Advice On A Sub $3000 Zero Turn Mower

[Ric]

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.

No the raptor is designed to be used for maybe 25 hrs a year, that's about what the normal homeowner would use time wise for a normal sized lawn. The problem comes in when his ten lawns turn into 15 or maybe 20 then what happens when his raptor goes boom and you lose a drive and he is stuck with all 20 lawns and a 21" push mower as back up and it's 90 to 100 degrees outside, what happens then. You end up with unhappy clients that will drop you in a heart beat and hire some other service to replace you.

Aside from that the mower is just to slow for commercial work with a 16.600 FPM BTS. Best way he can go is a used commercial and run it for a couple of years, save his money and if he decides to keep the business then buy the new Commercial to add to the one you all ready have. Use the new commercial and keep the old for back up.

 

[Ric]

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.

Liking a mower has nothing to do with it. If your in business you go with the mower that has the highest rate of productivity. In Business Time is Money.

 

[Shughes717]

Liking a mower has nothing to do with it. If your in business you go with the mower that has the highest rate of productivity. In Business Time is Money.

I agree, but the op is asking about which ztr under $3k is best. They are all comparable, so he should go with the one he likes best. The consumer should like the mower he/she purchases.

 

[Shughes717]

No the raptor is designed to be used for maybe 25 hrs a year, that's about what the normal homeowner would use time wise for a normal sized lawn. The problem comes in when his ten lawns turn into 15 or maybe 20 then what happens when his raptor goes boom and you lose a drive and he is stuck with all 20 lawns and a 21" push mower as back up and it's 90 to 100 degrees outside, what happens then. You end up with unhappy clients that will drop you in a heart beat and hire some other service to replace you.

Aside from that the mower is just to slow for commercial work with a 16.600 FPM BTS. Best way he can go is a used commercial and run it for a couple of years, save his money and if he decides to keep the business then buy the new Commercial to add to the one you all ready have. Use the new commercial and keep the old for back up.

You are recommending the op to purchase a commercial mower for 10 lawns and assuming he will continue his business and acquire too many lawns to keep up with. This young person said he was looking for a mower for his high school job. Didn't say he wanted to start a major lawn care operation. He has a back up mower. You are assuming that a raptor won't last very long. Have you ever ran one to see how many hours you can get out of it? I seriously doubt residential mowers are only designed to last 3 or 4 years of small lawn residential use before needing to be replaced. A raptor should last 300 hours easily. The bts is sufficient to leave a good cut. Its much faster than a residential lawn tractor. He wouldn't be able to mow 9 mph, but it will still mow twice as fast as he is currently mowing with his push mower.

 

[Ric]

You are recommending the op to purchase a commercial mower for 10 lawns and assuming he will continue his business and acquire too many lawns to keep up with. This young person said he was looking for a mower for his high school job. Didn't say he wanted to start a major lawn care operation. He has a back up mower. You are assuming that a raptor won't last very long. Have you ever ran one to see how many hours you can get out of it? I seriously doubt residential mowers are only designed to last 3 or 4 years of small lawn residential use before needing to be replaced. A raptor should last 300 hours easily. The bts is sufficient to leave a good cut. Its much faster than a residential lawn tractor. He wouldn't be able to mow 9 mph, but it will still mow twice as fast as he is currently mowing with his push mower.

He has a closed trailer with mu number on it and a DBA, and he wants to throw away $3000 on a mower, yes I would assume he is looking for more than a summer job. The raptor was designed for a home owner for using once a week and if used that way can last 10 maybe 15 years. It's not designed for 40 lawns and maybe more a month. Yes he has 10 lawns and he sees how easy it is to make a couple of hundred dollars a week so he says I can do more so he adds more clients, its more money a week so he says this is great will just add a few more and the next thing you know the kid is in over his head and doesn't have a mower that will handle the job. A used commercial is the way to go if you don't have the money for a new commercial, the Raptor isn't for business.

 

[Shughes717]

He has a closed trailer with mu number on it and a DBA, and he wants to throw away $3000 on a mower, yes I would assume he is looking for more than a summer job. The raptor was designed for a home owner for using once a week and if used that way can last 10 maybe 15 years. It's not designed for 40 lawns and maybe more a month. Yes he has 10 lawns and he sees how easy it is to make a couple of hundred dollars a week so he says I can do more so he adds more clients, its more money a week so he says this is great will just add a few more and the next thing you know the kid is in over his head and doesn't have a mower that will handle the job. A used commercial is the way to go if you don't have the money for a new commercial, the Raptor isn't for business.

If he wants a mower that can handle 10 to 15 small lawns a week then the raptor will do the job for three to four seasons easily. The op knows how many lawns he will be mowing. I am answering his question, not speculating that he will be mowing 50 lawns before seasons end. I think he would have mentioned that he was wanting to gain 30 or 40 lawns by year's end if that was his intention. I will leave it at that.

 

[Ric]

If he wants a mower that can handle 10 to 15 small lawns a week then the raptor will do the job for three to four seasons easily. The op knows how many lawns he will be mowing. I am answering his question, not speculating that he will be mowing 50 lawns before seasons end. I think he would have mentioned that he was wanting to gain 30 or 40 lawns by year's end if that was his intention. I will leave it at that.

Nobody said anything about him mowing 50 lawns by the end of season. He will undoubtedly add lawns through out the season, that's a given . If he stays at 10 to 15 lawns that's between 40 and 60 lawn cuts per month and that Raptor wont hold up to that. 10x4=40x6 months=240 cuts per season on a mower that's designed for 24 cuts, great odds.

 

[Shughes717]

Nobody said anything about him mowing 50 lawns by the end of season. He will undoubtedly add lawns through out the season, that's a given . If he stays at 10 to 15 lawns that's between 40 and 60 lawn cuts per month and that Raptor wont hold up to that. 10x4=40x6 months=240 cuts per season on a mower that's designed for 24 cuts, great odds.

I don't measure what a mower can do by cuts on a lawn. That is dumb. I measure it by hours on the machine. 240 cuts a season at an average of 30 minutes per cut is 120 hours. And yes a raptor should handle that easily. Granted you won't get 10 years out of it using it like that, but you should get 3 to 4.

 

[Ric]

I don't measure what a mower can do by cuts on a lawn. That is dumb. I measure it by hours on the machine. 240 cuts a season at an average of 30 minutes per cut is 120 hours. And yes a raptor should handle that easily. Granted you won't get 10 years out of it using it like that, but you should get 3 to 4.

Your going to put 120 hrs on a mower designed to be used for 16 to 20 hrs a season by a homeowner and expect it to last :laughing: That would be like taking a knife to a gunfight.

 

[Shughes717]

Your going to put 120 hrs on a mower designed to be used for 16 to 20 hrs a season by a homeowner and expect it to last :laughing: That would be like taking a knife to a gunfight.

It is nuts to think that the raptor can't be used for more than 20 hours a year. if the mower is designed to last around 400 hours what difference does it make whether it takes 3 years or 10? Just giving an average. Not saying a raptor won't last longer. Your logic makes no sense. Gauging what a mower can handle by how many cuts a year it does is ignorant. If the lawn is 10,000 square feet you won't put 20 minutes on the machine per cut. If the lawn is over an acre you will put 2 hours per cut or more on it. Manufacturers don't design mowers to only mow 20 hours a year. Sure, commercial mowers are built heavier so they can last several years of commercial use and thousands of hours run time, but your arguement that the raptor can't handle 10 to 15 small lawns a year because it would be cutting 240 lawns a year is rediculous. Mowers are measured by hours on the machine. When you purchase a used mower you don't ask how many lawn cuts its done. You ask how many hours are on the machine.