Advice On A Sub $3000 Zero Turn Mower

[Hayslawncare]

Hello everyone its great to be on the forum!!!!

Ok so im trying to start my own lawn care service for my high school job, I got a good amount of yards right now and im using a push mower ........ So im now looking to buy a great Sub $3000 Zero Turn Mower.

I have been looking at the Hustler Raptor 42in (Since it has a fabricated deck instead of a stamped).

But i want to know if this is the right mower for me, because i have light slopes to mow and for absolute must!!!! fit in a 50in wide gate.

Thanks,
Randall

 

[Ric]

Hello everyone its great to be on the forum!!!!

Ok so im trying to start my own lawn care service for my high school job, I got a good amount of yards right now and im using a push mower ........ So im now looking to buy a great Sub $3000 Zero Turn Mower.

I have been looking at the Hustler Raptor 42in (Since it has a fabricated deck instead of a stamped).

But i want to know if this is the right mower for me, because i have light slopes to mow and for absolute must!!!! fit in a 50in wide gate.

Thanks,
Randall

When you say a good amount of yards right now, how many are we talking about and have you taken the appropriate steps for a business?

 

[Hayslawncare]

I have 10 yards as of the moment and a closed trailer with mu number on it and a DBA. I been hearing alot of talk about Toro, Is that better than a Hustler?

 

[Ric]

I have 10 yards as of the moment and a closed trailer with mu number on it and a DBA. I been hearing a lot of talk about Toro, Is that better than a Hustler?

Which one is better is basically an opinion. I prefer The Toro as far as the commercial mower goes but I don't like there Residential units until you get to their Titan models. What does your local dealer sell? You said sub $3000 ztr which will be a residential unit and really isn't going to do what you need or want to do. To do what you want you need to go with at least the 2800 drives, the EZT was designed to be used by a single home owner, for a single lawn once a week. Have you thought about buying a used commercial ztr off of Craigslist.

 

[Shughes717]

I have 10 yards as of the moment and a closed trailer with mu number on it and a DBA. I been hearing alot of talk about Toro, Is that better than a Hustler?

Ric is very experienced in commercial mowing, but I disagree a little here. You are mowing 10 lawns, not 50. The raptor is a low end ztr mower, but should handle a few small lawns a week. The raptor won't last as many years as a commercial mower, but you should get a few years out of it. That should be enough time to see if you are going to grow your business and choose that as your career path. You can upgrade later if you continue your business. I don't know how large the lawns are, but if you are push mowing them now I assume they are small lawns. As long as the slopes are slight the raptor should be ok. If the slopes are too steep for the raptor then you can push mow the slopes.

 

[Jack17]

You should be able to find something 36+ inch walk-behind commercial ZT for around 3K. Have you considered walk behind ZTRs? Some of those things are sweet like...Gravely Pro-Walk for about 3.2K.

 

[Hayslawncare]

Thank You All for the responses.

I been on a site called Mower Direct and I kinda like the Toro Timecutter SS4250, But is it better in cut quality and over all design. It says it riveted instead on bolted like the Hustler, wouldn't they come loose over time? And would it be worth it to even look at Husqvarna....And this Mower Direct seems like a weird place, they don't even have Scag:laughing:
Thanks,
Randall

 

[Ric]

Ric is very experienced in commercial mowing, but I disagree a little here. You are mowing 10 lawns, not 50. The raptor is a low end ztr mower, but should handle a few small lawns a week. The raptor won't last as many years as a commercial mower, but you should get a few years out of it. That should be enough time to see if you are going to grow your business and choose that as your career path. You can upgrade later if you continue your business. I don't know how large the lawns are, but if you are push mowing them now I assume they are small lawns. As long as the slopes are slight the raptor should be ok. If the slopes are too steep for the raptor then you can push mow the slopes.

Using residential equipment ( that Raptor ) to do Commercial work is a recipe for failure. 10 Lawns a week is 40 lawns a month on a mower designed to be used 4 times a month. All it does is lead to constant breakdowns, No service which leads to unhappy clients that will drop you in a heart beat and hire some other service to replace your butt. In the end you go broke and end up with a mower that has very little resale value, you'll be lucky if you get half the money you've invested in the mower. If your going to do commercial work you need a commercial mower that was designed to do it.

 

[Shughes717]

Using residential equipment ( that Raptor ) to do Commercial work is a recipe for failure. 10 Lawns a week is 40 lawns a month on a mower designed to be used 4 times a month. All it does is lead to constant breakdowns, No service which leads to unhappy clients that will drop you in a heart beat and hire some other service to replace your butt. In the end you go broke and end up with a mower that has very little resale value, you'll be lucky if you get half the money you've invested in the mower.

The op still has push mowers as back ups. I am guessing that the lawns are small enough that the op won't spend more that 20 to 30 minutes per lawn. Even at 30 minutes a lawn that's only 5 hours a week. Any mower should handle 20 hours of mowing a month. That's 100 hours in a mowing season. Are you saying that a raptor isn't designed to last 100 hours? I have personally put 250 hours on a $1600 lawn tractor with no major mechanical issues. That mower is still running and has close to 400 hours on it now. The op can more than pay for a raptor the first year. No need to invest in a commercial mower until he decides if that's what he wants to do with his career.

 

[Shughes717]

Thank You All for the responses.

I been on a site called Mower Direct and I kinda like the Toro Timecutter SS4250, But is it better in cut quality and over all design. It says it riveted instead on bolted like the Hustler, wouldn't they come loose over time? And would it be worth it to even look at Husqvarna....And this Mower Direct seems like a weird place, they don't even have Scag:laughing:
Thanks,
Randall

All of your low end residential ztr mowers are going to be similar in specs. As mentioned earlier any advice you get about the best mower will just be an opinion. Go with the mower you like best.