Well, I pulled the trigger today and bought a Gravely 252Z. After much research and demos I decided that this was the best machine I could get for the price. I was able to get it for $6600 with the light kit and trailer hitch included, which I thought was pretty good. They were out of stock, but they expect to have one in by the end of the week, so hopefully I'll be "ZTR'in" this weekend.
Things I liked about the Gravely:
- Built like a tank. As solid and well built as any ZTR I looked at, esp. in the hydraulics. The 252 pumps are larger than any other I looked at.
- Full suspension seating and articulating front end made for a nice ride.
- Very nice, cooporative dealer with good reputation.
- Good resale in my area.
For the price, I couldn't find a better machine in my area. Now, I could find a lot of good machines for $500-1000 more, but I wasn't looking to pay more! And believe me, I looked at a LOT of machines and did a LOT of research. The other machine that I seriously considered was a Simplicity/Ferriss. While I remain intriguied by the IS, I was concered about the hydraulics/wheel motors on the Simplicity (dual pumps and wheel motors, but still marketed as a residential machine, so is the quality there??) and the only Ferriss dealer in my area is a dump, so I just decided that I didn't want to deal with them. A shame, because I would have loved to have spent more time with the Ferriss. I also looked hard at the Exmark and Hustler, but for a machine similar to the 252, they were just too expensive. I got the top of the line Gravely, but for this price you are looking at the entry level Exmark/Hustler.
Thanks alot to everyone on this site who offered input and opinions on this purchase. Every comment and post was greatly appreciated, and I'll continue to hang out here because I've enjoyed the forum.
Things I liked about the Gravely:
- Built like a tank. As solid and well built as any ZTR I looked at, esp. in the hydraulics. The 252 pumps are larger than any other I looked at.
- Full suspension seating and articulating front end made for a nice ride.
- Very nice, cooporative dealer with good reputation.
- Good resale in my area.
For the price, I couldn't find a better machine in my area. Now, I could find a lot of good machines for $500-1000 more, but I wasn't looking to pay more! And believe me, I looked at a LOT of machines and did a LOT of research. The other machine that I seriously considered was a Simplicity/Ferriss. While I remain intriguied by the IS, I was concered about the hydraulics/wheel motors on the Simplicity (dual pumps and wheel motors, but still marketed as a residential machine, so is the quality there??) and the only Ferriss dealer in my area is a dump, so I just decided that I didn't want to deal with them. A shame, because I would have loved to have spent more time with the Ferriss. I also looked hard at the Exmark and Hustler, but for a machine similar to the 252, they were just too expensive. I got the top of the line Gravely, but for this price you are looking at the entry level Exmark/Hustler.
Thanks alot to everyone on this site who offered input and opinions on this purchase. Every comment and post was greatly appreciated, and I'll continue to hang out here because I've enjoyed the forum.