The best zero turn mower

Down here, eXmark mowers are real popular, especially with commercial lawncare. I own a 2014 model, it's a 42 inch or 44, I forget which. My gf has a Toro, I think it is called Quest; I think it's a 4225 model. My lot is 1.63 acres. I have considered buying one a little bigger just for speed; could sell the one I have. I wonder what the anticipated reasonable lifespan is?

My dealer told me Toro owns eXmark or maybe it's vice versa, and they are essentially the same mower. The eXmark has a good reputation around here for being well-built. My local shade tree mechanic says he has worked on many a mower and considers eXmark the best. What do you think, do you have this brand where you live? What do you think is the best zero turn? Is there a particular feature that you find especially appealing?

I have learned to service most things that go wrong on my eXmark and do the maintenance. So far, it's been pretty good. Between mine and my gf's Toro, it's been blades, belt, spindles and common maintenance.

I saw a mower the other day that has a deck that you can flip up so that you can easily service the blades. That's cool. But that mower is pricey. The eXmark is bad enough. I paid $3,400 in 2014. Last time I looked, which was maybe a year ago, it was somewhere in the range of $3,400 to $3,800, don't recall exactly. Hope they haven't climbed a bunch in the past year! But I'm open to any brand. Well, one that has a local dealer.

Another brand I have looked at is Spartan. I think it is about the same as Badboy mowers. I think both are made in Arkansas. A local dealer carries Spartan. There are a lot of zero turns, aren't there! It seems they all use the same engines.

 

Most of the commercial mowers around here are using scag or bobcat. I see some exmark, but most landscape trailers have green or orange mowers.

 

ExMark is big here also along with Toro and others; much like saws commercial are much more repairable than home owner models

 

Hey Yawner.... As with all things in life "you get what you pay for". Over the years I have owned four zero turn mowers, 1Toro, 2 Gravely, and 1 Bad Boy. The Toro and the two Gravely were cheaply built and therefor cheap to purchase. All three were what I would call residential grade mowers and I was incorrectly trying to mow about 2 acres per week with them. Had I purchased the same brands ( Toro and Gravely) in a commercial grade I feel sure they would have been good mowers. Two years ago I decided to purchase a larger, commercial grade zero turn. I looked at all the brands available in my area and went with the Bad Boy. I love the Bad Boy....but whatever you choose to buy....try to go with an industrial/commercial grade and I believe you will be happy. Good luck on your quest!

 

As I have mentioned in the other 49 "which ZTR?" threads here in the last couple years, if you get a model with a thick fabbed steel deck, and hydro drives that are not sealed (oil can be changed) and has a changeable filter(s), you will be getting a mower that will last most homeowners a long time...as far as all the various creature comforts and misc gadgets, pick the model/brand that trips your trigger...or the dealer that is close and has good service. Obviously engine options need to be explored too, Kawasaki is usually a solid choice...there are other ones too, almost need to check out the invidual engine model that the mower you are interested in has on it...there are a ton of engine models out there...
I've personally owned a residential model Toro, that held up OK considering how I used it, and now have a commercial duty Hustler, which will last me a very long time mowing 2 acres...we also have a Hustler Diesel Z 72" at work...what a beast! $$$ too...

 

I’m a couple hours from the eXmark plant and use their higher end stuff for work (25+acre school property) for the last 10+ years. We run them very hard, mowing at full speed 25 hours a week. I demo’d ExMark, Deere, hustler, Dixon, Ferris, and GrassHopper twelve years ago and the Ferris and eXmark were the only machines we could run full speed while bagging and not plug up. Belts, anti-scalp nuts/bolts, and blades are about the only thing we’ve had to spend money on other than oils changes. We trade every three years when we hit somewhere around 850 hours and it costs us about $10,500 at that time
Now there home owner machines, especially if not bagging, are considerably less. I keep thinking about selling my 05 Dixon commercial machine and getting an eXmark, but it’d be $4K for what I’d like.

my opinion, much like saws and other equipment, go with what your local, good servicing dealer offers.

 

Which model do you like? That price seems about the same model as what I now have, and as I said, it's a good mower.

My gf's yard is rough as the dickens and she has a Toro and I think my eXmark is built better but her Toro is still running and it's probably a couple years older than mine. I shudder each time I mow her 2 acre yard. Needs a lot of dirtwork but, my, I looked at it today and it would cost a pretty penny to dress that yard up, it's iron ore in lots of it, rocky, bumpy. She tore the choke handle off yesterday, grabbing it by mistake, thinking it was the blade engagement knob. She must've pulled awful hard, lol. But I got it started today without even choking it.

The dealer several of us bought from (eXmark), as it turns out, we all think they charge way too high for service. If your mower goes in for any reason, it seems it's $400 time you get it out. I have personally seen them sell me or other customers something they didn't need. I will never buy from them again. But, I have two other eXmark dealers not much farther away. And as I said, the Spartan is intriguing, especially since the guy has a big service department. I don't need service unless it's something I don't want to try to fix.

 

I use the Lazer Z “X” at work, but that’s a 15k mower. I don’t care for the quest series but that’s probably my price point for my little 3/4 acre yard at home. I’d prefer a radius series and think you can catch a deal on one if the timing is right.

 

Exmark is owned by toro, since 1997. The flip up decks are typically the country clipper brand, but hustler, and I think one other had that option on one or two models, ( obviously front mount deck units have this ).

Right now, pretty much no new units that have serviceable hydros are under $4200. Sealed units, might hold up if your lot is not big or hilly.

Bad boy and spartan are made close to each other, but the only association between the two is that the guy that started Spartan left bad boy to start spartan. Some bad blood I guess.

Engines, there's a couple bigger brands. Kawasaki, Kohler, and briggs. Toro makes their own engine as well, and it's available on some models. I'd say Kawasaki are best, then Kohler, and Briggs, in that order. Had Kohler not messed up like they did with the "courage" series, they might be regarded a bit better. They've moved on from that disaster and are probably going everyone else forgets about their old courage series too

Yeah there's a few zero turn mower threads here on FHC.

 

Dang, I would have to have an awfuly large yard to justify 4K plus to cut the grass…

 

I used to think that, I mow about 4 acres and had a beater rider, one day I added up Time to mow 5+ hours, down time, gas, belts, pulleys etc etc
Without a value on my time Z turn paid for itself in less 2 summers. With my time at 1/2 oh minimum wage less than 2 months

 

Yeah I’d say 4 acres is a large yard!

 

If you value your time, they are worth every cent.

 

Exmark Radius is a entry level commercial machine. Go E series and put a suspension seat on it,top of the line at that point. Exmark decks have a cut like no other, you can drive past a lawn mowed with one and tell especially if it has a striped kit installed. Yes Red Iron purchased the Exmark line, Red Iron also owns Toro and Boss snowplows. Toro and Exmark are not made in the same factory, they do not use the same parts, they do not share technology. That Toro Quest is a bottom of the barrel homeowners machine for Toro, Exmark has a homeowners line as well also called a Quest but not very popular as they are known for commercial machines. The Lazer is the top model but starts at about $10,000 where as a Radius of the same configuration is a little over $6000. You get a Radius and you will never buy another.

 

4k is the low end of the durable units. 10k is more the line of the expensive ones.

Just look at car prices now vs 20 years ago to see the scale difference.

 

The deeper the deck, the better the cut, as well as the higher blade speed. You can add striping kit to any mower, but some, like simplicity have striping rollers on most of not all of their machines. Heck, my old ariens gt has the striping rollers.

I wouldn't personally consider any mower with non serviceable hydros, regardless of the exmark, gravely, etc name brand.

 

Yes you can add a striper kit to most mowers. I have a 15 year old cub cadet that had one factory, albeit junk. Good stripers start at $500 and require maintenance. Exmark has the industry leading deck technology, has a lot to do with spindle placement and discharge chute configuration. Many have tried to copy none have succeeded. Yazoo built a factory basically across the street and stole some employees and they couldn’t even do it. Non serviceable units are homeowner lines of mowers.

 

Soooo....are you recommending Exmark?? Lol

 

Toro just bought Ventrac last year too...which is also still built in the same place by the same people as before...

 

Nope just saying that they stand out against the rest in some aspects. Don’t own one or work for them either.