<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: CaptainQuint
I've looked at them and unless you have some very specific needs there are better ways to get the job done faster, cheaper and better.

The only pull behind mower I would get is a rough cut or trail cutter. Something to get in areas you can't take a riding mower or a tractor mounted brush hog.

The pull behind mowers are quite expensive. For the price of one you can buy a riding mower that will do the job better and faster. Not to mention the fuel costs. The engines on those machines use a surprising amount of fuel. You'll not only be feeding the mower but the ATV you're using to pull it. The ATV of course will tear up your lawn and when dragging a mower they're not the most maneuverable set-up in the world.

A good riding mower will use less fuel, be more maneuverable and most likely give you a better cut. It also will be kinder to your lawn.

The gang reel mowers are fine if you have a golf course type yard but in my experience if they encounter twigs or the stray rock they become a real hassle. They also don't like long grass and tend to choke on anything over a certain height.

I think the lawn mowers are mainly there as a tool to justify the purchase of an ATV to a wife. You know, "see honey I can use it to cut the grass too" but not a real practical machine. The exception being the rough cut or trail cutter models. They can go where you can't take a lawn tractor and cut what you can't cut with one. They're also good for areas it just isn't safe or practical to take a brush hog.</end quote></div>

CaptainQuint has pretty well nailed it on this subject IMO. We've had a Swisher rough cut 44" for a few years now and it's been a fine machine. They make other mowers that are designed for mowing lawns but, as has been mentioned, a quad is not that great for trying to get around in tighter areas. A dedicated lawn tractor is far superior as a lawn mower. I know folks that have the big 60" or 66", whatever they are, Swisher pull behinds that they use on their big, level or rolling lawns and they work great behind a lawn tractor. Know one guy that has two of them that he off-sets to each side to cut a really wide swath. Between those mowers and his wide deck tractor he cuts a lot of ground in a couple of hours each week.

The rough cut we have will pretty much grind up any vegetation I can run over with the quad. It's been used to chop up sagebrush and wild roses which are both dang tough. You don't go fast over that kind of stuff and the biggest engine option is a must have on the mower. Even in heavy, tall grass along creek banks the big engine is just adequate. I think the smaller engine would make the machine nearly unusable except for moderately tall grass. Been thinking about getting a second one so I can cut at about 6" high with one and have the second mower trailing and cutting down closer. I sometimes do this by going over an area twice and it's about as fast as cutting down low the first time since you can travel a lot faster and really it does a better job.

The rough cut mower will not do a good, clean job of cutting your front yard. It's not designed for that just as the finish mowers are not designed to hack out creek banks and cut willow trees and other brush.

Mike