Zero-turn lawn mowers are all the rage, and if you choose to buy one, chances are you’ll be quite satisfied. But be sure to know all the Pros and Cons. To begin with, just because your local lawn and garden shop or hardware store has half a dozen displayed on the front of their store doesn’t mean you should buy one at all.

One of the problems with that manufacturers tend to confuse rather than really inform customers. For example, most of the Zero Turn mowers that Cub makes for residential customers have the caveat: ideal for mowing slight rolling hills and several obstacles up (either 2 or 4 acres.)

What this means in reality, is that unless your lawn is pretty much flat, if you have a lot of hills then you need a riding mower, not a residential mower.

Another misleading thing is speed. Most Cub Cadet zero-turn mowers will go a minimum of 7 miles per hour. Pretty great if you want to take the grandkids on a ride-along with the property, but lawn mowing manufacturers, not just Cub, but pretty much all of them fail to mention that if you cut along at maximum speed, you can virtually guarantee that you will need to go over it completely again because mowing at top speed just flat out misses a lot, particularly if the grass is tall.

Plan on a second cut.

Finally, you can pretty much cut in half any rating for lawn size. If your zero-turn

mower is rated at four acres, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can expect to cut all 4 acres of your property on Saturday and forget it.

Rather, you’ll need to break those lawn mowing tasks up into smaller tasks of perhaps 4 hour-long sessions in the week. But don’t blame Club for this. Unless you want to invest perhaps $10,000 on a commercial-grade mower, pretty much every manufacturer overinflates their mower’s capability, just as you can’t realistically expect to get the same mileage on the highway as what the EPA sticker says you will get on a car.

That said, Cub Zero Turn motors are some of the strongest built mowers in the industry.

Framed by a unified 2.5-inch steel frame from the front-rear, and a mower deck that is made out of steel as well, Cub’s Z Series Residential Motors, on the first glance, resemble a race car at a local speedway. Not only do they look tough, but they are.

Another plus for Cub is that everything but the transmission is easily accessible.

The deck height, which can be adjusted in 15 different ways, is adjusted by turning a knob. First, you press the deck foot pedal on the machine which allows you to lift the deck up a few inches, then turn the knob to the desired cut.

Once the cut is dialed in, you press the deck foot pedal again, then lower the deck down to the ground and you are ready to go.

The brakes are preset so that when you let go of the arm actuators, the brakes are applied.

Coming with two types of engines, a Kohler and a Kawasaki, there is plenty of power, and the deck can be easily cleaned, once finished, by a nozzle inlet to which you attach a hose. Providing you have a normal size lawn, not too steep an incline on your property, and go slower than possible, the Cub Z series is great for residential lawns.

Pros:

Reasonably Priced

Strong Design

Strong MOtors

Well Designed

CONs:

Not good on hills.

Should not be overused – they are not commercial grade