Well I put 50 hrs on my new Turf Tiger without getting on the Lazer. I've had another guy running it. I decided to get back on it yesterday. First of all this area doesn't have the best turf and most home owners don't seem to care. Plenty of clover, dandelions, and other weeds mixed in with fescue. Well after cutting a few strips with the old Ultra Cut I looked back and the words out of my mouth were WOW! After all the years I've run the Ultra Cut I'm still amazed at how crisp and smooth the cut is. Just unbelievable. I haven't been on it since last fall and have been using the new Scag with the Velocity deck. I've been mowing with the Scag/Velocity combination all year so far and the smoother cut on the same lots really took me by surprise because the Scag cut is pretty good. Am I sorry I bought the Turf Tiger and Velocity deck. Absolutely not! They are just different decks that have a different approach to getting the job done. I will try to make this review as unbiased as possible. I own both and have no reason to favor one over the other.
First of all on very thick overgrown lawns or wet lawns I would grab the Scag in a heartbeat. The design of the deck is such that it can move vast amounts of grass and still leave a very good cut with out clogging and clumping. And since I have a lot of bi-weeklys this is what I need. I have the 31 Briggs and I can approach a lot of any type overgrown, wet, weedy, etc and know I will leave with a good cut and get the job done. The Exmark Ultra Cut on the other hand will leave the average well maintained lot or even a very weedy lot with a finish that is as smooth as a putting green and cut the clippings so small they will usually disappear into the turf. The Velocity deck puts out a gentle fan like discharge and has yet to clump this year even in the rain. On the other hand the Ultra Cut blows a rooster tail (compare to a snow blower) 3 deck withs and scatters the clippings very well also. The clippings on the velocity are always longer but well dispersed.
If you go across a drive way that has a lot of clippings the Velocity will scatter them with blow out in front and its not very good at sweeping a drive way. The Ultra Cut is much like a blower and will send every blade of grass on a drive very powerfully in a single direction with no blow out.
This is just a general observation and I will add more too it later. But bottom line is that the Ultra Cut is definitely a smoother cut but the Scag Velocity is very versatile and can handle some big jobs that would be tough for the Ultra Cut. There is just so much grass the Ultra Cut can move.
Also the Lazer has super fast hydraulics compared to the Turf Tiger. It will trim much closer to an object such as going around a small tree or mowing in a corner. The lazer scalps less and will approach a slope head on with out bottoming out like the Scag. The Scag has stiffer controls but is much easier to make a strait stripe on large area's. More later.
First of all on very thick overgrown lawns or wet lawns I would grab the Scag in a heartbeat. The design of the deck is such that it can move vast amounts of grass and still leave a very good cut with out clogging and clumping. And since I have a lot of bi-weeklys this is what I need. I have the 31 Briggs and I can approach a lot of any type overgrown, wet, weedy, etc and know I will leave with a good cut and get the job done. The Exmark Ultra Cut on the other hand will leave the average well maintained lot or even a very weedy lot with a finish that is as smooth as a putting green and cut the clippings so small they will usually disappear into the turf. The Velocity deck puts out a gentle fan like discharge and has yet to clump this year even in the rain. On the other hand the Ultra Cut blows a rooster tail (compare to a snow blower) 3 deck withs and scatters the clippings very well also. The clippings on the velocity are always longer but well dispersed.
If you go across a drive way that has a lot of clippings the Velocity will scatter them with blow out in front and its not very good at sweeping a drive way. The Ultra Cut is much like a blower and will send every blade of grass on a drive very powerfully in a single direction with no blow out.
This is just a general observation and I will add more too it later. But bottom line is that the Ultra Cut is definitely a smoother cut but the Scag Velocity is very versatile and can handle some big jobs that would be tough for the Ultra Cut. There is just so much grass the Ultra Cut can move.
Also the Lazer has super fast hydraulics compared to the Turf Tiger. It will trim much closer to an object such as going around a small tree or mowing in a corner. The lazer scalps less and will approach a slope head on with out bottoming out like the Scag. The Scag has stiffer controls but is much easier to make a strait stripe on large area's. More later.
