New mower decision, need help please

[geeksbsmrt]

Hi everyone,

I've just moved into a new home and am in need of a mower. I have spent the past few days researching everything I can online trying to make a decision, but can't seem to settle on a choice. Please let me know your thoughts on the following:

I have a 1/2 acre lot with the 1700 sq ft house on the front 1/3 of the property. The back 1/4 is tree covered. Yard is flat with the trees in the back, 2 in front and a few on both sides of the property line. After subtracting the size of the house from the lot, I have approximately 20000 sq feet of yard.
I cannot use a push mower due to medical issues, so please refrain from recommending them.
I have contacted many local yard maintenance companies and the cost to have the yard serviced is double what I could pay monthly for a riding mower, so I will be purchasing and doing it myself.

My quandary is:
Would a Gravely ZT 34 ($2500) be worth the extra money over a Husqvarna YTH22V46 ($1700)?

Please elaborate on the Pros/Cons of each.

Thank you,
Geeks

 

[Shughes717]

Hi everyone,

I've just moved into a new home and am in need of a mower. I have spent the past few days researching everything I can online trying to make a decision, but can't seem to settle on a choice. Please let me know your thoughts on the following:

I have a 1/2 acre lot with the 1700 sq ft house on the front 1/3 of the property. The back 1/4 is tree covered. Yard is flat with the trees in the back, 2 in front and a few on both sides of the property line. After subtracting the size of the house from the lot, I have approximately 20000 sq feet of yard.
I cannot use a push mower due to medical issues, so please refrain from recommending them.
I have contacted many local yard maintenance companies and the cost to have the yard serviced is double what I could pay monthly for a riding mower, so I will be purchasing and doing it myself.

My quandary is:
Would a Gravely ZT 34 ($2500) be worth the extra money over a Husqvarna YTH22V46 ($1700)?

Please elaborate on the Pros/Cons of each.

Thank you,
Geeks

It's difficult to compare a ztr mower to a lawn tractor. They have different strengths. Lawn tractors are slower and easier to operate. They also handle slopes better. Zero turn mowers are more maneuverable and are more beneficial if you have numerous obstacles, such as trees. Zero turns are typically faster and will cut mowing time down. However, you are comparing a 46" tractor to a 34" zero turn so I would say that the mowing time won't be much different. Once you get the hang of a zero turn you can zip around trees without backing, where as you can't with the tractor. You will also read on here from many who don't think a mower that is priced under $2k is worth buying. I don't fall into that category. In my opinion, any mower will last on a small lawn like yours unless it's abused and not maintained. You have to decide if you want a tractor, or a zero turn. If you have several obstacles to mow around, then I would suggest the zt 34. If your used to tractor mowers and mowing around the trees won't be an issue, then I would go with the husqvarna. I hope this helps.

 

[Jack17]

Somewhere in between a 34" and 48" cut you'll find your happy medium...I'm sure of it. Zero turn vs. riding mower? I'm not sure what to make of it because they're two different animals. But I tell you what, back in my old house with 1/2 acre lot I went out and bought an MTD 42" rider at Home Depot for around $1000. I kept using it for seven seasons and when I sold that property I gave the rider to the new owner. Now, five years later I see him still riding it. So, 7 + 5 = 12 years of mowing. And that is pretty good for a thousand dollar mower in my book if you ask me. What I'm saying is: if I were you I'd buy a rider just like I did and be happy with it. I'd look for a single cylinder rider with gear (not hydro) transmission dough.

 

[bertsmobile1]

This is going to sound silly but is well worth thinking about.
Cut a sheet of cardboard 48" x 16". that is the size of the YTH deck.
Then do another 36" x 16", that is the size of the Gravley deck
Put them on the end of something like a broom and try to run them over your yard, You can go Brummm Brumm while you are doing it if you like.
On your size block me thinks the bigger deck will be hard to manoeuvre around the trees & other obstacles and the YTH will not mow backwards unless you have 4 hands to activate the reverse cut out override .
The ZTR will cut both backwards & forwards .
I am not a fan of the Husqvarna fabricated decks it is way too shallow front to back so there is not enough overlap on the cutting circles so they are very sensative to blade wear.
Being a very heavy deck they are difficult to get out so unless you can stand the mower up the blades are hard to replace or sharpen.
OTOH the YTHs series do a stunning beautiful cut, probably the best on any rotary short of the pro riders.
The big down side on this series, regrdless of the deck size is the clutch/brake pedal rests on a platform under the mower which is a double floor so the space is only about 1.5" high.
Grass builds up in this space preventing the pedal going fully home eventually causing the mower to come to a dead stop ( as the clutch / brake is effectivly 1/2 way pushed down ) the long term effect of this is excessive belt wear and this cavity is almost impossible to clean. This effect is even worse if you mulch as the fabricated beck tosses a lot of stuff every where.

For anything under 1 acre I generally recommend the smallest deck.
While there is a massive 12" difference in the width of cut that will add up to around 4 extra passes for the smaller deck over the width of your property as compared to all the time spent going backwards & forewords tying to get around the trees & other obstructions.

We don't get the Graverly down here, Ariens are relaunching the Ariens/Gravley range at the moment & I won't get to put a spanner on one for quite a while as I am not a dealer so I can not give any opinion as to the merit of the the Gravely.
This of course makes this post a little one sided because if I see problems with the Gravley I would be informing you of them as well.

 

[Shughes717]

This is going to sound silly but is well worth thinking about.
Cut a sheet of cardboard 48" x 16". that is the size of the YTH deck.
Then do another 36" x 16", that is the size of the Gravley deck
Put them on the end of something like a broom and try to run them over your yard, You can go Brummm Brumm while you are doing it if you like.

That is nuts! :laughing: I have never heard anyone tell someone to run over their lawn with cardboard going brumm brumm. If the op did that the neighbors would think his cheese has slid of his cracker.

 

[Ric]

Hi everyone,

I've just moved into a new home and am in need of a mower. I have spent the past few days researching everything I can online trying to make a decision, but can't seem to settle on a choice. Please let me know your thoughts on the following:

I have a 1/2 acre lot with the 1700 sq ft house on the front 1/3 of the property. The back 1/4 is tree covered. Yard is flat with the trees in the back, 2 in front and a few on both sides of the property line. After subtracting the size of the house from the lot, I have approximately 20000 sq feet of yard.
I cannot use a push mower due to medical issues, so please refrain from recommending them.
I have contacted many local yard maintenance companies and the cost to have the yard serviced is double what I could pay monthly for a riding mower, so I will be purchasing and doing it myself.

My quandary is:
Would a Gravely ZT 34 ($2500) be worth the extra money over a Husqvarna YTH22V46 ($1700)?

Please elaborate on the Pros/Cons of each.

Thank you,
Geeks

The pro's and cons on residential mowers? Not many really. The gravely Imo would be the best out of the two mowers, it would be the fastest even though it has the smallest deck and the most maneuverable of the two mowers and seeing you live in Florida you really don't have to worry about hills or grades to much. Neither mower will mow in reverse without alterations being made so don't plan on doing any mowing that way. You may want to take a look on Craigslist, I think you could do a lot better for the money or budget your talking about.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Want to know just how many of my 1 acre to 1/4 customers have needed to back trade because they can not get their you beaut 48" mower around their yard ?
It looks so small in the shop but when you go to get it through the gate, past the tree, around the edge of the fren house dom past the pool pump suddenly it becomes way too big.

Takes me 1.5 hours longer to mow a 5 acre orchard with a 24" deck as the owner with a 44" deck.
I did it once testing out a customers pro rider with a 36" deck and it was faster by way over an hour due to the better manoeuvrability and the out front deck.
Done the same patch with a 61" zero turn, took longer than the 24" and most of the ground would have been over cut at least twice.

At those prices the dealers are highly unlikely going to allw him to take them home for a test drive around the block.

And a test run around the car park does not cut the mustard.

 

[Shughes717]

Want to know just how many of my 1 acre to 1/4 customers have needed to back trade because they can not get their you beaut 48" mower around their yard ?
It looks so small in the shop but when you go to get it through the gate, past the tree, around the edge of the fren house dom past the pool pump suddenly it becomes way too big.

Takes me 1.5 hours longer to mow a 5 acre orchard with a 24" deck as the owner with a 44" deck.
I did it once testing out a customers pro rider with a 36" deck and it was faster by way over an hour due to the better manoeuvrability and the out front deck.
Done the same patch with a 61" zero turn, took longer than the 24" and most of the ground would have been over cut at least twice.

At those prices the dealers are highly unlikely going to allw him to take them home for a test drive around the block.

And a test run around the car park does not cut the mustard.

Better advice would be to get the op to go out with a measuring tape and measure any gates, and tight spaces to make sure the deck will fit in those areas.

 

[dhd]

Hi everyone,

I've just moved into a new home and am in need of a mower. I have spent the past few days researching everything I can online trying to make a decision, but can't seem to settle on a choice. Please let me know your thoughts on the following:

I have a 1/2 acre lot with the 1700 sq ft house on the front 1/3 of the property. The back 1/4 is tree covered. Yard is flat with the trees in the back, 2 in front and a few on both sides of the property line. After subtracting the size of the house from the lot, I have approximately 20000 sq feet of yard.
I cannot use a push mower due to medical issues, so please refrain from recommending them.
I have contacted many local yard maintenance companies and the cost to have the yard serviced is double what I could pay monthly for a riding mower, so I will be purchasing and doing it myself.

My quandary is:
Would a Gravely ZT 34 ($2500) be worth the extra money over a Husqvarna YTH22V46 ($1700)?

Please elaborate on the Pros/Cons of each.

Thank you,
Geeks

Have you seen one of these ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4eSb3pJBBg

It would be really good manuevering around trees.
The Husqvarna R220T is a 2wd machine, the drive wheels are the back steering wheels.
I have the Husqvarna R322T AWD which looks exactly the same as the R220T except the R322T AWD is an all wheel drive machine, which I need for my steep slopes.
For your small yard the Combi 103 deck might be better that the 48" side discharge deck.
The Combi deck can be rear discharge, or mulching..

 

[Shughes717]

Have you seen one of these ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4eSb3pJBBg

It would be really good manuevering around trees.
The Husqvarna R220T is a 2wd machine, the drive wheels are the back steering wheels.
I have the Husqvarna R322T AWD which looks exactly the same as the R220T except the R322T AWD is an all wheel drive machine, which I need for my steep slopes.
For your small yard the Combi 103 deck might be better that the 48" side discharge deck.
The Combi deck can be rear discharge, or mulching..

Why would the op want to spend $4k on a mower for 1/2 acre? There are so ,any other options out there that can do the job just as well for half that price. Not to mention that an articulating mower is much longer than a tractor or a zero turn. Don't think it would do as well in tight places. Don't get me wrong, they are awesome looking mowers. I just don't see the need for a lawn that small. Ric has mentioned this before, and I agree, that the op could look into a small used stand on mower for $2k or less and it would work well. That is if the op doesn't mind looking at used equipment. I also think a rer mower would suit the op's needs well.