Larson Lawn Care
Member
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2013
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 12
I work solo with around 75 lawns. I have a 61" ferris walk behind and a 36" snapper pro walk behind for backyards. My ferris has 800-900 hours on it, I do take good care of it, but I have had it for four to five years. The only problems I've had with it were: the deck was scalping on hills on one side. Somehow the floating deck got out of wack. Then recently, the coils went bad and the mower would take a long time to shut off so it needed to be replaced.
I am now considering a new primary mower to relieve the aging ferris. After meticulous research (although no demo's as of yet) I get another ferris 61". I know the machine, I know I can do my jobs with it.
A snapper pro 61". Basically the same machine, different hydro/transmission, and bigger tires. They run about a grand cheaper than ferris.
Exmark 61wb has good features but isn't gonna happen. Deck height adjustment and not being able to pop the front end up quickly to avoid hitting something and the cost compared to ferris are gonna hold me back from purchase.
I bought a 36" v-ride 2 yrs ago for my back yards. I was told they can mow hills, just nothing extreme. I was mislead and I couldn't mow many of my backyards that had hills. So for $1,000 and many months after purchase, I was able to return it (even though I brought it back to the shop 2 weeks after purchase).
My biggest debate is buying a stander to be my primary mower but still have my ferris for hills that the stander can't mow, and of course my 36 snapper pro still for backyards. The wright stander x or the zk 61" models are likely candidates. Being wider than the 36 v-ride it should hold hills fairly well. I never thought I would consider a stander after my experience but since I work solo, I am looking for something more productive. I will demo one in the coming weeks when it dries out here. Have you had experience with these standers, if so, can you give me a review. Especially if you switched from a walk behind to stander and you have hills to mow that you pull out a walk behind for. I feel that at 13-14 mph, I can be much more productive than 4-6mph on a walk behind, but I am also curious about cut quality in all conditions, will the 1,000-1,250 lb machine cause more damage to a wet lawn than a walk behind? Will it rut more in turns when the grass is wet or is it operator error most of the time? Amount of fuel used compared to a walk? Ease of maintenance? I will also need a bigger trailer if I want to use my ferris as back up as I only have a 12 ft trailer.
All hassle aside, again my point is to be more productive because I am not ready to hire anyone. So if I am more productive, I could add to my client base of 75 and make up for any extra costs incurred with a new mower purchase. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your time. I look forward to some good feedback.
I am now considering a new primary mower to relieve the aging ferris. After meticulous research (although no demo's as of yet) I get another ferris 61". I know the machine, I know I can do my jobs with it.
A snapper pro 61". Basically the same machine, different hydro/transmission, and bigger tires. They run about a grand cheaper than ferris.
Exmark 61wb has good features but isn't gonna happen. Deck height adjustment and not being able to pop the front end up quickly to avoid hitting something and the cost compared to ferris are gonna hold me back from purchase.
I bought a 36" v-ride 2 yrs ago for my back yards. I was told they can mow hills, just nothing extreme. I was mislead and I couldn't mow many of my backyards that had hills. So for $1,000 and many months after purchase, I was able to return it (even though I brought it back to the shop 2 weeks after purchase).
My biggest debate is buying a stander to be my primary mower but still have my ferris for hills that the stander can't mow, and of course my 36 snapper pro still for backyards. The wright stander x or the zk 61" models are likely candidates. Being wider than the 36 v-ride it should hold hills fairly well. I never thought I would consider a stander after my experience but since I work solo, I am looking for something more productive. I will demo one in the coming weeks when it dries out here. Have you had experience with these standers, if so, can you give me a review. Especially if you switched from a walk behind to stander and you have hills to mow that you pull out a walk behind for. I feel that at 13-14 mph, I can be much more productive than 4-6mph on a walk behind, but I am also curious about cut quality in all conditions, will the 1,000-1,250 lb machine cause more damage to a wet lawn than a walk behind? Will it rut more in turns when the grass is wet or is it operator error most of the time? Amount of fuel used compared to a walk? Ease of maintenance? I will also need a bigger trailer if I want to use my ferris as back up as I only have a 12 ft trailer.
All hassle aside, again my point is to be more productive because I am not ready to hire anyone. So if I am more productive, I could add to my client base of 75 and make up for any extra costs incurred with a new mower purchase. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your time. I look forward to some good feedback.
