Help please! New ZTXS5 vs Second hand Pro 148 S

AussieMowMan

AussieMowMan

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Hi everyone, hoping anyone with experience with one or both of these machines can help.

We've just bought a fair bit of sloped land (decent slope, don't know degrees) and it looks like the cub cadets with synchro steer will be the ticket. We'll be regularly cutting about 5 acres of grass, every now and then cutting along access tracks as required.

I've narrowed it down to a new ZTXS5 for about $14,300 AUD or a second hand 2021 Pro 148 S with 600 hours in decent condition as far as I can tell, for $9500 AUD.

Which would you buy and why? Thanks in advance for any help!
 

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5 acres?
Get yourself a 25hp subcompact or compact tractor with a bucket and PTO powered finish mower. Sure you can cut grass faster with a zero turn. With the tractor, you will have more versatility. You can always buy a small zero turn mower for trimming.
 
MParr said:
5 acres?
Get yourself a 25hp subcompact or compact tractor with a bucket and PTO powered finish mower. Sure you can cut grass faster with a zero turn. With the tractor, you will have more versatility. You can always buy a small zero turn mower for trimming.
Click to expand...
I have been looking at tractors too, especially because the property is actually 106acres total; 100 or so of that has cattle. The reason I've been looking at the zero turn mower is that I need the smaller footprint for mowing the half acre or so of garden with trees, obstacles around the house, but also need to be able to cover some ground in other sections.
Seperately I'll need to eventually do some of the jobs a tractor could do (grading, mulching, etc) but the whole property is on a slope of some kind, some really steep, meaning a specialised hillside tractor, or just other specialised lower gravity machines are what I'm thinking fit the block.
 
AussieMowMan said:
I have been looking at tractors too, especially because the property is actually 106acres total; 100 or so of that has cattle. The reason I've been looking at the zero turn mower is that I need the smaller footprint for mowing the half acre or so of garden with trees, obstacles around the house, but also need to be able to cover some ground in other sections.
Seperately I'll need to eventually do some of the jobs a tractor could do (grading, mulching, etc) but the whole property is on a slope of some kind, some really steep, meaning a specialised hillside tractor, or just other specialised lower gravity machines are what I'm thinking fit the block.
Click to expand...
I've mowed roadside ditches with a tractor and brush cutter. A tractor will definitely hold a hill. Ride the uphill side brake and the downhill side of the tractor will push it up the hill. Most compact and subcompact tractors are 4wd.
Zero turn mowers aren't that great on hills. Most of the weight is on the rear and there aren't any 4wd zero turns that I know of.
Ventrac makes a specialized mower.
I imagine that a Grasshopper with a front mount mower would be better than the Cub Cadet.
 
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