Stiga Outfront mowers

[Powerfab]

After wearing out several ride-ons and getting fed up with lifting and disposing of grass, I'm in the market for a Stiga Park outfront. I've a dealer near me with Stiga lawn tractors on demo, but nothing in the out front range. He would supply any to order, but no plans to demo an out front this year. So I'm a bit lost with respect to the best model to go for. I've just under 1 acre to mow, all on gradient with several steepish banks. 

 

I think my only criteria is the 125cm deck and 4WD. No idea if the diesel is any good. In the petrol I've always been a fan of Honda engines but others seem to suggest the Vanguard is better. 

 

I've read that the Park Pro is a more robust model but can't seem to find any definitive information about what makes them better than the standard model.

 

Anyone any experience on these and which model may be best. Any thoughts gratefully received.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Powerfab

[woody paul]

Find a dealer that will demo one is you best bet every garden or grass area is different. 

[Guss109]

Speak to garden kit he certainly knows his stuff on the yellow machines

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

Depending on where your at speak to jim Upson at Upson mowers he's got the park pro for demo and he has done a few videos on his YouTube channel 

 

Jack 

[Powerfab]

3 hours ago, Jwoodgardenmaintenance said:

Depending on where your at speak to jim Upson at Upson mowers he's got the park pro for demo and he has done a few videos on his YouTube channel 

 

Jack 

Thanks for that. Wrong end of the country entirely unfortunately. I'm in N.Ireland.

I'll take a look at his Youtube videos.

 

[Burgess]

I have the Park Pro 740 IOX with the 125 deck. Its an amazing machine. Not got too many hours on it to judge (just about 10) however the throttle control lever wasnt ever put on properly and it failed after a few hours. I hope its an isolated incident as to the quality control of the machine because the rest of it is incredibly good.

[Powerfab]

6 hours ago, Burgess said:

I have the Park Pro 740 IOX with the 125 deck. Its an amazing machine. Not got too many hours on it to judge (just about 10) however the throttle control lever wasnt ever put on properly and it failed after a few hours. I hope its an isolated incident as to the quality control of the machine because the rest of it is incredibly good.

Thanks very much for the confirmation.

Barrie at Garden Kit gave me a recommendation of this model. Just have to find one now s/h within budget. Don't think there are too many available.

[bankhouse builder]

I looked at the stiga but my fitter said the decks were prone to rot so went for the husky version been brilliant if you have some steep banks then yes go for 4wd I have just one area which sometimes it struggles . Think the husky were a tad cheaper as well

 

[Powerfab]

Funny, I looked at the Husky and thought the decks were lighter gauge and likely more prone to rust. The Husky would certainly be a good bit cheaper on a comparable product. 

 

Had a Husky out on a demo last year. Whilst it certainly did the job, there were just areas I thought could be better thought out. What primarily put me of them was the turning mechanism. The rear wheels don't track with the fronts, and with the engine over the turntable rather than on the tail it seems to me the COG is much higher and hence reduced stability. 

 

Of course this could all be nonsense. It needs a side by side comparison to really make a judgement and as I said at the outset I'm having difficulty arranging a Stiga demonstration.

[kkk2]

I looked at one belonging to a customer of ours, what concerned me was there are 5 belts running the unit, 1 to drive it and four transferring drive to the blades, a lot of rubber to go wrong. in anything other than a well maintained grass area this thing would eat belts.