If you're looking at purchasing a zero-turn mower, where does your brand loyalty lie? Is it warranty, dealership, customer service that keeps you around?
So are you actually looking for help to buy a mower and if so please supply the details of your lawn.
Or
Are you just trying to do market research on the cheap
Now days brands mean less than nothing untill you get to top shelf mowers ( or anything else ) .
Because all public companies are run muffins with MBA's who have no idea about the business they are running becase their text book told them all businesses are the same so a universal management plan will work with any business a brand means nothing .
Boards believe that a brand name is the be all & end all but every company can and has foistered absolute junk on the buying public to boost profits in a particular quarter.
Honda used to be the exception because they refused to downgrade their products to achieve a competative price and exited markets where they could not .
Every one else is just a name and in all but a small few the brand name is just a different coloured paint job & stickers on the same product .
No brand has bothered to keep their franchised agents in check so you can get equally rubbish service from a JD dealer as from Sears
And as the domestic market races towards total unuseable & totally unfit for purpose rebadged trash from third world countries this is becoming more the case .
Big brands all sell total junk because there is not enough customers willing to pay for quality durable once in a life time products .
Stihl are increasing the garbage they make in their Chinese plants and decreasing the quality stuff made in Germany & the USA
JD made the 100 series to have something green & yellow cheap enough to be sold in big box stores
With the exception of what comes out of the EU factories Husqvarna now days makes nothing in their domestic line up that is worth the packaging it comes in which is why down here they are running saturation advertising campaign for the "all orange household "
Back in the late 60's the largest motorcycle factory on the planet BSA had a range that was old, outdated and unprofitable .
So they did a cosmetic update in 1970 because the board believed that their brand name was enough to sell motorcycles .
So they did the exact same marketing that Stihl , CC & Husqvarna is doing now
By 1972 they were gone and that is a company that had 25% market share of the ENTIRE WORLDS motorcycles .
Swanky advertising does little when your big brand name mower is sitting in the shop being repaired for the 10th time while your neighbour is happily mowing his yard with his big box house branded cheapie that cost 1/2 the price.
It is also no comfort when you have to mow your grass 3 times because the reduced blade overlap leaves rooster tails unless you replace the blades every month.
MBA students are taught marketing theory that is totally wrong, particularly in the internet age when every one who is not happy with a product now has a platform to vent their spleen .
The market is no longer unlimited .
#3
smhardesty
Well stated, bertsmoblie1. Growing up, my family first had a John Deere Model 60 lawn tractor and a few years later a Cub Cadet Model 73 with the Kohler K161 engine. I mowed a total of 7 yards to make money as a kid. My grandparents yard included two barn lots so it was about 4 acres. Our own yard was right at 2 acres and two other yards I mowed were about 2 acres each. I mowed them all every week in the spring, then about every ten days or so in the heat of the summer. That Cub Cadet was still running and mowing when I finally made the decision to let it go about 11 years ago, give or take.
I was a stone cold believer in the Cub Cadet name and products. Then, as we all know, Cub Cadets were suddenly being built by MTD. Don't get me wrong. MTD does make a few products that are worth their asking price, but they will NEVER compare to what a Cub Cadet USED to be. After I sold the 73, I bought a newer Cub Cadet thinking it was just like the old 73. Boy, was I surprised.
Then I got into doing some repair and service out of my garage and had the opportunity to own several other brands of mowers. I had a few more Cub, a few Husqvarnas, and, most recently, a Craftsman. I'm just a little anal when it comes to maintaining my own equipment. I wash my tractors several times a year, as well as doing two full services on them each year. I also wax every metal part on them each winter while I'm doing a complete servicing and use a heavy duty metal protector on parts than need it and also treat all the plastic with Armor All. It does help keep the tractors in top running order, but not one of the new Cubs, Husqvarnas, or this Craftsman can hold a candle to that old Cub 73.
