Cutting the Lawn in Style:
Products Add Speed, Comforts

Three weeks ago, Rod Reams ditched his clunky old lawn mower. His new ride: a ZTR, or zero-turning-radius mower, which can spin around in place and cut a four-foot swath of grass at up to eight miles an hour. Mr. Reams, of Batavia, Ill., likes the way his John Deere Z445 cuts cleanly and trims his chore time to two hours from four.

He likes something else, too: "One of my neighbors uses a smaller lawn tractor, and he looks at mine with admiration," Mr. Reams says.

The zero-turning-radius riding mower is becoming the latest status symbol on suburban blocks. Shipments rose 7% last year -- even as shipments of outdoor power equipment in general fell 6.5%, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, a trade group. While zero-turning-radius mowers, from makers like John Deere, Cub Cadet, Ariens, Toro and Kubota, still account for just 12% of the 1.8 million consumer riding mowers and tractors shipped in 2006, they are quickly entering the consumer mainstream.

While these fast, powerful mowers are adapted from commercial lawn mowers, the latest models are smaller and easier to use -- much like the second generation of SUVs -- and many come with car-like features, such as adjustable seats, cruise control and cup holders.

Mower makers' target customers, men in or nearing middle age, are often moving into larger homes with more property. They are the type of well-to-do gadget-loving consumers who turned cooking into a semi-professional endeavor with professional-grade stoves and filled their garages with the latest lithium-ion-powered cordless hand tools. Now, they want to cultivate their roses and cut their grass with equally impressive equipment.

Enter the zero-turning-radius mower, which was built almost exclusively for commercial landscapers before the past two or three years. "You won't see a landscaping contractor who doesn't have one of these on his trailer, and that's the lead that people are following," says Gus Ottoson, president of Power Place, a seller of lawn tractors and other power equipment in Rockaway, N.J. With their increased speed and maneuverability, the new mowers are seen as the sports cars of lawn mowing. Company executives say they are actually fun to drive, making mowing less of a chore.

But the ZTR mowers have their drawbacks. Anyone who grew up pushing lawn mowers is likely to feel sticker shock when comparing a basic $200 walk-behind model with a small riding version starting at $2,000. More powerful and stronger-built models that cut paths 48 inches or 54 inches wide range up to $5,000.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of ZTRs is that they are typically useful only for mowing grass and often can't operate the many attachments available for traditional tractor-style riding mowers, like snow plows, cultivators and thatching gear.

ZTRs can also look a bit odd, and many buyers still prefer the classic profile, familiar steering wheel and in-command feel of a traditional tractor-style riding mower. While older riding mowers are laid out like cars with a steering wheel, foot pedals and the engine in front, the zero-turn-radius mower is in many cases a low-slung metal platform with the engine and large drive wheels in back, smaller swiveling wheels in front and a driver's seat on top. It looks a bit like a wide go-cart and somewhat like a carnival bumper car.

Long levers that sprout from below the seat control fore and aft movement, as well as steering. Getting used to the ZTR's controls may take some buyers time, unless they have operated earth-moving equipment or certain military fighting vehicles.

Risk of Losing Control

Not only is steering with levers somewhat counterintuitive; the new ZTR mowers move so quickly that new drivers can have trouble keeping them under control. Turning too sharply can also damage the grass if the mower skids.

"You run the risk of turfing your lawn if you don't know what you're doing," says Matt Rechin, vice president of brand management for tractor and mower maker Cub Cadet.

The company, a unit of MTD Products Inc., recently rolled out the i1000, which is a hybrid that combines the look of a traditional tractor-style lawn mower with much of the maneuverability of a zero-turning-radius model. Cub also builds traditional zero-turn models with control levers.

Cub Cadet attributes the rush for commercial-style mowers to younger, post-baby-boom homeowners who are trading up to homes with big yards that make their push mowers impractical. Others attribute the trend to broader suburban sprawl.

An Earlier Attempt

It isn't the first time zero-turn models have been available to consumers. Mr. Ottoson at Power Place said a company called Wheel Horse offered them in the late 1980s, but his customers weren't interested, in part because the machines seemed wildly unfamiliar. "They were good-looking machines, but they just sat here and nobody looked at them," he says. "I guess they were ahead of their time."

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