Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible

HollyE75

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Threads
1
Messages
11
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
I went to the local mower shop today and now am considering the Ferris IS700Z with B&S engine, 61" cut. Price was $6695. Was told it would outperform and outlast the Husqvarna.
 

Shughes717

Lawn Addict
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Threads
4
Messages
1,230
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
I went to the local mower shop today and now am considering the Ferris IS700Z with B&S engine, 61" cut. Price was $6695. Was told it would outperform and outlast the Husqvarna.

The IS700 is a mid level commercial mower, and is better built than the MZ61. A better comparison would be the IS700 to the MZT61. I am a big fan of Ferris mowers.
 

Ric

Lawn Pro
Joined
May 7, 2010
Threads
142
Messages
5,765
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
Where is Ric when you need him ?
That is a perfect place to use a stander.
In fact looking at the picture that's a perfect place period. Nice piece of the planet you have there.
You can get the standers with really wide decks.

I've been watching and agree with you bert it is perfect for a stander. I just didn't get involved because they would be more money than the OP wants to spend. I also agree with you that is a pretty piece of property. The 60" Grandstand would be around 12K OTD
 

HollyE75

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Threads
1
Messages
11
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
I've been watching and agree with you bert it is perfect for a stander. I just didn't get involved because they would be more money than the OP wants to spend. I also agree with you that is a pretty piece of property. The 60" Grandstand would be around 12K OTD

That's much more than we are budgeted for. I'm not familiar with a stander but I'm also not familiar with a zero turn. I've always just used a lawn tractor where we've lived before which was flat acreage.
 

Ric

Lawn Pro
Joined
May 7, 2010
Threads
142
Messages
5,765
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
That's much more than we are budgeted for. I'm not familiar with a stander but I'm also not familiar with a zero turn. I've always just used a lawn tractor where we've lived before which was flat acreage.

When your talking about mowers everyone's opinions are going to be different. Why do you think you have to have a 60 or 61" deck or mower? You can do your 5 acres with a 48" or 52" for a lot less money. The difference in productivity in the size's of the deck especially for the homeowner isn't going to be worth the money your spending. It's not like your mowing commercially where time is money.
 

HollyE75

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Threads
1
Messages
11
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
When your talking about mowers everyone's opinions are going to be different. Why do you think you have to have a 60 or 61" deck or mower? You can do your 5 acres with a 48" or 52" for a lot less money. The difference in productivity in the size's of the deck especially for the homeowner isn't going to be worth the money your spending. It's not like your mowing commercially where time is money.

I was guesstimating on the 5 acres of mowing. We own 40 acres but much of it is wooded. We have the hillside as shown in the picture to cut, we have a yard at a rental cabin on our property to cut, and we have the "back yard" to cut, so it's a LOT to cut. I wanted the largest deck I could get to cut back on time.

My broken cub cadet lawn tractor had a 50" deck and took 2.5 to 3 hours just to mow the hillside shown.
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
64
Messages
24,702
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
If you want to spend the extra cash then have a good look at the standers.
You should be able to get a dealer to give you an on site demo on the commercial mowers and they are worth the extra cost.
With proper maintanance you should be looking at 20 years of service so amortised over the service life the maths work out very favourably
 

HollyE75

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Threads
1
Messages
11
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
If you want to spend the extra cash then have a good look at the standers.
You should be able to get a dealer to give you an on site demo on the commercial mowers and they are worth the extra cost.
With proper maintanance you should be looking at 20 years of service so amortised over the service life the maths work out very favourably

Not sure where that was misconstrued in the thread, I'm not interested in spending the extra cash, certainly not $12K for a stander and I'm not really interested in a stander.
 

Ric

Lawn Pro
Joined
May 7, 2010
Threads
142
Messages
5,765
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
I was guesstimating on the 5 acres of mowing. We own 40 acres but much of it is wooded. We have the hillside as shown in the picture to cut, we have a yard at a rental cabin on our property to cut, and we have the "back yard" to cut, so it's a LOT to cut. I wanted the largest deck I could get to cut back on time.

My broken cub cadet lawn tractor had a 50" deck and took 2.5 to 3 hours just to mow the hillside shown.

If your mowing with a 50" Lawn tractor and it's taking you 2.5 to 3 hours a good 48" stander or 48" ztr will cut that in half. You have to remember your CC only did about 5mph top speed and a good stander or ztr top speed is 8 to 10 mph so you can cut your time as well as the cost of the mower by dropping deck size but you'll also cut cost of operation. Also both stander and Ztr price will be a lot less on a 48 or 52"
 

Ric

Lawn Pro
Joined
May 7, 2010
Threads
142
Messages
5,765
  • / Need large mower for slight hillside... up and down mowing possible
Not sure where that was misconstrued in the thread, I'm not interested in spending the extra cash, certainly not $12K for a stander and I'm not really interested in a stander.

If your looking for a 60" you can get the Hustler Raptor SD 60 with I think a 26hp Kawasaki engine and 2800 drives that's rated for almost 4 acres per hour for $4495.00
 
Top