How do they compare?
How do they compare?
It may just depend on when you would rather spend your money..Pay more now for a Deere or buy a little cheaper and spend some on repairs..My son bought one of the Lowes Deere's a few years ago and we rebuilt the mowing deck the second year..New bearings and later on the same year I was welding the wheel brackets back on the deck..It has a briggs motor..On the other hand I bought a little LX 176 with a 14 horse Kawasaki motor from the John Deere dealer 19 years ago and still running the same bearings in the deck..Changed the plug for the first time this year..I mow not quite 3 acres and the thing just won't quit..at the time it cost me about 3 times (3100 dollars) what one from Atwoods would have cost and it's probably lasted about as long as 3 of the cheaper mowers...I guess that makes it a wash..
Take a look at the Toro Timecutter Z. I've had mine 7 years and not one problem with the tranny or engine. I did have to replace the spindles for the blades on the deck last year, but that's the only repairs. Not bad for 6 years (at the time).
Woody
Woody
Buy a quality Deere from the dealer and not Lowes or HD as they only offer entry level machines and not life time models. My original LX176 was 15+ years of solid service with only the usual time replacement items such as belts and such. I have since upgrade to a LX277 AWS with a 44" dedicated mulching deck and it never give me any problems like the neighbors 2 year old CC that has been to the shop 4 times since delivery. I also have a X595 with a loader for when I need to cut a lot of grass or play in the dirt. If you want to try either out first hand just shoot me a PM and you can try either machine out at my place or yours if you are not out in the boonies.
I have had a Dixon (Husqvarna) zero turn 60 inch hydrostatic drive with levers for the house for 12 years mowing 2 acres with almost 100 trees. No problems at all in 340 hours on it, but it was an expensive mower.
Have one of the orange Husqvarna Lowes with the steering wheel hydrostatic drive for the lake house similar to what you are looking at with about 80 hours on it. It would be great if it was flat and no trees, but it is not as maneuverable as I would like for my terrain.
Depends on your terrain and budget. Forward reverse on each side levers on a zero turn take a time or two to get used to then it feels normal and much easier than a forward only shift to reverse wheel for me with my obstacles.
It seems parts are available many places for both.
Good luck to you. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.
Have one of the orange Husqvarna Lowes with the steering wheel hydrostatic drive for the lake house similar to what you are looking at with about 80 hours on it. It would be great if it was flat and no trees, but it is not as maneuverable as I would like for my terrain.
Depends on your terrain and budget. Forward reverse on each side levers on a zero turn take a time or two to get used to then it feels normal and much easier than a forward only shift to reverse wheel for me with my obstacles.
It seems parts are available many places for both.
Good luck to you. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.
The top customer rated mower at Lowes is the Troy bilt super bronco, with a 50 inch cut for only $1900 seems like a bargain. Do yourself a favor and don't buy anything with a Briggs engine, Kohler is better and Kawasaki is best.
I mow 2.5 acres. Broke down in 2004 and purchased a 48 inch Exmark Laser XP that had 50 hours on it. Blades, oil and air filters has been it. Yes it will cost more, but the quality of cut and reduced time to mow grass and low maintenance cost was well worth it to me.
Recently my son purchased his first home and it is sitting on five acres. Purchased a used Toro zero turn for less money than your talking about.
Look around for a used commercial unit. Sometimes regular folks move to town and have low hour units that you can get into right. Good luck.
Recently my son purchased his first home and it is sitting on five acres. Purchased a used Toro zero turn for less money than your talking about.
Look around for a used commercial unit. Sometimes regular folks move to town and have low hour units that you can get into right. Good luck.
This.
I'd been mowing my 3 acres with a 1995 John Deere STX38. With a 38 inch deck and 11HP motor, it took ~5-6 hours to get a good cut. I'm pretty sure those motors aren't designed to run like that constantly. My grandfather had bought it in 1995 and it had been doing city yards until 7 years ago when I threw a rod on a 46" Murray with 16HP Briggs that was 18 months old (wasn't even going through thick stuff or bogging down either - just suddenly stopped and started dumping oil around an object protruding from the case).
This year, I gave that STX38 back to my dad and bought a John Deere X320 with a 54" cut and 22HP Kawasaki. There wasn't anything really wrong with the STX38 - it had a ground short in an area where the wiring is buried and I just really didn't have the time to mess with it. I took it as my sign to finally step up to something the right size. The X320 has no problem going through stuff taller than it, and I can do the entire 3 acres in 90 minutes and ~2/3 tank of gas.
As for CVT vs Hydrostatic, I prefer hydrostatic. CVTs are much cheaper to produce overseas which is why you see them in the big box store mowers like the D series. The hydrostatic is smoother and you don't have to worry about missing a shift into forward or reverse. Tradeoff is less efficient on power transfer and sensitivity to heat.
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No, the John Deere models are the same....and the same price whether you buy them from a John Deere dealer or another retail outlet. You can contact the factory to verify. John Deere does not want to compromise their reputation on selling a "vendor's special".
I do not know where you were lead to believe otherwise. Our local dealer receives their mowers from the factory, and then services them and delivers to Lowes, Home Depot, and their own showroom. All the same mower at the same price, the same way for the thirty years my dealer has been in business.
The mower series in question are all the same "low end consumer models". The main difference in going with a JD dealer is having the access to better grades of mowers than the ones in question. The better mowers are usually not carried by the box stores due to price.
MIH, I have to weigh in here, like a lot of folks have said, do yourself a huge favor and buy from a dealer and not a big box store, unless you buy a Cub Cadet. I mow 2 and a half acres, not level, tons of trees, I have had 2 hand me down craftsman, a 56 inch Troy built, a husqvuarna, all bought from big box stores, namely Lowes, Sears or Home Depot all in the last 14 years. They DO NOT last, if you buy a John Deere buy from a dealer, my dad mows 5 acres with a JD zero turn he bought at P&K, it's a tank and they have stood behind the product. I bit the bullet last year and went to Central New Holland where I bought my Mahindra tractor and bought a Hustler Fast Trac 56 inch cut with a Kawasaki engine, best decision I have ever made as far as mowing goes... It is a hoss and cut my mowing time by 2 hours or more. Like a couple of others have said, buy a mower with a Kawasaki or Koehler engine, you will not regret spending the extra money. Same thing with string trimmers or blowers etc, buy a Stihl or Echo, they last and work right, just my 2 cents, speaking from experience of dealing with a buttload of crappy equipment.
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