ZTR vs. Walk-Behind

Are the tire marks left by small ZTRs alot worse than the ones left by walk-behinds. What makes a 36" - 48" Walk-Behind that much better than a 34"-44" ZTR? I remember someone comparing them on one of Fareway's posts, but I thought the person obviously like one way more than the other impairing their ability to make a fair comparison. It could have been Fareway himself. Anyways, what do you goys think makes one better than the other?

 

Sometimes one mower will make worse marks than another. If you work at it you can adapt, if your mower cuts good, and doesn't have alot of downtime, you'll learn to deal with it. I can tell you that our new Exmark has worse turf marks than our 4 year old Turf Tiger, but we can't get scag parts anymore. There are pro's and cons with every mower, you have to try different things all the time, and figure out what makes you the most money, and what you enjoy using the most.

 

but a few years back we were using an older Dixon 30" ztr on a large account we had. I didn't have too much trouble manipulating the sticks so there was little turf damage. I would say to slow down almost to a stop and then ease the controls through the turn and pick up speed only in a straight line. I'm very interested to try a hydro to see how well I can do I tried out a new Dixon 50" just for the heck of it and that was smooooooth!

 

On the subject of tire marks, I'm inclined to believe that for a given deck width and horsepower, a ZTR will weigh more even before your add the weight of the operator. However, one assumes the tires are correspondingly larger and will compensate. However, I'm not at all certain this is the case.

As for other dimensions of an comparison between ZTRs and walks, I suspect the traditional trade-offs still apply: ZTRs are faster and handle wide-open spaces much better, walks handle the slope work much better and weigh a lot less; ZTRs won't wear you out as much, walks are cheaper and better on a buck's worth of gas.

Realistically, you have look at your route as it stands or as you anticipate it will look next year and base your decision on that. I have way too many lots that are small, sloped or both to make full use of a ZTR, so my eXmark TTHP52/19 is ideal. But I simply cannot comment on another person's route sight unseen. You have to ace that out yourself.