X700 series owners w/Gas engine, how's your fuel usage?

[Dashe]

Just purchased a new x720 with a 54" deck and it burns fuel at about 1.2 gallons an hour. My old snapper with a 16hp single lung B&S and 42" deck would burn about 3/4 gallon per hour and it would take me an extra half hour to mow. I now takes me an hour to completely mow the lawn once a week where it would take me an hour and a half so I figure I am burning 1/8 of a gallon more gas a week with my x720 than I was with my snapper or about $.44 per week more. My wife will mow the yard happily on the x720 but didn't like the snapper, so for $.44 a week, I don't have to mow the grass.

 

[JDTank]

It's pretty tough to expect fuel economy out of the X700 series machines.

They are a big tractor for a gas engine, and those gas engines are a fair size.

I never even considered the gas models when I bought my X748, the fuel economy of the diesel is just to hard to ignore. It takes hours of running before my fuel gauge will even begin to move, if I had a gas machine I would likely have burned through 1/4 of a tank by that time.

I hate making trips to the gas station to fill cans, and with the gas, I knew I would have been going an awful lot.

 

[jenkinsph]

Dashe,
I think the gas mowers are good units but prefer the diesels, in the long run all of these are cheap to operate. Now my heavy service trucks will suck up some serious fuel.

 

[Dashe]

I agree that the diesels are great on fuel economy but I have no experience with diesels and all my other equipment is gas. My x720 will last me for my lifetime and most likely the lifetime of my kids without breaking a sweat. The little more that I have to pay for the gas isn't a big factor for me. I must admit, I love the sound of the diesels.

 

[Travesh]

Bought my X729 (gas) in spring '11 and have also been a bit surprised how thirsty it is compared to my old LT180 (similar to X300). I'd estimate about 1.3 gal/hr for my mowing. But this seems even worse because of how sensitive and non-linear the gas gauge is. For new buyers, I'd recommend going diesel if you have other diesel equipment. That all said, the X700 series, gas or diesel, are amazingly capable machines and I won't be trading mine for a good long time.

 

[Dashe]

I agree that the x700's are great machines, gas or diesel. There is no way you can justify a diesel alone on fuel usage. Maybe on maintenance longer life etc.

 

[JDTank]

I agree that the x700's are great machines, gas or diesel. There is no way you can justify a diesel alone on fuel usage. Maybe on maintenance longer life etc.

That's true, no doubt!

I did the math a while ago, and if I remember correctly, it would take something like 15 years to pay back the difference for the diesel machine, based on my usage and fuel prices here. This was of course compared to buying a smaller X540, not a gas powered X700 series, so the price gap was huge.

 

[Hostaman]

X729, mowing full throttle for 1 1/2 hours on the meter, steep hill to climb. Used 1 gallon of fuel. FYI, you asked for other X700 usage.

 

[TractrNoob]

Our X720 seems to be burning better than a gallon and hour, more like 1.5 gallons/hour. We can get about 5-6 hours of mowing time out of a full tank. To us that seems like a lot. Is this about right? We have over 150 hours on it. We were hoping it would get better after it broke in but it hasn't.

I have a 2004 X485Se, the earlier version of the X720 - same specs. My tractor has 280 hours on it. I get about 5.5 hours per 6.5 gallon tank. Sounds like you're in the ballpark...