puttting your gear to the test. In the real world.

I haven't mowed a yard since Sunday. I had planned a full schedule for the week ahead. Then came the storm, [with a Spanish name] and all that changed. I had to clear my yards of fallen trees and limbs plus debris in order to be able to mow them again in the near future. You cannot imagine what we in Memphis are up against. I had to gear up again, [in a small way,] I have a 026 pro Stihl saw. I had to buy a ms 390 Stihl saw to compliment it, [big gunz] plus get multiple saw chains for all the saws, plus the Power Pruner and a chain sharpener. I bought a new Red Max 7001 blower, didn't blink, for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable with the Echo brand. So what if the place I wanted to buy from was out of Red Max, but they had plenty of Echos,[for by this time, they wanted 50 dollars more than the price of the Red Max they were sold out of] Storm pricing no doupt. I got a better deal on a Red Max at another dealer. David, at Gambrell Equipment, even topped of the fuel tank. That was key as no gasoline was available for many miles, and I had less than 1 gallon of mix left. Awesome performance from the Red Max, I'm impressed. It does all I need it to do.
I don't miss the Stihl 400 at all.
It has saved me $$$ in yard clean up time. Imagine, if you will, a fall cleanup, plus a spring cleanup and add uprooted trees, plus helping install your customers new generator. What to do?
You gear up and meet the challenge.
Get the best gear [equipment] that you can afford.
My Hustler Z has been regulated [for the time being] to towing a lawn trailer, shuttling logs I cut from backyards [3'] diameter to curb side...works good in that role, with reserve power. I had make a grub run for my guys, dropped off my 16' tandem trailer full of debris for them to unload at the front of the estate [100$ per trailer load, debris] got back, panicked. Trailer gone! Not so...on investigation, my guys had used My Hustler Z to move my trailer back into estates backyards for more log retrieval. [High end clientele.] My crew moved my trailer with the Z!
The Hustler also excels at log roundup. I mean, I've used the mower in ways unintended. It is plenty powerful enough to move logs around with a chain, [attached to the tow hitch] and [don't try this at home] to nudge them in place using the front castors. Necessity is the Mother of invention!
I'll take tomorrow off to mow! [yards that are unaffected] What a relaxing change.

The lights are slowly coming back on.

300$ per hour.