Have it narrowed down, need help making decision

[bertsmobile1]

That is going to depend upon a lot of things like how fast the grass grows , what type of grass you have, how sharp the blades are , how many obstacles etc etc etc.
The golf course dow the road mows the fairways every second day and the rough twice weekly and of course the greens daily, some times twice a day.
Got a few customers who did the math & worked out they were going to mow their grass in under an hour bacesd on top speeds only to find out it took 2 hours so they only ended up obtaining a 1 to 1.5 hour reduction which was somewhat of a dissappointment.
THese people are forever bringing the mowers in for very minor repairs because they are so dissapointed with them, it magnifies any little problem and in may cases they keep finding problems that actually are not there.
More important than top speed is the blade overlap so you don't leave a rooster tail when turning and even worse mowhawk the instant the blades get a little wear in them thus forcing you to double cut .

 

[DK35vince]

My zero turn is awesome fast. It will mow my 8 acre lawn in 2 hours.
It will mow circles around my 35 HP compact tractor with an 84" deck

 

[tom3]

My zero turn is awesome fast. It will mow my 8 acre lawn in 2 hours.
It will mow circles around my 35 HP compact tractor with an 84" deck

I'd guess that is a pretty smooth lawn? That's amazing time for that amount of mowing I think.

 

[DK35vince]

I'd guess that is a pretty smooth lawn? That's amazing time for that amount of mowing I think.

We know where the bumps are. Slow down for the bumpy areas, full sticks in the smoother areas.

 

[cruzenmike]

I've owned 2 zero turn mowers and mowed with both at full speed when ever I can. ( I mow once per week, our lawn grows FAST spring, early summer)
My current zero turn (Hustler Super Z, 35 HP Kawasaki with 72" deck) has a top speed of 14 MPH and yes I can and do mow at full speed.

I do not think that anyone is arguing that you CAN'T mow at full speed, but MOST machines do not cut well at full speed. It takes a lot of HP and a well designed deck to pull of cutting grass at speeds over 8-10 mph not to mention that this also assumes that you are following the 1/3 rule. There is a video on YouTube of someone cutting some pretty tall, but not overgrown grass with a Ferris at about 10-12 MPH and it is keeping up okay. BUT, most people on this forum are not cutting grass with $10,000+ machines. A slow cut always gives the nicest cut!!