Rear finish mower vs dedicated lawn tractor

[DK35vince]

How much would a brand new unit like that cost today? Just curious, as I've not priced ZTs in a long, long time.

Certainly not cheap. My 2013 model with 35 HP Kawasaki 72" deck with optional flex forks was nearing $11,000 + tax.
New ones are around 12-13 thousand $$ for the 35 HP Kawasaki with 72" deck before tax.
HD (hyper drive transmissions) add another $1200
Super Z(R) | Hustler Zero-Turn Riding Mowers – Commercial

 

[MossRoad]

I'm trying to decide what the best direction to go with the next mower would be. My current mowers deck just fell apart so I need to decide what to do soon. I was trying to wait till next season before I replaced it but we all now plans don't always work out.

Currently I have about an 1.5 acres of grass to mow. Which at least half is hills but nothing extremely steep. My wife and I plan to clear out about another 1-2 acres to expand the yard and put in a small garden.

My question is what would be better a tractor with a rfm or just buying a lawn tractor? I would love a zt but don't know how well it would do on the hills I have. I'm purchasing a tractor at some point anyways for other tasks but wasnt quite ready to purchase just yet. But maybe if a rfm would work better I should just go ahead and get the tractor with rfm and have everything all in one package. What would you do in my situation?

Let us step back and remind ourselves that the OP has 1.5 acres to mow. That is not that large of an area. I mow an acre with a 60" mower deck and it takes about 25-30 minutes.

A lawn tractor with a 54" deck mowing at 4mph ( just a little faster than a walking pace) should do about 1.96 acres per hour, so it would take the OP about 45 minutes.

You can get a very nice 54" lawn tractor for well under $3K.

A less expensive husqvarna for $2200, which is the way I'd go. You can beat it to heck for 10 years and be money ahead VS just the cost of a RFM. Then buy a larger tractor for the larger chores as planned.

 

[MossRoad]

About 12k depending on what kind of deal you work out. But that’s the Cadillac of gasoline lawnmowers.

Certainly not cheap. My 2013 model with 35 HP Kawasaki 72" deck with optional flex forks was nearing $11,000 + tax.
New ones are around 12-13 thousand $$ for the 35 HP Kawasaki with 72" deck before tax.
HD (hyper drive transmissions) add another $1200
Super Z(R) | Hustler Zero-Turn Riding Mowers – Commercial

Thanks. :thumbsup:

 

[4570Man]

Let us step back and remind ourselves that the OP has 1.5 acres to mow. That is not that large of an area. I mow an acre with a 60" mower deck and it takes about 25-30 minutes.

A lawn tractor with a 54" deck mowing at 4mph ( just a little faster than a walking pace) should do about 1.96 acres per hour, so it would take the OP about 45 minutes.

You can get a very nice 54" lawn tractor for well under $3K.

A less expensive husqvarna for $2200, which is the way I'd go. You can beat it to heck for 10 years and be money ahead VS just the cost of a RFM. Then buy a larger tractor for the larger chores as planned.

He’s wanting to expand to 3 acres. I see commercial ZTRs for a few thousand pretty often. I just nearly bought a Exmark equivalent of the super Z for $1100 but it sold in about an hour.

 

[4570Man]

Here’s what I found in just a couple minutes.

 

[Code54]

Even used hard and put away wet it is darn hard to find a full commercial unit (even a walker) for under several thousand bucks. Now a new commercial ZTR is going to be above a few grand - sometimes WAY above. Even the mid grade residential Hustler Raptors (base model) are around 3k and you are talking residential grade hydros and low grade spindles, smaller wheels, and lower end components. Have to remember that even Exmark, Hustler and a lot of the others make home owner grade machines - now these sell pretty cheap and are fine if you have a smaller yard and not running them hard.

 

[ruffdog]

I bought what my wife wanted to mow with....a used Deere x744. It is super easy to use with one hand and she WANTS to use it. That allows me to work on other projects at the same time too.

 

[gdbaskin]

From my experience, a 54" to 60" zero turn is much more reliable than a finish mower. And it gives a neater finish too.

 

[Fordman98]

Love seeing all the different opinions on this! I think I've decided against the rfm even though I like the idea of only having one engine to maintain. Im thinking I'll have to go and see what I can find price wise. I can't justify spending more than about $3000 for just 2 to 3 acres. With the garden tractor I'd be a little over $2000 and still be able to get the yard mowed in a decent amount of time. No doubt it seems the zero turns going to be the fastest but not sure my budget will allow me to get what I really want going that direction.

 

[John0829]

Love seeing all the different opinions on this! I think I've decided against the rfm even though I like the idea of only having one engine to maintain. Im thinking I'll have to go and see what I can find price wise. I can't justify spending more than about $3000 for just 2 to 3 acres. With the garden tractor I'd be a little over $2000 and still be able to get the yard mowed in a decent amount of time. No doubt it seems the zero turns going to be the fastest but not sure my budget will allow me to get what I really want going that direction.

Ah yes, the wallet always has the last word.