I’ve only had this mower a couple of weeks now, so I can’t speak as to reliability or longevity. Uncrating and assembly are rather difficult, as I’ve seen mentioned in reviews on other sites. The integral pallet that the crate is attached to didn’t leave enough room for the pallet jack on the delivery truck, so the driver and I had to push and shove it to the lift gate on the back of the truck. Then I used a tow rope on my pickup truck to drag it up the driveway. They really should redesign that pallet, because I have no doubt it creates a very negative first impression for many customers.
The instructions tell you to pry the crate apart as you assemble the mower, but that would have been very, very difficult considering the way it's built. I found it far more convenient to just cut the crate up with a reciprocating saw. When you get the mower all set up you’re supposed to just back it off the crate, but there’s no way that was going to happen (I tried). I had to cut the crate away behind the rear wheels and jack up the front end with a hydraulic jack to get the front wheels out of their ‘cradles’. Then I was able to power it off the crate.
The ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) was very difficult to install. The ROPS is basically like a roll bar you can rotate into up or down positions. The bolts didn’t match up exactly to the mower, so they were very difficult to get lined up. Once I got the bolts in and tightened, that imperfect alignment put enough twist in the bar to make it very difficult to rotate the ROPS into the up and down positions. Fortunately someone was smart enough to use lock nuts on the bolts at the pivot points, so I could loosen those enough to allow rotation without any concerns about the lock nuts coming off. The ROPS is pretty heavy, so I recommend you have an assistant when you get to that part of the assembly, and you might want to attach the lower ROPS assembly first, and then attach the upper portion. That eliminates having to hoist up the entire heavy assembly while trying to line up bolt holes. Don't tighten up any of the bolts that attach the ROPS to the mower itself until you have them all started into their respective holes. Otherwise you may have a lot of difficulty getting the last bolts in.
As I’ve seen in reviews of this mower on other web sites, there was no hardware included to attach the negative battery cable. I had to make do temporarily with a spare nut and bolt from my parts bin.
I had a heck of a time getting it started. The mower has a series of safety locks which, as is typical for zero turns, includes the seat sensor, the parking brake and the motion levers. There’s a very specific sequence to accomplish before it will even turn the engine over, so consult your manual to make sure you cover all the bases. I got used to the sequence fairly quickly, and it'll probably be the same for you. But even after I got the starter cranking, it still took quite some time for me to actually get the engine started. I thought I had a bad ignition system. It would crank and crank, but never once did it give any indication that the spark plug was firing and trying to start the engine. Then I discovered, quite by accident, that this mower is very picky about exactly how much choke you use. And I really mean "exactly." It wouldn’t even TRY to start if I used more than a tiny bit of choke, even when cold. The manual doesn’t mention that little tidbit, even in the troubleshooting section. It just says "For cold starts, pull the control up." The mower starts quickly and perfectly after you get the exact amount of choke the engine really wants.
I have the Kawasaki engine. Many reviews on various web sites highly recommended the Kawasaki over the Briggs & Stratton. I did occasionally find comments recommending the Briggs & Stratton instead of the Kawasaki, but those were very much in the minority. I don't personally have the experience with the Briggs & Stratton that I'd need to compare the two fairly, so I'll just say that so far I'm very happy with the Kawasaki.
Fortunately for me, after going through the above issues with uncrating, assembly and first startup, my negative experience with this mower completely ended. This thing is a BEAST! It’s considerably bigger than my old Toro Timecutter SS5000 and much better built. Don’t get me wrong. I liked my Timecutter but this MZ61 leaves it in the dust. The only reason I don't still have the Timecutter is because the folks that bought our house last summer wanted the Toro included in the deal. The MZ61 is much faster and much stronger, and it has a wider deck. We’re in the process of building a new house, and I have to keep the 2.5 acre lot mowed to keep the homeowner’s association happy. The first time I used this mower was the day after it arrived. Our lot had about six to eight inches of grass on average with some spots over 12 inches, and some spots as low as about 5 inches. I started off with the deck set at 3.5 inches, and the mower behaved as if there was no grass at all, with never even a hint of bogging down, even at full speed. Then it started to rain when I was only halfway done, and I hadn’t gotten to most of the tallest grass yet. It did bog down a little in the tallest grass then, but all I had to do was raise the deck up higher and I was able to keep full speed most of the time. I think my builder wants one of these mowers after watching me do all this.
The controls are pretty sensitive but I’m getting used to them. Taking some time to get used to a new zero turn mower is normal anyway. The wheel motors on this mower are considerably more powerful than on the Timecutter, meaning most of the time I don't have to put the inside wheel in reverse while going forward on the outside wheel in order for it to actually perform a zero or near zero turn. It’s way faster than the Timecutter too, but I’m not disparaging the Toro because, to be fair, this mower is in a higher class. The tires on this mower can scalp the ground if the ground is damp or wet and you make very tight turns, especially at speed, but that’s true for just about any zero turn. The MZ61 may teach you that, yes, zero turn mowers really can do a wheelie, but I don’t recommend it. I mention it just to show you it’s got plenty of torque (Honest honey, it was an accident!).
The mower is big. It won’t fit through the gate into my current back yard, but I pretty much figured it wouldn’t. I bought it specifically for the 2.5 acres where we’re building the new house. My John Deere lawn tractor will take care of our current (much smaller) yard for the time being. My wife prefers the Deere anyway. She never drove a zero turn long enough to really get comfortable with it, which can take some getting used to if you’ve never driven one before. But once you master them, you usually wonder why it seemed like such a big deal at first. Our Deere X540 is no slouch either. It can get into places the MZ61 can't, and let's face it, having power steering on a riding mower is just great.
I would absolutely, definitely, 100% buy this mower again, and at this price I hope I never have to. Don't get me wrong. Even for the money spent, this mower is still a fantastic deal as far as I'm concerned. It most definitely gives you the extra performance you paid for. I couldn't be happier with it at this point.
EDIT May 31, 2019: Still couldn't be happier with this mower. Once I managed to get a day without rain, and without building contractor vehicles in the way, it mowed my 2.5 acre lot in an hour and a half. I had the deck a little lower this time but it still did almost the entire lot at full speed without a hint of bogging down. To be fair though, the grass wasn't as high as the last time I mowed.
Some reviews on other sites have mentioned this mower has a tendency to slide on hills and I can confirm that's true, but for me that isn't really a significant concern. No mower is 100% immune to that problem, and when it did happen to me it was almost always at a leaning angle that was already steep enough to make me a little uncomfortable. So it isn't an issue with me because I'm usually going to be mowing those slopes with a walk behind mower anyway. These situations were when I was mowing sideways along a shallow drainage ditch rather than going straight up or down a slope, and it never slid for more than a few inches. My property doesn't have any slopes long enough for me to determine how it might handle going straight up or down slopes, so I don't want to make any assumptions in that regard. I will say that every review I've seen that mentioned sliding were never negative on the mower overall due to this. They all rated this mower very well, so my guess is that any problems they experienced going straight up and down hills weren't a significant issue for them. This mower is equipped with a seat belt for use if you have the ROPS up, so it should protect you if you ever get it on a slope that's too steep and rolled the mower over.
Very happy with my decision to get the Kawasaki engine. It runs smooth and strong.
I haven't had an issue with the comfort of the ride like some others have. Yes, I do get jarred and bounced around some, but it's no worse than what I've experienced with John Deere lawn tractors or my old Toro zero turn mower. Maybe I'm just bigger and that affects the ride more, or maybe it's because they have experience with more comfortable mowers that I've never been on and I just don't realize what I'm missing.
I have discovered that it's easy to catch the parking brake handle with the leg of your shorts. This only happens when getting off the mower on the left side, so it shouldn't be an issue if you exit on the right. It's nothing more than a minor irritation anyway. The most it will do is kill the mower if it's running due to the brake handle being one of the safety locks on the mower. You can usually reach down and push it back up before the engine totally dies anyway. That's really the only negative I've found with this mower so far. I'd say that's doing pretty darn good.
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This item: Husqvarna MZ61 61 in. 24 HP Kawasaki Hydrostatic Zero Turn Riding Mower
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Product Description
Discover a superior level of performance with Husqvarna’s MZ series of zero-turn mowers. Featuring a 61 in. cutting deck, the MZ61 mower is ready to handle your residential or light professional lawn maintenance.
The heavy-duty steel frame, roll-over protection system (ROPS) and commercial hydraulics create the ultimate mowing experience. The ride is smooth, too— a comfortable seat, large wheels and an oversized chassis provide a great ride on any terrain.
And the 24 HP Kawasaki engine means you’ll have plenty of power when you need it season after season.
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This Item  Husqvarna MZ61 61 in. 24 HP Kawasaki Hydrostatic Zero Turn Riding Mower | Recommendations  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $6,499.00 | $6,199.00 | $3,945.00 | -20% $5,578.01 List: $6,999.00 | $5,599.98 | $6,499.00 |
| Delivery | Get it Apr 11 - 16 | Get it Apr 11 - 16 | Get it Apr 14 - 17 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 9 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 9 | Get it Apr 11 - 14 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sold By | More Than Outdoor | Jacks Small Engines | BrandNewEngines, Inc | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | BrandNewEngines, Inc |
| power source | gasoline-powered | manual, corded electric, gasoline, Gas Powered | air | Battery Powered | dc | ['gasoline'] |
| material | Alloy Steel | Metal | Metal | Alloy Steel | Plastic | Alloy Steel |
| cutting width | 61 inches | 60 inches | 54 inches | 52 inches | 42 inches | 61 inches |
| number of positions | 11 | — | 6 | 10 | 12 | 3 |
| operation mode | Manual | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
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