kubota Exmark Scag ?? Which one.

[CHAPP12]

Hey Guys and Gals

I have really enjoyed looking through the forums here and decided to sign up. I am starting a lawn business in Northwest Ga and will be doing around 40 yards. My question is what zero turn would you pick. I am willing to spend as high as $11,000 to get a very dependable machine. I'm the sort of person that doesn't mind paying for quality. I do want a gas burner though. I have priced exmark, scag, and kubota and I am looking for a 50 to 60" mower.

Mowers I priced:

Scag Wildcat 52" and 60" $7500 (52" 09 model new) 60" $8700
Kubota ZG227-54" $8700
Exmark Lzz29ka606 $10,500 60"

I will only be buying one mower at this time until I earn more business. I will have a partner that will be helping.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Chapp

[ALC-GregH]

WOW, your just getting started and have 40 accounts already? Your good.

[SangerLawn]

In all reality it is going to break down to…what is easiest for you to get parts? Don’t buy a machine that you have to drive hours away to get serviced. All 3 of the mowers you listed are good mowers.

If you have a cub cadet dealer around you I would recommend checking out THE TANK. We bought one last year and I will honestly say it is the best mower we ever bought and we have owned A LOT of mowers over the years.

I don’t mean to ramble but here are a few things I look for when I am buying a new mower.

1, check the hydro pumps. Look and see the clearance to the ground so they don’t get busted. (bob cats are bad about this)

Look and see how hard it is to clean the fans on the pumps. This is what keeps them cool. If you can’t clean them you will run a risk of burning them up. Also check to see is the fans for the pumps face down or up. If facing down you will have a better chance of getting string stuck in them or something else that will rip the seals out.

2, look under the front of the mowing deck. If there is a large flat plate you will find the mower will have a harder time cutting flimsy weeds like dandy lions.

3, width of the wheel base. The wider the better for hills.

4, weight. The heavier the mower the more it will tear up lawns and max out your weight on your trailer..(sometimes you cant help the weight though)

5, cutting speed. This is not the speed the mower runs but the speed the mower will cut well.

6, blade rotation speed. The faster the blades rotation the better they cut and the more vacuum you will have under the deck.

7, grease fittings. Are they sealed or will you have a lot of greasing to do every week.

8, engine size. The bigger the engine the more fuel you will use.

9, how touchy the steering is. Some people like a touchy response but I prefer it to be a little tighter.

10 and the most important…you will be on this thing for hours so make sure it is comfy!! If you’re uncomfortable you will start having back problems along with everything else.

There are a lot more but this is starting to get long so ill let other people add…..don’t forget to check out the cub cadet THE TANK…..promise…you will love this thing!!! we run the 60 inch....http://www.cubcadet.com/webapp/wcs/s...00002_-1_image

[MOHUSTLER]

Im a big fan of the scags, Great quality machine and great quality of cut.

[CHAPP12]

ALC-GregH

Thanks, I am good. No I have 18 yards right now, 2 of those being commercial. But I hope and plan on getting the others in the next 2 week or so with door to door visits and some marketing material I have put together. Whats funny about that is there is about 3 inches of snow on the ground here now. I should be doing snow removal.

SangerLawn

Wow!! This is some great information that I will take with me this week when I go buy a mower. I have a 54" Simplicity lawn tractor (23hp Vanguard) that I absolutely love but that's not going to get the job done commercially. I will let you know how the hunt goes and thanks again for your advice.

[grassman177]

we use kubota diesels and love them, but even the gassers are heavy so that would be a concern. they are not as manueverable due to that as well so if you are doing small areas i would avoid kubota and choose one of the others based on dealer support as all will give you great service as a machine.

[W.L.M.]

Look towards the scag or a next lazer. I haven't been impressed by the quality of cut on the kubotas. Scag certainly isn't going to let you down and the velocity + deck is one of the best. The next lazers it seems like they are still maybe working some bugs out on them but they do perform well.

[rcslawncare]

Id go with the exmark and scag second. Both are good!

[MileHigh]

Never used a Kubota...

But Exmark absolutely is a much more user friendly machine, that moves and cuts nicer than the Scag. Except for the seat....can't beat a scag TT seat

my opinion.

[CashMaintenance]

I have briefly used both brands and as with everything there are pros and cons to both, but overall both brands are very high-quality machines. I have certainly seem more Lazer's around here in SC but as far as talking to owners everyone says the Lazer does the job just fine but the people who own Scag's always say they are some of the toughest, most dependable mowers around and I am looking into getting one once it's time to replace my Bob-Cat. While some on here say dealer location is the most important factor, I would say that a mower that is dependable and doesn't need repair often beats going to the dealer, no matter how close they are...