Best & Worst lawn Mower of the Year- Husqvarna, Toro Grandstand or Wright Stander Z

Speaker 1: This is going to be the ultimate mower battle.

Speaker 2: Well, i have a wonderful electronic invention I want you to see. It looks something like this ...

Brian: You get into that neutral position, and it flings. When the whole unit stops, you definitely fling.

Elliott: I don't have the largest hands, I'll be honest, but this is really far away. It's uncomfortable.

Speaker 1: So, is there anything you actually like about this mower, Brian? It's like some companies don't want me testing out their tools and equipment. I can't figure out why ... A lot of things they can see we have room for improvement on, on this thing.

Brian: Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: It does a good job of flattening the grass.

Brian: Right.

Speaker 1: If I wanted to run over it, I could bring my four-wheeler out here and do just about as good of a job and have a little bit more fun - 

Brian: Sure.

Speaker 1: Than I could doing it with this ...

Speaker 1: All right, guys, so today didn't turn out the way I expected it would. I went to Detroit and I hooked up with my buddy, Brian, from Brian's Lawn Maintenance, and this guy does an amazing job of doing reviews on equipment. His attention to detail is like, psychic. I mean, I don't really know what that means, but what I'm trying to say is, he does a really good job. So, today you're going to get his feedback on what he really thinks of this Husqvarna lawnmower, and then I give it a test run, and then I let Elliot give it a test run, and we all kind of start to come to the same conclusion, that until they improve this design, maybe you should just test it out before you buy it. Oh, hey, one last thing guys, before we get too far into this video, I want to make sure that you guys understand that I think this is literally the prototype of the lawnmower.

Speaker 1: I think it may be a first-gen at best, so if you guys are looking at buying one of these, there's a very good chance that they've modified the design and made the improvements that we're pointing out in this video. If they haven't, well, I've got nothing to say if they haven't.

Speaker 1: All right guys I'm here with my buddy, Brian, and we're looking at the Husqvarna. Tell me exactly what we're looking at.

Brian: This is Husqvarna's brand new lawnmower. We've got the V554. In fact, they've just dropped it off about a week and a half ago. So, we've been demoing it. We've got about 12 hours on it so far under our belt. This is Husqvarna's introduction to the stand-on game. So, so far we've been able to use it for the last week or two, like I said, and quite honestly, there's some things I like about it, and definitely some things I don't like about it. I'm sure we'll get into it on this video. It's a sweet mower, honestly, straight up. It's been fun to use the last couple of days, and some things I like, some things I don't.

Speaker 1: Okay, well, tell me about it. I want to know everything about it. Now, you ... First off, let's clarify something. Elliott, look over here, real quick. This is the type of stuff you're mowing with it, right, Brian?

Brian: Yep.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Brian: We got Kentucky blue grass. It's a couple inches.

Speaker 1: What Brian doesn't know is, I'm going to do something that you typically wouldn't do with it.

Brian: Nothing's over there, brother.

Speaker 1: Before we get into what I plan on doing with this, I actually want to know your experience using it in a professional environment, just mowing day-to-day, taking it out on commercial sites.

Brian: Sure.

Speaker 1: I'm sorry, guys, it's super windy out. I mean it's ... Hopefully, you guys can hear us okay. We don't have mics.

Brian: No one will ever hear us, right

Speaker 1: Right, right.

Brian: So, I am not too familiar with stand-on units. Most of you guys know, I'm an Exmark guy, I use a Lazer Z sit-down lawnmowers, but we've been demoing a lot of stand-on units on my channel lately.

Speaker 1: He's old school.

Brian: Old school, brother, you know, but the stand-ons are awesome. I'm in the market for one in the next 12 months, so I've been having a lot of companies demo them to me so I can see what I'm going to pull the trigger on here, probably this fall or next spring. So, this is the second mower that I've used so far as a demo. This one's from Husqvarna. This is a 24, 25 horsepower engine, 54 inch cutting deck, I think 10 or 12 CC pumps on the front ... Look at this guy. Safety first, brother. Safety first, man. You've got to have the sexy specs.

Speaker 1: I've got to have somebody blast me for my safety.

Elliott: Wait, are those DeWalt?

Brian: These are ... I don't know, who are these? These are DeWalt. So, I got Cheeto crumbs all over me. DeWalt! Oh, my God, did we just become best friends?

Elliott: Whoa!

Brian: We've used the [inaudible 00:04:53] the Husqvarna and we've got the rest coming down, so if people want to watch on our channel, that's what we're doing next.

Speaker 1: What have you got coming down next?

Brian: Toro wants to send their GrandStand, we've got ... the Ferris is coming down. We've got ... Well, just everybody. I'm trying to think of everybody else that I'm going to have, but all of them want to show off what they've got.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Brian: Stand-ons are really popular. A lot of you guys are tearing them up, so there're great units.

Speaker 1: What do you like about this one?

Brian: Okay, stand-on units, totally different than sit-down, right? I like the visibility. I'm going to just shoot it straight really quick, I like being able to see in front of where I'm at. When you're sitting down, I can't see what's going on in front of my deck, right? The second thing, is that I like being able to get on and off the mower really easily. I've picked up more trash in the last two weeks than I did, probably in 27 [inaudible 00:05:32], because we do that debate, you know what I mean? Like, am I going to go and pick up that newspaper? Honestly, no we're not. So, we're going to run over it, it's biodegradable, right? I'm just kidding. Not to my customers. We pick up all their trash.

Brian: There is certain things that I like, certain things I don't like with this unit ... Was that funny? I'm telling you, man, I've picked up trash in ... You guys know that debate, man, when you think about it, and you get the little [inaudible 00:05:50] claw on your rider, but you're still not using it, so - 

Elliott: The Toro GrandStands come with the garbage bag.

Brian: Well, yeah.

Speaker 1: Well, that's an option.

Elliott: Is that an option?

Brian: For 400 dollars, you know.

Speaker 1: That's an option.

Brian: Well, Toro. So, everything ... You can get anything you want if you want to pay for it ... And then, I like some things in this unit, some things I definitely don't like. I feel like this one specifically has one too many levers over here, right? So, you've got your brake right here, right? So, when I'm in a panic, if I'm going over a boulevard, right, and I don't want to scalp a lawn, I have no idea, super quick, which one to grab. There's too much going on. This right here is your deck release. That sounds cool, looks cool, but honestly, that is completely unnecessary, in my opinion. I'm going to have to slam it, but I've got to bring it back up. I'd rather it just be one button at the top.

Brian: Point number two; this lever is about eight inches too tall. It needs to be down here. If I'm going under a tree, I'm going to snag a branch, we're going to jack pipe, you know how it goes, not safe.

Speaker 1: Good point.

Brian: Number three; this brake lever, this safety for the wheels needs to be on the other side. There is no reason I want to get confused with two or three levers to choose from. It should not be on this side. I want the brake lever on this side so it's completely isolated, completely separate, right?

Speaker 1: I like how picky he is.

Brian: No, I - 

Speaker 1: This is damn good.

Brian: We use this stuff all day. If you want to show another part right here, you've got the throttle on top. When I have my safety, because this has a platform, right? Well, you don't have the safety in the platform, you have the safety on top. Now, I'm going to slam this in a second because I don't like this at all, but another issue is that, when I have this on, which we need to make the mower work, I have to move my arm over here to move the throttle up and down. I'm not going to do this. This is completely bad for it. It's not intuitive. If I have trouble with it as a veteran, I know new people are, and that's a big safety issue. So, no bueno on that as well.

Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the cut quality of this machine in just a few moments, but before we do that, I actually want to demonstrate exactly what he is talking about with this safety lever and the automatic shutter. It's not intuitive. It's kind of wonky, and I'll tell you straight up, after using it, it really makes you appreciate any other lawn mower that doesn't have it.

Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not a fan of that right there. I'm not a fan of that at all. I mean, I think that that is kind of wonky, I mean, without even saying anything, you were watching and you were saying ... 

Speaker 5: Oh, that you'd have to cut this like three to four times to hopefully get it smooth, and you went over it twice and it didn't really get much better.

Speaker 1: No, but also what I'm not a fan of is the release on the handbrake.

Speaker 5: Yeah, I saw, you take your hand off the whole mower just dies.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Brian: That's the kill, and imagine turning. So, when you're turning, you've got some [inaudible 00:08:30] pulling you, you get into that neutral position, and it flings and the whole unit stops, you definitely fling.

Speaker 1: So, Elliot wanted to run the machine, but being the safety chief I am, I make him put on his ear protection. Let's see how that goes.

Brian: Another thing, I don't like the safety in the handle. If I'm going three or four miles an hour, I bring it back to that neutral position, that's an easy opportunity for me to get jack-lift off the lawnmower again. I'd rather not have the ability to flip off the platform and to walk it, to have the safety in the platform and to get rid of this potential safety benefit, but really it's a hindrance if you think about it, in my opinion. This all makes some sense to you?

Speaker 1: You know, one thing to point out, I have noticed that not a lot of companies reach out to me to do reviews on their products unless they are 100% confident in the products that they want me to review for them. Anything that seems to be marginal, or even slightly room for improvement, they go to somebody else. And when they think they picked Brian, I think they picked the wrong guy. Brian is a straight-shooter, and if you guys haven't checked out his channel, make sure you go over there, because he is going to be reviewing all of these different stand-on riding lawnmowers and helping you guys decide which one is best for you. So, go over to Brian's channel and check him out.

Speaker 1: These are probably the best review of this that I have heard yet. I mean, I love how you are straight to the point, not cutting, not holding anything back, not saying anything, yeah, no ... Thank you for that.

Brian: Well, some other stuff that ... It sounds good on paper, like when you're an engineer, right?

Speaker 1: Right.

Brian: Like you're always talking about this. It sounds good on paper, when you put it in the real world, it's completely backwards. You know, guys like me, we're not thinking, “Three levers.” If I'm going to scalp a lawn on a boulevard, I want to pull one handle real quick. I've got a millisecond and I don't want to get mixed up, right?

Brian: If you want to look inside here ... this got a lot of people talking. Inside here, you can look at all these, it's compact, it makes sense, but unfortunately it's a little too tight. First off, the battery is completely backwards. If I want to jump this I cannot get jumper cables in there. It's impossible, so you have to almost come from the side. We were looking at that, it's really, really tough to do.

Brian: Another thing, looking at the dipstick, if you guys look at it, if I bring it all the way up, it's almost inaccessible. So, I have to almost bend it, flex it. Where am I snaking this out from? I get compact.

Speaker 1: I kind of came to the conclusion that I don't think all engineers that build equipment actually run the equipment, especially on this lawnmower. So, you let me know what you guys think.

Brian: It makes sense to have the weight distribution back here for safety, right?

Speaker 2: Right.

Brian: More stability on hills, but what I have noticed personally is that, if I can't get access to something, and it's not easy to do, i.e, maintenance, what are we going to do? We're going to forego maintenance.

Speaker 1: You're going to ignore it, and the problem is this ... and that's saying a lot [inaudible 00:13:26] it's the auto operator saying, "I'm not going to probably be doing the maintenance," when you put this in the hands of the crew members that don't have to pay the bills.

Brian: Yep, exactly. Sounds good on paper. If you want to see, here's the oil filter down here. Not necessarily something [inaudible 00:13:40] or it's bad, but when you drain it, here's the drain point. Where am I going with this? I have to filter all the way down through to the bottom and that's just ... Again, there's too much going on in there. It's okay. It's not bad.

Speaker 1: Why couldn't they just have spun it around to the front? I don't see why they couldn't have the dipstick right here. Elliot, will you grab this camera? I mean, is there any reason why they couldn't have the fill tube right here so you can just pull? It's automatic. It's like you almost ... Your eye is drawn to it so that you've got to take care of it. I mean, I like the fact that the air filter is right here, but again, how is the access of this air filter?

Brian: It's tight. I'd like to weigh in more as an engineer but I'm ... [inaudible 00:14:21] I'm an actor.

Speaker 1: Okay, so that's not bad. I mean, you can get at that okay.

Brian: Right. I don't know, but just the longterm maintenance of it, some of the stuff just seems a little tucked away in there. Most mowers, it's reversed.

Speaker 1: If you guys are interested in lawnmowers I want you to go follow his channel because he is the one that's going to be going through all of these different mowers head-to-head and comparing them to meet and giving all ... laying out all the data.

Brian: Yeah.

Speaker 1: And you're the only one that I know of doing this.

Brian: Well, I'll tell you straight up, I appreciate the shout out, but guys, here's the deal, I'm going to be dropping six to nine grand of my own money here by fall, so I'm just like you guys out there. I'd love to say that all of us fancy YouTubers get paid a lot and we're getting all these stuff sent to us, but the reality is I put my own money in the game. So, if I'm dropping my own cash, that's why all the demos.

Speaker 1: When I did the test for the right mower, I had that for the entire season, and I'll tell you straight up, I learned more on month two, three, and four than I ever knew on week two, three, or four.

Speaker 1: I want you to cut right through here.

Speaker 6: You think you can see?

Speaker 1: I don't know. Let's give it a shot. We have not ever, this year, been able to get a mower through that. That thing didn't even bog.

Speaker 6: Huh?

Speaker 1: It didn't even bog down.

Speaker 6: No.

Speaker 1: That's insane!

Speaker 6: It was like a smooth ride.

Speaker 1: I know.

Speaker 6: [inaudible 00:16:18]

Brian: A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: It took me that long so that when I did that review I could actually go, "This is what I know," and - 

Brian: Right, right, after a couple of little changes and getting your fit wet.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Brian: Different seasons.

Speaker 1: And breaking stuff.

Brian: Absolutely.

Speaker 1: Like I went in and I even said, "Hey. I'm going to beat the crap out of this mower," and add rights to say, "Yep, like ... "

Brian: Well, I would love to test out the ride. How did you like the ride? It was a pretty good mower?

Speaker 1: That was a good mower.

Brian: Everybody comes and say that it's a sweet mower. Well, can I add one thing really quick?

Speaker 1: Well, yeah, of course.

Brian: So, check this out. We're all just going to be Gravely ambassadors coming up into this summer.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Brian: So, Gravely is going to give us a unit to demo for long term, so we're going to have a Gravely unit on there as well and we're going to run that probably about a hundred hours this summer. So, that's another one where - 

Speaker 1: That's a good one to take on.

Brian: Exactly, I can weigh in on that Pro-Stance because we're going to have it for the next, you know, six to nine months, whatever it is, going through the rest of the season, if that makes sense to you guys.

Speaker 1: That's better.

Brian: So, we could ... I always say a hundred plus lawns a week, but it's about 175 lawns. Well, most people see through the camera is about one percent, so when I get mowers and units like this, or any other tool, I will definitely find the [inaudible 00:17:21] within the first week, if not the first month, like you were saying, because we, we're not actors, man. I put these stuff to work. I mean, I'm sweaty, greasy. We've been working all day. So, I was able to pick this apart in the first week. No problem, because we're using it. So, that's what I want to do. I want to be a resource for the guys, especially on my channel, that if you're into this kind of stuff, or hand tools and equipment, that you can come to get honest feedback.

Speaker 1: So, is there anything you actually like about this mower, Brian?

Brian: Yeah, the compartment up here, it makes sense for phone, keys. It's a little thing, but it's a little big thing, okay? There's always stuff that we've got to put in there; radios, cellphones, wallet, right? Honestly, Husqvarna, they've been one of the nicest companies to work with, straight on. Great customer service, good people - 

Speaker 1: That goes a long way.

Brian: Yeah, a good deal of network.

Speaker 1: So, that's a fact that they're actually listening.

Brian: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Then I would expect to see that this unit's probably going to be modified for future video references.

Brian: A hundred percent. You know, that's a great point, because here's the deal, this mower has only been out since GIE last fall, okay? So, you ... Feedback from guys like me and guys like you ... Leave comments down below. The guys at corporate read these stuff, and they really appreciate the feedback. So, if there's something you guys like or don't like, they can double down or get rid of it in the future.

Speaker 1: So, are you going to let me ride it?

Brian: You want to go test it out? Okay, I don't have any wavers, so, sorry, Husqvarna, it's on the Dirt Monkey's clock now.

Speaker 1: All right, give me my quick lessons here real quick.

Brian: All right, remember, you've got show it.

Speaker 1: Come on in, I want to ... 

Brian: Here's your parking brake.

Speaker 1: Right here, okay.

Brian: Here's the hassle, in my opinion, you have to keep this levered down. This is your safety. So, just go slow with that upfront.

Elliott: He drives a GrandStand. He's used to that.

Brian: He's also [inaudible 00:18:52]. You want to hold that in, the parking brake. [inaudible 00:19:09]

Speaker 1: So, this is how you drop your deck.

Brian: Hold on, time out. Check this out. Right there, if you have to get off the mower, if you have to grab something, you have to take your left hand off that safety. Anything you touch and do on the mower you have to hold that same, isn't that annoying.

Speaker 1: We have room for improvement on this thing.

Brian: Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: It does a good job of flattening the grass.

Brian: Right.

Speaker 1: If I wanted to run over it I could bring my four-wheeler out here and do just about as good of a job, and have a little bit more fun - 

Brian: Sure.

Speaker 1: Than I could with this. My Toro wouldn't do that, that's all I'm saying.

Brian: Really?

Speaker 1: No. Well, there's one point in this video where I open my big mouth and I say, “Well, my Toro wouldn't do that,” and well, the truth is, I actually don't know if my Toro would do better or not. So, the only way I can prove it would, is if I go in some tall grass and just try it out.

Speaker 1: Okay, I can tell you straight up, pass two with the Toro, looks good to me. Way better than two passes on that Husqvarna. I'll give you that much, but we're not done yet.

Speaker 1: Pass number three, call it what you want, I don't care either way, I still like my Toro better. It doesn't have the wanked out control pattern that that Husqy had ... Husqvarna. 

Elliott: I don't have the largest hands, I'll be honest, but this is really far away. It's uncomfortable to ... I can't get a good grip on it. And this, was it dying like that?

Brian: Yeah.

Elliott: I can't get this down, get this up, and then reposition my hands to get them where I want without it dying.

Speaker 1: What happens if you want to pick your nose?

Elliott: Or ... well, you can't unless you want to use this hand.

Brian: That's where we hit them in the flesh.

Speaker 1: You're not always going to be there for them, right?

Speaker 5: Oh, no.

Speaker 1: You draw the line there.

Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.

Elliott: I can't think that far ahead.

Brian: Well, we don't want to say anything.

Elliott: This Toro GrandStand's, you'll notice ... 

Brian: I have not used a GrandStand, just FYI.

Elliott: Right, but you'll notice when you get it ... same safety. You let go, it still runs, not when the deck's on, but if you shut the deck off ... and actually, if I remember correctly, if you had the deck and you let go, the deck just shuts off like this.

Brian: So, it's a PTO safety versus the mower safety.

Elliott: Right, exactly.

Speaker 1: Right, [inaudible 00:23:03] the controls should be. Here's your safety, here's your throttle, your parking brake, you can either get on or off. This tower [inaudible 00:23:17] with one hand. [inaudible 00:23:25] mower keeps running. Yay! Bye.

Speaker 1: All right, guys, if you're interested in mower lawn and mower reviews videos, I'm going to highly suggest you go over to Brian's channel and check him out because he is going to be doing reviews. He's already started, but he's going to continue to do them all summer long. This is a gut that cuts to the chase, and that's the kind of review that I like, and I figure you guys would like as well. And let me know what you guys think of today's review. Do you like reviews like this? I know it's a little bit longer, 25 minutes or so. Hopefully I didn't bore you guys too much. Let me know. Do I make my videos longer, shorter, is this okay? I need to hear from you because you know what? I read everything you guys say. And with that, I'm going to say, go check out Brian's channel, and I hope you guys have a wonderful, awesome day. God bless you guys. Go get them.