Performance Testing:

[Eric ELM]

In Turf Magazine, there is another article about Lawnsite.com and they are wanting to know if any of us have any ideas on an equipment performance testing, what we would want them to report on. It says you can call them, email them, fax them, or post it on Jim's favorite forum, Lawnsite.com and he thinks we are doing a great job. <p>Here are some of my ideas:<br>Speed<br>Cut quality<br>Hill handling ability<br>Fuel usage<br>Comfort of the seats<br>How easy it would be to work on them if needed.<br>How easy the controls are to use.<br>Safety features<br>Warning features of low oil presure or over heating.<br>Oh, we have to have a report on how they STRIPE!! That is very important to me :)<p>Anyone have some ideas on what you would like them to report on?<p>

[yardsmith]

I would like to see how fast they go while cutting, & how tall of grass you can knock down in one pass. These are semi-relevant to me, & nice to know what it CAN do if you need it to.<br>Definitely need to see which ones hold (across) a hillside the best.<br>Also which ones &quot;seem&quot; to be the easiest to operate, & ergonomic design features.<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>

[Scag48]

I would like them to tell about about reliability, cutting quality, speed, ease of use, etc.. I agree with Eric, striping quality would be nice too, my customers love those stripes. Also if they would have like a &quot;Value Machine&quot; for everyone who has to start somewhere in this biz. 80)

[lawrence stone]

My 44&quot; Toro with a 12.5hp with a stand on sulky will burn rubber<br>when doing 180 degree turns on the pavement.<p>That's sorta like performance testing.

[Eric ELM]

I can do wheelies too, but I don't think they will do a report on that. <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://elmlawnsite.com/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

[Chris]

How about some of the important stuff like:<p>Ease of routine maintenance; ie changing blades, access to grease fittings,fuel filters, and deck/drive belts.<p>Field reliability; how do they stand up to the daily treatment by the non-caring lawn gorilla - on & off the trailer, up & over the curb<p>How good is the cut, & how much production can the &quot;average&quot; worker be expected to get from the machine in a day.<p>Fast isn't always the answer; if the machine is down for breakage what difference does it make if it cuts grass at 25mph. Last of all I'd like to see some info on the factory's parts/dealer philosophy.

[bob]

Check to see how Consumer Reports does their testing. ( Maybe theres a wheelie section)

[kenneybros]

Ive made an old ransomes 48 climb a light pole. Dont ask how i did that. Anyways I think that how rugged they are is very important. I would like to see how each mower stands up to some kinda abuse testing. I dont mean dropping them off the back of a truck but we all know those workers can be a little careless. Also those commercial mowers are so suck and they are hard to control so how well they stand up to running into a tree is also important. Ease of maintainence is also good to know.

[cantoo]

When they get a list of items to evaluate they should contact the manufactures and get them to supply a variety of guys from here with the equipment to use for a typical one week period. This would be a true test of the different machines. We have guys here who do large commercial stuff right down to the guys who cut with &quot;lawnboys&quot; so finding the right guys to test them shouldn't be a problem. I don't think a writer can test drive a unit for a 1/2 hour then write a report on it, like they do for cars. But if some of the guys from here actually did the testing I would really listen to the results.

[MOW ED]

On similar lines I think it would be very informative if a study was conducted of a large cross section of the small engine/commercial mower repair shops from around the country, detailing the frequency of problems with certain mowers as well as engine problems. <p>It would be nice to see specific problems after so many hours of running, so you have an idea of what may be in store for you.

[TURF Editor]

Some great ideas here, guys.<p>I'll be at EXPO this weekend, asking as many manufacturers as I can how we could organize the logistics of getting big gear into the hands of qualified reviewers -- and not just for a day, but for several weeks.<p>If any of you are at EXPO, stop by our booth and say &quot;HI.&quot;<p>Keep the ideas coming. We're listening.<p>David G. Cassidy<br>Editor<br>TURF Magazine<p>

[little green guy]

It might be nice to know how well a machine cuts at different hights. Mabey which engine combo works best on each machine too.

[Bobby]

It would be nice to know if there is a mower that will cut clean on the first pass. But I doubt there is one.<p>----------<br>Yesteryear L/S<br>Hollywood Fla

[EarthWorks]

How about: Replacement parts cost comparison, fuel efficiency, and avg cost per hour of run time just like on refrigerators and water heaters.

[Twotoros]

How well will it mulch in various conditions ands lengths.

[Guido]

I like Earthworks' idea a lot, so I'll expand on it. They should go by the routine maintenance scheduele and figure out how much all the preventitive maintenance (oil changes, filters, etc) the machine will require for the x ammount of hours they think the engine will run. This way people can easily come up with a $ ammount for how much it costs per hour to run the machine. This would also include fuel consumption.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[Grasscape Inc]

Better cut first pass, MUCH more comfortable to ride on, longer lasting parts, less greasing, quieter. Not so Da*b expensive for those of us who buy a lot of them.<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: Grasscape Inc

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

Which ones you can: <br>Get the parts the quickest for.<br>Need the least amount of maintenance.<br>Cut better under tough conditions (rainy, high grass,hills etc)<br>Mowers & blowers that do best for Fall Clean ups.<br>Mowers that cut better through different types of grasses.<br>Line trimmers that can cut through high and thick grasses and brush.<br>Back pack blowers that can blow the most volume.<br>Hedge clippers that can cut through the most and one that are the lightest in weight.<br>Break down of different class mowers, edgers, blowers,line trimmers etc. The Weight,motors, etc.<br>Sorry to ramble hope that helps.<br>Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance :)<br>

[LiVe2]

Ease of taking blades off a mower should be one of the biggest things I think. I have a John deere Ztrack and you can allmost get away with sharping blades on the deck, were is my Great dane chariout takes about 30min to change out blades. If someone could figure out a way to make it so all you have to do is drive your mower deck over some kind of sharpner you could be rich