About to purchase a Tiger Cat II....Right decision?

jekjr said:

IN MY PARTICULAR BUSINESS MODLE: I find that the Tiger Cat with he 52' deck is incredible. It goes in holes that the 61" won't go. it is incredibly agile and nimble. Some times we load and unload 12 to 15 times a day also. My personal observation as well is that the 52" deck with high lift blades on it will out cut a Turf Tiger with a 61" deck on it with factory blades. (Meaning cut quality).

We ran the Turf Tiger 61" on the same property as the Tiger Cat with a 52" and it was literally noticeable the difference. The Tiger cat would also CUT faster. Although the Turf Tiger will run faster "I think". Anyway the Turf Tiger would not cut clean as fast as the Tiger Cat would in my opinion. Just because it will run X miles per hour does not mean it will cut at X miles per hour......

Also it was a noticeable difference to me in the amount the 61" deck scalped than the 52".

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Wow. Sounds like Turf Tigers suck! And smaller is better too. Glad to hear that because I bought my son a 48" Freedom Z for his place. He's cut twice now and said he cut his mowing time in half. It is a sweet little mower and he is pretty excited about it. He had a cheap box store tractor style mower and I just couldn't stand it! Belt kept breaking and it took a magician to put a new one on without taking half the darn thing apart.

As for me, maybe I should get some high-lift blades too. But based on what I have seen so far, that 35hp engine and drive shaft seem to handle tall grass without too much trouble. I went from a 48 in deck to a 61 in deck and my 3hr mow took me 1.2 hrs Sunday. I wish I had a Tiger Cat but I'll have to suffer along with my Turf Tiger.

I'm kidding of course. I'm glad to hear about how much you guys like your Tiger Cats. I'm pretty impressed so far with everything Scag and I'm glad my son gets to mow with such a good piece of equipment.

55TBird said:

Wow. Sounds like Turf Tigers suck! And smaller is better too. Glad to hear that because I bought my son a 48" Freedom Z for his place. He's cut twice now and said he cut his mowing time in half. It is a sweet little mower and he is pretty excited about it. He had a cheap box store tractor style mower and I just couldn't stand it! Belt kept breaking and it took a magician to put a new one on without taking half the darn thing apart.

As for me, maybe I should get some high-lift blades too. But based on what I have seen so far, that 35hp engine and drive shaft seem to handle tall grass without too much trouble. I went from a 48 in deck to a 61 in deck and my 3hr mow took me 1.2 hrs Sunday. I wish I had a Tiger Cat but I'll have to suffer along with my Turf Tiger.

I'm kidding of course. I'm glad to hear about how much you guys like your Tiger Cats. I'm pretty impressed so far with everything Scag and I'm glad my son gets to mow with such a good piece of equipment.

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I am not familiar with the smaller Scags. I have seen them but have not tested one of them out. I know that the Tiger Cat is (From my understanding) the lowest down the food chain that they have the Velocity Deck. That deck is the secret to cutting stemmed grass like Bahia. I ain't seen nuthin that will cut Bahia grass with one.

55TBird said:

Wow. Sounds like Turf Tigers suck! And smaller is better too. Glad to hear that because I bought my son a 48" Freedom Z for his place. He's cut twice now and said he cut his mowing time in half. It is a sweet little mower and he is pretty excited about it. He had a cheap box store tractor style mower and I just couldn't stand it! Belt kept breaking and it took a magician to put a new one on without taking half the darn thing apart.

As for me, maybe I should get some high-lift blades too. But based on what I have seen so far, that 35hp engine and drive shaft seem to handle tall grass without too much trouble. I went from a 48 in deck to a 61 in deck and my 3hr mow took me 1.2 hrs Sunday. I wish I had a Tiger Cat but I'll have to suffer along with my Turf Tiger.

I'm kidding of course. I'm glad to hear about how much you guys like your Tiger Cats. I'm pretty impressed so far with everything Scag and I'm glad my son gets to mow with such a good piece of equipment.

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A little while ago you mentioned being glad to have gotten to a place in your life where you could afford a Turf Tiger. While I have not and will not achieve that place in my life, I'm satisfied to be able to sport a Tiger Cat over the traditional riding mower I used before it (that and the tractor, which I still might use when my wife's on the Cat). As far as whether to buy TT's or TC's for business, there's a topic I'll just stay out of completely.

The one point you made about the difference in mow time though, I wanted to touch on that. Before I bought the TC II, I heard and read account after account about cutting (so to speak) mowing times in half using ZTR's. Really, that's hard to swallow, and I was pretty skeptical. So on my first real mow, I covered a little over 4 acres in roughly 3 1/2 hours with my 61" deck. My wife and I used to cut less, about 3 1/2 acres, in about 3 1/2 hours using a combined 120" of mowing surface. So how about that? It's better than half the time. I guess somebody else will have to wear the skeptic title.

Sweats said:

A little while ago you mentioned being glad to have gotten to a place in your life where you could afford a Turf Tiger. While I have not and will not achieve that place in my life, I'm satisfied to be able to sport a Tiger Cat over the traditional riding mower I used before it (that and the tractor, which I still might use when my wife's on the Cat). As far as whether to buy TT's or TC's for business, there's a topic I'll just stay out of completely.

The one point you made about the difference in mow time though, I wanted to touch on that. Before I bought the TC II, I heard and read account after account about cutting (so to speak) mowing times in half using ZTR's. Really, that's hard to swallow, and I was pretty skeptical. So on my first real mow, I covered a little over 4 acres in roughly 3 1/2 hours with my 61" deck. My wife and I used to cut less, about 3 1/2 acres, in about 3 1/2 hours using a combined 120" of mowing surface. So how about that? It's better than half the time. I guess somebody else will have to wear the skeptic title.

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We cut 4 acre places often with two Tiger Cats in an hour to an hour and a half which translates into 2 to 3 hours with one. One thing that slows so many people down with the Zero Turns is that they cut grass in round and round passes. The speed with a zero turn comes (in my humble opinion) when one makes about two laps around the property and then starts striping in back and forth passes.

The longer straighter runs you make the more time it shaves off of the total it takes to cut a property.

Cutting with a tractor type mower most people do go round and round. However as quick as a zero turn will turn around the round and round makes it take much longer.

jekjr said:

We cut 4 acre places often with two Tiger Cats in an hour to an hour and a half which translates into 2 to 3 hours with one. One thing that slows so many people down with the Zero Turns is that they cut grass in round and round passes. The speed with a zero turn comes (in my humble opinion) when one makes about two laps around the property and then starts striping in back and forth passes.

The longer straighter runs you make the more time it shaves off of the total it takes to cut a property.

Cutting with a tractor type mower most people do go round and round. However as quick as a zero turn will turn around the round and round makes it take much longer.

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I probably should have mentioned, when I wrote how long it took to mow with our Tiger Cat, that much of the area is unbearably bumpy. A large section was row cropped before we bought it. So, we go slowly - very very slowly. I cut exactly as you explained, a couple of laps around the perimeter, then straight lines otherwise. It's THAT bumpy; not all of it mind you, but enough to kill our time, regardless of the mower we use. I'm thinking about tilling the whole section, or asking a local farmer I know to disc and harrow it.

Sweats said:

I probably should have mentioned, when I wrote how long it took to mow with our Tiger Cat, that much of the area is unbearably bumpy. A large section was row cropped before we bought it. So, we go slowly - very very slowly. I cut exactly as you explained, a couple of laps around the perimeter, then straight lines otherwise. It's THAT bumpy; not all of it mind you, but enough to kill our time, regardless of the mower we use. I'm thinking about tilling the whole section, or asking a local farmer I know to disc and harrow it.

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Sounds like a box blade would help. Takes soil off the high places and leaves it in the low places. Go back and forth and it will get smooth.

Disking is the way to go but then you've got to reseed. Seed is expensive.

Sweats said:

A little while ago you mentioned being glad to have gotten to a place in your life where you could afford a Turf Tiger. While I have not and will not achieve that place in my life, I'm satisfied to be able to sport a Tiger Cat over the traditional riding mower I used before it (that and the tractor, which I still might use when my wife's on the Cat). As far as whether to buy TT's or TC's for business, there's a topic I'll just stay out of completely.

The one point you made about the difference in mow time though, I wanted to touch on that. Before I bought the TC II, I heard and read account after account about cutting (so to speak) mowing times in half using ZTR's. Really, that's hard to swallow, and I was pretty skeptical. So on my first real mow, I covered a little over 4 acres in roughly 3 1/2 hours with my 61" deck. My wife and I used to cut less, about 3 1/2 acres, in about 3 1/2 hours using a combined 120" of mowing surface. So how about that? It's better than half the time. I guess somebody else will have to wear the skeptic title.

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Sweats, when mowing the area I call "the big hill" I thought it went really fast and it seemed I made fewer trips, so I counted the strips. The area is about 80 yards long and about 30 yards wide on one end and 20 yards wide on the other end. The wide end is a 21 degree slope so I mow the area straight up and straight down. In other words it's so steep I can't mow the length sideways, so I make lots of turns.

Long story short, I mowed 50 strips with the 61 in deck. My old 48 in ztr would require 63 strips. So, mowing 13 fewer passes in that one little area was pretty surprising to me. And, that's not factoring how fast I can run up the hill with 35hp vs. chugging up it with 19 hp. Turn-around per time is the same but I'm doing that 13 fewer times too.

Then there is a walking path I mow. It is a loop around the property that is 10-ft wide and roughly 1/2 a mile long. It took 3 passes with my old 4-ft mower and only two now with the 5-ft deck. So, I'm cutting my time in half, and that's comparing two zero turn mowers. I also have rough places so I'm not going as fast as I could go....but mowing is so much nicer with the Scag I don't feel the need to get it over with. It's much more enjoyable.

I've always found mowing satisfying. Not only making it look good, but finding the most efficient, logical pattern and conquering the challenging parts like ditches and hills. Having a great piece of equipment makes a world of difference too.

Sweats said:

I probably should have mentioned, when I wrote how long it took to mow with our Tiger Cat, that much of the area is unbearably bumpy. A large section was row cropped before we bought it. So, we go slowly - very very slowly. I cut exactly as you explained, a couple of laps around the perimeter, then straight lines otherwise. It's THAT bumpy; not all of it mind you, but enough to kill our time, regardless of the mower we use. I'm thinking about tilling the whole section, or asking a local farmer I know to disc and harrow it.

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After you get the farmer to disc it, get something like an old set of bed springs or a section of tall chainlink fence and drag over the property several times with something like an ATV or riding lawn mower and it will make it totally smooth.

I rototilled some of mine for the same reason. It helped a lot but its no tennis court.