I bought a 48" TTHP recently and I love it. I had a 36" Metro HP and rather than say anything bad about it, I'd rather just say that I REALLY like the TTHP alot better. This machine is so responsive and precise. It goes right where you point it - right now. I didn't use the Metro long enough to learn all it's tricks so I don't want to be too hard on it, but many times in this hilly terrain, it just acted like it had a mind of its own. The TTHP performs great on hills which is very important for me here at the foothills of the north Georgia mountains. Having reverse is great. Its hard to explain why, but the hydro is so much less tiring to operate than the belt drive was for me. When I operate the TTHP, I feel like I'm standing there on the Velke steering with my hands - which I am. For some reason, real or imagined, I always felt like I was operating the belt drive with my whole body. The Trivantage deck mulches great which I do 100% right now. The floating deck is a must for me, not so much because it floats, but because of the quick and easy adjustibility. I cut some weed yards at 1 1/2" and the next job might be Fescue at 3 1/2" - no problem! I like it so much that I'm going to buy a 36" TTHP before the end of the year. The only thing I would change about it if I could would be to put a 23 HP motor on it. The 17 is fine really, but a 21 or 23 HP would be better for mulching.
One other thing about belt drives - if I were going to buy another one, I'd probably go with a Toro T-Bar. ECS is great on the hydro - no complaints at all, but I think it is less than ideal on a belt drive because it is difficult to hold the controls in neutral and at the same time pull the machine backwards as you would do when making a tight turn and you want to pull back on the inside wheel. The Toro T-Bar works much better in this situation. I had to see this in person before I really understood that. Its too bad that Toro doesn't use the Exmark Trivantage deck on their floating deck machines like they do on the fixed decks.