebay, but it didn't leave me much faith with Woods.
