After a long debate with myself and others I have finally decided on which Z to buy. My new mower should be in tomorrow. I have looked extremely hard at several mowers and finally decided on THE 1. 1. I looked at the Dixies. The simple design is appealing. They are very fast and cut good with the 19000 fpm blade tip speed. They are also very fast (10-13) depending on mower. But they are a mow and blow mower. No real mulching capabilities. Mulching capabilities are very important to me. 2. The grasshopper is a good mower also. It too has a 19000 fpm blade tip speed and ground speed is good. I was only interested in the mid mount for that is what I need for my properties. The mulching system works well. The only problem is that they don't make a bagging system for the mid mount. My bagging is limited to leaf season only and that time is just about here. The rest of the year I only want to mulch. 3. The Walkers are nice in their own way. If I wanted to handle grass most of the time, well this would be the way to go. There is probably not any mower out there that can compare with its handling abilities. The mower is slow. The speed up kit is needed. (p.s. why don't Walker make it standard feature?)The time saved by the front mount deck is lost in trips to the truck to dump grass. They are also a higher maintenance mower. 4. Exmark Lazer 52" with 23 Kawi liquid cooled. Nice mower, with 18500 fpm blade tip speed and quick ground speed. Best mulching system on the market. Only problem is Exmark's bagging system for the Lazar will not be out until at least Jan 2001. 5. Exmark Lazar HP 52" Kawi air cooled. Same as above, except it has the bagging system. The system is big enough for what I want from it. So thats it. The HP joins my stable tomorrow. I know some people out there will say to me, use double blades and you want need to mulch. I use that now on my Encore and even double cutting 2 days later you see all the clipping on the lawn. May look ok after you cut, but a small inspection will show otherwise. I have had great luck from my 36" exmark, and the mulching is awesome. Unless I tell the customer, he or she will never know the difference. The people at exmark have been extremely helpful and have greatly impressed me to continue my loyalty (loyalty=business=life)to exmark products. Eric
65hoss, In looking at the 2001 brochure I see that the Ultra-Vac has two models. A double bag and a tripple bag. The double bag is used for Lazer Z HP *AND* Lazer Z 52". The Tripple is available for Lazer Z 60" up to the new XP 72" Diesel. However you may be happier with the Kawasaki verticle shaft, although the gas tanks are smaller. Good luck with your new machine!!
65hoss....The bagging system for the smaller lasers are already out!! THey have them for the 44, 48 and 52 HP's. The bigger units are coming out next year. So you can get a laser and a bagger right now. I have the 52 laser and I love it!!! Getting the bagger next week for leaves too.
It's here! Extremely nice piece. The factory reps (real good guys) and the dealership put it together right in front of me. I had talked to one of the reps and he made sure it was here today for their demo at the dealership. They put the bagging system on for me. The HP's are the only units that the bagging system will fit. The new bagging system with the 3 bags will be out in Jan. for the Lazars. I cut my yard this evening & bagged. I cut about 2" of bermuda and even when I was at full speed (9.5 mph) it didn't miss a single spot. It was also the easiest emptying bag I have ever used. Put a bag over the end and lift. Just dumps right in. The new prototype 72" diesel was there. Man, is that one bad machine! Eric
Dixie1 where did you get the new brochure for the 2001 exmarks? i looked on the website, and ordered a brochure from the literature reqest, but it came yesterday and it was the same one i already have 4 of! did u get it at the dealer? thanks
Toddman35, Yes picked it up on Tuesday. Its only 7 pages long but gives specs on all new LC's gas and diesel. Z and XP's. Its also got the new Enhanced control system (pistol grip) for the walkbehinds. I heard that there may be a bigger catalog out, but not sure. Yeah I got alot of the old catalogs too!! I think there website should be the first thing that they do, not the last. It would give us computer guys an information advantage. My dealer sells a LOT of LAZERS and DIXIES and just finished touring both factories. He did comment on how different the factories were. While Dixie has an engineer, Exmark has a room full of engineers CAD-CAM etc... I think Dixie better wake up and smell the coffee and get into the 21st century!
hm.... thinking about heading down to the exmark dealer for the first time, to get one. lol, yah you would think that they would update their homepage, before they send out all the brochures to the dealers??? oh well, ill get on when they do! lol
Day 2 with new HP was great. I cut a church that I have been doing with my 48" hydro wb with sulky. Normally takes 1 hr 15 min. just to cut it. Did it today and took 40 min. It is about 1.3 acres of grass. Just imagine what it will be when I actually get good at using this mower. I haven't master the zero turn without destroying the grass yet.
