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Stander vs Zero

25K views 102 replies 17 participants last post by  edensgate7 
#1 ·
I went looking around and saw that the price of standers are almost the price of zero turns, even top brand (scag, exmark, etc).

So this is my question who would pick a stander of a zero and why and also who would pick a zero over a stander and why?:dizzy:
 
#2 ·
i have a dixie chopper 60'' and a toro grandstand 52'' i have a few big yards 2+ acres but most of the are regular residential yards. i love my stander the best. it can go in places where some zero turns cant go. i have about 20 jobs i could use my 60'' but then you have to go to a walkbehind or a stander to finish in the ditchs, slopes,tight spots,what have yah. the same yards i can use my 52'' toro and do them all without changing mowers. i plan on buying a 60'' toro stander hopefully this year. i don't buy new, a used on with under 250 hours sell in the 5k range. overall standers are the best bang for your buck, depending on what your mowing.i love mine
 
#4 ·
i mow all the ditches with my ztr as well as steep hills. the only hill i can't mow with it is part of a hill where i can barely stand well enough to use the trimmer on it so it's really steep. i don't have a stander but i think they are overpriced. to me if a sit down ztr is 10k a stander should be 5k not 7k or more. that's just my opinion.
 
#5 ·
Stander is way safer especially here where retaining walls (seawalls basically) are normal to run across. Both can usually handle about the same hills I just know I can jump off the back of a stander and not get pinned under it in the water and drown. Also, standers are more compact. My 48 is 58.5 inches long about 2 ft shorter than a standard sit down. I don't have to climb all over my trailer to get on my mower to sit down I can walk right up the gate and right onto the mower and go. I can get off or pick up trash easily in the next pass without much effort. I can also kick stuff out of the way like balls etc without having to stop the mower. I can mow under trees without having to put myself under the tree and get scratched up. They can turn around in small back yards with less of a foot print.
 
#8 ·
I have never used a stander but I have heard that they are actually more comfortable and easier on your body than a ztr is. The theory is that your knees are your bodies natural suspension as opposed to your butt. I talked to a gravely rep who swore I'd feel better at the end of the day when using a stander instead of a ztr.
 
#9 ·
first off i will point out that all stander mowers are zero turn.

we should change the words we use when talking about mowers. just saying a ztr does NOT mean a sit down mower.

hydro walkbehinds are zero turn, sit down mowers are zero turn and standers are zero turn.

so if the questions is why pick a sit down over a stander or vise versa i can answer that.

i've used both and can say the stander is much more convienent and i feel saves a small amount of time on each property.

i can get off the stander much faster than the sit down when i need to move an object, empty a grass catcher, etc. with the sit down i have to engage the parking break for the engine to keep running if i get off the seat. the stander i can just hop off. plus to hop off the stander is more quicker than "climbing" off the sit down.

a stander does take up less space on a trailer.

cost has never been an issue with me. i purchase what i need no matter what the cost. so the fact that they are in the same price range as a sit down doesn't phase me in the least.

so why pick a sit down? well i'm not sure i could answer that. the last one i had for a week when my stander was in the shop made me want to have my next mower purchase be a sit down because it was so nice sitting down for a change. but i hear all the problems with your back people say they have by sitting all day plus again it took more time to get off the sit down when i had to move an object or empty the grass catcher. also i use the rops and i came across a few properties with low hanging limbs the sit down would hit or i would have to mow around, causing more trimming around the tree.

as for handling hills. the stander does an excellent job on the small hills i have but so did the sit down.
 
#10 ·
You know you can have both right? They make models that are mostly stand ups but have a sit down feature. Wright Sport. I would not buy a Gravely/Great Dane stander. On the Gravely you can't even put your whole foot on the platform your heels fall off. Secondly, the machine is huge. The Ferris evolution is a nice machine but it's mostly a sit down.
 
#11 ·
I've handled hills that our sit down wouldn't fantasize about handling. Search "2011 Grandstand review". My thread should pop up there. On my personal lawn (I don't live in the same city our yards are done in) I've seriously contemplated getting a Grandstand for the next mower.
 
#13 ·
I'd almost be willing to go work with one of you guys for a day for free that have standers and are using them on steep hills so you could show me where I'm going wrong, mine simply won't do it without tearing turf.
depending on the stander your using and tire pressure, sound like a operator error, not the standers fault. wrights,toros exmarks will grab hills john deere, gravely, everride, great dane, lesco still do but not that much. i have owned all of them and used them in all conditions. technique and setup of morew is key. i can cut all my yard with a 52'' stander just as fast as my 60'' dixie. with less damage to the yards. open field get a zero turn, houses i would do standers
 
#14 ·
depending on the stander your using and tire pressure, sound like a operator error, not the standers fault. wrights,toros exmarks will grab hills john deere, gravely, everride, great dane, lesco still do but not that much. i have owned all of them and used them in all conditions. technique and setup of morew is key. i can cut all my yard with a 52'' stander just as fast as my 60'' dixie. with less damage to the yards. open field get a zero turn, houses i would do standers
That's the whole freakin problem, it grabs and tears the turf! I'm talking strictly on hills, not flat turf! It's very frustrating, I had to end up doing some of my accounts with my 21" on the hilly sections so as not to tear the turf thus cutting my productivity wayyyy down, thereby defeating the whole purpose of switching to a stander to begin with. I dare not get on another hill with the dang thing, actually probably going to end up selling it before the season goes into full swing.
 
#15 ·
That's the whole freakin problem, it grabs and tears the turf! I'm talking strictly on hills, not flat turf! It's very frustrating, I had to end up doing some of my accounts with my 21" on the hilly sections so as not to tear the turf thus cutting my productivity wayyyy down, thereby defeating the whole purpose of switching to a stander to begin with. I dare not get on another hill with the dang thing, actually probably going to end up selling it before the season goes into full swing.
witch stander did you have?
 
#19 ·
I'd almost be willing to go work with one of you guys for a day for free that have standers and are using them on steep hills so you could show me where I'm going wrong, mine simply won't do it without tearing turf.
If you are ever in western PA you are more than welcome to join me for a day of mowing with my Grandstand. Hilly terrain is very common here. So what is considered a "hill" is very subjective depending on what area of the country you live in. After using my Grandstand for an entire season I can tell you without a doubt there are limits to where you can take this mower. I found myself using a pushmower a little more this past season as opposed to previous years when I ran my ferris wb as my primary mower. Don't get me wrong, the Grandstand for what it is does handle moderate hills very well but in some conditions it is not a viable choice. Even with this drawback, I still feel the gs was a wise investment for my business. The handling, agility, speed and comfort of this mower far outweigh the few negative aspects.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#20 ·
When we got our 48"/24hp GS the merchant said the tires were ~10psi. When stepping up from a walk behind you WILL notice a difference, I agree, in what grades you can handle. Now if you're being foolish and trying to mow when it's wet, then you'd have to use a push mower.

We were skeptacle at first as well, but GS is going to be our next purchase.
 
#22 ·
I have a 2011 GS 40" with the 19 Kawasaki, Maybe it's a bad combination not enough weight or something cause it will take off on a full slide going down an incline tearing turf the whole way.
the 36'' and 40'' don't hold hills that good tire are to narrow and weight is not distributed for hill sides, was going to buy one but neither one help as good as my 52'' toro grandstand
 
#23 ·
Perhaps standers possibly begin(??) to be useful around ~48"+. No magic line intended, but a stander mower narrower than 48" will put more directional force on the lowside wheel/tire than a 52"...as well as putting less than a 44". No rocket science insinuated. The same logic goes for a sit-down/ZTR...as it seems to get way worse when approaching 36". These mower/deck size parameters effect the size of the drive tires to displace the mass.

When you look at the weights of these mowers, it really is astounding...
THEN you add the weight of the operator into the equation.

Would be interesting to see where the center of balance/gravity really is when it comes to standers vs riders/ztr's. Most certainly, one must take into account the weight of the operator as well as his own center of gravity.
 
#24 ·
My comments are in Grandstand thread review on things you might change in how you operate the machine. Short suggestion, always turn uphill and back down to the next pass when starting a pass next to a completed one. See other suggestions in grandstand review thread. I have a 52 and can hold any hill on it that can be held with a zero-turn mower of any type as long as the turf is in good shape and the grass is dry. Tires are at 8-10 PSI depending on the day and I weigh about 150 and I shift my weight to the uphill side of the machine.Yes the steeper I go the slower I go but I don't have any problems tearing up turf if I turn the right way and go across the slope at various angles instead of straight up and down.
Hope this helps!
 
#25 ·
My comments are in Grandstand thread review on things you might change in how you operate the machine. Short suggestion, always turn uphill and back down to the next pass when starting a pass next to a completed one. See other suggestions in grandstand review thread. I have a 52 and can hold any hill on it that can be held with a zero-turn mower of any type as long as the turf is in good shape and the grass is dry. Tires are at 8-10 PSI depending on the day and I weigh about 150 and I shift my weight to the uphill side of the machine.Yes the steeper I go the slower I go but I don't have any problems tearing up turf if I turn the right way and go across the slope at various angles instead of straight up and down.
Hope this helps!
how do you tear up turf mowing a hill straight up and down???

i mow the hills i have using all 4 directions.......

horizontal, vertical and both diagonal directions. none tear up the turf
 
#26 ·
I think that standers are neat but they don't make a lot of sense. The main problems are that they are too expensive, and a sit down ztr can go most places they can go. i hear they can leave some nasty ruts too.

now a walk behind is a different story. cheaper than standers AND more versatile. put a sulky on it and you have a stander :) take it off and walk it for those slopes and ditches

i just can't see paying that much for a stander. NO ONE is buying them down here.
 
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