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Next week I plan to buy my first zero turn, the mowers I'm seeking are Gravely at HD52, or the Toro Titan MX5400,
Last is probably way overkill but it's the scag turf tiger in a 52".

My yard is an acre and I'll be mowing my dads yard which is about 2.5 acres. Both places are flat with trees to mow around.

The Gravely with the suspension seat I can get for 5500.00 out the door
The Toro is right around 4200.00 out the door
The Scag is over 7k out the door.

Thanks for advance and comments to why you choose between the three listed good and bad please.

James

Look at a Scag Tiger Cat a lot cheaper in price than an Turf Tiger.:smile:

To me, the purchase comes down to which mower offers:

1. Buying it from a reputable dealer who knows their products and offers after sale support
2. A "better" engine. Ask 5 guys which engine they like and you'll get 5 different opinions. For me it's the Kawi FX Series (dual carbs and dual air filtration). STAY AWAY from the B&S Pro Series (an oil burner).
3. Which ZTR has the stronger hydro's. Not knowing exactly which your choices have I can't really offer more. But seeing that you're not mowing for a living any of them are probably OK.
4. Frame build quality. The Toro's are good for sure. Gravely's and Scag's are also highly thought of as well.
5. I'd guess that in one of your choices it'll come with a suspension seat? That to me is worth the extra $$ or a worthwhile upgrade.

I come back to #1 -- is there a dealer that you have a relationship with?

Jphillips63 said:

Next week I plan to buy my first zero turn, the mowers I'm seeking are Gravely at HD52, or the Toro Titan MX5400,
Last is probably way overkill but it's the scag turf tiger in a 52".

My yard is an acre and I'll be mowing my dads yard which is about 2.5 acres. Both places are flat with trees to mow around.

The Gravely with the suspension seat I can get for 5500.00 out the door
The Toro is right around 4200.00 out the door
The Scag is over 7k out the door.

Thanks for advance and comments to why you choose between the three listed good and bad please.

James

Click to expand...

All would be able to handle the property you mentioned with ease. I wonder, however, why you are looking at a top of the line model in the scag and not with the other two brands? The turf tiger is by far the best mower of the three, but the other two companies offer comparable model mowers. You should determine a set budget for what you want to spend and demo every brand that has a dealer in your area. You will be able to get a fair comparison for what each brand offers for that price. If you can afford a 7k mower without a problem then I would go that route. You will get a very heavy duty built commercial quality machine. I also agree that dealer quality should factor in your decision. Just about every brand offers the same main components, such as engine and hydros. Each brand offers some different features that you may like over the others. The only way to be sure what you prefer is to test every brand in your area.

If you are looking at a Turf Tiger for $7k it is probably used. Even a Tiger Cat will be close to $8k.

Are you thinking about going into the yard business ?
Otherwise you are spendng a lot of money to buy a machine way above the level needed for the job at hand.
The mowing you are doing is about 3 to 5 hours a week and you are looking at mowers designed to do 10 hours a day .
IF you want a commercial then for what you are doing there are loads of used machines out there that are no longer viable for commercial use but will handle your cake walk with ease for another 10 years.

At this time of the season the commercial mower shops will start to get a lot of trade ins that they do not have time to do a full resto on and flog them off as traded for good value prices.
Some of the commercial machines wear badly when they get little use and require alot of maintenence because they are designed to be used by professonals who do grease and more important oil all of the wear points every week, if not every morning before they start work. These still need to be done regardless of weather the mower is doing 50 hrs/ wk or 5 hrs/ wk

Just thought I would muddy the waters.

Thanks guys,

I decided to go with the Gravely ZT HD52, I almost made a hand shake on the scag but it's just way more Than I'll ever need. Plus it's another 3 k higher I was wrong on the price out the door was like 8700.00. So I'll be picking up my new Gravely one day this week.

James

With what you described I was going to say gravely. Good rep. Nice mower. Will last. Like someone else posted, dealer rep and service are at top of list. Congrats. Post some pics. Like seeing what others have.