chim
Elite Member
First of all, I said earlier I may be in the minority with regard to the Tractor / Zero opinions. I could venture a guess that there are more tractors doing mowing than Zeros though. If I had a business that was 99 percent mowing for others at many locations, I'd have an interest in Zeros strictly because I could get two of them (equipped with grass catchers) on a trailer instead of one tractor and I could likely hire a couple young guys who would like getting paid for racing around on them. I don't have such a business though. I do mow for a widow across the road, and the tractor is not a handicap on that 1/2 acre.
I'm not looking to make converts of those who are happy with their Zeros, and not asking them to scrap them and go with something different. Zeros must work very well for some people or they wouldn't have that cult-like following. When someone suggests that there is more than one way to mow, the knives can come out rather quickly. Just trying to tell the "undecideds" that I found happiness with a tractor, why I have and that it's possible that others could as well. I also enjoy the tractor for tasks other than mowing. It has climate control and is comfortable to operate. It can be used at a leisurely and very comfortable speed and still get a lot done. This allows the mower to do its work without beating the snot out of it. The tractor has all the capabilities with regard to FEL and 3 point equipment that I'll need. After putting a couple hundred bucks into an abused 90" RFM, it mows well, and with the A/C there's no problem with the heat, dust, pollen or bugs. When (If?) Winter rolls around, it'll handle the 8' front blade just fine. It can pick about a ton of whatever I drag home off of a trailer, move dirt, etc.
Most of the data found on the boards is not easily quantified. Statements such as "Will mow rings around...", "Will do it twice as fast as......", "Is the only way to..........., "If you have lots of XXX to mow around........etc aren't really useful. Two people with Zeros have posted their real mowing times. One works out to 36.9 minutes per acre and the other was 15 minutes per acre. Averaging those two would be 25.9 minutes per acre. It takes me 25.7 minutes per acre with the tractor. Using those numbers, spending between the $3,500 and $7,000 mentioned to go with a separate piece of equipment for mowing doesn't appeal to me. Even using only the quicker 15 minutes per acre figure would only save me 10 minutes an acre.
I'm not looking to make converts of those who are happy with their Zeros, and not asking them to scrap them and go with something different. Zeros must work very well for some people or they wouldn't have that cult-like following. When someone suggests that there is more than one way to mow, the knives can come out rather quickly. Just trying to tell the "undecideds" that I found happiness with a tractor, why I have and that it's possible that others could as well. I also enjoy the tractor for tasks other than mowing. It has climate control and is comfortable to operate. It can be used at a leisurely and very comfortable speed and still get a lot done. This allows the mower to do its work without beating the snot out of it. The tractor has all the capabilities with regard to FEL and 3 point equipment that I'll need. After putting a couple hundred bucks into an abused 90" RFM, it mows well, and with the A/C there's no problem with the heat, dust, pollen or bugs. When (If?) Winter rolls around, it'll handle the 8' front blade just fine. It can pick about a ton of whatever I drag home off of a trailer, move dirt, etc.
Most of the data found on the boards is not easily quantified. Statements such as "Will mow rings around...", "Will do it twice as fast as......", "Is the only way to..........., "If you have lots of XXX to mow around........etc aren't really useful. Two people with Zeros have posted their real mowing times. One works out to 36.9 minutes per acre and the other was 15 minutes per acre. Averaging those two would be 25.9 minutes per acre. It takes me 25.7 minutes per acre with the tractor. Using those numbers, spending between the $3,500 and $7,000 mentioned to go with a separate piece of equipment for mowing doesn't appeal to me. Even using only the quicker 15 minutes per acre figure would only save me 10 minutes an acre.
