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Have a customer with the same mower which i use. Have to say i'm not very impressed, it blocks on long grass and no good in the wet, turning circle very poor and won't cut mowing backwards, though i think you can bypass this. If the machine does block you have to turn it on it's side to unblock the chute which can be a nuisance on your own. One thing I do like is that it leaves a good finish for a ride on and the kawasaki engine is great.
If I was you I would be looking at a second hand etesia or kubota, both commercial machines which are nicer to use and will last a lot longer. The John Deere is a domestic machine and you can tell with the build quality.
I use the John Deere X320.
I chose the 320 over the X300 because of the extra HP of the engine and the grass collecting boxes are two seperate boxes so it is easy to empty the grass boxes.
In the wet it is not great. The collecting shoot does tend to block but i dont make a habit of cutting wet grass but of course sometimes you cant avoid cutting wet grass.
I know your problem. You want a mower that is good but also good value for money.
Would i buy another John deere? No. Reason? Their customer service is crap! I find it so hard to find decent parts and to get the dealer to send them to me! I rung one dealer to get it serviced and they werent interested. All they were interested in were new sales! Seriously i think their customer services is terrible.
Got to say though, the engine is excellent (KW)
When mulching the mower is superb. Dry grass. Superb. Wet grass. Not good if its long wet grass!
Hope this helps
thanks for the input. some great feedback and food for thought. Think I will hold out for a second hand kubota or etesia. seen this one ebay what to you think of this, and it's only an hour drive away.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Etesia-MVEHH-direct-collect-commercial-ride-m...
or is the hydro 80 or 100 a better option
I run an X300R , currently has 340ish hours on the clock.
It was the best new mower I could afford at the time as my previous ride-on was done and needed a replacement that week.
Pros would be it produces a good finish of cut, quick for most domestic gardens, fits in my trailer along with two walk behinds and it can cut in reverse.
Cons would be its not so great cutting wet grass, but does handle semi-damp grass. Grass box can be a bugger to lift off when full. Servicing costs can as in most cases with equipment be on the steep side.
Would I buy another one? No. As I would like a high lift grass box.
Ryan @RNWilliamsGardenServices said:
I know that a lot of the smaller JD tractors are not actually JD Tractors and that one in particular looks like a glorified Lawnflite to me!
You could save yourself a good 2 grand by going with a lawnflite and sticking with a good Briggs engine although I wouldnt recommend it for contract use its still a very competent tractor and uses a very "similar" fan assist collect!
One of the best collecting tractors on the market for wet or dry grass are the Viking's
Viking Lawn Tractors
nic johnson said:
Hi Ryan
Any chance of an update on your new Etesia purchase. Kinda keen on a change from my John Deere which gives me no end of grief in the wet !..........thanks. Gordon
Ryan @RNWilliamsGardenServices said:
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