Does anyone out there have any Operating experience or heard any feed-back on the Ferris "IS" mowers. I am looking at adding another machine to my fleet and was curious about this mower. I have not seen any of these mowers in operation in my service area (Florida). Someone told me that they have more of a presence in the North East area of the Country. Presently I am running a Dixi Chopper and a couple Scag Tiger Turfs. Both products are good and while each may have an advantages over the other in different area, I am happier with the Scags. For the type of properties that I mow, the Scags give me a better cut (unless the grass is wet), hang the banks a lot better, and seem to be more fuel effient.
Bryant, I have a friend that has an older Ferris ZTR, an IS ZTR, and a new Grashopper ZTR, and he LOVES his Ferris IS Not a lick of trouble, responsive, and I'll vouch for it laying down a REALLY nice cut. He cuts one lawn right next door to one of mine.
My personal experence is with a Ferris 3 wheeler, It is very good. I was at the Ferris dealer Sat. (I repainted my deck so i was geeting new decals) He had two Scag Tiger Turfs out front with 600 hrs each. He took them in trade for two Ferris IS. Frank
My 'local' Ferris dealer is 60 miles south, but he's sending me a brochure and has offered to truck a demo unit up here for me. Scag and Woods dealers also will bring me a demo. JD and Toro dealers only let you drive on the pavement, but the did give me names of buyers who are willing to show you theirs. How much for the Ferris IS?
The dealer for Ferris is about 50miles from my area. I believe he told me the cost of their 60" was ~$8200 + Tax. This is about $500 cheaper than what my my local Dixie/Scag dealers sells their 60"-61"/25hp models for. Asking about factory service parts, I appreciated the dealer being honest. He told me they were good, but a little slower than some of the other manufactures, which use overnight express services.
I did a search on Ferris and this is the biggest one of the 85 threads on Ferris. http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=4779 A few liked them, one bought one in the spring and sold it because of the bad cut. But there is a lot of info. I didn't check all the threads, but if you have time check the main ones.
Bryant, You will be pleased with a Ferris I/S, the price you have been qouted is high...6700.00 plus tax is a very realistic price. I believe they now come completely assembled from the factory (Dealer put decks and tires and seat on in past) because of improperly installed decks in the past. We have had good luck with them and the ride sure is nice. You mention you also have Skag and you should be able to use the same blades on 61" as you use on your Skag. Good Luck!
Mr. Ziffel wrote: <i><b>Woods dealers also will bring me a demo</i></b> This is the exact same machine as a Gravely and is built by them. I would give them a couple of more years of "in the field" testing before purchase.
All I can say is that any mower manuf. that hooks the hour meter to the PTO needs to get better engineers.
