what's the deal with standers?

[sirrobbins]

I recently was in the market for 2 new mowers and tried out a grand stand from Toro. I did not like it in the least bit due to feeling unsafe and not secure to it. I have used walk behinds forever with sulkys and the stand ons I am not feeling at all. Do any of you who use them have a story of it growing on you or liking it since day 1? Sure, it's quick as hell and more aggressive at turning than even the zero turn riders but I feel I will fly off turning that fast as I nearly did doing a demo. Do any of you only use standers or have one as your main mower?

 

[Ric]

I recently was in the market for 2 new mowers and tried out a grand stand from Toro. I did not like it in the least bit due to feeling unsafe and not secure to it. I have used walk behinds forever with sulkys and the stand ons I am not feeling at all. Do any of you who use them have a story of it growing on you or liking it since day 1? Sure, it's quick as hell and more aggressive at turning than even the zero turn riders but I feel I will fly off turning that fast as I nearly did doing a demo. Do any of you only use standers or have one as your main mower?

Yeah I use the Grandstand everyday and never had an issue. They do take some getting use to but I prefer the Grandstand to my ztr any day. It's definitely faster and safer.

 

[Mad Mackie]

No doubt that standers have some advantages to them, but they also have some disadvantages.
Here in rocky, rooty, hilly New England they are not very popular due to these conditions.
Collection systems are not available for standers other than a small side mounted unit.
By design, the deck cannot be raised quickly by the operator should the need arise to avoid blade strikes with high objects.
Were I a lot younger, I probably would have a stander as I like to experiment with different design machines, but now I like sitting down on the suspension seat on my ZTR while mowing.
Just my thoughts!!:laughing:

 

[Lohman446]

By design, the deck cannot be raised quickly by the operator should the need arise to avoid blade strikes with high objects.

I was curious about this. Has anyone actually ever reacted quickly enough to raise the deck in such a situation PRIOR to damage?

 

[Mad Mackie]

A stander operator has to remove one hand from the machine controls, unlock the deck height lever, raise the deck and then lower it back to the original position. The operator presence design of a stander means that the operator would have to bring the machine to a full stop to change the deck height, whereas the operator of most ZTRs can do this with the foot lever and not loose control of the machine.
As I use a collection system 90% of the time, a stander wouldn't work for me plus the hilly areas that I have to mow probably make me uncomfortable standing on a machine. As I use a Scag Tiger Cub ZTR with a low slung collection blower, I raise the deck quickly to avoid both blade strike and blower contact situations.
But no doubt a stander has advantages for some folk depending on the conditions and type of lawns that they mow.

 

[zmister11]

I was curious about this. Has anyone actually ever reacted quickly enough to raise the deck in such a situation PRIOR to damage?

I have a gravely pro stance 36. It's a stander, it has a pedal next to the platform that you stand on. The pedal lifts up the deck just for that reason

 

[Ric]

I was curious about this. Has anyone actually ever reacted quickly enough to raise the deck in such a situation PRIOR to damage?

I seriously doubt you can react with either a foot operated or hand operated control to raise a deck in an emergency situation. I can also raise and lower the deck on the grandstand on the fly, it's very simple. I run both the stander and a ztr and any place I can run the ztr I can run the stander. The stander is by far safer to use than a ztr because I can walk away from a stander in a split second in an emergency situation and you can't a ztr, that's one big advantage. Another advantage to a stander is you have two mowers in one, the stand up and a walk behind so you can double your productivity.

In reality the differences between the stander and ztr are the fact the one you stand on the other your in a seat. There both zero turn riders and work the same, you drive them both and control there speed with the same style bars. The truth is if you used the Grandstand for two weeks everyday as I do you would find it very difficult to go back to a ztr.

 

[sirrobbins]

thanks for the responses. I am down in sunny Florida where the grass grows all year, St. Augustine is king and rain is likely somewhere every day for about 20 minutes. My own draw to my zero turn is its weight. Even in this thick turf I mow, I must slow down significantly in wet conditions as even St Augustine will rip apart if aggressive enough. Those standers seem awfully aggressive the way I see people riding them. I just didn't feel like hugging the machine and even then, still not feeling stable with it. Was fun to toy around the parking lot though. Just won't really buy one I guess.

 

[Ric]

thanks for the responses. I am down in sunny Florida where the grass grows all year, St. Augustine is king and rain is likely somewhere every day for about 20 minutes. My own draw to my zero turn is its weight. Even in this thick turf I mow, I must slow down significantly in wet conditions as even St Augustine will rip apart if aggressive enough. Those standers seem awfully aggressive the way I see people riding them. I just didn't feel like hugging the machine and even then, still not feeling stable with it. Was fun to toy around the parking lot though. Just won't really buy one I guess.

I've got the 36" and I really like the thing. Toying with one in the parking lot is a lot different than using it on a lawn. It does a good job on St.Augustine with the standard blades and it's great with a set of G6 Gator Blades, can't beat the cut. It's no more aggressive than a ztr and the 36" is only 756lbs the 48"is 838lbs 52" is 866lbs and the 60" is 899lbs really beats a 1000 plus for most commercial ztr mowers.

 

[LoCo86]

thanks for the responses. I am down in sunny Florida where the grass grows all year, St. Augustine is king and rain is likely somewhere every day for about 20 minutes. My own draw to my zero turn is its weight. Even in this thick turf I mow, I must slow down significantly in wet conditions as even St Augustine will rip apart if aggressive enough. Those standers seem awfully aggressive the way I see people riding them. I just didn't feel like hugging the machine and even then, still not feeling stable with it. Was fun to toy around the parking lot though. Just won't really buy one I guess.

I have a Toro Grandstand 52" and I'll say you made a good call by not getting a stand-on mower. For all the reasons listed above and the fact that you can get a walk behind with a sulky and go 7 mph vs 8 mph on a stander. I prefer walk behinds because they work better on hillsides and are just as productive as a stander. I don't care what the numbers on a chart say about a standers productivity I have both and a walk behind will out perform the stander even with a smaller deck. I don't live in Florida where most lawns are flat I'm in southeast Tennessee where terrain varies and you need a piece of equipment that can handle it. I currently run all 52" mowers in my small fleet but I'm going to go back to using 48" mowers next year due to the way the flow with the undulating terrain better. I know it's just 4" but I can see a difference. Going to go back to a 48" Exmark turf tracers and going to demo a Exmark navigator 48" to see if I like it or not. If not then I'll get a Exmark 48" laser z with a collection system and of course keep my 21". But then again this is just what works best for me in my area.

Also I have noticed that even though it cost more to collect the clippings no one seems to mind the extra cost due to not only leaving the lawn looking cleaner but not having a much debris to track back into the house when out walking in the yard or letting their inside pets out to potty and not track as much dirt back into the house. And my lord how people love their pets around here.