My Hustler X-ONE 60" rear discharge machine is used in a cemetery. This is the 2nd rear discharge machine and all others were side discharge.
It really depends on the layout of the cemetery, as our cemetery is over 200 years old, there was no plan to lay it out with mowing as a consideration. Years ago, sheep and goats were regulars keeping the grass down.
The new section has been setup to make mowing easier, it is only 45-50 years old.
It takes 3 people 2-3 days to do a complete mowing and trimming, with trimming being the major time consumer.
The Hustler is too big to get around many of the graves, so the trimming crew gets that work. We have two 21" push mowers with large rear wheels.
I would like to have a 42-48" wide rear discharge machine, but nobody makes one as yet. We mow 5-6 times a summer, spring cleanup, just before holidays and fall cleanup.
We still have the last of three old Gravely walk behinds with a sulky, but it is getting very tired and beatup from hitting stones which happens although not intentional!
I had suggested a 36" stander a few years ago, but it didn't happen. I still think that a stander with a mulch kit would be our best machine for close work, but we still need the Hustler to do the wider areas.
Side discharge machines will blow grass clippings up onto the base stone and sometimes onto the stone itself and the clippings will dry out quickly and stick to the stones.
Here are criteria for our situation:
Strong deck
Comfortable machine to operate.
Be able to quickly raise up the deck to get over nasty stuff. (Standers don't offer this option)
String trimmers with durable auto feed heads.
Trimmer heads that can handle the largest diameter string.
Just some thoughts!
