First Walk Behind

[Blademasters Lawn Care]

OK, so I'm looking to buy my first walk behind. I've got a line on two different used mowers - a 36" Scag belt drive and a 52" Ferris Hydro drive. The Scag is 2006 (from a neighbor of mine who only use it on his own house and is crazy meticulous about maintenance and such), it has a 15 HP Kawasaki, Grass Gobbler steel bag and a 2 wheel velky with it and wants $2100.

The 52" Ferris is a 2004 Dual Hydro Drive. It has a brand new 19hp Kawasaki engine (0 hrs) and was used commercially but is in nice shape. No bag, or sulky for $2500.00

Which way would you go if your just starting out and looking at mainly doing residential lawns. I already have a commercial 21" and all the other goodies, just need the advice on the WB.

Thanks

[IHusky]

Thats a tough one. How many hours are on the ferris? Did the motor get replace because it had alot of hours? If it has alot of hours you could be looking at replacing a hydro soon, pullies, spindle, which ain't going to be cheap. Also, if your targeting smaller residentals, the 52 might be a little too big for the gates and back yards. Thats a pretty good deal on the scag for $2100 and you know it was only used by a homeowner. IMO if your houses are going to have alot of gates, then get the 36 scag. What good is the 52 hdyro going to be if you can't get it into the back yard? Also, with low hours on the Scag, your not going to be looking at repairs for quite a while. You can also bag right from the get go and you have a velke. Your going to drop about $400 more to bag and ride ont he Ferris and quite possible look at alot for repairs. Good luck.

[KCfireman]

Go with the scag. Then later on you can keep the scag and upgrade to a larger mower.

[SangerLawn]

I would recommend the scag however I am inclined to say that it is a high price on it. With that being said I never shopped for a mower online. Normally if I buy something used it is out of the paper. Last year I bought a 36 scag that was a hydro with a velky that was 3 years old. I paid $1,300 for it. I talked him down from $1,500

You may want to shop around and see if you can get a better deal. That’s a lot of money if you don’t have customers. Especially for a hydro, at least in my area.