I think I went over to the dark side sort of

So last week the guy I do a lot of work for said he need to get new mowers for his camp grounds
Told him his best bet would be zero turn units
Picked up a pair of these today
Chose these as he has lots of different people operating them and the steering wheel units don't require
as much of a learning curve as the lap bar controlled ones
I will only use be using it when there's no one to cut grass when need
I prefer my older 1973 mf12G GT over hydro drives
But this is fun to drive

On another note I see postes all the time here about tractor dealers and how most don't have the time to
deal with the smaller purchaser
The local dealer is a New Holland/Kabota dealer and has 3 dealerships and lots of inventory
We walked in there the other day asked for a salesman and he spent more than 2 hrs going over all of his
mowers and giving us the good bad and ugly on everything he sold
We went to 3 other dealers in the area and got treated about the same but a bit more rushed and not as
good for pricing or delivery dates
Went back to the first dealer on mon and he not only had them in stock 1 at his location 1 at another
1hr drive away
He took the time to show us the list price as well as his cost on these and then sold them to us for
$150 above his cost and had them delivered to us in 2 days He beat his own quote down by $350 from last
week and I didn't even ask. His first quote had already been better than everyone elses
time will tell if they will stand up.

A friend has one and his wife likes it because of the steering wheel. The decks are light weight and the entire mower is a consumer grade one. IF your doing much heavy mowing I think you will have trouble with them. Mainly decks and gauge wheels, cracks and broken welds.

Personally I found the steering wheel harder to control compared to the traditional lever type control. It is real easy to get fish tailing on the steering wheel ones at higher mower speeds.

Good luck with them.

He should have sprung a few hundred bucks more for models with welded decks.

How does one "pivot in place" with one of those?

Sounds like you found a very good dealer. Personally I like to see a dealer making a lot more on a sale in order for them to keep the lights on. If they were making only $150 per unit the poor salesman would have gotten only about $15.00. The way it really works is they get various rebates from the manufacturer that don't show up on the invoice, so you don't really need to feel sorry for them and you can still sleep at night.

Have a cub cadet 50 inch 3 blade zero turn.. Its the first mower that I have worn out 3 sets of blades and two blade spindles, and blade clutch. and it keeps going. Got it 2003 and mow 10 months out the year here in so-tex. Last blade change had to put a reinforcement ring on one of the spindle mounts as it was starting to crack at the bolt holes, but the ring is readily availible and works well. It is not a perfect mower like the toro, but it is a brute, fast, handles higher grass, and mowes at full speed. I wear the blades down to points at the tips and then they get shorter and start leaving a grass line. So blades get changed every 4 years or so.

the two bladed toro zero turn only likes short grass, mows slower, has a much narrower deck, is under powered, but is a bit more comfortable, but mows perfect, in the very thick carpet grass and Bermuda. So its great for smaller yards.

But since I mow an acre plus every week, or sometimes two weeks, the cadet always is used first. The toro Timecutter is a back up mower or used when both of us mow.

I have had lots of mowers but this one has lasted the longest for a comsumer grade mower. My bil has an expensive commercial zt and he has worn out more spindles and parts than I have and mows much less. He doesnt water his yard.

Sounds like you did well. The dealer might be getting an end of season rebate from the manufacturer to help move unsold inventory.

A friend of mine has 2 of those, they are the heavier fabbed deck models. I asked him why he wanted the steering wheel option, his reply was so he can drink beer and mow at the same time, I laughed...