How much of a discount are you getting on the three year old Gravely demo unit?
It is marked down from $6,500 to $5,500. It will come with the new warranty and is available with their new mower financing.
Think it is a good deal? Better and longer lasting mower than the others I am looking at?
It wouldn't be for me. That's only a 15% reduction on a 3 year old mower.
A large dealer near me stores many of their machines outdoors with alarm cord strung through them all. They sit out there in all sorts of weather for months at a time. It drives me crazy. I know that's not the norm, but many dealers do put their mowers outdoors on display when they're open, which over the period of 3 years could lead to some deterioration.So what wears or falls apart sitting in a showroom .
I think I won't be able to get over the issue that it is already 3 years old for not that great of a deal.
I have also looked at and like the following mowers:
Exmark Radius E 52" $5,700
Scag Freedom Z 52" $5,500
Gravely ZTHD 60" $5,300
I think I just need someone to make the decision for me here. Any input would be appreciated.
Should I just go with the Gravely HD with the 60" deck. It is the cheapest, still well built and theoretically will save me time since it has the largest deck? Or should I step up to the Exmark because it has rops, etc?
Decksize and ROPS can be pretty significant things that you probably need to evaluate yourself, or more importantly how they will work with the property you plan to be mowing.
A 60" deck is 60" plus the discharge chute and a little bit more. That means you are limited in how narrow a spot you can mow, store or just drive between. In theory fewer passes, but that extra 8" could mean you cannot mow at all in a tighter area of your property, so time you gain in fewer passes you spend with a trimmer. If you plan to mow others or nee to transport the mower it also limits trailers you can load it onto.
ROP - if you are not mowing on slopes/inclines it is probably not needed. Something to also consider is if the ROPS is one piece or foldable. One piece means you cannot go under anything lower than the ROPS. This can be a big deal if you have trees with branches that are hanging at head height. In those situations the ROPS itself can become a safety risk and flip the mower when it catches on a branch. I really wanted ROPS at 1st until I talked to a few people here and realized I have no real chance to roll my ZTR over and more importantly I have quite a few low hanging trees that I need to mow under.
If you have not done so, I would highly recommend you go ride all of them around a bit. Each one will have a little different feel to it and with your bumpy lawn you need to get a feel for how they will cushion the ride for you. When I looked are ZTR's 3 years ago it was JD, Cub, Husq that I looked at, and each one felt very different. The Cub was the smoothest in terms of controls. Last month when I started looking I looked at Scag and then the Ferris, control wise they felt about the same. However ride is where the Ferris won me hands down as I too have a very rough lawn.
Just an update here...
So after some more research I decided to up my budget slightly and now have it narrowed down to the following two mowers:
Scag Patriot Z 52" - Love the FX Kawasaki motor, suspension seat, larger tires and the way the thing handles
Kubota Z421 54" - Has bigger hydros than the Scag, a FS Kawasaki motor, no suspension seat but I like the ergonomics a little better
Both are priced the exact same at $6,500 and I know both would have no problem handling my yard (Only 2 acres so both could be considered a little overkill). I also feel good about both dealers.
Any thoughts?