Buying lawn mowers

Both of my parks have fairly competent managers who mow and take reasonably good care of tools.

Both parks need new mowers, and have fairly standard common areas that are maintained along 10+ empty lots.

What kind of lawn mowers do other park owners buy? What size do you go with, and do you splurge for features such as 0 turn?

I have less than two to do,with a 90 day growing season.i went with John Deere 240s, almost a acre a hour.zero turn is a lot of money to go twice as fast,around stuff easier and more for smooth ,non rough,with very little inclines or hills,there is a reason you get rops on a lawnmower.only talking j.d. ,100 series are “bic lighters”,works till it don’t ,available at big box stores.the higher end 100 series can get above 2k and you get serviceable components.240S is 2.5k which is lower 300 series motor/trans on 100 series frame ,with all the 300 series accessories added.300 series ,3k and up.more feature capacity and service features,diesel ,implements.500 series more of above, h.p. & capacity at 7-10k.700 series 10k plus,Rolls Royce of garden tractors.1000 series is 700 series with an 2000 series feature upgrade.both 1000 and 2000 are similar priced ,by the time you buy a few toys you will be at quite a difference in cost.and 1000&2000 and higher all have economy and royal versions. The main reason most choose John Deere is parts available and been around since before motors and the biggie… 0%FINANCING
I got a 1025R TLB with box blade and land level and 240S with my John Hancock, delivered the next week.

My own opinion is the John Deere 400 series garden tractors from the late 90’s and early 2000’s are some of the best mowers ever made. You can pick up a nice used one on Craigslist for $2,500 to $3,500. The 425 is all wheel steer (almost as good as the modern zero turn). The 445 has more HP than the 425 and it’s fuel injected. The 455 is the diesel version. All good solid machines with plenty of parts out there if needed, and deck sizes go up to 60". The 48" or 54" deck will give a nicest cuts.

Those who are much more mechanically inclined then myself will say they are really easy to work on. If well cared for you can get 1,500 to 2,000 hours easily before a motor rebuild (which will run $1,000 or less). All of the machines can push/pull attachments such as cart, snow blade or snow plow, rotor tiller, etc. A comparable new JD would probably be in the $10k range. Nothing wrong at all with the newer 500 and 700 series, just a lot more money than you probably need to spend for your use.

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I’d go with a Toro Self-Step ( i think thats what its called) ive had mine for 5 years and it runs great, the good thing about it is that the speed adjusts to how fast you walk so you don’t have to worry about adjusting the speed and all that.

We mow a lot of grass and buy kubota zero turns. The one we have now is a z125E. Cuts mowing time way down and they are very reliable machines. Normal garden or lawn tractos are fine if you do not have much to do. The zero turns also cut way back on your weed trimming time as well