Advice on Walk behind mowers

[deerslayer]

I am going to purchase a walk behind mower for personal use, and maybe a few side jobs to help pay for it':rolleyes:. I have decided on a 48" gear drive mower with a sulky. I am leaning towards an Exmark with ECS controls and 15 HP Kohler. I have looked at a Yazoo/Kees but due to the ECS controls on the Exmark, I believe I will get that one. Is it worth paying extra for the Kawasaki V-Twin over the Kohler? What is the advantages of one over the other? Would this be a good mower for me? I am mowing a little over two acres with some steep hills.

[MikeLT1Z28]

should be a fine mower for you. the kawi is a great motor, makes more torque than the kohler. the kohler is a good motor too though. the only trouble you might run into is belt slippage on hills or wet grass with the sulky, this is where the hydros really work good on wb's. also a belt drive uses more hp than hydros also. exmark is built exceptionally well so you should have many years of use (with the proper care). also if you are going to be doing any mulching, the mulch kit is an excellent option. jump over to the exmark forum and ask for a comparison between them and any others you are considering. they can usually help with more info.

[deerslayer]

Thanks MikeLT1Z28 for the info. The price I got was with the Kohler and I didn't see any reason to pay extra for the Kawasaki, but I wanted to get other opinions first. The dealer told me the hydros would do better on hills, but I cannot justify paying the extra $1500 unless I started mowing a lot of yards besides my own.
I may get a mulch kit later on, but I was hoping that this mower with the fast blade speed might do well without it I had one on my previous mower and loved how it cut (when the grass was dry and I didn't let it get too high).

[MikeLT1Z28]

the cut will still be great with the factory excalibur blades, the mulch kit will just make it looked bagged and it helps to control clippings getting in beds, mulch, etc...

[spigeez]

Just bought a Husqvarna 48" gear drive w/ ETS controls and a 15 hp Kawi twin. So far I have just played around a little with it because i'm waiting for my new lawn to get strong and healthy before I knock it down. The fit-finish and initial quality looks really good though. I'm putting a Velke two wheeled sulky on it this week. The ETS controls seem to work really well and are much more comfortable than pistol type. The Husky is the same as a Yazoo-Kees I believe, but YK doesn't offer a walkbehind with the ETS controls. I also looked at the Exmark Metro 48 and that was a slick mower IMO. The Husky dealer is 1 mile from my house so I went with him. Anyhow, if you lean toward the Yazoo, maybe check the Husky w4815ets and you can get the Kawi twin and ETS another $200. Have fun!

[deerslayer]

I agree with you on the comfort of the ETS over the pistol style grips. That eliminated the Yazoo. The Husky dealer was about 25 miles away, had already sold all their commercial mowers and weren't interested in ordering any more. The exmark is in stock at a dealer less than 5 miles away. The Yazoo dealer priced a Kawasaki but without the ETS grips, so I wasn't interested. Hopefully the Kohler will be a good engine. I am getting a single wheel sulky and will be picking it up the mower tomorrow. My grass really needs cut now so it should be a good test for the mower.

[spigeez]

Good deal. I don't think you can go wrong with an Exmark. I was torn over the decision and I still like the Metro's design alot. Hopefully I didn't get the wrong mower. Time will tell. Give a shout after you have used it a while and let us know what you think of it.

[dvmcmrhp52]

Deerslayer,as an exmark guy you already know my answer on wether it's a good machine or not.
As far as the Kawi over the Kohler..............don't mean a hill of beans for a homeowner...............or a comercial cutter for the most part.It's just a matter of preference.

[deerslayer]

I put about 2 1/2 hours on my new mower yesterday. The cut is top notch. There were several spots in my yard that hadn't been mowed in almost two weeks (since my old lawn mower died). The grass was very thick but with the discharge chute up, the mower did an excellent job that didn't require raking. My only complaint with the mower is it doesn't do very good on the steep hills that make up my yard. If I could have afforded it, I would have got a hydro with bigger drive tires. Oh well. I will just have to walk it across the hills and get some exercise. The controls will take me a little while to get adjusted to them, but I actually look forward to mowing my yard again. Now it's going to be like NASCAR. I'm going to be checking each time I mow to see how my lap times improve :D

[dvmcmrhp52]

Enjoy....................

[MikeLT1Z28]

maybe i missed it, but what did you end up buying?

nevermind, saw it in another thread. i told ya exmark lays out a great cut! you mentioned something about not doing too good on hills, what exactly do you mean? control or cut?

[deerslayer]

By not doing good on hills I was talking about control. The cut is excellent. Part of the control issue has to do with an inexperienced driver. I felt myself trying to manhandle it and I need to learn to trust the machine and go easy on the controls. Going downhill, sometimes it would "break loose" and slide the tires but that could have been part my fault also due to panicking and grabbing the brakes. I believe I just need to take my time and get used to it so that I can figure out just what it is capable of.

[spigeez]

I'm finding the same control issues with my new Husky wb. I run my buddy's Exmark Turf Tracer hydro and it's much smoother to break and accelerate. It seems the gear drives are harder to slow down and trim around trees and what have you, and then let the break off and cut your row. I can throttle back the hydro(with the pistols), trim around the trees and then throttle back up much smoother than my gear drive. My brakes are so touchy it seems they are either all the way on or all the way off, putting the front casters in a wheely. I wish I never even tried a hydro, I may never have known the difference. They are MUCH SMOOTHER!!

[deerslayer]

Yes they are smoother, and they are more expensive. If I could have afforded one, it would have been nice. I think the gear drive will be fine once we get used to using it.

[spigeez]

Agreed. Price was a factor when I bought mine also. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. Bolted the Velke 2 wheeled sulky on last night. Seems like a really well designed product. I'll try it out today in the daylight. Best of luck with your new machine.

[scrjunky6]

Originally posted by deerslayer
I am going to purchase a walk behind mower for personal use, and maybe a few side jobs to help pay for it':rolleyes:. I have decided on a 48" gear drive mower with a sulky. I am leaning towards an Exmark with ECS controls and 15 HP Kohler. I have looked at a Yazoo/Kees but due to the ECS controls on the Exmark, I believe I will get that one. Is it worth paying extra for the Kawasaki V-Twin over the Kohler? What is the advantages of one over the other? Would this be a good mower for me? I am mowing a little over two acres with some steep hills.

the huster super atz mower is good for steep hills

[rbelldog]

I have a 48" inch eXmark that I bought last year for sale. It is in great shape. It has less than 100 hrs on it. It has the 17 hp kawasaki engine and is hydro driven. It is virtually new. If your interested I am asking $4400 o.b.o. I am too busy with school to mow enough yards to justify keeping it. I have been using eXmark's for 4 years and this is a great mower. call me if your interested. 865.454.0362
Ryan