Zero turn mowers?

I'm a big Deere fan personally.  We have a Deere lawn tractor I bought in 2003 and it's still working as good as it did the day we bought it.

One thing of note.  There are name brands and then there's mass produced versions of the same name brands.  You can buy Deere tractors from a Deere dealer or you can get them at big box stores like Lowes.

Stay away from the Lowes versions because they're basically the same tractors as the crap no name ones.

So, go to the legit Deere dealer and look at them there. 

Also a Deere fan.   The info about the Lowe's Deere equip is incorrect, however.   You can buy the exact same machine a Deere dealer.  They are consumer-grade.    The machines at Lowes are setup by a Deere dealer before being delivered to Lowes.  There will sometimes be a sticker on them from the dealer that set them up. 

For $3000, you're pretty much stuck in the consumer  price range.  You might be able to find a used commercial machine for that much.  Many lawn services will lease their machines for 1 or 2 seasons, and then upgrade.  They can't afford the down time of a used machine. 

Hustler makes a great ZTR for a good price.  My cousin had one, he had it at my house while I was gone for a few years. I used it during the summer.  Indistinguishable in function from a more expensive Deere.

Also for $3000, you could find a used Deere 445 with all-wheel-steer.  You could put 1000 more hours on it and have less trouble and better resale than a used ZTR with 1000 hours.   I have the diesel 455 version, it gets around trees better, and can push a snow plow or blower, if that's a consideration. 

How about that for a first post back after 3 years?  

Fabricated decks are a sign of a low-volume machine, where the manufacturer can't afford to make a die.  That can be good (deck can be made from heavier material, with shapes that can't be easily die-formed) or bad (much more subject to human variation, because the deck is welded in a jig, etc)

Don't get me wrong, Ariens makes a nice machine. Double-check which hydraulic pumps and motors they're using... if they built a heavier machine and then skimped out on the drives, you're in for an expensive surprise.  The drive motors are almost always first to fail on ZTRs.  Craigslist is littered with machines that have one motor out and people don't have the cash to fix them. 

Yes, most consumer-grade machines share construction similarities... they are all designed to roughly the same requirements and trying to hit the same price point... so that drives the design. 

Almost the single biggest indicator of how well a deck will cut is the blade tip speed... the faster the better.  if the manufacturer doesn't supply that info, you can figure it out if you're willing to measure some pulleys and do some math.