I'm looking for a new mower and am trying to avoid the mistake we made with the last zrt mower we had, the Walker from Hell. Despite careful maintenance, it got to a point last year where we had many issues with it not running, suddenly cutting off when mowing, etc. Had to send it to be fixed several times, first couple times didn't fix the issue. Eventually they got it running again, but it was never the same & just didn't cut as well anymore. We were extremely thorough with trying to troubleshoot the issue & are very diligent & meticulous with maintenance. Out of all our farm equipment, the Walker was the biggest problem despite having gotten it new. Walker themselves wasn't terribly helpful at all when we contacted them for help. How unreliable it became, the lack of help from Walker and the fact that being down south we're going to need to mow a lot more now has me extremely hesitant to get another Walker. I don't remember how many hours we had on it, but it wasn't a lot.
That said, I really liked the grass collection dump bucket at the back of the Walker. It was very easy for me to use (5ft 1in woman with multiple joint issues). I've looked at several brands of mowers so far, and I am not a fan of the bagging systems since they look very hard for someone my size to manage. I do need to be able to collect & remove clippings while mowing, since I'll be mowing horse pasture & we have 13 acres that is mostly pasture. It has some very gentle, rolling mini hills. A good portion is mostly flat.
My dream mower would be
-reliable, easy to maintain & easy to find & fix problems, with excellent support from the manufacturer if needed
-easy to clear & grass blockages or if anything gets caught in the blades (ie accidental Close Encounters of the Irrigation System Kind
)
-be able to mow 13 acres in a day
-easy to maneuver between row crops to mow between them & around orchard trees
-collects grass clippings
-relatively easy to dump grass clippings
-no Chinese components
I am leaning towards one of the mowers Ariens makes right now, I don't have a specific model in mind. Or perhaps an Exmark Navigator. Is there perhaps a better choice out there?
That said, I really liked the grass collection dump bucket at the back of the Walker. It was very easy for me to use (5ft 1in woman with multiple joint issues). I've looked at several brands of mowers so far, and I am not a fan of the bagging systems since they look very hard for someone my size to manage. I do need to be able to collect & remove clippings while mowing, since I'll be mowing horse pasture & we have 13 acres that is mostly pasture. It has some very gentle, rolling mini hills. A good portion is mostly flat.
My dream mower would be
-reliable, easy to maintain & easy to find & fix problems, with excellent support from the manufacturer if needed
-easy to clear & grass blockages or if anything gets caught in the blades (ie accidental Close Encounters of the Irrigation System Kind
)-be able to mow 13 acres in a day
-easy to maneuver between row crops to mow between them & around orchard trees
-collects grass clippings
-relatively easy to dump grass clippings
-no Chinese components
I am leaning towards one of the mowers Ariens makes right now, I don't have a specific model in mind. Or perhaps an Exmark Navigator. Is there perhaps a better choice out there?