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z-beast

#1

T

tim

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.


#2

JDgreen

JDgreen

:laughing:SUBARU ENGINE??? This I gotta see for myself...gonna go check HD.com rite now !!!!

Hope you didn't make a typo...did anybody ever hear the joke about the motocross race announcer who kept raving non stop about the "Kowalski" motorcycles that were leading the race....:laughing: :laughing:


#3

Ric

Ric

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.

I seen the mowers at Home Depot, they also can be purchased with the Kawasaki 31 hp and I'm not sure but isn't the beast made by DEK or somethin. They do look like a tuff mower. It's no typo the one I looked at had the Subaru Engine.


#4

JDgreen

JDgreen

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.

My BLackberry got a hit that said it's the Beast Z, a 54 inch cut, 653cc, 22 hp (yes, it's a Subaru engine) 7-gage deck (that is HEAVY DUTY) I like the color, medium orange..has 3 customer reviews online all gave it 5 stars out of 5 possible. Can't find a price though. What is weird is I got a hit on LMF for the same mower, last post was November 12, 2010...gotta look that up here.


#5

Ric

Ric

My BLackberry got a hit that said it's the Beast Z, a 54 inch cut, 653cc, 22 hp (yes, it's a Subaru engine) 7-gage deck (that is HEAVY DUTY) I like the color, medium orange..has 3 customer reviews online all gave it 5 stars out of 5 possible. Can't find a price though. What is weird is I got a hit on LMF for the same mower, last post was November 12, 2010...gotta look that up here.

At the Home Depot here the 54 is running $3799 which isn't a bad price. The 62 with the 31hp Kawasaki is priced at $4999


#6

K

KeithAlbert

In my opinion if you're going to spend that much money than you should buy a real commercial mower with 18,000 fpm tip speed. Not the governed by law home owner max off 12,000 fpm. Now you'll have a mower that will last you your lifetime and give you the best possible cut ever in half the time. Just sayin'


#7

Ric

Ric

In my opinion if you're going to spend that much money than you should buy a real commercial mower with 18,000 fpm tip speed. Not the governed by law home owner max off 12,000 fpm. Now you'll have a mower that will last you your lifetime and give you the best possible cut ever in half the time. Just sayin'

The Z- Beast is a commercial mower and I think if you do a little research you'll find the 54 in Zero turn commercial mower has a 18,950 fpm blade tip speed @ 3600 rpm engine speed. The major concern about the Beast is where to have the mower fixed if something does go wrong. Parts availability?


#8

I

ihc_444

QXI Outdoor power makes it, they also sell it as a Stanley Brand at Sears and Northern Tool and DEK at other hardware stores. In my area there is one local warranty repair (general warranty) but there are over a dozed within 25 miles for the Subaru/robin engine. Gravely makes comparable model the ZT XL with a Kawasaki engine (24 HP) for a couple of hundred less (depending on the dealer), no roll bar, 10 ga deck, smaller caster wheels etc. but Gravely has a list of accessories for it. Currently there are no accessories for the Z-beast (ie bagger). If you are going to mow and mow rural lawns the larger caster wheels, rollbar and heaver deck are well worth the $200.

From what I have seen mowers with the features of the Z-beast/Stanley are all about a couple of thousand more. Just wish the QXI zero turns had been on the market longer. I have still not seen a post on a forum from an actual owner.


#9

CajunCub

CajunCub

Subaru is the company that manufactured the Wisconsin Robin engines (10 to 40HP, singles & V-Twins), They have been making engines for years & did put the Subaru name on some of them. They were mainly made for commercial equipment. I really have not seen many problems with them when we had a few in our rental equipment. I had seen a few in the mowers.


#10

twall

twall

Subaru is the company that manufactured the Wisconsin Robin engines (10 to 40HP, singles & V-Twins), They have been making engines for years & did put the Subaru name on some of them. They were mainly made for commercial equipment. I really have not seen many problems with them when we had a few in our rental equipment. I had seen a few in the mowers.

If you'll look at the videos in the Jacobsen forum (several videos are posted there - thanks, Two-Stroke), the most normal-looking one has a two-stroke Robin.....made by Subaru. :biggrin:


#11

demhustler

demhustler

My BLackberry got a hit that said it's the Beast Z, a 54 inch cut, 653cc, 22 hp (yes, it's a Subaru engine) 7-gage deck (that is HEAVY DUTY) I like the color, medium orange..has 3 customer reviews online all gave it 5 stars out of 5 possible. Can't find a price though. What is weird is I got a hit on LMF for the same mower, last post was November 12, 2010...gotta look that up here.

no, deck - 12 gage steel, as they trying to explain, they come-up with "7 gage" number: one (and only, single) reinforcement of "Beast's" 12 gage steel deck makes it equal to single 7 gage steel; so with some average percentages they made up 7-gage number (not 8, not 6)... : )))) - ridiculous explanation to justify lying and misleading people to believe, their deck made from 7-gage steel like all commercial duty decks, with all double-triple reinforcements all commercial decks have... simple case of false advertising and deception (true data about deck built material - withheld and not shown by "z beast")

p.s. pict and link to HD site http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-O...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

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#12

L

looking

no, deck - 12 gage steel, as they trying to explain, they come-up with "7 gage" number: one (and only, single) reinforcement of "Beast's" 12 gage steel deck makes it equal to single 7 gage steel; so with some average percentages they made up 7-gage number (not 8, not 6)... : )))) - ridiculous explanation to justify lying and misleading people to believe, their deck made from 7-gage steel like all commercial duty decks, with all double-triple reinforcements all commercial decks have... simple case of false advertising and deception (true data about deck built material - withheld and not shown by "z beast")

I dont understand can you please explain in layman terms? Thanks


#13

N

nv1z

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.

The Subaru engine is not the typical boxer engine found in Subaru cars but many power tools sold by Home Depot have the Subaru engine and there are good reports of reliability on the engine at least.

Richard Kahn
SubaruHighMileageClub dot com


#14

txzrider

txzrider

wow the reviews on the home depot web site do not spin a positive picture!!


#15

M

Maflaya

I bought this, by the time it came home after taxes it was around $3800. I'm a home user with 3/4 acre of grass. I had a John Deere 111 riding mower for nearly 21 years which I spent around $500 for all those years in repairs until the engine blew up after a Valve job. Getting a new engine & having it installed was expensive so i decided to look around for a new better alternative mower. Hopefully this time a Zero turn Mower.

FYI I'm a home owner and it was really going to be tough to sell to my wife that I had spent over 7k on a new zero turn mower [like a scag ,etc] so I bought this unit on august 2011. Being made in the USA was a great incentive to buy too.

As soon as it came out of the box it would not drive straight [as previously mentioned here]. I spent hours on the phone with the manufacturer trying to get this thing fine tuned so It would drive straight without keeping one handle back. [uneven handle position to keep it straight on level ground]

Before I had 8 hrs on the thing, the hydros specially the left one was leaking what seamed to me like a lot of hydro fluid. This same thing has been reported by others all over the internet. I called the manufacturers help line [919-550-3221 ext 1] company told me that this was "normal" since they had a lot of extra fluid on the Hydros, Before 10 hrs the mower not only was not going straight, I had to park it [for 2 hours minimum] after 15 mins of use so the hydro fluid could cool down and I could drive it straight and put it back in the garage. Hours on the phone with the manufacturer... "try this, try that" nothing worked 100%, it pretty much was trial and error. Unfortunately, I travel a lot for my job so I could not spend every weekend working on this thing.

I parked inside for the winter and opened up again for season 2012. I realized the left hyro was shot so I called GXI to see if they could send me a new one. They blame it on the peelers hydros and don't want to take ANY responsability for a mover that has less than a year of Home owners service! Since I had moved to a new house and all receipts and stuff where in boxes, I could not provide the receipt [even though I did have a credit card charge for the mower]. After 2 days of back and forth conversations they decided that since I could not provide the receipt [mower had less than 12 hrs on meter] they decided they would NOT provide a warranty. I called home depot, they said call the manufacturer for the warranty. I had to buy the Hydro and pay for shipping too ! That set me back around $350.

Then finding a repair service that will work on this thing provided to be impossible. Even though their website has over 20 places that are within 2 hours drive, NOT ONE PLACE new they were in the list of repair center on GXI website , never had they heard of a Z beast, NEVER had they had any training on these machines, NEVER had they signed a contract to be a service center! How I know this, I called everyone within 2 hour drive distance one way that GXI had on their website as a repair place. Now 09/2012, with less than 17 hrs on the mower of light home owner use. I got the drydros drive belt snap in half. This also broke a metal part that holds the fine tuning of the hydros. Now the belts is $68 at Home depot and who knows what the other part is. There is 2 week wait on the belt too. This is not an easy mower to work on. You pretty much need a car lift to raise up and work on it. I though It would be years before I would be having such problems. I could keep you here for a long time explaining what I've been though with this mower in 17 hrs of operation. I'm going to fix it again and if I cant sell for half what I paid for it, I will be donating to my unions charity to see if they can make better use of it. I will start saving for a real zero turn [ not this POS] and be going back to real store and buy a regular riding mower. I'm Done with the Z-beast and the GXI company. So much for buying from the small guy made in America deal... I know a lawyer will get on this company sooner or later and get an Et al lawsuit and win millions. Northern Tools also sells this same mower with a different name. Be careful with this company and if I where you don't buy anything that has a Z beast or GXI name on it. To end, I would appreciate anyone who owns a Z-beast and is having the same problems to please contact me via email. I will try to get a lawyer that might want to get a bunch of us and sue the GXI company.

This from someone who wrote about this mower: I purchased this mower through Home Depot online - it now has 50 hours on it, and I have spent countless time repairing it. Now the triaxle drive has burnt out and Home Depot will not stand behind it. I have owned the mower for less than 90 days. It throws belts, bolts continue to rattle out of it, you cannot adjust the deck as it was shipped to me out of alignment, it is nearly impossible to adjust the hydrostatic drive so that the mower does not move when it is supposed to be in neutral, no-one knows where to get parts for it, and no-one wants to work on it because they have never heard of it before. BUY A DIFFERENT BRAND FROM A DIFFERENT VENDOR!


#16

M

Maflaya

From others.... and the're tons of these reports on the web

1-This form others who have commented on the Z-beast brand: I purchased this mower through Home Depot online - it now has 50 hours on it, and I have spent countless time repairing it. Now the triaxle drive has burnt out and Home Depot will not stand behind it. I have owned the mower for less than 90 days. It throws belts, bolts continue to rattle out of it, you cannot adjust the deck as it was shipped to me out of alignment, it is nearly impossible to adjust the hydrostatic drive so that the mower does not move when it is supposed to be in neutral, no-one knows where to get parts for it, and no-one wants to work on it because they have never heard of it before. BUY A DIFFERENT BRAND FROM A DIFFERENT VENDOR!

2-with only 8 hours on it,it took them 2 months to fix the transmission wanted to sharpen the blades and my impact couldnt get the bolts loose had to use my 3/4 inch drive diesel set to get the blades off after they repaired it it seems to be doing better but they belt comes off a lot i tightened the adjustment of the drive belt and seems to not come off now however the blades dont stop all the way unlike the usual mowers with the cheap deck that bends with the lightest bump the commercial deck is stout and very stury and the engine seems good my worry is the transmission may not be stout enough for the extra weight of the deck also the factory had called and asked me if i wanted to take part in a recall which she didnt tell me what the recall was but said a mechanic call within a month but never did also lastly the factory is almost imposible to get on the phone the phone just rings.

3-Mower was on back order for a long time. Quality appears to have suffered in a rush to get caught up with demand. Have only 7 hours on meter and bolts falling out, nuts coming loose, belt off track, throttle cable loose and rubbing moving parts, gas leak at filter, belt guides loose and almost falling off. This mower is used for residential, hate to think what shape it would be in if I had to earn my money with this mower. Do not recommend based on product or service

4-Overall a nice unit when functioning. However, unit is at the dealer's shop for repair. With under 6 hours on it the Hydraulic drive belt continues to come off. There is a metal squeaking noise in that same area. I am rethinking my purchase depending upon what the dealer states the issues are.


#17

N

nick10

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.

I purchase one last week from a man who just bought it form Home Depot. and it had only 23 hrs on a working meter and it look like a new one. I mowed with it for 20 minutes and the right side hydro drive pulley fell off because of a e ring that came off. I called the factory 4 times over a 2 days and they finally returned my call. Because I am the 2nd owner it is not warrantied. The parts cost $155.00 to repair it. The drive belts are made in China and the overall quality is very poor design . The ROPS rattles so bad that I removed it. The tires are like racing slick and give very poor traction. The left side hydro is very weak. This is a 31 HP. with a 62 in. deck and it grass 4 in. tall it bogged the mower down. The company give very poor support and I would not recommend this mower to anyone. I understand why the 1 st. owner wanted to sell this mower!! I called Home Depot corporate office and they would not give any support to this product!
I would never recommend buying a mower from a box stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, Menards for the quality of these units are very poor.


#18

djdicetn

djdicetn

wow the reviews on the home depot web site do not spin a positive picture!!

txzrider,
Neither do the subsequent posts by user maflaya and nick10:0(
Wow, and some users wonder why I/we never recommend buying a multi-thousand dollar ZTR from a big box store!!


#19

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

txzrider,
Neither do the subsequent posts by user maflaya and nick10:0(
Wow, and some users wonder why I/we never recommend buying a multi-thousand dollar ZTR from a big box store!!

Yeah, and that zero-turn (made by Beast Power Equipment) is ONLY available at Home Depot, unlike other brands (like Honda, Echo,etc.) where you could also get them from a dealer. :rolleyes:


#20

Ric

Ric

Yeah, and that zero-turn (made by Beast Power Equipment) is ONLY available at Home Depot, unlike other brands (like Honda, Echo,etc.) where you could also get them from a dealer. :rolleyes:

There actually made by GXI outdoor Power equipment, They make DEK, Stanley, Beast and some others. GXi Outdoor Power, LLC develops, manufactures and sells a range of outdoor power equipment including commercial lawn mowers, brush mowers, pressure washers, chipper shredders, snow blowers and portable generators for residential, professional and commercial mowing applications. GXi is a Licensee of Stanley Black & Decker. Buy now in our online store featuring new scratch & dent and reconditioned outdoor power equipment.
IMG_1073.JPG
The products are sold under several brands including STANLEY®, Beast® (The Home Depot®) and DEK®. Products of GXi are sold through authorized retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, BJs, Target, Northern Tool, Amazon.com, PED, The Sportsmans Guide, CPO, and Global. GXi also offers Scratch and Dent products factory direct to customers. Genuine parts are available online or through the over 1,000 authorized service centers for all GXi products.
GXi differentiates its products through innovative designs, exclusive features, high quality, low cost manufacturing, strong marketing and superior customer service. Headquartered in Clayton, NC, the company employs over 200 employees with worldwide operations in: Phoenix, AZ, Hong Kong, Fuzhou and Liaocheng, China.


GXi Outdoor Power| Stanley | Beast | Dek


#21

djdicetn

djdicetn

There actually made by GXI outdoor Power equipment, They make DEK, Stanley, Beast and some others. GXi Outdoor Power, LLC develops, manufactures and sells a range of outdoor power equipment including commercial lawn mowers, brush mowers, pressure washers, chipper shredders, snow blowers and portable generators for residential, professional and commercial mowing applications. GXi is a Licensee of Stanley Black & Decker. Buy now in our online store featuring new scratch & dent and reconditioned outdoor power equipment.
IMG_1073.JPG
The products are sold under several brands including STANLEYョ, Beastョ (The Home Depotョ) and DEKョ. Products of GXi are sold through authorized retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe痴, Sears, BJs, Target, Northern Tool, Amazon.com, PED, The Sportsmans Guide, CPO, and Global. GXi also offers Scratch and Dent products factory direct to customers. Genuine parts are available online or through the over 1,000 authorized service centers for all GXi products.
GXi differentiates its products through innovative designs, exclusive features, high quality, low cost manufacturing, strong marketing and superior customer service. Headquartered in Clayton, NC, the company employs over 200 employees with worldwide operations in: Phoenix, AZ, Hong Kong, Fuzhou and Liaocheng, China.


GXi Outdoor Power| Stanley | Beast | Dek

Ric,
I believe almost all of the information on that excerpt from the GXI website.......except, based upon the experiences described by users maflaya and nick10, the quote regarding the "high quality and superior customer service":0)


#22

Ric

Ric

Ric,
I believe almost all of the information on that excerpt from the GXI website.......except, based upon the experiences described by users maflaya and nick10, the quote regarding the "high quality and superior customer service":0)

:laughing: They said High quality and superior customer service(not me). The Z beast has pretty much been a piece of junk from the onset, it has been one thing or another going wrong with them from the beginning. I have to say they look really impressive and look to be a well built mower but I guess looks can be deceiving, and from my understanding the DEk and Stanley are about the same.


#23

djdicetn

djdicetn

:laughing: They said High quality and superior customer service(not me). The Z beast has pretty much been a piece of junk from the onset, it has been one thing or another going wrong with them from the beginning. I have to say they look really impressive and look to be a well built mower but I guess looks can be deceiving, and from my understanding the DEk and Stanley are about the same.

Ric,
You know........maybe that's why the Gravely "An American Workhorse Since 1916" slogan caught my eye when I was shopping for a good quality ZTR:0)


#24

Ric

Ric

Ric,
You know........maybe that's why the Gravely "An American Workhorse Since 1916" slogan caught my eye when I was shopping for a good quality ZTR:0)

That could be a good reason but there are a lot of good quality ZTR's out there your just not going to find them at a Big Box Store.


#25

N

nick10

Ric,
I believe almost all of the information on that excerpt from the GXI website.......except, based upon the experiences described by users maflaya and nick10, the quote regarding the "high quality and superior customer service":0)

Ric I forgot to mention the lousy service on the Z BEast MFG, , I need two hydro drive belts and the price is $100.00 with shipping, I found them locally for $24.00. Made in China special. I have ordered 2 hydro drive pulleys at $80.00 and they are back ordered!! As soon as I get my parts I well have mower with less than 25 hours on it for $4,ooo for sale.

They should change the name of the product to THE BIT-H!!! I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS WELL NOT STAND BEHIND THE JUNK THAT THEY SELL!!!


#26

djdicetn

djdicetn

Ric I forgot to mention the lousy service on the Z BEast MFG, , I need two hydro drive belts and the price is $100.00 with shipping, I found them locally for $24.00. Made in China special. I have ordered 2 hydro drive pulleys at $80.00 and they are back ordered!! As soon as I get my parts I well have mower with less than 25 hours on it for $4,ooo for sale.

They should change the name of the product to THE BIT-H!!! I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS WELL NOT STAND BEHIND THE JUNK THAT THEY SELL!!!

nick10,
Hate to hear about the bad experience!!! I guess the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true it probably IS NOT true" held true here. I guess when you see a Home depot ZTR advertised as "Commercial Duty" with a 62" deck for only $4999 that sounds a little too good to be true:0(

That Kawasaki FX850 engine is probably the only true Commercial quality component on the whole machine:0(


#27

D

Dan The Mower Man

I bought this, by the time it came home after taxes it was around $3800. I'm a home user with 3/4 acre of grass. I had a John Deere 111 riding mower for nearly 21 years which I spent around $500 for all those years in repairs until the engine blew up after a Valve job. Getting a new engine & having it installed was expensive so i decided to look around for a new better alternative mower. Hopefully this time a Zero turn Mower.

FYI I'm a home owner and it was really going to be tough to sell to my wife that I had spent over 7k on a new zero turn mower [like a scag ,etc] so I bought this unit on august 2011. Being made in the USA was a great incentive to buy too.

As soon as it came out of the box it would not drive straight [as previously mentioned here]. I spent hours on the phone with the manufacturer trying to get this thing fine tuned so It would drive straight without keeping one handle back. [uneven handle position to keep it straight on level ground]

Before I had 8 hrs on the thing, the hydros specially the left one was leaking what seamed to me like a lot of hydro fluid. This same thing has been reported by others all over the internet. I called the manufacturers help line [919-550-3221 ext 1] company told me that this was "normal" since they had a lot of extra fluid on the Hydros, Before 10 hrs the mower not only was not going straight, I had to park it [for 2 hours minimum] after 15 mins of use so the hydro fluid could cool down and I could drive it straight and put it back in the garage. Hours on the phone with the manufacturer... "try this, try that" nothing worked 100%, it pretty much was trial and error. Unfortunately, I travel a lot for my job so I could not spend every weekend working on this thing.

I parked inside for the winter and opened up again for season 2012. I realized the left hyro was shot so I called GXI to see if they could send me a new one. They blame it on the peelers hydros and don't want to take ANY responsability for a mover that has less than a year of Home owners service! Since I had moved to a new house and all receipts and stuff where in boxes, I could not provide the receipt [even though I did have a credit card charge for the mower]. After 2 days of back and forth conversations they decided that since I could not provide the receipt [mower had less than 12 hrs on meter] they decided they would NOT provide a warranty. I called home depot, they said call the manufacturer for the warranty. I had to buy the Hydro and pay for shipping too ! That set me back around $350.

Then finding a repair service that will work on this thing provided to be impossible. Even though their website has over 20 places that are within 2 hours drive, NOT ONE PLACE new they were in the list of repair center on GXI website , never had they heard of a Z beast, NEVER had they had any training on these machines, NEVER had they signed a contract to be a service center! How I know this, I called everyone within 2 hour drive distance one way that GXI had on their website as a repair place. Now 09/2012, with less than 17 hrs on the mower of light home owner use. I got the drydros drive belt snap in half. This also broke a metal part that holds the fine tuning of the hydros. Now the belts is $68 at Home depot and who knows what the other part is. There is 2 week wait on the belt too. This is not an easy mower to work on. You pretty much need a car lift to raise up and work on it. I though It would be years before I would be having such problems. I could keep you here for a long time explaining what I've been though with this mower in 17 hrs of operation. I'm going to fix it again and if I cant sell for half what I paid for it, I will be donating to my unions charity to see if they can make better use of it. I will start saving for a real zero turn [ not this POS] and be going back to real store and buy a regular riding mower. I'm Done with the Z-beast and the GXI company. So much for buying from the small guy made in America deal... I know a lawyer will get on this company sooner or later and get an Et al lawsuit and win millions. Northern Tools also sells this same mower with a different name. Be careful with this company and if I where you don't buy anything that has a Z beast or GXI name on it. To end, I would appreciate anyone who owns a Z-beast and is having the same problems to please contact me via email. I will try to get a lawyer that might want to get a bunch of us and sue the GXI company.

This from someone who wrote about this mower: I purchased this mower through Home Depot online - it now has 50 hours on it, and I have spent countless time repairing it. Now the triaxle drive has burnt out and Home Depot will not stand behind it. I have owned the mower for less than 90 days. It throws belts, bolts continue to rattle out of it, you cannot adjust the deck as it was shipped to me out of alignment, it is nearly impossible to adjust the hydrostatic drive so that the mower does not move when it is supposed to be in neutral, no-one knows where to get parts for it, and no-one wants to work on it because they have never heard of it before. BUY A DIFFERENT BRAND FROM A DIFFERENT VENDOR!

So, in the spring of 2011 I purchased the 54" Z- Beast. Since that time I have had virtually every bad experience that anyone has ever posted about this machine with the exception of throwing deck belts. I have also had several issues that I haven't seen anywhere. I have 57 hours on this machine and am almost ready to junk it. GXI was absolutely HORRIBLE to deal with and tried to rip me off on warranty service. I had to threaten a lawsuit with them to get them to cover burnt out hydros. I demanded to speak to someone higher in the company than the "Customer Service Supervisor" but was told I couldn't. I am sick to think that I spent $3600 for this machine and only got 57 hours out of it!!!! The machine was still under warranty and the seat springs broke. I only weigh 200 lbs but GXI said they would not replace them. They said If I wanted I could buy a new pair myself. I went on E-Bay and bought a used pair from a John Deere mower that were twice as thick (and half the price) and have yet to have any more problems with the seat springs. Since the warranty has expired I have had to resort to manufacturing my own replacement parts or retrofitting parts from other machines.
I see some reviews posted on the internet about how fabulous these machines are and all I can think is that some flunkie is sitting in a back room at GXI pumping them out. There is no way that anyone could have an absolutely wonderful experience with GXI and their Beast Mowers. I just don't believe it!
Gordon Jackson (who I think is the CEO of GXI) should be ashamed of the way his company treats customers and the junk they're pedaling.

*WARNING* Stay away from the Z-Beast mowers


#28

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

So, in the spring of 2011 I purchased the 54" Z- Beast. Since that time I have had virtually every bad experience that anyone has ever posted about this machine with the exception of throwing deck belts. I have also had several issues that I haven't seen anywhere. I have 57 hours on this machine and am almost ready to junk it. GXI was absolutely HORRIBLE to deal with and tried to rip me off on warranty service. I had to threaten a lawsuit with them to get them to cover burnt out hydros. I demanded to speak to someone higher in the company than the "Customer Service Supervisor" but was told I couldn't. I am sick to think that I spent $3600 for this machine and only got 57 hours out of it!!!! The machine was still under warranty and the seat springs broke. I only weigh 200 lbs but GXI said they would not replace them. They said If I wanted I could buy a new pair myself. I went on E-Bay and bought a used pair from a John Deere mower that were twice as thick (and half the price) and have yet to have any more problems with the seat springs. Since the warranty has expired I have had to resort to manufacturing my own replacement parts or retrofitting parts from other machines.
I see some reviews posted on the internet about how fabulous these machines are and all I can think is that some flunkie is sitting in a back room at GXI pumping them out. There is no way that anyone could have an absolutely wonderful experience with GXI and their Beast Mowers. I just don't believe it!
Gordon Jackson (who I think is the CEO of GXI) should be ashamed of the way his company treats customers and the junk they're pedaling.

*WARNING* Stay away from the Z-Beast mowers

WOW you really had a bad experience with that mower! :confused2:


#29

djdicetn

djdicetn

WOW you really had a bad experience with that mower! :confused2:

Based upon all the problems with them posted by owners that I have read, if I were Home Depot i would drop this line like a hot potato and distance myself from them as quickly as possible. It can only tarnish their reputation as well!!!


#30

C

commsys

Re: z-beast is GARBAGE

I bought one of these through Home Depot. VERY VERY bad mistake.

It is badly misrepresented. Says it's Heavy Duty and Commercial. Gives a shipping weight of about 800 pounds, so that sounded OK. In fact, the weight is just barely over 500 pounds. Everything but the engine is made in China and assembled (by chimps or poorly trained people) here in the US. Design is awful . Too cheap to run brake cable thru pulleys, they use short lengths of bent tubing. No height/leveling adjustment, you just loosen cable clamp and hold in place while trying to level. The three blades are each 15 and 3/4 inches on my 48" model. Of course, since the blades would not provide full coverage to full width even if they were in a straight line, the mower leaves two rows of uncut grass (one between left and center blade and the other between right and center blade). Makes for a messy cut. Rather than pay for guide bearings, they use "J" bolts to try to keep the v - e - r - y long belt on the pulleys. Works about as well as you would expect. Since the single idler pulley has only moderate tension and little travel, you have to adjust, and re-adjust, and re-re-adjust, and re-re-re-adjust the belt tension as belt stretches otherwise the belt flies off every time grass density changes.

The printed owners manual they sent with my brand new mower was an older version than the PDF version that was on their web site and the printed version contained many errors or there had been many updates. Either way, it was very confusing.

The battery failed within the first week. They said I abused it. I bought new one from Sam's Club.

The only "local" repair place said they had never heard of Z-Beast, Stanley mowers, or GXi. They laughed at the quality and said they were sorry but that they wouldn't care to try to work on it since they deemed it "an unsafe and unworkable design." Oh, well, it would be impractical yo use this thing if you can't fix it yourself, because it's always broken or needing adjustment.

The belts are an outrageous price at GXi's parts department. Virtually no parts are on line. So you have to call them. Auto-attendant answers, assures you that you are important, tells you that "all our agents are servicing other customers" but that they will be right with you, then offers to take message for call-back (they NEVER call back) or put you back on hold. After a half dozen cycles, the auto-attendant will not let you hold any longer, so you leave message. They DO call one time out of maybe six.

When you do have the honor of talking to them, you have to be "respectful" or they hang up. (I must admit I have trouble respecting anyone who works for these bozos.)

Their prices are unbelievably high. $25.00 for a common $3 fuel filter and megabucks for belts and blades.

The equipment is junk and the customer service stinks.

AVOID this brand at all costs.

/s/ John


#31

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

WOW that sounds really bad! Are you able to return it? :rolleyes:


#32

djdicetn

djdicetn

Re: z-beast is GARBAGE

I bought one of these through Home Depot. VERY VERY bad mistake.

It is badly misrepresented. Says it's Heavy Duty and Commercial. Gives a shipping weight of about 800 pounds, so that sounded OK. In fact, the weight is just barely over 500 pounds. Everything but the engine is made in China and assembled (by chimps or poorly trained people) here in the US. Design is awful . Too cheap to run brake cable thru pulleys, they use short lengths of bent tubing. No height/leveling adjustment, you just loosen cable clamp and hold in place while trying to level. The three blades are each 15 and 3/4 inches on my 48" model. Of course, since the blades would not provide full coverage to full width even if they were in a straight line, the mower leaves two rows of uncut grass (one between left and center blade and the other between right and center blade). Makes for a messy cut. Rather than pay for guide bearings, they use "J" bolts to try to keep the v - e - r - y long belt on the pulleys. Works about as well as you would expect. Since the single idler pulley has only moderate tension and little travel, you have to adjust, and re-adjust, and re-re-adjust, and re-re-re-adjust the belt tension as belt stretches otherwise the belt flies off every time grass density changes.

The printed owners manual they sent with my brand new mower was an older version than the PDF version that was on their web site and the printed version contained many errors or there had been many updates. Either way, it was very confusing.

The battery failed within the first week. They said I abused it. I bought new one from Sam's Club.

The only "local" repair place said they had never heard of Z-Beast, Stanley mowers, or GXi. They laughed at the quality and said they were sorry but that they wouldn't care to try to work on it since they deemed it "an unsafe and unworkable design." Oh, well, it would be impractical yo use this thing if you can't fix it yourself, because it's always broken or needing adjustment.

The belts are an outrageous price at GXi's parts department. Virtually no parts are on line. So you have to call them. Auto-attendant answers, assures you that you are important, tells you that "all our agents are servicing other customers" but that they will be right with you, then offers to take message for call-back (they NEVER call back) or put you back on hold. After a half dozen cycles, the auto-attendant will not let you hold any longer, so you leave message. They DO call one time out of maybe six.

When you do have the honor of talking to them, you have to be "respectful" or they hang up. (I must admit I have trouble respecting anyone who works for these bozos.)

Their prices are unbelievably high. $25.00 for a common $3 fuel filter and megabucks for belts and blades.

The equipment is junk and the customer service stinks.

AVOID this brand at all costs.

/s/ John

It's a given that most users that frequent these forums will be quick to discourage anyone who says they are looking at a Z-Beast with an intention to purchase!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Z-Beast owners that are posting in this thread should corporately contact Home Depot(or wherever else this Chinese piece of junk is being sold) and make sure H.D. is aware that they are putting their reputation on the line by continuing to carry this product!!!! One would think they know that by now:0(


#33

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

I can't even find it on the HD website...maybe they got smart and stopped selling it? Here are some reviews, though. :thumbdown:

Home Depot - 62 in. 31 HP Kawasaki Fx850V Commercial Duty Zero-Turn Riding Mower with Roll Bar customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings


#34

Ric

Ric

They (Home Depot) don't keep the Z beast or any of them in stock, they do have three models on the HD site the Turf Beast 36" and 54" along with the Brush mower my guess is they would order the Z if someone wanted to waste their money.


#35

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

Doubt those are much better! :rolleyes:


#36

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic

I can't find the Z-Beast on their website anymore! :confused2: Did they give up selling it? I was at HD today and saw one in the outdoor Lawn and Garden section (while it was flurrying out). It was faded, rusty in places, and looked like it hadn't been moved in a year! Not so good for sales! :rolleyes:


#37

M

michaelarnett1

Has anyone ever tried this mower? Zero turn that sells at home depo. It has a subaru engine on it. Just never heard of them. But the price is fair and the mower looks pretty tuff.

I purchased a Z-Beast 48 inch Zero Turn mower from Home Depot in on September 30th, 2017. It was delivered to my home on October 23, 2017. I purchased the machine to cut the grass of you home which has a 1/2 acre lot. The lot has a 2000 sq ft. house and a 2500 sq ft. enclosed patio area and a drive way. So the yard is not a very large yard to cut. I used the mower the following summer beginning in January (Florida does start cutting grass early.) and made my last cut of the yard in early November.

The mower has since day 1 been hard to start, continuously smelled of gas odors (I had to build a shed to store it in to get it out of my garage) and not been very responsive in operations. When I took the mower out to to cut the grass in January i noticed it was making a strange noise. I opened the cover to the the drive units in the back of the mower and saw that the belt was shredding. I then tried to move the mower to the garage and the belt driving the hydro units came apart.

The mower only has 22 hours of use on it.

I contacted GXI at (919) 550-3221 and spoke with John (tech support) told them of the problem. Johns response was that if the belt broke it was my responsibility to have the belt replaced. He made arrangements to have Crump's Lawn Equipment Ctr. Inc. in Stuart Fl, come an pick up the mower to replace the belt.

I can't afford to pay somebody to replace a belt on a lawn mower every 22 hours of use, so I replaced the belt myself.

The mower continued to not perform properly. I then contacted Crump's Lawn Equipment Ctr. Inc. to service the mower and they came and picked up the mower. After looking at the mower, they called me and told me that they could not fix the mower and it needed to go to a factory repair facility.

In addition, GXI said that all of the failures were my fault and they refused to pay for any repairs. The mower has a 1 year warranty on Parts and Labor, and a second year warranty on parts.

I am a Master ASE Certified Automotive Technician, Master Certified on Volkswagen and Subaru. I am also certified by Mazda, Audi, Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Ford for conducting factory warranty repairs. I have been an automotive instructor and also an ASE Evaluation Test Leader for certifying Automotive Instructional Programs. I am not a shade tree mechanic.

Now I have a $3000 piece of garbage that I would be foolish to spend any more money on. My recommendation is to stay away from GXI that sells Z-Beast Mowers and Stanley products. They do not support their own products and your money would be better spent if you just threw it in a fire pit. At least you would not be stuck with a pile of junk that you can't get rid of.


#38

A

ArtsyBandit

I purchased a Z-Beast 48 inch Zero Turn mower from Home Depot in on September 30th, 2017. It was delivered to my home on October 23, 2017. I purchased the machine to cut the grass of you home which has a 1/2 acre lot. The lot has a 2000 sq ft. house and a 2500 sq ft. enclosed patio area and a drive way. So the yard is not a very large yard to cut. I used the mower the following summer beginning in January (Florida does start cutting grass early.) and made my last cut of the yard in early November.

The mower has since day 1 been hard to start, continuously smelled of gas odors (I had to build a shed to store it in to get it out of my garage) and not been very responsive in operations. When I took the mower out to to cut the grass in January i noticed it was making a strange noise. I opened the cover to the the drive units in the back of the mower and saw that the belt was shredding. I then tried to move the mower to the garage and the belt driving the hydro units came apart.

The mower only has 22 hours of use on it.

I contacted GXI at (919) 550-3221 and spoke with John (tech support) told them of the problem. Johns response was that if the belt broke it was my responsibility to have the belt replaced. He made arrangements to have Crump's Lawn Equipment Ctr. Inc. in Stuart Fl, come an pick up the mower to replace the belt.

I can't afford to pay somebody to replace a belt on a lawn mower every 22 hours of use, so I replaced the belt myself.

The mower continued to not perform properly. I then contacted Crump's Lawn Equipment Ctr. Inc. to service the mower and they came and picked up the mower. After looking at the mower, they called me and told me that they could not fix the mower and it needed to go to a factory repair facility.

In addition, GXI said that all of the failures were my fault and they refused to pay for any repairs. The mower has a 1 year warranty on Parts and Labor, and a second year warranty on parts.

I am a Master ASE Certified Automotive Technician, Master Certified on Volkswagen and Subaru. I am also certified by Mazda, Audi, Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Ford for conducting factory warranty repairs. I have been an automotive instructor and also an ASE Evaluation Test Leader for certifying Automotive Instructional Programs. I am not a shade tree mechanic.

Now I have a $3000 piece of garbage that I would be foolish to spend any more money on. My recommendation is to stay away from GXI that sells Z-Beast Mowers and Stanley products. They do not support their own products and your money would be better spent if you just threw it in a fire pit. At least you would not be stuck with a pile of junk that you can't get rid of.


I wished I would've read your post before I purchased my pile of crap, 62Z Beast. Ordering process and owning this pile has been the worst experience ever. I've put less than 13 hours on mine and the damn solenoid went out, hyrdos shot, literally two days a ago a bolt snapped off the idle pulley. Before you ask if I am reckless or beat this mower, the answer is abolutely not. This is literally being mindful of when and where to mow.

To anyone considering buying this product, STAY AWAY from it. You've been warned.


#39

B

bertsmobile1

Take it back and ask for a refund / replacement .
If the hydros have gone in 13 hours then they are defective.
As for buying from Home Depot, it is a case of penny wise & pound foolish.
Bought from a dealer and problems like that SHOULD have been found out during pre delivery set up & testing.
Also the dealer SHOULD swiftly do any repairs as he needs your business where as Home Depot don't give a wrinkled rats rectum about you because there is a line of people around the block trying to get some thing for nothing.


#40

H

HENARD

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone has ever found parts for the ZBeast 62 inch at other places besides Home Depot and the GXI site. I'm looking for some belts and Spindles.


#41

damoore46

damoore46

I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone has ever found parts for the ZBeast 62 inch at other places besides Home Depot and the GXI site. I'm looking for some belts and Spindles.
Someone back from 2011 (I think) posted this: "QXI Outdoor power makes it, they also sell it as a Stanley Brand at Sears and Northern Tool and DEK at other hardware stores." Now, I am NOT a mechanic, but if the major distributor and the manufacturer do not have what you need, then its going to be a difficult road to find your parts. However, my experience has also been that sometimes obsolete parts have been superseded by new parts. So, you may want to call QXI and see if the belts have a new part number that you can use, and the same for the spindles.

Sorry I could be of more help than this.
David


#42

F

Foamguy1

I purchased a 62zb and it has been broken in 1 way or another since the day it was delivered. The only thing worse than the quality of the mower is the customer service. My experience is that they are awful company to work with and I would encourage people not to purchase anything they manufacture.


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