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Scag v ride 2 vs cub cadet pro x 654

8K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  Prestigious1 
#1 ·
Narrowed it down to about the only 2 mowers in stock locally within the category im looking in. First is a cub cadet pro x 654 with the 29hp efi kawi engine. dealer is 5 minutes from house and seem super nice the service department also seemed extremely helpful.Only con im thinking is the size of the 54” deck may be over kill and cause scalp issues with some smaller yards.
Second mower is a scag v ride 2 48” with the 22hp kawi. Dealer is roughly 20 minutes away but also super nice and seem like a great dealer. I think the 48” will be a better all rounder for a first stander but a little under gunned on a very large commercial account im about to close on. Has many found that a 52” or 54” deck is over kill and causing scalping issues on residential yards? Or would it not cause a problem? Also cub cadet vs the scag? Which one would yall go with? Scag out the door after tax is $9500 the cub cadet out the door after tax is $10500
 
#22 ·
No the blades have a 5/8" hole I have the 654 with mulch kit almost 500 hrs been a beast love it havent been to the dump since I started using it aside from pulling out bushes or something like that. Mine has the 25.5 hp kawisaki on it and does great. Holds a 45 degree hill mowing across it side to side not up and down. Didn't think I would ever buy a Cub but was put in a bad spot when I blew a motor on my Ferris 2100z and dealer had limited supply during covid as I waited for new motor for 9 month but has worked out great so far.
 
#11 ·
Scag is a grand less? That's a no brainer bud, buy the orange paint.

48 vs 54 deck? That's only 6 inches difference. You'll hardly notice it for the most part. Now if it was 24 vs 30, you'd know it. But 48 vs 54 is only a 12 percent difference. So if a property takes twenty minutes to cut, and if, and I mean a big IF, you cut perfectly enough to utilize the six difference between the two mowers, you're talking a two minute difference assuming you run the exact ground speed with both machines.
 
#17 ·
Dude - you sure you want a blocker? I got one and HATED it. Was very avg at "blocking" grass. Drop your chute blocker down (that come with the mower) and reduce your throttle - boom. Perfect.
Just my 2 cents
mine did not come with a factory chute blocker. Is there a better brand to use? Something is a must have for me around flower beds and such.
 
#21 ·
While I see you have made you wise choice, I have inside info. I run Scag mowers, however this spring I needed something bigger and couldn't get my hands on a new 52 Vride. So I bought a Cub with the 54 inch deck. The mower itself has alot of features that are better than my Scags. I was very pleased with it until I started using it in very healthy fertilized lawns. The outlet on the deck is about 40% smaller than the Scag. So the grass was coming out in clumps and very long pieces. Since the grass pieces were longer than the Scag the grass wasn't breaking down as fast and would sit on top of the lawn. After several weeks there was a substantial buildup of dead grass showing up on the lawns. I tried different blades, changing the baffles and nothing helped. I had the Cub rep come to one of my Church properties with his demo and his mower had the same issues. The deck is just a bad design. So after 60 hours I took the cub back and returned it. And I did not get a full refund! I knew within the first few days that I was going to have a problem and started to call the dealer. The dealer kept saying that I had to talk to Cub. Cub said the dealer needed to take care of me. I got the run around and it took over a month to return it. The mower itself uses the same Hydro/wheel motor setup as the Scag as well as Kawasaki FX engines. The rear drive tires are larger than the Scag so there is less lawn compression. So good features and well built overall. But terrible customer support and a terrible discharge deck. I now have a 52 Scag Vride 2 that I had to wait 2 months to get, but should have waited to begin with.
 
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