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I have read these forums for days now and still can't decide between the 52 inch Raptor or the 54 inch SD. In all actuality the 42 would work for me but with both the 42 and the 48 (SD) being so close in price to their bigger brothers I am not considering them. I will be making a decision in the morning and thought I would look for input from knowledgeable users.

I have only 1/2 acre and am trying to buy the lot behind us which is a little more than 3/4, all pretty flat.

So my dilemma; Either would work and probably all but the 42 are overkill but I have a long history of buying everything a level or two above what I need feeling like it will probably last longer that way.

I am leaning toward the SD for the following reasons (not in a particular order)

Higher BTS without really knowing how important this is.

I like the looks of the huge rear tires, do these do anything other than look very cool?

Somewhat better seat

Obviously stronger in many areas but again not sure this is pertinent to my situation.

Like the serviceable Hydro, is this a reason to move to the more expensive mower in my situation

Not sure which deck height adjuster I like best.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, right now it is like going into a restaurant and not knowing if you want the filet or rib eye, when the waitress comes you make a decision.

Thanks,

I went with the SD54, seeing both the regular and SD in person you can see there is a lot more iron and general beefyness that isn't in the normal raptor. I also have much love for the foot deck lifter vs the emergency brake style. You can easily step on the pedal and float the deck up over a potential obstacle (like driving up/down a curb) or latch it up without having to stop motion and remove your hand from the sticks.

Yes the big tires all around look cool, but also lower ground pressure for less rut potential on moist dirt. Have no fear, the RSD will still divot like a champ if you don't turn correctly.

Me doing the math, the RSD54 is by far the best what-you-get-for-what-you-pay value in the lineup.

Thanks Kremeneon for your reply. I was hoping for more but I would imagine folks here are sick to death of saying the same thing to every newbie that comes along with the very same question but really saying "tell me what to buy, I can't make up my mind."

Pulled the trigger on the 54" SD today, should pick it up Monday or Tuesday. If I am going to have buyers remorse I would rather that it be that I spent more than I wanted but got a great value for the dollar than I saved a grand and now wish I had bought the better mower.

Give me a few weeks and I will let everyone know what I think of the SD

Can anyone tell me the best way (ebay, craigs list, etc) to sell a 3 year old, slightly used 33" Cub Cadet walk behind?

flightco said:

Thanks Kremeneon for your reply. I was hoping for more but I would imagine folks here are sick to death of saying the same thing to every newbie that comes along with the very same question but really saying "tell me what to buy, I can't make up my mind."

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I'll share everything you want to know about my experiences so far. but I need some sort of topic prompt.

flightco said:

Pulled the trigger on the 54" SD today, should pick it up Monday or Tuesday. If I am going to have buyers remorse I would rather that it be that I spent more than I wanted but got a great value for the dollar than I saved a grand and now wish I had bought the better mower.

Give me a few weeks and I will let everyone know what I think of the SD

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Congrats! check the hydro reservoir before and after the first couple uses and be prepared to add about a pint to it.

Kremeneon said:

Congrats! check the hydro reservoir before and after the first couple uses and be prepared to add about a pint to it.

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Dang, I knew I should have gotten the non SD Raptor with the sealed system :laughing:
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif

flightco said:

Dang, I knew I should have gotten the non SD Raptor with the sealed system :laughing:
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif

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Then you'd never get all the air out.

I did purchase this through a dealer. I had it in my cart at Lowes with the 10% off coupon and decided to call a local dealer and give them the opportunity. There have been so many comments about dealers not budging on price I thought it was a waste of time but they were very nice about it, gave me 10% off on the mower, the engine guard and mulching kit. Putting both on at no charge and free delivery. I think they will be great to work with.

flightco said:

Thanks Kremeneon for your reply. I was hoping for more but I would imagine folks here are sick to death of saying the same thing to every newbie that comes along with the very same question but really saying "tell me what to buy, I can't make up my mind."

Pulled the trigger on the 54" SD today, should pick it up Monday or Tuesday. If I am going to have buyers remorse I would rather that it be that I spent more than I wanted but got a great value for the dollar than I saved a grand and now wish I had bought the better mower.

Give me a few weeks and I will let everyone know what I think of the SD

Can anyone tell me the best way (ebay, craigs list, etc) to sell a 3 year old, slightly used 33" Cub Cadet walk behind?

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I sold my old Husqvarna tractor on Craigslist. I sold it in one day and got a decent price out of it.

John WD said:

I sold my old Husqvarna tractor on Craigslist. I sold it in one day and got a decent price out of it.

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Give yourself a few mows to get used to the ZTR. I looked like a drunk sailor on the first mow but within a couple hours in the seat I was zooming right up to my fence full speed and stopping with an inch to spare, then creeping around a fencepost and ripping away in the opposite direction.

it does take a few mows to get used to the zero turn controls. During my first mow, i was wondering if i had made a mistake buying a zero turn, by the time i did my third mow i was really loving my raptor sd.

chevitz said:

it does take a few mows to get used to the zero turn controls. During my first mow, i was wondering if i had made a mistake buying a zero turn, by the time i did my third mow i was really loving my raptor sd.

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A few years ago I had a Toro 42"; when I did a test drive on the SD it came right back. Should be delivered tomorrow.

Never drove one before purchasing mine. Didnt take long at all to start getting to know her though. Now...the wife driving her was another story!:shocked::frown::frown:

New SD was delivered yesterday. We had rain 4 days in a row, sunny yesterday but predicted rain the rest of the week. My grass was already about 2-3 inches too long so I needed to cut it. Here are my first thoughts;

Way too much mower for my yard; what used to take 40 minutes with a 33" walk behind took about 14 minutes.

Yard was very wet, soft grass was long -
Had a few places where mud tracks were left in the grass (nothing the rain today won't wash away).

I have the mulch kit but it did leave some clumping. I expected this, I cut about 2 1/2 inches at one time because I wanted to see what would happed. The cut itself was good and even, no wind rows or grass sticking up. The grass was so wet that when I picked up some of the clumped (is that a word) grass it was dripping a significant amount of water.

The underside of the deck was full of wet, clumped grass; again I would expect this with grass this long and wet.

Since it was sunny, I waited a couple hours until the clumps dried out some and went back over it (after cleaning out the underside of the deck). This took about 10 minutes (I just aimed for the clumps) and there were no more clumps left and it looked great. The underside of the deck did not have any significant amount of grass stuck on it; for some reason I cannot figure out, the top of the deck was covered but it was pretty dry and a blower took care of it.

All in all, I think the SD did a great job considering the conditions and how much wet grass I cut in one pass but I really need to buy the house behind me to justify this purchase. At 14 minutes a mow, mowing every 5 days, figuring a 6 month mowing season I will only be running this about 9 hours per year, should last me.http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/images/smilies/wink.png

One other thing; the hydro fluid was about two inches in the reservoir at the start of the mow, empty at the end (both the mow and the cleanup passes, about 25 minutes). I would have worried about this but after reading on this forum that it is to be expected, no worries, just more oil.

New SD was delivered yesterday. We had rain 4 days in a row, sunny yesterday but predicted rain the rest of the week. My grass was already about 2-3 inches too long so I needed to cut it. Here are my first thoughts;

Way too much mower for my yard; what used to take 40 minutes with a 33" walk behind took about 14 minutes.

Yard was very wet, soft grass was long -
Had a few places where mud tracks were left in the grass (nothing the rain today won't wash away).

I have the mulch kit but it did leave some clumping. I expected this, I cut about 2 1/2 inches at one time because I wanted to see what would happed. The cut itself was good and even, no wind rows or grass sticking up. The grass was so wet that when I picked up some of the clumped (is that a word) grass it was dripping a significant amount of water.

The underside of the deck was full of wet, clumped grass; again I would expect this with grass this long and wet.

Since it was sunny, I waited a couple hours until the clumps dried out some and went back over it (after cleaning out the underside of the deck). This took about 10 minutes (I just aimed for the clumps) and there were no more clumps left and it looked great. The underside of the deck did not have any significant amount of grass stuck on it; for some reason I cannot figure out, the top of the deck was covered but it was pretty dry and a blower took care of it.

All in all, I think the SD did a great job considering the conditions and how much wet grass I cut in one pass but I really need to buy the house behind me to justify this purchase. At 14 minutes a mow, mowing every 5 days, figuring a 6 month mowing season I will only be running this about 9 hours per year, should last me.

One other thing; the hydro fluid was about two inches in the reservoir at the start of the mow, empty at the end (both the mow and the cleanup passes, about 25 minutes). I would have worried about this but after reading on this forum that it is to be expected, no worries, just more oil.

Sorry about the double post, I tried to edit something and this is what I ended up with.

i'm looking a getting a raptor sd 54". any issues or regrets so far?

turboawd said:

i'm looking a getting a raptor sd 54". any issues or regrets so far?

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My only regret is I purchased too much mower. I mow a little less than 1/2 acre, I was planning on buying the house behind us and using one for a rental but that has fallen through, that would have give me about 1.25 acres. As it is, I mow the entire yard in about 12 to 15 minutes, I am amazed each time how quickly it cuts my yard. I believe I would have been very satisfied with the 42 inch Raptor.

As to the mower, I think it is awesome. Today I cut the grass after 17 hours of straight rain. (rain stopped about 5 hours before I mowed) There were still puddles in the low spots and when I walked on the grass, the ground felt squishy under my feet. I cut 2 inches off (the reason I did it today is more rain is coming and it is getting long). The yard looked great (a little mud on the grass from the tires when I went through the low spots). If I went around and picked up the clumps from the entire yard I don't think I would could full a small bucket.

Hopes this helps.

Mike

flightco said:

My only regret is I purchased too much mower. I mow a little less than 1/2 acre, I was planning on buying the house behind us and using one for a rental but that has fallen through, that would have give me about 1.25 acres. As it is, I mow the entire yard in about 12 to 15 minutes, I am amazed each time how quickly it cuts my yard. I believe I would have been very satisfied with the 42 inch Raptor.

As to the mower, I think it is awesome. Today I cut the grass after 17 hours of straight rain. (rain stopped about 5 hours before I mowed) There were still puddles in the low spots and when I walked on the grass, the ground felt squishy under my feet. I cut 2 inches off (the reason I did it today is more rain is coming and it is getting long). The yard looked great (a little mud on the grass from the tires when I went through the low spots). If I went around and picked up the clumps from the entire yard I don't think I would could full a small bucket.

Hopes this helps.

Mike

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thanks for the feedback.
i'll be cutting around 20 empty lots. for a half acre, it does seem a bit extreme. i do like how you get a wider tire with the 54 and up. the 48 and smaller have a narrow tire.

turboawd said:

thanks for the feedback.
i'll be cutting around 20 empty lots. for a half acre, it does seem a bit extreme. i do like how you get a wider tire with the 54 and up. the 48 and smaller have a narrow tire.

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I like the way the wider tires look but have no idea as to what difference they make other than making wider tracks in the yard.

Where are you in IL? I got a good deal with my dealer, he honored the Lowes 10% coupon and the tax was less than will county where I live. If you are interested I can see if he would like to do the same for someone else.

flightco said:

I like the way the wider tires look but have no idea as to what difference they make other than making wider tracks in the yard.

Where are you in IL? I got a good deal with my dealer, he honored the Lowes 10% coupon and the tax was less than will county where I live. If you are interested I can see if he would like to do the same for someone else.

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I'm in Rockford. I'm waiting for my dealer to get one in. Told me they'd get one next week. I've read about the Lowe's thing. I didn't even bring it up. They told me they have a waiting line for it, so they might sell to someone else. Lol
Which dealer you buy from?
Did they actually want the coupon?

I bought the 48"SD and love it so far. No issues. I asked my dealer if he'd knock $300 off if I paid cash and he agreed without even thinking about it. I should have asked for $500 off :/. After tax I was out the door for less than $3900.

turboawd said:

I'm in Rockford. I'm waiting for my dealer to get one in. Told me they'd get one next week. I've read about the Lowe's thing. I didn't even bring it up. They told me they have a waiting line for it, so they might sell to someone else. Lol
Which dealer you buy from?
Did they actually want the coupon?

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If you are interested I will ask my dealer if he would do it again (he seemed very happy to do it for me). They have 4 stores around, I think the closest one to Rockford is Ottawa, that is not too far from you and they might even deliver it to you, they did for me and I was an hour away. I hope you understand but I don't want to give their name out without asking them first.

I would avoid a dealer giving you the business about a waiting line, he can order as many as he wants; I would let him sell it to someone else. I also got the zero percent financing Hustler is offering.

flightco said:

If you are interested I will ask my dealer if he would do it again (he seemed very happy to do it for me). They have 4 stores around, I think the closest one to Rockford is Ottawa, that is not too far from you and they might even deliver it to you, they did for me and I was an hour away. I hope you understand but I don't want to give their name out without asking them first.

I would avoid a dealer giving you the business about a waiting line, he can order as many as he wants; I would let him sell it to someone else. I also got the zero percent financing Hustler is offering.

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did they have to order your machine, or do they stock some?
i'd drive to whoever to buy one, but was hoping to buy local just incase i need to take the machine in for service or warranty work. the local dealer is literally down the street from me.
the sales guy said that they would be getting 3 of them tuesday, with 7 people on a waiting list. :tongue: let me see if they get them in, and see what they can do on price. i need a machine this week, as my cub cadet busted a motor.

turboawd said:

did they have to order your machine, or do they stock some?
i'd drive to whoever to buy one, but was hoping to buy local just incase i need to take the machine in for service or warranty work. the local dealer is literally down the street from me.
the sales guy said that they would be getting 3 of them tuesday, with 7 people on a waiting list. :tongue: let me see if they get them in, and see what they can do on price. i need a machine this week, as my cub cadet busted a motor.

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They are a major Hustler dealer with many makes and models in stock. Also if they don't have it in stock in your store they will pick it up at one of their other stores. Aside from free delivery, they told me if I need warranty work just call them and they will pick it up free of charge - seem to be a great group.

flightco said:

They are a major Hustler dealer with many makes and models in stock. Also if they don't have it in stock in your store they will pick it up at one of their other stores. Aside from free delivery, they told me if I need warranty work just call them and they will pick it up free of charge - seem to be a great group.

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i called another dealer that was about 40 min away, and asked if they'd match lowes. he told me he'd be paying $50 out of pocket to sell me a machine. he then told me "good luck getting it serviced at lowes".

turboawd said:

I'm in Rockford. I'm waiting for my dealer to get one in. Told me they'd get one next week. I've read about the Lowe's thing. I didn't even bring it up. They told me they have a waiting line for it, so they might sell to someone else. Lol
Which dealer you buy from?
Did they actually want the coupon?

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Are you dealing with Cherry Valley Landscape Center? That is where I bought my Hustler last year.

RetiredGuns said:

Are you dealing with Cherry Valley Landscape Center? That is where I bought my Hustler last year.

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yeah. did they give you a discount? :smile:

what model you buy? are you happy with it?

turboawd said:

yeah. did they give you a discount? :smile:

what model you buy? are you happy with it?

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I bought the 42" Raptor. There are areas in my yard where anything bigger would have resulted in much more trimming. Mowing just a little more than a 1/2acre is a pinch.
I qualified for the military discount so I got 10%. Yeah, I like it. It is not an estate mower, but it was also only $2500. The cut is good enough and best when the deck is adjusted just right. The speed & maneuverability makes it all worth it! Bought it from Rob.

turboawd said:

i called another dealer that was about 40 min away, and asked if they'd match lowes. he told me he'd be paying $50 out of pocket to sell me a machine. he then told me "good luck getting it serviced at lowes".

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If he is losing 50.00 on a 10% discount, he must be a very low volume dealer. My dealer sells quite a few Hustlers a year and gave me every indication he was very happy with matching the lowes coupon. Nice to have someone who will give you a discount and still act like they are happy to have you for a customer. Dealers are paid to provide warranty service and if he is losing 50.00 on the mower, he can probably make more by providing warranty service.

What ever happened to the dealer who was getting 3 in and had 7 customers waiting? I am not sure about the dealers out your way.

flightco said:

If he is losing 50.00 on a 10% discount, he must be a very low volume dealer. My dealer sells quite a few Hustlers a year and gave me every indication he was very happy with matching the lowes coupon. Nice to have someone who will give you a discount and still act like they are happy to have you for a customer. Dealers are paid to provide warranty service and if he is losing 50.00 on the mower, he can probably make more by providing warranty service.

What ever happened to the dealer who was getting 3 in and had 7 customers waiting? I am not sure about the dealers out your way.

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local dealer got only 2 machines in today. so i called them and they said "oh we had 2 people pay already". well why the heck didnt you tell me in the first place?? i waited almost 2 weeks, just to give them my business and stay local.
then i called another that was 45min away, and they said yeah we're getting in 2 today. told them to call me. i waited until 4:00 and didnt hear back. they said they got them in but one was already paid for and sold, and the other was on hold for someone else. why didnt you tell me in the first place??!

by the way, i did call the dealer who i think you bought from. they told me their wharehouse has some raptorsd 54, but that is a 2 hour drive to get there, so i didnt pursue that option.

so i called another dealer about 1hr away, and they said they have 3 machines and quoted me about 6% lower than msrp, without me even asking. so plan is to go pick one up tomorrow.

so my dad actually went and picked up a raptor sd 54. he said he was extremely happy with the way this dealer treated him.
the mower is real nice.