If your mowing with a 50" Lawn tractor and it's taking you 2.5 to 3 hours a good 48" stander or 48" ztr will cut that in half. You have to remember your CC only did about 5mph top speed and a good stander or ztr top speed is 8 to 10 mph so you can cut your time as well as the cost of the mower by dropping deck size but you'll also cut cost of operation. Also both stander and Ztr price will be a lot less on a 48 or 52"
I do hear what you're saying. However, for the Ferris IS700 that I looked at, the 52" is only $400 less than the 61". In that case, I'd gladly pay the extra $400 for that much more cutting deck. I haven't compared the other brands price differences when it comes to deck sizes. The local dealer that we would like to buy from deals with Husqvarna, Scagg, and Ferris mowers. They provide all the services and even will come to our location for pickup/dropoff and even repairs at our location when possible. For living as remote as we do, that's hard to pass up so we really would like to buy one of their brands.