I'm not gonna comment on JD vs NH vs Kubota. All three have premium products with excellent reputations. At some point it becomes a religious argument, and people are gonna believe what they're gonna believe.
I was in a similar situation as you describe. We bought a 6 acre property back in October. Approximately 4 acres of this property are lawn, and I have about 400ft of paved driveway.
I bought a plow for my truck for the snow, and was prepared to buy a 72" ZTR this spring. At point during our very mild (by MN standards) winter I had snow stacked 5 ft high and was running out of space to push snow. I decided then that a tractor with a loader was what I "wanted", not necessarily what I needed.
In April I bought a JD 3320 with a 72" 7-Iron MMM (w/mulch kit), and a 300cx loader and turf tires. To date I have put on 60 or so hours, and everything has been perfect (knock on wood). The mower does an excellent job, and the loader has enabled me to do projects I would not have contemplated otherwise.
I decided on JD because my dealer is close (3 miles), and was decent to do business with. The Kubota dealer was arrogant with a take it or leave it attitude, and the NH dealer was too far away for my taste. I would say to weigh the dealers heavily in your decision making (there's probably more variance in dealer quality than in the quality of the tractors).
I decided on the 3320 because the 3x020 series is the smallest JD tractor that will fit the 72" 7-iron MMM. I wanted the biggest MMM I could get (to mimimize my mow time which is still 2 hours), and the 7-iron deck has a reputation for an excellent cut quality.
The 3320 is a big machine though. At roughly 3000lbs, it weighs the same as most passenger cars. I learned the hard way that the tractor will tear the grass if wet, and no matter how careful I am, it is creating ruts in some places.
Is it too big for your property? I don't know. If all you're gonna do is mow and plow, you can get by with far less and probably have better results. On the other hand those solutions aren't as versatile or as enabling. It's your money, you need to decide for yourself.
-nosualc
I was in a similar situation as you describe. We bought a 6 acre property back in October. Approximately 4 acres of this property are lawn, and I have about 400ft of paved driveway.
I bought a plow for my truck for the snow, and was prepared to buy a 72" ZTR this spring. At point during our very mild (by MN standards) winter I had snow stacked 5 ft high and was running out of space to push snow. I decided then that a tractor with a loader was what I "wanted", not necessarily what I needed.
In April I bought a JD 3320 with a 72" 7-Iron MMM (w/mulch kit), and a 300cx loader and turf tires. To date I have put on 60 or so hours, and everything has been perfect (knock on wood). The mower does an excellent job, and the loader has enabled me to do projects I would not have contemplated otherwise.
I decided on JD because my dealer is close (3 miles), and was decent to do business with. The Kubota dealer was arrogant with a take it or leave it attitude, and the NH dealer was too far away for my taste. I would say to weigh the dealers heavily in your decision making (there's probably more variance in dealer quality than in the quality of the tractors).
I decided on the 3320 because the 3x020 series is the smallest JD tractor that will fit the 72" 7-iron MMM. I wanted the biggest MMM I could get (to mimimize my mow time which is still 2 hours), and the 7-iron deck has a reputation for an excellent cut quality.
The 3320 is a big machine though. At roughly 3000lbs, it weighs the same as most passenger cars. I learned the hard way that the tractor will tear the grass if wet, and no matter how careful I am, it is creating ruts in some places.
Is it too big for your property? I don't know. If all you're gonna do is mow and plow, you can get by with far less and probably have better results. On the other hand those solutions aren't as versatile or as enabling. It's your money, you need to decide for yourself.
-nosualc
