John Deere X380 vs Husqvarna GT52XLS

[tk tom]

Keep in mind that the X series Deere's really shouldn't struggle to beat any Husqvarna or 1000 series Cub. If these units are creeping in on the X series 3 or 5 mind you then shame on Deere is all I have to say.

 

[plowhog]

Regarding "X series Deere's really shouldn't struggle to beat any Husqvarna," that might have been true in the past, but seemingly not so now.

My 2017 model Husqvarna GT48DXLS is a great machine. I bought it recently for a little over $3,000 out the door, with 24hp Kawasaki engine, K66 transaxle, and electric locking differential. It mows great and has more power than I need except when really pressing it with hills or very tall weed mowing. My dealer can't keep them in stock and they sell the same day they hit the showroom floor. The Deere X380 had about the same engine, and maybe a roughly equal or slightly inferior transaxle. I don't remember the exact price but it was about $4,800 out the door. I know the price difference exceeded $1,500 as I figured I could buy the Husqvarna plus a $1,500 Cyclone Rake for the same money as a bare Deere X380. And, the Deere X380 has no locking differential-- I believe it was purposely omitted from that model to push buyers into the X5XX platform. Deere obviously knows how to build one, as it is a feature on the models in the higher priced lines.

The one area where I found the X380 to be superior to the Husqvarna was the Deere deck was 10% more material-- I believe one is 10ga and the other 11ga. I didn't place any monetary value on one or the other.

I'm betting on a future price drop on the X380 as the Husqvarna (and maybe others) continue to eclipse and outperform the older designs and models from John Deere.

 

[buickanddeere]

I bought JD X380 this spring. I also have two acres to cut. I have a lot of trees, patio stone lined flower beds, little bit of inclines, a landscape mound that is about 100' long, about 10' wide and about 5' tall. I have a 54" deck on it. I was cutting before with a Skags 48" walk behind. Took 2 hours with the Skags and I walked at a decent clip for 6 miles. Just got tired literally of all the walking. I can cut the same area now in 1 1/2 hours. I have an open area that is about an acre that is a bit bumpy. The machine cuts nicely, as long as you adjust the anti scalp wheels like they tell you in the manual. The left pedal that lifts and lowers the deck is a lot easier than a lever. Parking brake is easy also. The seat moves back and forth and also has three different positions for the springs, which changes the way it rides depending on your weight. I wouldn't buy a gas engined mower that wasn't a Kawasaki, love their engines. Fuel injection is spot on, gas filler is big and in a nice location on the left rear corner. The 54" deck is as big as I could go and still fit in between some fences and flower beds. The extra 6" over the Skags 48" makes a very noticeable difference. I like the gas gauge and it has the hour meter and pto rpm gauge too. My favorite feature is the magic yellow button that lets you go in reverse with the pto engaged and keep cutting. Works like a champ. You don't have to hold it in the whole time, just push it rit before you step on the reverse pedal. Once you hit the forward pedal, it resets itself. The tractor seems to be built pretty well. I did a lot of looking, reading, and research before buying this. Most of the other machines in this size are not made to last, course they are priced cheaper, but I don't like throwaway stuff. I also bought at about the same time a JD2032 with a front end loader and a backhoe, for maintaining the property. I still have to get a brush hog, York rake, and box scraper. Bought them both from the same dealer, who gave me a very good deal and seemed very knowledgable. Hope this helps, any questions, feel free to ask.
Mike Hawkins

Would have been tempted to install a mower deck on the 2032?

 

[buickanddeere]

No matter the brand. A front bumper grill/hood guard is a good idea .

 

[plowhog]

One thing I don't understand is the "safety" feature to disable the mower blade when backing up. Some units require pushing a button before backing up if you want to keep the blade turning. On the Husqvarna, you start the engine, then click backward one notch on the ignition switch. Doing that enables mowing while backing up and nothing else is required during operation. If you don't do that, the blade stops immediately when going into reverse.

Is there some huge hazard of having the blade turn while backing up that I don't know about? It seems odd to me that so many units have this disabling feature, with a very easy way to defeat and overcome it?

 

[buickanddeere]

One thing I don't understand is the "safety" feature to disable the mower blade when backing up. Some units require pushing a button before backing up if you want to keep the blade turning. On the Husqvarna, you start the engine, then click backward one notch on the ignition switch. Doing that enables mowing while backing up and nothing else is required during operation. If you don't do that, the blade stops immediately when going into reverse.

Is there some huge hazard of having the blade turn while backing up that I don't know about? It seems odd to me that so many units have this disabling feature, with a very easy way to defeat and overcome it?

Given the hundreds of children who have feet, legs and arms cut off when the operator backed over them with a running mower. The mower shut down on reverse is a good idea. Kids will run following about two steps behind a lawn mower wanting a ride.
My youngest would repeatably escape his Mother's supervision when I was mowing or doing anything else outside with a running engine. I spent more time looking around for him than I did doing the work.Then hauling his stupid @ss back to his astonished looking Mother who had no more idea how he got away this time than how he escaped the other 50+ times. No amount or type of punishment to the kid did any good either.
She is still oblivious and did not notice the boys roaring around with my vehicles in the muddy field beside the house when they were 12 & 15. The fools tore the transfer case out of the AWD van and also damaged the 4X4 truck. To this day she doesn't consider it a big deal.
Am I still ticked off............yeah maybe.

 

[plowhog]

On the Husqvarna, the safety is defeated so easily as to pretty much not even be effective. When I start the mower, I click back one extra notch on the ignition so the mower engages at all times. But, I don't have children running around while mowing-- maybe a dog but even that's not likely. To me, a more realistic safety issue would result in something not so easily defeated, like a seat switch on a tractor. Those can be defeated, but not without going out of the way-- more than clicking a switch position.

I'm guessing this is a litigation issue. When the unruly child runs out of mom's unattentive sight and winds up with a body part under a backing mower, the manufacturer's attorneys can point to mower driver as being liable, since they "overrode" the safety feature designed to prevent that circumstance.

Sounds like you have a lot of activity around your equipment that you need to keep your eyes on-- I hope everyone stays safe!!

 

[s219]

Regarding "X series Deere's really shouldn't struggle to beat any Husqvarna," that might have been true in the past, but seemingly not so now.

tk tom is a Husqvarna dealer, so I think there was some experience/wisdom behind what he said and he was making a point -- it's Deere's market to lose.

Husky is creeping into the range of the X models with features, but they are still not close on some of the key factors that differentiate X model Deeres from their siblings. You can compare the box store Husky models with their high end siblings and see many many similarities. That isn't the case with Deere -- the X models are not simple L/D models with more/better features, they are different engineering and design. So to me, until Husky makes a truly heavy duty riding mower or garden tractor, and isn't simply slapping on extra features, different engines, different transmissions to the same basic frames, they haven't really crossed over to the idea of multiple price tiers that compete with Deere. Yes, the GT48DXLS is a good machine for $3K, but you need to really think about it as an expensive high end model in the Husky line. It's not a leap into a whole new series. To do that, Husky would need to start over from scratch on frame design and go to the next level. If they can do that and beat Deere on pricing, then it's their win and Deere's loss.

 

[plowhog]

Well I would agree pretty much across-the-line that it's Deere's market to lose. The prevalence of Deere, mostly good engineering, and the culture they have built with cheerleaders and champions of Deere products is very strong. Also presumably supported by a mixture of real-life and also paid posters on forums such as this, and it's a strong presence and brand.

Based on my research, a "leap into a whole new series" of Deere mowers pretty much starts at the X5XX platform. That's a subjective judgment of course, but others have come to the same conclusion. When I was shopping, I found many who recommended the x5XX platform at a minimum if you were adding attachments to it to expand the work scope beyond mowing. The impression it formed was that the x5xx platform had the engineering to properly support those components. Maybe not so much on the lighter platforms. I've compared prices of the Husqvarna vs an x380, but had I bought a Deere, I think I would have moved up to the x5xx platform for the reasons others have pointed out. Then the price was closer to $6,000 vs $3,000.

My case might be unique since my mowing needs are about a basic as you get. I have a Massey tractor for any work heavier than mowing lawn. And my lawn is maybe 1/2 acre, mostly flat. Although to be fair I did recently experiment with "brush hogging" using the Husqvarna and it did very well in one foot tall weeds. But that was an experiment, not a long term use. I'm confident the Husqvarna will mow lawns for a very long time and I don't need to exceed that scope of work. The former mower was an old Craftsman. I believe it was 12 hp and a 32 inch deck. It was much lighter built than a Husqvarna or Deere X3XX, and lasted over 10 years doing the same work task. So for me, a Husqvarna at just over $3,000 vs an X380 for $4,800 was a no-brainer. Not to mention my Husqvarna dealer was preferable to work with compared to the two Deere dealers I visited.

btw, I was referring to the Husqvarna in earlier posts as a Husky and another poster here corrected me. Huskee is a lower end mower sold at Tractor Supply. I guess some folks read "Husky" and confuse with "Huskee?"

 

[TMR]

Well I would agree pretty much across-the-line that it's Deere's market to lose. The prevalence of Deere, mostly good engineering, and the culture they have built with cheerleaders and champions of Deere products is very strong. Also presumably supported by a mixture of real-life and also paid posters on forums such as this, and it's a strong presence and brand.

Based on my research, a "leap into a whole new series" of Deere mowers pretty much starts at the X5XX platform. That's a subjective judgment of course, but others have come to the same conclusion. When I was shopping, I found many who recommended the x5XX platform at a minimum if you were adding attachments to it to expand the work scope beyond mowing. The impression it formed was that the x5xx platform had the engineering to properly support those components. Maybe not so much on the lighter platforms. I've compared prices of the Husqvarna vs an x380, but had I bought a Deere, I think I would have moved up to the x5xx platform for the reasons others have pointed out. Then the price was closer to $6,000 vs $3,000.

My case might be unique since my mowing needs are about a basic as you get. I have a Massey tractor for any work heavier than mowing lawn. And my lawn is maybe 1/2 acre, mostly flat. Although to be fair I did recently experiment with "brush hogging" using the Husqvarna and it did very well in one foot tall weeds. But that was an experiment, not a long term use. I'm confident the Husqvarna will mow lawns for a very long time and I don't need to exceed that scope of work. The former mower was an old Craftsman. I believe it was 12 hp and a 32 inch deck. It was much lighter built than a Husqvarna or Deere X3XX, and lasted over 10 years doing the same work task. So for me, a Husqvarna at just over $3,000 vs an X380 for $4,800 was a no-brainer. Not to mention my Husqvarna dealer was preferable to work with compared to the two Deere dealers I visited.

btw, I was referring to the Husqvarna in earlier posts as a Husky and another poster here corrected me. Huskee is a lower end mower sold at Tractor Supply. I guess some folks read "Husky" and confuse with "Huskee?"

I agree that the Deere separates its product from the competition...starting with the X5xx series. IF I were to buy a Deere rather than the GT48DXLS I would move to the much more expensive X5xx series and would likely be in the top range of that series...or maybe take advantage of the 0% 60 month financing and buy an awd X7xx series For my use, which sometimes may look more like brush mower use, I think the new Husqvarna model will fit the bill well...for about $3K AND with 0% interest for 48 months. TMR