Bobcat CRZ or Big Dog Alpha MP

Bobcat pluses: 6 gal tank, chutes stay up on its on, sits up higher in the seat, better warranty

Gravely pluses: seat more comfortable, seems quieter, seals bearings vs Bobcat bushions, comes with trailer hitch, FR691 motor vs FR651 on the bobcat

Any other big diffences that I’m missing

Well you've got the pin deck height adjustment on the Bob-Cat vs Dial on the Gravely. Faster reported blade tip speed for the Bob-Cat, 18,142 vs 17,000 FPM. A bit odd that Gravely has the same blade tip speed of 17,000 FPM listed for all deck sizes 42, 52 and 60. Usually they differ. I don't know what the hour meter is on the Gravely but I think the Bob-Cat has the digital one with the maintenance reminder function. Nice feature. Hard to tell from pictures but is the deck suspension system on the Gravely beefier? The Gravely "features" show an 11 gauge deck vs 10 gauge for the Bob-Cat but the spec sheet for the Gravely says 10 gauge. Not sure which it really is but the 10 would be preferable.

Also Bob-Cat has gone to Zero-T brand rear tires on their machines. It looks like Gravely has the Carlisle Turfmasters on it.

The bolt-on tow hitch for my Bob-Cat was $10. I'd guess it's an option for yours, even if it's not listed as an accessory (it's not listed as one for my model on the website either).

One thing I will say about my Bob-Cat Fast-Cat Pro is that after a season of commercial use, the only problem I've had was it throwing the deck belt off once when I engaged the blades and that seems to have been a fluke. Not a single lose nut or bolt or leak or other issue...they seem to assemble them well. Whether that translates to the CRZ I don't know.

The CRZ has the same style deck as my machine with the double-wave baffles. It's pretty highly baffled so clippings come out pretty small and it cuts well but the double baffles in the front of the deck do accumulate crud. They got rid of them on the newer top-of-the line machines. It also doesn't handle wet grass all that great, it tends to discharge wet grass in fits and spurts rather than continuously. Also, my dealer sets the deck up so that the front is actually higher than the rear. They said that they get complaints of stringers being left if they pitch them with the front lower and customers were complaining that they had to double cut everything. Usually the front is set up lower than the rear. Setting the rear lower actually causes each blade to be cut twice but draws more power.

Those are some very fine points that as a newbie I wouldn’t know to look for. I appreciate all of the differences that you have pointed out. Sounds like you highly favor the Bobcat and have good success with owning yours.

Oops- meant to edit and double posted instead.

I don't know the Gravely well enough to recommend the Bob-Cat over it. But my Bob-Cat has been productive and trouble free and my dealer has been great. Not the same machine as the Crz though. The only real problem I've had is with traction. Not sure if it's the tires or that its light or a little of both. If I had to choose I'd pick the Turf Masters. Excellent tried and true tires. In fact I just had a new set put on my walk behind.

PS - I swapped the high lift blades on my Bob-Cat to Gator G5s which are a high lift mulching blade. I run them on all my machines and highly recommend them.

We’ll gentlemen I have switched gears !!!! I drove a Liberty Z today and loved it. I’ve decided to purchase the 23hp Kawasaki 52” Liberty Z. Thanks everyone for the comments, advice, and listening to me be indecisive.

Congratulations! Scag makes quality machines and their cut quality is hard to beat. Are you sure you don't want to upgrade to the Freedom Z though? Lol.

I hate to go to the ms and ask for more money lol. I started at 4k and now have moved to almost 5k

IMO you were wise to go shopping at dealers and not the big box stores and for staying away from the EZT transmissions in the low-end units. I spent 15+ years on another lawn site trying to advice homeowners against that and it's refreshing not to have had to fight that battle with you

Best wishes with your machine and I hope you'll drop in and share your experience with it once you get some hours on it.

I will definitely stay in touch and give my thoughts on the Liberty after I have it a little while. I used to cut commercially and used a toro z557 60” 27hp So I’m used to having a nice mower and that’s why I researched so much so I wouldn’t end up with a crappy mower that I didn’t like. I do appreciate all of the advice. One thing I can say is that I drove the CRZ, raptor sd, zt xl, alpha mp, and I knew as soon as I hopped off of the Liberty Z that it was the mower I wanted to buy. I feel at ease about making that purchase in the next few days. Thanks again for all of the help and comments that you gave me.