Exmark users...please respond

[BRIAN GALLO]

After checking this site out for a few years, it seems pretty clear that most of you guys are running Exmark's. In my area there are only 2 dealers. One is a cheasy hardware store that doesn't carry much, know anything about the product or have good customer service. The other dealer is really far away. Needless to say, not many people are running them here and I have no base of comparrison. I guess my question is, what makes these mowers so good comparred to other brands? Can you cut under any condition, any height, and get a great cut (like their catalog says)? I side discharge everyone. To me the Exmark looks like it would be a good mulcher because of the flow control baffles, but I know the Toro's side discharge well because of the huge opening and sfs deck. Any info?

[TLS]

Brian,

The Exmark Lineup is a great group of machines! The absolute best in my book.

BUT... If your dealer is second rate, and offers no support, then you are out of luck! No mower, no matter how good is any good without a good dealer to support it!

Yes there are other brands that are close in quality, some very close, but the dealer is of utmost importance when dealing with any piece of machinery.

I've never heard of a cheesy hardware store that carried a commercial lawnmower brand, but you never know! How BAD are they? What he carries isn't always an indication of what he's capable of.

Toro's, as you know are very similar to Exmarks in many areas. With one exception....the DECK.

Do a little more research into these dealers, and maybe more that you may not know of.

Good Luck

[Guardian]

I am in my 3rd year of business. I started with eXmark and I see absolutely NO reason to even try anything else. I am well networked among other LCO's and we all agree that eXmark is the finest mower around. I use 2 eXmarks, a 72" w/ 26 KOH fuel injected & a 44" w/ 17 KAW. Both are incredible. If I could start over again with just 1 mower, I'd choose a 60" eXmark. That would be the perfect mix....not too big on residentials (risking scalping) and plenty big enough for commercial.

As for mulching, the 44 has the mulching kit and does a great job...even without using the "mulching" blades. Side discharging is so good, you don't need to mulch. My only concern about the TORO SFS is that the "wind tunnel" seems to create "blow-out" preventing leaves from ever entering the chambers. I have SFS on a 36" toro walk behind and its terrible on leaves..but GREAT on bahai and tall, thick stuff.

If you have to travel to get one, go ahead, it will not need to go back to the shop often!

[Runner]

With eXmark, you can't go wrong, but I would certainly research these dealers, first. If this one is just a "hardware store" type setting, then is he going to be able to service your machine on a timely basis? Will he have a loaner (a real one) available for you if your machine is down a day or two? THESE are the things you need to focus on. Exmark has their Parts Plus program, which is excellent. They guarunte your part be there within two days, or they're free. Overnight delivery is also available, and is frequently used here by out dealer. However, overnight parts aren't going to do you a DARNED bit of good if you have the parts, and your dealer still takes a week or two getting them on. Our dealer was just awarded the Exmark PRO certification, that basically is awarded to dealers that not only meet the commercial customers expectations, but surpass them. There are not alot of dealers who meet up to this standard. Anyway, the machines are great, I just hope you can get backup for them as well. If you can, GO for it! Oh, as far as the Toro deck deal, use the search feature, and do some reading. I think you'll find it's not all it's cracked up to be. Good luck!

[Sooners]

I bought a new eXmark 60" Lazer Z this spring and love it. I had to go 120 miles to my dealer. I find that it does great in tall grass (12") with the side chute, but I have to mow 2 passes when I have my mulching kit on. It does mulch and leave no remnants. I researched several brand and the eXmark had the overall features and construction I liked. The Toro is very similar to the eXmark and made at the same factory, but the decks are totally different. The Toro is stamped and therefore a lighter gauge steel. The eXmark is much thicker and will handle much more abuse. I hope this helped.

[SLS]

Purchased a new Lazer Z last spring. It is a 23hp Kawasaki w/ 60" Ultra-Cut deck. It has 520 hours on it now and it has performed flawlessly the whole time. I could eat up some serious bandwidth singing the praises of this machine. You just can't go wrong with the Exmark Lazer Z. :D

We also have a small Ace Hardware in my area that carries the Exmark line but I chose another dealer that's about 15 miles away that deals only in commercial lawn equipment. Not only does this dealer have a good reputation for good service and providing loaners but he was also willing to beat the Ace Hardware price for the same machine by $500 clams. It has been a good relationship and I drive there to get blades and filters. In the next week or two I'm also buying a 36" Exmark Turf Tracer w/ECS from them. I wholeheartedly recommend Exmark products for reliability, dependability, excellent mowing results...everything! A super value for what you get from your hard earned money.

By all means, try to do a demo of one of these machines and see for yourself what I mean.

And as an added bonus...Exmark has a great factory sponsored forum...right here at LawnSite.com....and it is just great.

How could it get any better you ask??? Only if these machines arrived at your doorstep at 'no charge'! :laugh:

Yep, Exmark has made a believer out of me. I am TOTALLY satisfied with my Lazer and have no plans to purchase any other brand of commercial mower.

[1MajorTom]

Miller's Ace Hardware.
http://www.millersace.com/about.html

Doesn't list eXmark in their lineup of mowers but I'm sure they have a few of them still sitting around.
Have you been there to know they are "cheesy"?
Glenn the mechanic does know his stuff. He takes his classes and updates his knowledge, not just on eXmark, but other brands as well.
Would we buy a ZTR from them and lay down that much cash to them? I'm not sure about that.
But a walkbehind? Sure thing. We bought two of them there. Walkbehinds are best suited for the type of properties we service.
It all depends upon how mechanical you are. My husband Matt can fix most anything. What we needed to know was how we would get the parts if a breakdown occurred. When we found out about the overnight delivery, there was no doubt we were buying from them. We bought leftover new stock from a previous year, with a price that couldn't be beat.
And now with eXmark being on this site to ask a question to, we are even more confident we made the right choice.

Quote:
However, overnight parts aren't going to do you a DARNED bit of good if you have the parts, and your dealer still takes a week or two getting them on.

Doesn't anyone do any service themselves?

Guy in the next town from us just bought an eXmark Viking from Millers. We're assuming he got a good price on that machine. The fixed deck doesn't appeal to us though.

Can you convert your mower from side discharge to mulching?
I've read on here in the past how guys rely on their dealer to install their mulch kit. If you can't do that, then Miller's isn't the place for you. When we bought from Miller's, we knew why we were buying there. We weren't going to be running there every time a minor problem came up. So to reiterate, if you are that type of person that relies on the dealer for everything, then no, I wouldn't recommend them.

Ends up a dealer moved in closer to us that is located 5 miles away. Ended up picking up parts from him last week when we needed to fix the rear deck support. Paid the $25.00 overnight, and Matt fixed it in less than an hour.

You want service? What about Fletchers? I reckon they can't be that far from you. Say 25 miles tops? We've been there. I believe they have the 4 hour incentive where you drop your mower off and in 4 hours it will be fixed. They wouldn't budge on their price though even though Matt told them we didn't want that 4 hour incentive drop off that we believe is added onto the price.

We don't normally talk about the brands of equipment we use, but since the "cheesy hardware store" was being discussed, I figured I would speak up. ;)

[BRIAN GALLO]

Jodi,

I have been to Miller's several times, and that is why I say cheesy. I do all my own work, so that wasn't the problem. Everytime I went there to get a price I was told only 1 guy knew about them - and it seemed he was never there! I finally got to talk to someone about a 48" turf tracer hp. They took me outside to show me an unassembled, slightly rusted machine still in the crate. They gave me a good price, but said they could not sell it unassembled "as is", and they would call me when it was assembled. I never got that call, and when I called back several weeks later no one knew anything about what I was talking about or that they had that machine! Fletcher's IS great. They are about 30 mi. from me, but with a hectic schedule I have trouble getting there. Do you guys run the Exmarks then? Do they cut high, thick grass as good as the Toro's?

Thanks

[1MajorTom]

Yes, the one guy you mention that they tell you to talk to would be Carl. He is there only in the days, and I believe at one time his day off used to be Thursday.
Jim is also there, but he is not very helpful (meaning knowledgeable on eXmark mowers.)
Glenn is the mechanic there. If you are interested in getting that machine assembled, ask straight out to talk to Glenn. He is in the back, and you would not normally see him. Tell him flat out you want to know how long it would take him to assemble the machine. He will be straight forward with you I believe and tell you the truth.

One thing we never do is give comparisons on machines. We've never run Toro so it would be unfair to say that eXmark wins hands down. I see guys on here all the time tooting their equipment saying it is the best, but have they run all the different brands out there to really know?

I will say this. eXmark is one tough piece of equipment. We've been cutting thru high grass and it does a fine job. We cut our accounts every 7 days, but on heavy, overfertilized yards, we do have to double cut some areas. The growth here is really crazy this year. We are happy with the purchase we made.

[MikeLT1Z28]

i love mine but never really cut in the rain. i have cut wet grass a few inches high and get some stuff spit out of the mulch kit. running over it a 2nd time usually takes care of it. i couldn't tell you about side discharging though. i have heard some say that the SFS deck does do better in wet conditions but can't speak on it personally. DEMO!

[heygrassman]

I just bought a 1 yr old Exmark 36" belt with a fixed deck. I was forced (for real estate friend) to cut a yard in the rain last night and I was impressed with the cut on this mower. I do not like to cut wet grass, but... I only had to recut a couple small areas after taking 1.00-1.25" off. The only thing I am not thrilled about is the striping, HOWEVER, I am not sure if it is in how the deck is setup or something I am doing. As soon as things catchup, that is first on my list to try to fix or look at one of the striping kits.

I have to give it to Dustin and Terry on this site. The support is great, but I can not compare to anything else.

Good Luck.

jf

[TOSLC]

I run an eXmark Turf Tracer HP, and have also run Dixon, Scag, Walker, and Toro. . . so I can compare. I really like the cut of the eXmark, but one word of advice, if you let the dealer put the mulch kit on, make sure they remove the extra baffle used for side discharge! The mower will work much better this way! As far as how they compare Scag is the only one that's comparable. With their new mulch master kit. . . their close.

I believe the eXmark mows in the rain, as well as it does dry. . . with the exception of more grass sticking to the deck.

Mine's three years old, no idea on the hours, and no trouble yet!

[AltaLawnCare]

There are so many small things that make up the difference.

A Toro does cut wet good, but..
You'l be scraping that deck like crazy - unless youre only runn low lifts, then the cut won't be as good.

My Exmark is easier to service than the Toro. The top side of the deck, where the belts are routed gets clogged with grass, has to sprayed out with water (as per dealers suggestion)...after 10 hours of mowing , some bi weekly cuts, the Exmarks top side of deck has almost no grass clippings in it!

The Exmark Z's have bigger spindle bearing housings than the Toro Z.

For flat level small areas which can be mowed on a 5 day schedule or less, and have plenty of room to turn around (no zero turning required) the Toro is fine, but for any other situation the Exmark is half the work, half the time, and 10 times the fun.

I realize I am comparing a belt drive WB to a 60" full size Z, but it doesn't take very long to see which company actually tried to use a prototype before they went into production.

The Toro co. should have never, ever sold a mower that difficult to handle. They should have stayed with the old slow flimsy design, instead of trying to copy Exmark and creating that POS !
:angry:

[Doogiegh]

Hey, I just bought a 32" Exmark Metro, 12.5 hp Kawi, gear driven mower from a local dealer. I'm just starting out, and it's alot better and faster than a 21" push mower or a 30" John Deere Riding Mower that can't turn around worth beans...


It's cut my time down in more ways then I can imagine, and the cut is absolutly fantastic. I haven't had a single problem with it, although I shouldn't since the machine probably has about 25 hours on it now, total.

I did cut a neighbors grass who just moved into the neighborhood. The grass hadn't been cut since last year, cause they moved in October, the house was vacant for 2 months before that, and they never cut last fall. So imagine grass that was probably 14-20 inches tall. The exmark mowed right through it, it didn't stall a single time. I was bagging it and it was a very very small area, probably 40 feet by 20 feet total, so a small square and on EACH pass, I had to empty the grass gobbler cause it was packed. But this lawn came out so well, the other neighbors came out and were watching. The old guy next door thought I was gonna have big problems mowing that kind of grass, but then he realized I had a commercial machine and was amazed himself as to how it just ran right threw the grass with no problem.

And being that I'm just starting out, I am 100% PISSED OFF to the MAX that I didn't take a digital photo of a "BEFORE" and "AFTER" of this lawn, to show the kind of work I do.. Cause this lawn was so bad, it doesn't get that bad too often, that's for sure. It would of been a great 8.5*11 picture, with the Before on top of the page and the After on the bottom taken from the same camera angle.. Maybe even a ruler sticking out of the ground to show how high the grass was..

I'd go for an exmark any day. I was considering a number of other brands, but when you hear that they are the number 1 selling commercial brand of mower, they gotta be doing something right.

I also added a pro-slide on my little 32" and it pulls me around absolutly fine with no problem whatsoever. I just gotta go easy on taking off cause otherwise the wheels spin and tear up the turf.

I have a mulching kit on order from my dealer, it should be here any day now.

[Mid Rivers]

Brian,
I like my Exmarks a great deal. The dealer doesn't only sound cheesie but also very lazy. You'll probably get the same quality service that you got when you where trying to buy it.

Jodie,
If you have to ask a shop to set up a machine more than once I wouldn't bother with them. They obviously don't want the business so I would go else where and go buy blades from them everyonce iin awhile just to remind them they could have sold a mower to you.

[danzig]

I have a 60'' turf tracer. Bought it in 95 brand new. It now has 900 hours on it. It has been a good machine and is very dependable. I have had a 44'' toro and liked it. I have also owned a 36 encore. The dealer is what makes the differance. dealer