Sadly, I must give my compact diesel an A for the machine, but a D for the cut. From the factory.
I agree with another poster that you should have a perfect fast cut for the price of the machine. Mine was not so. It was leaving bad strips, essentially sending me back over everything twice, so bye bye time and cost efficiency.
I have experimented with blades, and mitigated the problem pretty good, but it's still not to my standards. Soft grass like Augustine, no problem, perfect cut. But hard grass like bahia or anything stringy, hit it two times is my nickname.