John Deere or Husqvarna (Need some help on deciding which one to buy)

[Michaelslandscape]

OK.... Thanks for the OP's. Lawnboy, yes that is my 4lb guard dog. He thinks hes a 40lb Rottweiler. I would rather go to HD and get a Toro but applying for another CC is out of the question. I have read a ton of reviews on these 2 and as Cpen said your gonna get alot of haters and people who havent had a problem. Im looking at this season and next before my buisness plan will allow me to upgrade to a commercial Z-turn. And the 3 or 4 year 100% warranty is a great selling point. It will still have a year or 2 left on the warranty when I sell it so I should be able to recoup a good part of my investment. And Wat5150, I think your reply was defintely the best. I hadnt even considered just going out and getting a good comm. mower. I appreciate that. FYI for anyone who is having a cash flow problem and needs some equipment in a hurry. I purchased 3 Toro and 1 Troy Bilt push mowers from HD and Lowes. They are all residential models that I picked up from their re-con section. I have 6 Lowes and Home Depot stores that I check out every couple of weeks. I paid a total of about $500.00 for all 4. I made offers on all of them for a hell of alot less than their already marked down price. They just wanted them out of the store. I picked up one for $50.00 that was marked "for parts only". It needed a belt, blade and blade adaptor and that was it. It started second pull and runs as smooth as new. I purchased 2 at once for $300.00 that they were asking $275.00 each. These are $350 to $400 mowers so for a very small investment Ive got plenty of mowers to get started. I you have the time its worth hitting up HD and Lowes this time of year and see what they have sitting out in the garden dept collecting dust. Talk with the dept manager and make them an offer. They can sell them for what ever they want and sometimes they just want them out of there. Be super nice and tell them you are in a crunch and need there help. Believe it or not most of the time they will work with you. And having a cute little 4lb Chihuahua that the girls (and most of the men) that work there cant get enough of helps out alot. They get so busy playing with my dog they just get a real giving attitude. (I love that dog!)

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Last edited by Michaelslandscape; 01-30-2013 at 06:34 AM. Reason: spell check

[Michaelslandscape]

Lawn care business tips

Tips for anyone wanting to get some reconditioned equipment from Lowes or Home Depot. They work like this. A customer brings back a mower and says he / she doesnt like it, or it wont start, or some other excuse. Alot of the times people will come in, buy a mower, power washer, etc.. go use it for a couple of jobs they need it for then return it for any numbers of excuses. And Lowes and Home Depot have a pretty much no questions return policy. So they get back a bunch of mowers, weed eaters, blowers, power washers that they cant sell as new anymore. So they send them off to the service dept. to get them checked out; they get sent back to the store and put in the returned or reconditioned section. Alot of the time a mower will get sent to the service dept. the service tech will look under the mower see it with grass caked all over the underside and say to himself "Im not messin with this ****! Then it gets sent back to the store as unrepairable and sold as "parts only" when there usually isnt anything wrong with it. And if there is something major wrong with it you just return it and say you changed your mind. Its worth spending an hour going over a $400 mower you picked up for $50.00 to see if it can be fixed for another $50.00. Look for the plastic zip-lock bag on these re-cons. It will have the service report in it. It will also say what the customer brought it back for; how much time Lowes or HD has aloted to repair it and the service techs report on what he did or didnt do. Usually if its going to cost more than $100.00 to repair it is sent back as un-repairable when actually it is repairable, just not for the amount of time and money its worth to a mega-company who will just write off the loss.

[Steve]

Keep us posted on what you decide to go with and why.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Neither store will honor warranties. There limited warranties. All are dependent on what the hour meter says. They have the right to refuse repairs. Youll have to pay transportation which will be half way across the county.

When one of my backpacks blew up. I was picking it up from the shop. He told me not to fix mine and buy new. He said Redmax has a 3 yr warranty. So I ask what it covers? The response was manufacture defects. So if it doesnt meltdown within a few hours use, your on the hook.

[LawnBoy0311]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

Neither store will honor warranties. There limited warranties. All are dependent on what the hour meter says. They have the right to refuse repairs. Youll have to pay transportation which will be half way across the county.

When one of my backpacks blew up. I was picking it up from the shop. He told me not to fix mine and buy new. He said Redmax has a 3 yr warranty. So I ask what it covers? The response was manufacture defects. So if it doesnt meltdown within a few hours use, your on the hook.

Exactly true. When I bought my Toro, it didn't come with an hour meter. The warramty is for homeowner use. If they find out you use it for comemrcial use, the warranty is null and void. The mechanic (who is one of the shop owners) that brought it outside for me asked what I was using it for. I told him to cut a few houses I own. He laughed and said if it every goes down, just bring it back. Then he laughed and said well since theres no hour meter, I guess I'll never know what you use it for!

I'm sure home depot or lowes won't be as generous. BUT, with the amount of $$ it cost for a brand new machine, you can certainly make that money back.


Good luck.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by LawnBoy0311

Exactly true. When I bought my Toro, it didn't come with an hour meter. The warramty is for homeowner use. If they find out you use it for comemrcial use, the warranty is null and void. The mechanic (who is one of the shop owners) that brought it outside for me asked what I was using it for. I told him to cut a few houses I own. He laughed and said if it every goes down, just bring it back. Then he laughed and said well since theres no hour meter, I guess I'll never know what you use it for!

I'm sure home depot or lowes won't be as generous. BUT, with the amount of $$ it cost for a brand new machine, you can certainly make that money back.


Good luck.

Your dealing with a dealer and not a box store. Even the dealers I talk to about commercial machines were iffy with warranties. Its like if you hit a rock and damage a spindle. Its not covered because the factory didnt cause the problem. Your cylinder scored after 10 hours well your mix was wrong. Theres so many loopholes. You can deal with a dealer too. He has to deal with a distribution center. Those are the people that ship the mowers to the store. There might be 5 in the country.

I have read enough stories from people who own commercial machines. Its similar to what the big 3 car makers do. You have a 50,000 mile warranty but every repair is going to be a fight to get the automaker to fix. Youll end up paying and waiting for ever for a reimbursement. Even then $1000 repair on a $20000 car is worth it. A $1000 repair on a $2200 machine? You could put a new engine in a commercial mower for that.

[LawnBoy0311]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

Your dealing with a dealer and not a box store. Even the dealers I talk to about commercial machines were iffy with warranties. Its like if you hit a rock and damage a spindle. Its not covered because the factory didnt cause the problem. Your cylinder scored after 10 hours well your mix was wrong. Theres so many loopholes. You can deal with a dealer too. He has to deal with a distribution center. Those are the people that ship the mowers to the store. There might be 5 in the country.

I have read enough stories from people who own commercial machines. Its similar to what the big 3 car makers do. You have a 50,000 mile warranty but every repair is going to be a fight to get the automaker to fix. Youll end up paying and waiting for ever for a reimbursement. Even then $1000 repair on a $20000 car is worth it. A $1000 repair on a $2200 machine? You could put a new engine in a commercial mower for that.

That makes a ton of sense. I'm still happy with my purchase, its done VERY well for me. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. On the other hand, I never really looked at it like a car. Glad to know going forward when I upgrade!! Thanks Sect.

[stevef1201]

The very fist problem I see with your post is -going to home depot to buy a zero turn! Go to a cammercial mower supplier and a real mower. It cost a lot, it lasts longer, cuts better, cuts faster, and is in the long run cheaper.

[Greg'slawnandlandscape]

If u get the optional lowes warrenty they will warrenty it for commercial use and there is no hour meter limit on all machines I bought mine in may and I did all the research on it (including warrenty specifications)

[cpenn481]

I love the recon section myself. Got a 4cycle edger from it. It was dumb luck when I did. Up till then I didn't know about it. I stumbled by a row of equipment which had the edger in it. It was marked at 150 so I stopped to take a look. The story was somebody bought it and used it once but then sat and carbs gummed up. They put a new carb and blade on it. I told the guy I would give him 100 if he proved it runs. He pulled it once and it fired up. Was a cold daytoo as I recall. Has fired first pull every time since. I got a $450 machine for a hundred and couldnt be happier with it. I always cruise that row now. Ya just never know what you will find.