lawnmower envy!

[mdw]

Because of a family loss, I now have to take care of my mom's property. This was a 5+ hour job on a 48" Cub Cadet. Tonight I bagged it on my mom's brand new eXmark Lazer HP(52", 23hpKaw) in 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Thanks for those of you who helped me select a mower. Now for the advice...How do I deal with the envy of my mother's lawn mower? Do you think she'll let it sleep over at my house?

It is truely a fine cutting machine! I loved everything about it.

Dave

[lawnboy82]

What kind of car do you drive? Maybe you could buy a small trailer and move it to your house to do your property?

[RMDoyon]

Stop bagging.
Stop all bagging.

[geogunn]

Originally posted by mdw
This was a 5+ hour job on a 48" Cub Cadet. Tonight I bagged it on my mom's brand new eXmark Lazer HP(52", 23hpKaw) in 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Dave

c'mon dave, shaving 3 hours and 25 minutes off of a 5 hour job with a mower only 6 inches wider...? howinthehell did you do that!?:confused:

I know what everyone is going to say "yo GEO, the cub is a homeowner POS and the exmark is a professional machine!"

but those numbers still don't work for me!:alien:

[fivestarlawnken]

It was taking my Dad over sixhours to mow his three acres, now it only takes 2.5 hours with scag 48 wb belt driven.It took a few years of talk and hype from me.I can walk it in under two hours in fourth gear walking it.(not fun)It's amazing to see how much time you save going from a lawn tractor to a walk behind.;)

[Eric ELM]

He would knock it down to less than 1 hour with a 60" ZTR. :D

A friend of mine had his 48" tractor break down and it took him around 4 hours to mow his. I came out and mowed it for him in 43 minutes. He ended up buying an old Chopper from me with 2500 hours on it 3 seasons ago and it is still mowing great for him. ;

A used commercial mower is way better than buying these home owner mowers and I see a lot of home owners going this route now.

[cantoo]

Geogun, maybe the hour meter is broken,, just kidding.
My MTD Pro Z 54" will cut almost twice as much area as my 48" Walker in the same amount of time. Faster ground speed and less overlap is the reason I think. Of course it also depends on the amount of obstacles.

[geogunn]

fivestar--your numbers are worse than jeffs!

if I couldnt mow but a half acre an hour on a lawn tractor I'd blow my brains out! hey wait, that sounds risky!LOL

thanks eric for the chime in. I think I know enough not to challenge you on a chopper!

I guess I am glad that I bought a commercial mower when I went in the biz. I have never used a homeowner mower for the puropse of making money. I am disappointed that in another thread someone called LESCO a homeowwner machine.

GEO

[David Gretzmier]

geo- give me a break. 3 acres on flat I can do in an hour in my sleep w/ 60" machine. bumpy and obstacles, different story. the ztr not only helps turns, but helps time by letting you go faster in thin areas, slower in thick without shifting. at over 1000 posts, why am i explaining this to you? Dave g

[fivestarlawnken]

GEOGUNN---------Sorry man, it's the truth.:D

[Esby]

I recently bought a Lazer Z HP 52"/23 Kaw. I love this machine. Prior to this I was running my Exmark Metro HP 48". Here are just some #'s as far as time.(mowing only)
Walkbehind Lazer Z HP
2hr 15min..........now.................1hr 20min
4hr 35min..........now.................2hr 15min

Both of these properties as fairly open areas, so the speed was deffinatly a factor, but also maneuverability has a big part to play when it comes to cutting down on time. The walkbehind is a pain to turn, and not having reverse is also a draw back. One other reason I can attribute to the drop in time would be the Lazer Z has inffinate speed control, unlike the 5 speed belt drive where you are "kinda" stuck at one of the 5 speeds. And of course the bigger deck. The cut is also alot better with the Lazer Z, especially at higher speeds, I was very impressed with this machine-good job Exmark!

[fivestarlawnken]

ERIC--------- if you were refeering to my post on my dads yard, TRUST me i have, and still trying to get him to buy a ztr.I've even offered to help pay for the thing..oh well.

[65hoss]

Hey Geo, its probably true. I have an old cub lawn tractor of my dad's. The speed difference is huge and zero turning take a lot of time out too. The church I cut takes 3 hours using just a 36" w/b, but takes me 40 minutes with my Lazer. (example)

Getting the Lazer makes things much much faster.

[geogunn]

:eek: TO MY DEFENSE, the first time I read the post I did not pick up the fact that it was a LAZER:angel: ! I thought it was a WB that he was talking about.

ground speed is something the cub wont have compared to a ZTR and I agree.

and since I never did the MURRAY for money thing I didn't know.

but still, I think I can beat that CUB on my old homeowner MURRAY 11/36. my spouse still offers to run it in the back yard from time to time!

GEO

[awm]

i gota say i believe i was faster than that on a lt.
still ,after alls said an done the z just takes so much less time to do everything . kinda hard to believe,especially after you learn the machine. but i still think everybody ought to stay with lt s.
cept me :D

[weve]

I picked up an account several years ago that was taking the homeowner 4 to 5 hours with his Craftsman lawn tractor. There's some wide open area and a lot of obstacles. I mow it in 1 hour and 5 minutes with a 60" Chopper diesel.

[mdw]

The Cub was old and tired. It had a hand operated hydro. Very hard to keep changing speeds, extremely poor turning radius! I was probably never cutting at more the 1.5mph. The deck just couldn't take the abuse.

Not the case any more.

A commercial cutter was there and said he could probably do it in about an hour with a 60". It was my first time so I may be able to drop the time a little.

Dave

:angel:

[David Haggerty]

Originally posted by Eric ELM

A used commercial mower is way better than buying these home owner mowers and I see a lot of home owners going this route now. [/B]

Folks are buying 'em new here. The local dealer just told me yeserday that he's sold 130 ZTR's this year! This is a small town. If his sales don't slow down there won't be any market left here.

Dave

[roscioli]

Ahh,, the difference from from homeowner to commercial... Back in the scrub days (yes, i was a scrub, scrub scrub scrub), I used a lawn tractor to mow many of my properties, and this year I bought a 36" Exmark metro. The tractor was a 42", and using the metro cuts my times in half on some lawns, and by 1/4 on all others. YES, 6" LESS, and LESS time. And I am not even going to mention the difference in quality. Man, I can't wait 'till I can afford a ZTR.

[jcoat]

Just as Esby said, my dad bought a Lazer Z HP 52"/23 Kaw last spring and absolutely can't get over the results. Prior to running the commercial z, he was mowing with a Craftsman 42"/14 Kohler (I think) and got beat to death riding around the yard.

Results:
Craftsman: 3hr 45min
Exmark: 1hr 05min

Thing is, he always mows @ 30-60% speed and has undulations and about 15 trees to maneuver around. He told me it's the best "time" investment he's ever made. Also, the numbers may sound a little skewed, but I put a watch on both machines and times shown were the results.
As Esby and several have said in old postings. Good job Exmark!

[HOWARD JONES]

No matter how long it takes or doesn't take to mow, I'm afraid this is going to cost you several thousand bucks - for another mower like hers!