I bought a Rogue early this spring after doing a bunch of research. It was the most highly featured ZT I could find that was commercial quality and in that price range (i.e. not a $18,000 Deere). Key features for me were the engine HP, EFI (I have the Yamaha engine), separate hydraulic pumps/motors, large tires, HDAP-style tires, beefy deck construction and, primarily, suspension. Mine is the 72" deck model.
Overall it has been great and lived up to my expectations. Plenty of power, nice ride over my bumpy country lawn. I can cut my mowing time for my 7 acres down from 4.5 hours with my x758/60" deck garden tractor to around 3 hours. That's meaningful to me. The suspension is great for smoothing out the ride and allowing me to mow faster. I have both the Rogue's front and rear suspension and the suspension seat.
However, I did find that the cut quality was not up to my expectations. I've battled continual issues with it leaving strips of grass in the path of the front caster wheels. A set of better high lift blades, sharper blades and a new adjustable front caster arm setup that BB provided* free of charge has made considerable improvements but it isn't perfect. With a deck that doesn't float as well as my Deere's deck and gauge wheels that don't extend down as close to the ground it also allows a cut that can sometimes 'scoop' when the mower goes over bumps or comes to a stop and the suspension compresses.
The other thing I learned is that while the HDAP-style tires provide better traction to really help me mow along the sloped alongside my driveway and the county road ditch they do tear up the grass more frequently while turning. In hindsight, that should have been a no-brainer. I've learned to adjust my driving habits to minimize damage.
*After working with my dealer on the cut issue I contacted BB and they hooked me up with a pre-production set of arms that I believe will be standard on these mowers in 2022. The concept is that the caster wheels can be adjusted so they aren't running inline with the outer deck spindles. The idea is that the grass under the blades when the blade is parallel with the path of the mower has the least blade contact. The rest of the blade circular path gets more 'blade time' as the blade rotates. I think therefore it gets the least lift. Why this is an issue on this mower versus any other garden tractor I've ever used is unclear, but it is what it is. Bad Boy has been great to work with on this issue, both my dealer and corporate.
