Lawn Care Forum banner

Exmark or Scag?

  • Exmark

    Votes: 75 55.6%
  • Scag

    Votes: 60 44.4%

Is Exmark really the best? or was it the best?

53K views 48 replies 31 participants last post by  Charlie W 
#1 ·
Im looking into purchasing a zero turn in the upcoming year and for the longest time I've had my heart set on an Exmark. But lately I've been asking around getting peoples opinions on the new generation of Exmark. The feedback hasn't been good most people say that the cut will look good when you leave but when you go back an hour later you find out that the grass wasn't completely cut and pops back up the same people say they want there old Exmarks back. So this has really got me thinking about considering scag and i'm looking for opinions on witch will give me the better cut and less chance of having to double cut and me being in eastern PA we have mainly Kentucky Blue Grass. Any response is appreciated!
 
#2 ·
I love my exmark, I've operated the scabs and they sure are nice too! It's kind of a toss up, for me it's all about dealer support! Good thing is my dealer sells both. They both will cut nice it's really all about how good the dealer is. I did prefer the exmark over the turf tigers ive operated. But that's only 1 model
 
#3 ·
That to is a huge thing for me the owner of the Scag dealer 2 minutes down the road is my neighbor 2 doors down and the closest Exmark dealer is 20-25 minutes away.
 
#4 ·
Go with the Scag. We just added a Scag Z with the Velocity deck to our fleet in January, love it- great cutting and durable machine. We've always had Hustlers bc thats what my brother loves, but I put the Scags at the top of the top.

One a side note, I've operated 2 Lazer Z's over the years (52 inch newer model UltraCut deck and an older 50 inch Triton deck) I did like the older- early 2000s year with the Triton deck but not the newer one. Also, the Exmark mowers across the board are SLOW I mean a lot slower than a Scag or Hustler.
 
#5 ·
Depends on conditions and dealer for me. On ZTRs scags are faster hands down and can handle a wider variety of conditions. In a perfect weed free dry lawn Exmark will leave the best cut period. If I were you I would go with scag. I have been running Exmark for years but will be getting scags or ferris mowers to replace them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scott87
#6 ·
I have used Exmarks all my life but hands down Scags are better in wet grass and there is minimal scraping of the deck. My second mower will be a scag next year or two.
 
#7 ·
I agree with you about exmarks. I had the older style lazer z and planned to get a new one this past year. Untill I demoed the new x series. The quality of cut was poor and it was priced higher than the others. I ended up with a JD 925 and its a great mower. The scag is also a nice machine with a good cut. I recomend demoing them first. Use them for at least a few days each on your properties
 
#8 ·
i've always used exmark until i bought a 61in bobcat procat in june. i love it so far. cuts great and doesn't bog down. i went with the 26 hp kawi to save some money of fuel and i don't regret it. also it's about 2 grand less than exmark or scag. i would suggest demoing all the main brands (exmark, scag, bobcat, snapper pro) to see your preference.
 
#9 ·
I'll agree with the others, the old Exmarks were superior to the newer ones. It's barely enough to notice, but once you do, then it stands out.

Never ran a Scag, so I won't comment.
 
#12 ·
in my personal opinion there really isn't any brand of mower that is superior in any way, shape or form.

I cut kb and tall fescue. I have access to toro, scag, exmark, wright, walker and deere.

my choice is exmark and toro. the others cost more and just don't offer anything that make them better than the toros and exmarks to make me willing to pay the extra money.

I've had and used new and old exmarks and have never had a bad cut as a result of the mower.
 
#13 ·
I demoed a Scag and exmark and I prefer the exmark. Don't get me wrong scag is a very tough machine. And that's what I thought of it it was tough. To me it wasn't smooth. The exmark hydros were very smooth. The controls made the machine feel like it was easy to operate. Jmo. Hope it helps
 
#14 ·
Whats funny is that I was mowing next to this lawn that grows fast every week that is heavily fertilized and watered in a rich area in CT. Well I was mowing and this company had two scags running and when the cut was done what looked like to be the owner of the business mowed it a final time with an Exmark 30 min later with his truck. It didn't look like a new Exmark maybe one that was 5-10 years old.
 
#16 ·
Whats funny is that I was mowing next to this lawn that grows fast every week that is heavily fertilized and watered in a rich area in CT. Well I was mowing and this company had two scags running and when the cut was done what looked like to be the owner of the business mowed it a final time with an Exmark 30 min later with his truck. It didn't look like a new Exmark maybe one that was 5-10 years old.
What? You never heard of double-cutting?:usflag:
 
#17 ·
I guess i'm one of the lucky ones.. I got a new next lazer and this thing could not cut any better, however i was running the Ex extreme blades and on weedy wet lawns it would clump like crazy mainly while cutting crabgrass.. Did a simple blade change ( high lift notched) and the quality of cut is back. I cut all differnt types of lawns mostly fescues and alot of sod no problems, especially sod leaves an awesome cut. Like i said i guess i'm a lucky one..
 
#18 ·
I don't know if I'd say lucky. exmark makes a very good mower. like I said before I don't think there is another mower out there that is SUPERIOR.

not saying exmark is the mower just saying they all have there pros and cons and of the ones I've seen or tried none of them are so much better than the other. so price is a huge part of the deciding factor for me.

in my neck of the woods I have access to wright, walker, toro, exmark, jd and scag. toro and exmark are the cheapest and the others don't have anything that make superior to and exmark or toro except walkers ghs. but they all produce decent cuts and they all have there pros and cons
 
#19 ·
Instead of posting on here you need to go and demo them for yourself. We demoed an eXmark Lazer 2 weeks ago it was okay I prefer the older style Lazer like we have now, not because of anything in particular just what I've been running. Didn't have any issues like the uncut grass later on in the day.

I demoed a Dixie Chopper Classic 2750. I really liked the machines performance, the cut and the overall look and feel of it so we bought it. After getting the deck height adjusted so I could cut max height I really like it.

I was going to go demo a Scag but after the demo of the Dixie Chopper and the price we were able to negotiate we pulled trigger on the Dixie.

The best thing to do is demo and get an extended demo if possible.

The eXmark dealer rubbed me the wrong way after years of dealing with them so that was also a factor for us.
 
#20 ·
I don't know if I'd say lucky. exmark makes a very good mower. like I said before I don't think there is another mower out there that is SUPERIOR.

not saying exmark is the mower just saying they all have there pros and cons and of the ones I've seen or tried none of them are so much better than the other. so price is a huge part of the deciding factor for me.

in my neck of the woods I have access to wright, walker, toro, exmark, jd and scag. toro and exmark are the cheapest and the others don't have anything that make superior to and exmark or toro except walkers ghs. but they all produce decent cuts and they all have there pros and cons
I guess I kept saying lucky because it seems like so many have the clumping wet grass problem, which is not the case for me. It seems to be a toss up some say they have problems cutting wet grass and some say they don't. That's why I refered to myself as lucky. IMO I think they are one of the best in the market period..
 
#21 ·
I've never come across a mower that will be 100% clump free in wet grass. at the least they will drop clumps after shutting off the blades or all the bouncing on the trailer from job to job.

my toro grandstand doesn't clump in wet grass until I shut the blades down. none of my exmarks do either.
 
#23 ·
#25 ·
I always post on the exmark vs scag debates because Ive owned them both. I actually went from exmark to scag but not because I thought exmark was a garbage machine.

heres the deal, If I mowed nothing but treated, fertilized perfect grass in my area id have the OLDER exmarks but im no fan of these new ones at all. Not next gen anyways. Reason for this is because they simply lay some of the best stripes and in good grass I don't think scag is any better.

HOWEVER,

In southwest ohio where Im mowing 95% of the lawns that i mow are nothing but weedy, crab grass infested crap holes. With that being said the scag with the new VELOCITY deck is far more superior to the untracut in these types of conditions. Throw a little bit of dew into the equasion and thats when the scag really stands out between the two.......

Like I said, it i had perfect conditions and my mowing schedule allowed me to wait until the dew burned off every morning Id prolly still have red mowers.

So Its a toss up, someone said go demo each and I couldnt agree more. Take each one to your NASTIEST thickest yards, maybe even when its a little wet out in the morning if you plan on mowing early mornings and make up your own mind........
 
#26 ·
Exmark guy but I have had the opportunity to use a turf tiger a wild cat and a cheetah. I was very impressed with the controls on the cheetah super tight super accurate if you were barefoot on the lawn I would feel comfortable mowing around your feet and maintaining half an inch margin. I wouldn't try that with my old lazers. The power was awesome and so was the speed. Now all scag needs to do is throw an ultra cut deck on and they have a winner. There is no comparison scags have and probably always will cut like crap compared to the exmark which is a shame since over all they are a great machine other wise. I tease the scag rep when ever I see him at a show I like him allot but not enough to switch to an inferior cut.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top