Mow with my bx24 or buy a zero turn mower?

harleyguy302 · Mar 23, 2011

I can just buy both :laughing:???? That just seems to me to be the easiest decision to make. I don't think the boss with go for that though.

dodge man · Mar 23, 2011

There is no way I can mow at top speed in HI range with my BX. If I could take the beating it gave me, the cut would look terrible. I often mow with it in low range with the pedal floored, which is just a touch to slow, but the cut is good. Maybe if you have a really smooth yard you can mow flat out, but not me.

I was mowing my yard with a John Deere riding mower with a 54" deck. I know when I switched to my Bx with the 60" deck, it cut down on my mowing time. I don't know if its because of the wider deck, or I can mow a little bit faster, or both.

Tom_H · Mar 23, 2011

wpabx2230 said:
I mow at top speed all the time with my bx2230. My property line is about 800 ft long and is a straight line. I have very few obstacles, but I can mow 3 1/2 acres in less than 1 hour 45 minutes with my 60" deck.

I cannot go at top speed on my BX2200 with 60" deck, because my grass is too thick. Now if I were mowing every single day, I could go full speed. If I had the kind of grass that just sends up those super thin thingies with a little pod on top, I could go full speed. This tall fescue has too much thickness to go at any more than half speed, perhaps less. A top quality ZTR with the same sized deck would cut my grass faster than my BX can.

Different people have different situations and thus different outcomes.

Popster · Mar 23, 2011

My last hurrah in favor of the ztr.

Why not get a dealer to demo a machine for you and let you try it. My 2 acres is triangular in shape. The ztr cuts it beautifully in just under an hour. My 8N with 6' mower took close to 2.25 hours. The Scagg's cut is spot on.

harleyguy302 · Mar 24, 2011

Tom_H said:
I cannot go at top speed on my BX2200 with 60" deck, because my grass is too thick. Now if I were mowing every single day, I could go full speed. If I had the kind of grass that just sends up those super thin thingies with a little pod on top, I could go full speed. This tall fescue has too much thickness to go at any more than half speed, perhaps less. A top quality ZTR with the same sized deck would cut my grass faster than my BX can.

1 acre of what I will be mowing is thick fescue. This is good to know. I had a new thought driving home last night, if buy the deck for the BX I may be able to afford a tiller for it as well. More toys for the BX........

radioman · Mar 24, 2011

OOOHHH more toys !!! :thumbsup:

:cool2:

Fxfymn · Mar 24, 2011

One vote to the contrary of what seems to be the concensus. I tried a ZTM before I bought my BX2660. It is faster, but it also requires constant, for me, attention while you are cutting. The ZTM is so fast that the least lapse of attention results in the machine wandering. I cut four acres and the difference between the ZTM and the BX2660 is about 20 minutes. Granted, I was not skilled at running the ZTM, but I don't know if I ever would have brought the time difference to more ahtan 30 minutes.

My advice: Get the dealer to demo the ZTM before you buy. Try it and see how you like it before you lay out the cash. Before my demo I was absolutely convinced the ZTM was the way to go; after the demo my DW and I really didn't like it and I'm glad I bought the BX.

harleyguy302 · Mar 28, 2011

I finally made my up my mind. I am going to order the deck and bagger for the BX. I figured that was my original plan. I am going to the dealer tomorrow to place the order. One factor that played into this was being able to get another attachment for the BX. I will be getting a tiller for it as well. I have been wanting a tiller for years and now I will be able to get it. I need to make my garden bigger and have not done so because I didn't want to fight the walk behind tiller. Problem solved. I'm sure the BX will do a great job mowing and it has to be faster than the old 38" deck I was mowing with.

So with that being said I'm thinking about the tiller at TSC for the subcompact. Anyone used these? Any good or bad comments?

radioman · Mar 28, 2011

I haven't used the TSC brand, but have you thought of getting a tiller from your dealer at the same time you get the deck/bagger? They might cut you a better deal as a package if you ask. I got my tiller from my dealer and its a bushhog brand and I love it.

ashdump · Mar 28, 2011

harleyguy302 said:
I finally made my up my mind. I am going to order the deck and bagger for the BX. I figured that was my original plan. I am going to the dealer tomorrow to place the order. One factor that played into this was being able to get another attachment for the BX. I will be getting a tiller for it as well. I have been wanting a tiller for years and now I will be able to get it. I need to make my garden bigger and have not done so because I didn't want to fight the walk behind tiller. Problem solved. I'm sure the BX will do a great job mowing and it has to be faster than the old 38" deck I was mowing with.

So with that being said I'm thinking about the tiller at TSC for the subcompact. Anyone used these? Any good or bad comments?

I bought my tiller from the dealer. It's listed in my sig line. He let it go for $1600 when I bought my BX25 and MMM. It's a heavy duty gear drive. You can see it's results in the "turning up some soil today" thread in this forum. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...0-turning-up-some-soil-today.html#post2315450