We bought this mower to supplement/replace a couple of trail mowers--one a 48" rough cut and the other a 60" finish cut. We are homeowners, but we mow 11 acres of airstrip, firebreak, and yard about once a week in the spring-early-summer fast-growing season. The terrain is hilly and the cover is primarily tough bunchgrass. We found the high-end homeowner finish-cut trail mower to be too fragile, with the mow-deck supports welded to the sheet-metal deck ripping off because of the rough grass and weight of the engine riding the deck. The rough-cut trail mower is more robust, but cuts a narrower swath. Both mowers tend to bog down when the grass is long and/or wet. We decided to buy a commercial ZTR mower when we discovered that Cub Cadet offered four-wheel steering for dealing with our steep slopes. The commercial mow deck is extremely heavy duty and the power to the 60" cutters is in a whole different league than our trail mowers. This mower bogs down only in tall, thick, damp grass and then not so much unless we're also climbing a steep hill. It leaves a fine finish except in grass tall enough to stay down when the wide but short fore-and-aft mow deck goes over. No surprise there--that's where the rough-cut mower works best. This mower seems awesomely powerful, and is built like a rock crusher. It also rode like a rock crusher when we first tried it out. Investigation showed that it came from the factory with its tires 50% over-pressured; adjusting them down below the recommended maximum inflation pressure really improved the ride.

We bought this mower to supplement/replace a couple of trail mowers--one a 48" rough cut and the other a 60" finish cut. We are homeowners, but we mow 11 acres of airstrip, firebreak, and yard about once a week in the spring-early-summer fast-growing season. The terrain is hilly and the cover is primarily tough bunchgrass. We found the high-end homeowner finish-cut trail mower to be too fragile, with the mow-deck supports welded to the sheet-metal deck ripping off because of the rough grass and weight of the engine riding the deck. The rough-cut trail mower is more robust, but cuts a narrower swath. Both mowers tend to bog down when the grass is long and/or wet. We decided to buy a commercial ZTR mower when we discovered that Cub Cadet offered four-wheel steering for dealing with our steep slopes. The commercial mow deck is extremely heavy duty and the power to the 60" cutters is in a whole different league than our trail mowers. This mower bogs down only in tall, thick, damp grass and then not so much unless we're also climbing a steep hill. It leaves a fine finish except in grass tall enough to stay down when the wide but short fore-and-aft mow deck goes over. No surprise there--that's where the rough-cut mower works best. This mower seems awesomely powerful, and is built like a rock crusher. It also rode like a rock crusher when we first tried it out. Investigation showed that it came from the factory with its tires 50% over-pressured; adjusting them down below the recommended maximum inflation pressure really improved the ride.