Advice on ride-on mower

iplogger1

The guy who is doing most of our landscaping (1.5acre site) has offered
to sell me his Castlegarden 20hp ride on mower (model XT200HD or similar)

20HP Briggs & Stratton
Intek V-Twin OHV engine
• 102cm mulching deck
• Mulching kit available
• Electric blade engagement €3,666.67 €4,436.67
• Hydrostatic drive
• 300 Ltr grasscatcher with full bag alert
• Electric start, battery charger,
adjustable seat
• Larger front wheels

They retail for around 4.5k incl VAT which is outside my budget for a new
model. His model is nearly 5 years old but he takes great care of it and
has recently had it overhauled. He is offering it at 2.4k to me. He
reckons that it would handle cutting wetter grass better than some of
the lower (but decent) spec models and the extra engine power would
be good considering we have hilly areas on the lawn (percolation beds
raised..). The alternative is that I purchase a new 15 or 17hp model
for around the same price.

I guess the bit I don't fully understand is why one model over another
may handle cutting wetter/heavier grass than another.

Any advice?

-ipl

ttm

Don't touch it with a barge pole!

Even if its been looked after just hauling it in and out of a van or on and off of a trailer knocks them to bits.

I spent 3 years of my life as a chargehand in charge of a team cutting grass and I'd have been lucky to get 2 years out of even the strongest equipement. We used to spend every Friday afternoon doing oil changes and maintenance so kit was well looked after but if its ex comercial kit and its for sale it probabaly has got to the point were it doesn't have much life left in it.

Lets face it why sell good kit when replaceing it is expensive?

ttm

Look at it this way.....

You use a couple of horse power to cut the grass another couple to move you and the mower over the grass the rest is used moving grass you have already cut out from under the mower deck.

So if a 15hp mower just about works OK on average length grass on a dry day its going to clog up every couple of minutes on long grass or wet grass.

In essence you need the biggest engine powering the smallest deck you can find or afford. Also look at the way the deck is put together and ask yourself how much room there is for wet grass to move around. Put a cutter blade in open air with no deck above it and there is no power wasted with grass sticking to the deck. Put a deck 2 inches above the cutter blade and you add tons of friction as wet grass sticks to it. So go for a deck with loads of space above the blades.

GERMAN ROCKS

you could get a new 13 and a half hp with 36 inch blade hydrostatic for that price. shop around for it but i would still buy it from a dealer eg not from band q etc. new is new and it should do you for about 10 years.