Need help choosing a new Kubota mower

[slus]

I guess I'm not surprised. CA is making it very unfriendly for many products and companies.

It seems to get worse before it gets worse here. I bought an Stihl FS250 brush cutter a few years ago to replace a 20+ year old one. The guy at the counter tells me I got lucky when I called to order it, there was only 2 left in the state that he could put hands on before they were banned for dirty emissions. I had him order the other one for me too so I'd have a spare, chances are if CA says you can't have it, it's probably a good thing to have around.

I went back for some parts and the same guy says that was one of the good ones, and proceeded to tell me a story about a guy that bought 2 of them just to have a spare

 

[slus]

I stopped by a few dealers at lunch, it is worse than I thought.
Ferris is out, they do not have any CA approved models anymore. Too bad, they were working on a customers, and it was sweet.
Same dealer sold Skag, Exmark and Hustler, who do have a few CA approved commercial models but none available, cheapest one is 12k and they have no idea when the next one will show up.
Kubota had 2, a Z231 on site with a 42" deck (too small) and a Z422 at another, which is very tempting.
I've been avoiding the all green store, but I drove by it, and they must have 30 zero turns parked out front!

 

[WM75Guy]

With a Kubota, if California dealers can't or won't sell parts because of regulations, Messick's is available for mail order parts. They are easy to deal with and the parts guys have been very knowledgeable about what I needed.

 

[Brown Dog]

… I bought an Stihl FS250 brush cutter a few years ago to replace a 20+ year old one. The guy at the counter tells me I got lucky when I called to order it, there was only 2 left in the state that he could put hands on before they were banned for dirty emissions …

I bought an FS250 Stihl a few years ago. It’s a bad sum buck.
Actually too heavy to use very long lol.

 

[slus]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just paid for a Z422 with a 60" deck. It has the suspension seat standard. I actually wanted a 48" or 54" deck, but this one was available now and the discount was good compared to the MSRP price listed on the Kubota price, so I went for it. It's coming from another location, I should be able to pick it up next week and will post pictures. Hopefully it cuts mowing time significantly, I told my wife it was double the money but half the time mowing.

 

[BigBlue1]

It should definitely cut your mowing time. When I switched from a JD x758 with 60" deck to my Bad Boy Rouge zero-turn with 72" deck my mowing time for 7 acres went down from 4.5 hours to just under 3 hours.

How much did it end up costing you?

 

[slus]

It should definitely cut your mowing time. When I switched from a JD x758 with 60" deck to my Bad Boy Rouge zero-turn with 72" deck my mowing time for 7 acres went down from 4.5 hours to just under 3 hours.

How much did it end up costing you?

X758 seemed like a heck of a machine to start with! If I can knock my 2 acres out in an hour or less I'll be happy.

The price was 8351 + tax

 

[RjCorazza]

It's hard to go back to smaller decks once you've mowed with a 60 or 72" deck. I'm sure you will like the new machine!
I can mow my wide open 3.6 acre field in 40 minutes (5.4 acres per hour) but my overall average across 18 large rural properties is 2.7 acres per hour.

 

[Brown Dog]

It's hard to go back to smaller decks once you've mowed with a 60 or 72" deck. I'm sure you will like the new machine! ...

I’m glad @slus stepped UP to the bigger 60” deck

I tried to get my paw in-law to buy a 72 when he replaced a 60 : now he wished he’d stepped up.

His lil 60 doesn’t stick out past the width of the ZD1211 tires Not allowing him to trim up rear close.

I wished Kubota made a ZD 40+ HP with a 84 inch deck :

NOW that would be the Ultimate Mower for my 18 acre application

 

[slus]

Good to hear. The only reason I wanted a 48 or 54 is for one spot between a sidewalk/retaining wall and propane tank, my 48" rider just barely fits. I'll have to hit it with the push mower for now, which will give me incentive to plumb the propane tank further away. I never understood why the builders put 4 nice windows in a master bathroom that look directly at a propane tank set on a raised mound of dirt so I have to look at it every time I shower or brush my teeth, I assumed they hit rock and couldn't bury the line deep enough for code, but why right there???