BadBoy Rogue compared to Ferris is2100z ...

[afphinfan]

Hi,
I'm in the market to replace my older JD ZTR with a new commercial mower. My primary is a Ferris is2100z that I love; my 14 acres is hilly and rough in some spots and I don't know that I'll ever get it smoothed out in my lifetime. That said the JD will shorten my lifetime as it kills my back after a mowing session. I don't have a Ferris dealer within a couple hours (the dealer locator is way out of date) so I'm looking at alternatives. I honestly didn't know anything about BadBoy's commercial line but am impressed with the suspension on the Rogue/Renegade. Coupled with an FX1000 and maybe a 72" cut I may be in high cotton. I came here looking for folks' experience with the Rogue and especially if you have Ferris experience as well. Thanks!

 

[BigBlueEdge]

I can't compare it to a Ferris, but I can tell you I have a Bad Boy Rogue and the suspension does a remarkable job. I mowed my 7 acres with a JD x758 w/60" deck for 5 years and it worked well, but it took me 4.5 hours and with no suspension it was rough over my yard. The Rogue is much smoother and therefore I can mow faster. I can get my 7 acres done in a little over 3 hours. Everything has a trade-off though... If you're moving fast and the suspension is doing its job then sometimes the cut gets uneven as the mower/deck is bouncing over bumps. My unit has the BB suspension seat as well, which is how my dealer orders all of them.

Overall, the Rogue is very much a well-built unit. It's very solidly made. Nothing flimsy about it. It's large and heavy. Traction is remarkable for a zero-turn with the Reaper tires. Of course, the flip side of that is a tendency to chew up the grass on sharp turns if you don't apply some restraint on your turns.

My unit, on my particular Minnesota 'weedy' grass, also has a minor issue where if you go too fast it will leave 'mohawks' behind the front caster wheels. Not awful, and not entirely uncut, but just faintly noticable as being not quite cut as well as the rest. If you're looking for a golf course style cut then either you'll have to sacrifice mowing speed or you may want to look for another model.