If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?

FiddlerKY

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Hi all, we just bought a new house - the yard is amazing! It is about 1 acre and has about 40 trees to mow around, mostly in the backyard. I've only owned a push mower so looking for my first ZT/riding mower for the yard. I've been looking at the Hustler and it checks out - the price compare to the others is right and it looks to be solid. I'd really love to get the SD, but frankly I've spent all of my money with the house. Sales tax here is 9.25% so the $3000 52" Raptor becomes nearly $3300. The $3900 Raptor SD becomes about $4250. This is the only yard I'll be mowing and my neighbors have told me most of the backyard doesn't grow much grass due to all the shade. If I go with the regular Raptor, will I be disappointed? I'm thinking about the finance option....doing so makes the price difference not as bad, however I have no intentions of having a balance on the loan after 6 months...will pay it off as quickly as possible, even if it's 0%.

Thoughts? Besides the transmission differences, one of the main things I see is the armrests...how important are those on a ZT with an acre yard? From your experience, are the dealers willing to bargain at all? If not on price, by maybe throwing in free service of the mulching kit?

Thanks in advance!
 

levecks

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Hi all, we just bought a new house - the yard is amazing! It is about 1 acre and has about 40 trees to mow around, mostly in the backyard. I've only owned a push mower so looking for my first ZT/riding mower for the yard. I've been looking at the Hustler and it checks out - the price compare to the others is right and it looks to be solid. I'd really love to get the SD, but frankly I've spent all of my money with the house. Sales tax here is 9.25% so the $3000 52" Raptor becomes nearly $3300. The $3900 Raptor SD becomes about $4250. This is the only yard I'll be mowing and my neighbors have told me most of the backyard doesn't grow much grass due to all the shade. If I go with the regular Raptor, will I be disappointed? I'm thinking about the finance option....doing so makes the price difference not as bad, however I have no intentions of having a balance on the loan after 6 months...will pay it off as quickly as possible, even if it's 0%.

Thoughts? Besides the transmission differences, one of the main things I see is the armrests...how important are those on a ZT with an acre yard? From your experience, are the dealers willing to bargain at all? If not on price, by maybe throwing in free service of the mulching kit?

Thanks in advance!

Since you are only mowing your own yard and it's about an acre, don't fret about the SD. The standard raptor will do you just fine. Both models have kawasaki engines and welded decks. The deck is the most important part of the machine overall and it takes all the abuse. I sell Big Dog, which is the other side of the company. These mowers that excel builds are tremendous. We sold Toro for years and they have nothing on Hustler or Big Dog, other than a premium price on their logo and red paint.

Arm rests are not really a factor in my opinion. They can be a nice option but a lot of people say they don't even really use them to often and especially so on a property of your size. The SD I believe may have serviceable hydro's, but that is something that is more a commercial application or a person putting a lot of hours on a machine. With your lot size the sealed hydro's are gonna be just fine. You won't be putting the hours or wear and tear that a person gets with extended mowing times or doing more than one lot at a time.

I can't say if the dealer will move on the price, but as an industry the $3300 price tag is more than competitive and the Hustlers and Big Dogs both use really nice spindles. I've never replaced one yet in 6 years as a dealer and a lot of the competitors use cheap spindle assemblies on their mowers, that would be considered in the same category as the Raptor.
 

Ric

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Hi all, we just bought a new house - the yard is amazing! It is about 1 acre and has about 40 trees to mow around, mostly in the backyard. I've only owned a push mower so looking for my first ZT/riding mower for the yard. I've been looking at the Hustler and it checks out - the price compare to the others is right and it looks to be solid. I'd really love to get the SD, but frankly I've spent all of my money with the house. Sales tax here is 9.25% so the $3000 52" Raptor becomes nearly $3300. The $3900 Raptor SD becomes about $4250. This is the only yard I'll be mowing and my neighbors have told me most of the backyard doesn't grow much grass due to all the shade. If I go with the regular Raptor, will I be disappointed? I'm thinking about the finance option....doing so makes the price difference not as bad, however I have no intentions of having a balance on the loan after 6 months...will pay it off as quickly as possible, even if it's 0%.

Thoughts? Besides the transmission differences, one of the main things I see is the armrests...how important are those on a ZT with an acre yard? From your experience, are the dealers willing to bargain at all? If not on price, by maybe throwing in free service of the mulching kit?

Thanks in advance!


The thing about being disappointed would depend on you and what you have previously used. If you've never used a ZTR then you probably won't be disappointed on the other hand if you've used a good ZTR then I would say your chances are better than average you will be disappointed. The Raptor isn't all that much mower as the price indicates, that and the fact there selling them at HD now should say something. I think it comes down to the old saying , you get what you pay for.

For the money you want to spend you may want to look at the Toro Titans there a lot more mower than the Raptor. The 54" model has the 23hp Kawasaki, 18000 blade tip speed, a heavier 10 gauge deck and the 3100 drives along with a 3yr warranty.

Personally I'd stay away from the Raptor because it's running the EZT drives and there trash, at least the SD has the 2800 which should last the homeowner a good while. You'll also get a somewhat better cut with the SD because it has the high blade tip speed.
 
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levecks

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
The thing about being disappointed would depend on you and what you have previously used. If you've never used a ZTR then you probably won't be disappointed on the other hand if you've used a good ZTR then I would say your chances are better than average you will be disappointed. The Raptor isn't all that much mower as the price indicates, that and the fact there selling them at HD now should say something. I think it comes down to the old saying , you get what you pay for. For the money you want to spend you may want to look at the Toro Titans.
Personally I'd stay away from the Raptor because it's running the EZT drives and there trash, at least the SD has the 2800 which should last the homeowner a good while. You'll also get a somewhat better cut with the SD because it has the high blade tip speed.

The EZT transmissions have been bullet proof. I've never seen a bad EZT on any brand not sold in Home Depot or the box stores.

Also, neither of excels lines are sold at home depot, as Toro and several other big brands are.
 

Ric

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?

Ric

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Why don't I see them sold from either store, when I look online. All I see is Toro, Cub and JD.

Give them time they will be there. Hustler just made the deal with Lowes and Home depot like maybe a couple of months ago, that's way all there dealers are having fits with Hustler and from what I've seen on some other forums some have or thinking of dropping the hustler line. The problem with the Raptor at the dealers is the fact they can't sell the thing.
 

FiddlerKY

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Thank you for the feedback guys...I'm leaning towards the 52" Raptor assuming it'll get in/out/around most of the trees.

As for the Lowes/HD vs. dealer...If I were a dealer, I might see this being an issue, but from my perspective, I don't see anything wrong with this. Toro sells plenty at HD, however my local Toro dealer is quite a bit cheaper on virtually every machine (and I realize that somefeel Toro has gone to crap recently). I guess quality could come down if they're having to make thousands more, however I like to think Hustler will step up their production in the correct manner.

I can also get a Dixie Chopper Zee1 2348 for $3000...I believe this has a welded deck, however it has a Briggs engine. Should I give any consideration towards it?
 

MRCo.

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
The thing about being disappointed would depend on you and what you have previously used. If you've never used a ZTR then you probably won't be disappointed on the other hand if you've used a good ZTR then I would say your chances are better than average you will be disappointed. The Raptor isn't all that much mower as the price indicates, that and the fact there selling them at HD now should say something. I think it comes down to the old saying , you get what you pay for.

For the money you want to spend you may want to look at the Toro Titans there a lot more mower than the Raptor. The 54" model has the 23hp Kawasaki, 18000 blade tip speed, a heavier 10 gauge deck and the 3100 drives along with a 3yr warranty.

Personally I'd stay away from the Raptor because it's running the EZT drives and there trash, at least the SD has the 2800 which should last the homeowner a good while. You'll also get a somewhat better cut with the SD because it has the high blade tip speed.

Hmm, completely disagree. 3100 drive level machines are totally overkill for his needs and budget. A Raptor would cover his requirements and the EZT tranny would be fine. Think about it, he will mow for an hour a time, 20 times a year. In ten years it's 200 hours on the rig. With proper care and maintenance it will last him ages.
 

MRCo.

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  • / If I buy a Raptor instead of a Raptor SD, will I be disappointed?
Give them time they will be there. Hustler just made the deal with Lowes and Home depot like maybe a couple of months ago, that's way all there dealers are having fits with Hustler and from what I've seen on some other forums some have or thinking of dropping the hustler line. The problem with the Raptor at the dealers is the fact they can't sell the thing.
I'm very disappointed in Excel's decision, but where's your proof it's because they don't sell? I can't keep them in the store. I'm waiting for three coming in that have sold before they get here.
 
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