John Deere vs. other manufactures

[Kernslawncare]

Searching around on this site i have seen that a lot of people don't have John Deere mowers. Is it because their more expensive then other mowers or just that the other mowers have better quality cut then the Deers.

Thanks for the info

Kern's Lawncare & Landscaping

[stroker51]

Around here Deere is probably the number one mower you will see the commercial guy using, as far as zero turns and standers. Toro T-Bar walk behinds make up most of the walk behind count. The 7-Iron decks do an awesome job, cut quality is great, plenty of vacuum for a good stripe. The pro-series seem to have some problems, that is the current line up, but my salesman says deere is resolving those, they have to or risk losing all that market share. If you can find a low hour 737 or 757 mid mount would be the best to get. Not sure why there aren't a lot of them on here, most likely it's cuz there isn't a strong deere dealer in a lot of places for the consumer products, ie lawn mowers. We have two great dealers within 25 minutes of my shop, and Deere units are everywhere.

[ryry278]

Not many Deere's here. To expensive and not as good a cut in my personal expereince. I like my Exmark way better then my buddies Deere. Hustler is also popular here, but dealer is an Azzzzz. If your looking demo the ones your interested then decide

[Jerry Lee]

its not the cut at all. well as long as u have an open deck, deers suck with mulching decks except for the 717 in my oppinion. they are pricy too. if i were to ever buy a deer it would be the 717, they are very tough and good little mowers. the new 757, and 777 suck terribly, i cant stand all the safety features they have and how sensative they are.

maintnance on any deere for the most part is difficult compared to any other mower, because they put so much plastic on them for esthetics, changing oil though isnt bad.

deers were good before 08, than they came out with there whole new line of junk, but i have heard they have had so many problems with the new line that they are going to perform a recall. but thats what ive heard i dont know that for sure. all in all there are better mowers out there for the price.

[TomberLawn]

There aren't that many Deere mowers in my area--some, but not like there are Bobcats and Hustlers. A lot of it has to do with dealers. There is a high-volume Bobcat and Hustler dealer in Monroe who sells over 1000 units a year. The Deere dealer doesn't really stock any Deere mowers. They carry Ferris mowers and have sold several of them, but they are primarily an ag dealer. There's another Deere dealer nearby that probably does carry more Deere mowers, but I don't get by there often.

A lot of people feel they can get just as good or better mower for less money than a John Deere. The general consensus was that the 700 series mowers were pretty good and the 800 series were junk when they came out. My local Deere dealer won't even stock an 800 series and will do their best to put somebody on a Ferris rather than a Deere. They even put an EZ-Trak in the showroom next to a Ferris IS500 just for comparisons. Something that one of the salesmen likes to do is have the customer pick up the front end of the EZ-Trak--not very hard to do. Then, he has them try to pick up the front of the IS500, and it feels way more solid. I know these aren't commercial mowers, but it's a neat comparison anyway.

My family has had some trouble out of John Deere stuff. After being green-bleeding die-hards, we've come to find that there are other manufacturers who make equipment, be it tractors or trimmers, that are just as good or better than Deere and at a way better price.

[Roger]

I have had a JD717A Z-trak for nearly three seasons. It is an outstanding piece of equipment, and does the best mowing job of any mower I have, and better than most other commercial mowers used in this area. It puts down no stripes, but does a very smooth job of mowing, great clipping dispersal, and the deck stays quite clean. I can't imagine a better choice for me, using a 48" mower, 19hp Kaw engine.

It now has only about 750 hours -- I use it less than half the working time. I still have other properties with terrain, gate, and configuration restraints, so continue to use my 36" w/b for most of the other properties.

I use standard OEM high-lift blades, excepting in the Fall for leaf work. I switch to Gator blades for heavy leaf work. I do not have a mulching kit. I do one of two things: (1) Keep working leaves toward one side, or (2) Mount a chute blocker to make an intiial pass, then remove blocker and cross cut to disperse leaf mulch.

I do have a GrassPacker for bagging. However, I only have two backyard properties (each 15K to 17K sq ft) for bagging, and that is all I want! The GrassPacker works moderately well, but I'm glad I don't have significant amount of bagging.

It gets used on properties that are at least 3/4 acre, with most 1.5 - 2.0 acres. My mowing conditions are northern cool weather grasses. The growth rates in April, May and June can be significant for weekly cutting, and the clippings are heavy and wet.

The 19hp Kaw is enough power, but nothing extra. I would not mount a spindle-driven bagger with this engine. The only time I need to take care is when traveling up a long, steep grade -- just ease up on the ground drive handles for the top parts of those passes.

I would buy another 7XX mower in an instant if the need arose, without even looking at another brand. The 7-Iron II deck works very well for my mowing conditions, and the machine is very well built. From my experience and research, the pricing is no different than other major mower manufacturers. I don't believe the "higher priced" stories. I am willing to pay good money for a machine that will last for years and years, and be reliable week after week, season after season. Worrying about a few hundred dollars on an initial purchase that will produce hundreds of thousands in sales is of no concern to me.

Just my $0.02, and I'm sure others will agree, and others will disagree.

[stroker51]

Any good i have to say about the Deere Zero turns is made in reference to the 700 series, not the new 800's just to clear up any confusion. My Deere zero turn when I bought it new in 05 was right in line with the Dixie Chopper and Exmark's i priced out. I think, back then, it was $7380 out the door, 23 horse 60". I really need to get some pics of my stripes up sometime, but we do some really nice work with the Deere 7 Iron and 7 Iron II decks. Great stripes, great cut, very few deck plug ups.

[qualitylawnpro]

Ive looked at them the one thing i didnt like was that they weigh alot more than other mowers. Im trying to cut the weight of these mowers. Im going to a smaller series for some of my mowers.

[bohiaa]

was amazed at the response from this post....

my experance is that John Deer never has made a good ZTR.

I have been in the Green business for 30 + years. there is one co. in my area that usees them.

however now when it comes to tractors. I would purchase a 2nd one from them.

[mowerbrad]

I think that in my area there are only about 3 lco's that have a john deere ztr in there fleet. I have only heard good things about there standers, only one lco has one that I know of in my area, and that mower cuts great. I have never really been a big fan of their wb mowers because they only offer the pistol grips as a choice for controls. The most popular brands that I see around here are exmark and toro. The closest deere dealer has very few deere ztr's, most of their ztr's are exmark.

[Roger]

..

my experance is that John Deer never has made a good ZTR.

...

Share the details of your personal experience with us, please. Be specific so that we can understand your viewpoint.

[Jerry Lee]

Share the details of your personal experience with us, please. Be specific so that we can understand your viewpoint.

you a Deer dealer?

[jnrogers]

I have a 717A ZTR and I love it. I have used a lot of different brand of mowers over the years but I went to John Deere several years ago and like them the best so far. I think their cut is amazing. I personally think they are very easy to work on and maintain as well. As far as pricing they are priced about the same in my area as any other good commercial grade mower. One thing else I like is that the JD dealers always have a good amount of parts on hand, so when I do maintenance in the spring I dont have to wait on parts. Just my personal experience with them.

[Kernslawncare]

what would you guys say about the Kubota mowers compared to the other mowers? I'm searching right now for a brand of mowers that will work for my business. I need a brand that will have a good quality cut, easy to maintain and easy to get parts incase of a break down. I would like to have all my mowers the same so incase of in case of a break down im working on all the same stuff and i only have to deal with one dealer not many.