Consumer Reports: Deere Tractor over Gravely ZTR?

[Dargo]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( CR, they are about as worthless as it comes.)</font>

Yeah, I know what you mean. I should have taken your advice and gone completely against them in their recommendations. They said that the Yugo was the absolute worst vehicle they have ever tested and the reliability was awful. They said the same thing about the GM engines in the 80's that were converted from gas to diesel. I could have purchased hundreds of them because the price was so low on those units because the stupid people at Consumer Reports said that they were awful. Silly me! You make so much more sense saying that they (Consumer Reports) are as worthless as it comes. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I'm sure your testing is vastly superior and you have considerably more than the mere tens of thousands of customer reports as to what models are troublesome and which ones are not. Please be sure to publish the results of your superior knowledge so we can all take advantage of your factual information rather than hearsay and people trying to justify buying junk because it was cheaper. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[JeepOne]

I agree. Consumer Reports is not credible. My experience is opposite what they recommend. Many years ago I took their recommendation, on several occasions, and was burned every time. Never again!!

 

[RSKY]

Mowed my 1.1 acres yesterday in 50 minutes! A new record. Reason was I mowed every part long ways instead of trying to make pretty stripes by angling across the yard.

One more small gripe about the Gravely. The tires on the drive wheels are small and have a non-agressive tread on them. This does affect traction when the grass is wet.

Gosh, I am looking for things to gripe about on this mower. I took it out of the building today so I could get to a cart stored behind it. My wife and I were working cleaning up the patios. Suddenly I heard the mower start up and the wife sailed by with a grin on her face and made a few laps around the house stopping a few times to spin around in circles.

Yep, I don't mow near as often.

 

[AFCBlink]

WHAT DID HE EVER DECIDE? Well, with all the advice I got on this forum, plus my gut feeling, I went with the Gravely. I bought a ZT1640 for $2995. I couldn't be more pleased. The time to cut my 1/2 acre has dropped by about 60-70%, and includes doing the trimming around trees and fences, plus push-mowing one very steep, tricky incline. I did mow that part once with the ZTR, but it meets a retaining wall at the bottom of it, and there's a 6' dropoff onto our driveway. The ZTR slid downhill a bit at one point, and it made me quite nervous, so I'll get out the push mower for that section. However, that doesn't make me at all unhappy with my purchase of the ZTR. I doubt a regular lawn tractor would have been any more secure on that slope. <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font>

 

[AFCBlink]

WHAT DID HE EVER DECIDE? Well, with all the advice I got on this forum, plus my gut feeling, I went with the Gravely. I bought a ZT1640 for $2995. I couldn't be more pleased. The time to cut my 1/2 acre has dropped by about 60-70%, and includes doing the trimming around trees and fences, plus push-mowing one very steep, tricky incline. I did mow that part once with the ZTR, but it meets a retaining wall at the bottom of it, and there's a 6' dropoff onto our driveway. The ZTR slid downhill a bit at one point, and it made me quite nervous, so I'll get out the push mower for that section. However, that doesn't make me at all unhappy with my purchase of the ZTR. I doubt a regular lawn tractor would have been any more secure on that slope. <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font>

 

[LBrown59]

[quote

But you pay for time savings. If you have all the time in the world and place no value on it, then by all means go buy the little lawn tractor. But if you don't want to live in your tractor seat, and if your goal is to mow your yard in LESS THAN 1/3 the time you currently spend, then buy the ZTR.
)</font><font color="red">You will need the time saved with the ZTR to perform all those backbreaking tasks you have to do by hand because you don't have a tractor to do them with. </font>

 

[LBrown59]

[quote

But you pay for time savings. If you have all the time in the world and place no value on it, then by all means go buy the little lawn tractor. But if you don't want to live in your tractor seat, and if your goal is to mow your yard in LESS THAN 1/3 the time you currently spend, then buy the ZTR.
)</font><font color="red">You will need the time saved with the ZTR to perform all those backbreaking tasks you have to do by hand because you don't have a tractor to do them with. </font>

 

[rdln]

Wow, you blew that one too Lbrown59, what backbreaking chores did you have taken care of by a little lawn tractor lately?

 

[rdln]

Wow, you blew that one too Lbrown59, what backbreaking chores did you have taken care of by a little lawn tractor lately?

 

[rdln]

And have you seen the televised version of Consumer Digest?

The call it ATV television.