Husqvarna vs. Toro

[snake1040]

I am looking into buying a new ZTR mower. Somewhere around 48" cut. I was looking at the new Husqvarna 4819 and the toro 4417. I can't decide which one to buy and wanted some opinions on them or another good ZTR riders that others use. I live in Fl and mow a lot of St.Augustine.

[accuratelawn]

The Husky ZTR is a Keys painted orange. One thing I did not like about the small ZTR by Keys was the deck adjustments. It was a four pin system and you had to stop and dismount to change height. There was talk of changing this last year...I have not looked at them lately.<br>The Toro would make a good mower. <br>Look at Exmark and any others available in your area before you decide.<br>Do not pay asking price and make them let you demo the unit. Not just drive it around the parking lot. It is hard to see the cut on pavement.

[nlminc]

I would not give my money to Husgvarna, they are the ones inventing the remote control lawn mower to hurt our business. You know all the wealthy people will drop the cash on that new toy and if it is worthy, then we could be in trouble.<br>How about lesco. The sign behind the counter reads &quot;Sorry (home owners)while we take care of our comercial customers first&quot;. It should say &quot;Drive down the road to Home Depot and buy that fert and seed for less money than what we sell it to our &quot;cherished&quot; comercial customers for&quot;. <br>As for Toro, they always put out a competitive comercial mower and you should have decent luck with their quality and customer service.

[Keith]

Snake, how much is the Husqvarna you are looking at? Accuratelawn, is right, they are a Kees painted orange. I have seen the &quot;baby&quot; Kees for as little as $4800 I think. I have a 61&quot; large frame Kees and I like it. I cut 90% St. Augustine and it has done well so far. I don't really like the &quot;baby&quot; model though. In the smaller class I would go with the Exmark. However you should look into the 52&quot; or 61&quot; Kees or Husqvarna, you might like it better.

[snake1040]

Thank you for the info. The Husky 48&quot; cut 19 hp is about 6500 here but I saw it at a recent mower show and was told I could buy it for 6000. I didn't know that it was kees if thats the case I don't think I want to buy a mower that is like a middle man. I think the 52&quot; would be to big for me. I am still debating on what brand to buy.<br>

[geogunn]

nlminc--from your post here, are you suggesting that as a professional lawn care person that you don't feel welcome trading at lesco because they would put service to you ahead of a homeowner? do you feel that this is discrimination? I hesitate to post this because I do not understand your point in the correlation between husky mowers and seeds and fert at lesco. can you explain further so that we (I) might better understand? thanks.<p>GEO

[nlminc]

Geo, I was just stating that companies like husky and lesco get to me with their way of doing business. If lesco wants to give us the best deal, then why are the Lesco brand ferts and seeds selling for less at Home Depot. They claim to give us contractors the best price, when they are really giving it to the general public. These companies claim to be benifitial to us , but they turn around and bite us in the butt by allowing home owners to buy the product for less or in huskys case give the home owner the option for an economical alternitive to a weekly lawn service provider. You have to agree, that their new remote controlled mower would look pretty attractive to some to some of those wealthy home owners. That mower may be ten years from perfection for all I know, but I would rather give my money to Toro or Walker etc. etc. than to some company that is biting the hand that feeds it.<br>

[Keith]

Snake, I use my 61&quot; in some pretty small lawn and it works well. What size lawns are you mowing?<p>nlminc, I will agree with you on the Lesco deal. But I think the Husqvarna remote mower is just a toy. Afterall they will have to come up with a remote edger, hedge trimmer, line trimmer and blower to be fully automated :)<br>

[paul]

nlminc it's called buying power, if home depot calls lesco and ask's for 5000 tons of product at a set price per bag on a five year deal they will work out a better price than you or I get. Two years ago I was doing a golf course had 16,000 sq. ft. brick pavers 3/4 thru the job manufacture run out of brick. Find out that home depot has big order for same brick and the sales man tells me that home depot is getting my brick and at less than I'm paying for it, makes me mad but I hold my temper and tell the sales man that this is the last time that I'm using his product, 6 hrs. later I get a call that my brick is being shipped, balance of order 4000 sq.ft. I have an advantage over most in my line I use alot of material, their company does not want to lose my account. <p>----------<br>paul<p>

[geogunn]

nlminc--thanks for the clarification. I see what you mean now. I have never considered lesco products at home depot to be an option because they don't carry the volume of fert and seed to do a decent sized job. their stock is not rotated, you can't get any help to get loaded, home depot associates don't recomend lesco products, and by the time you push a wagon with 500 pounds of stuff on it to the cashieer, you are dead beat tired. I checked HD out this past fall for lesco transition blend seed and it was a year and a half old. went to lesco, seed was fresh, bags of fert was fresh, all was loaded, out the door in less than 10 minutes. I didn't pay much more for the order at lesco although I admit I didn't add everything up to compare.<p>I suppose if you had a crappy lesco store and a good HD then the story would be reversed. <p>I am not up on husky's remote mower. heck! I might want of those! good day to all. lets take our sweetie's out for a nice valentine's dinner!<p>GEO

[jeffclc]

I too have seen the Lesco products at Home depot. I did not check the prices of the fertilizer, but on some of the grass seed, it was about the same as I pay at the store. I did not check the dates on the bag of seed, but will next time I see it there.<p>In talking with out local Lesco rep about the fertilizers at HD, he told me that they were of a lower quality than those that can be bought in the service center. He said that most had only limited slow release fertilizer. <p>I guess that some homwowners have seen/heard the Lesco name, and figure that it is the same professional products that we use. This is a trend nowadays, putting a premium name on a consumer grade product, not only in this industry, but in others as well. Look at Scotts mowers. Scotts is a premium name, but their mowers are not top of the line. <p>If you buy the material from HD, who are you going to turn to if you need technical assistance? What are you going to do if there is a problem with one of the products? I know that I can go down to the local Lesco and get help if I need it. Those guys really know their stuff, where the kid at HD usually only knows that the stuff is $9.99/bag.<p>I have a friend that is in the construction business, and has been for many many years. HE knowd the ins and outs of construction and materials. He hates any of the home centers. He knows for a fact that they buy lumber seconds and cut out the bad sections, and sell you the rest of the board. <p>I still go to the home centers for items not related to lawn work. I do buy a few lawn items there, especially in a pinch.<p>BTW How did we get from Husqvarna Vs. Toro to Lesco products at Home Depot???