I am looking right now. Exmark has moved away from Kohler and Kawasaki and are making their own engine with some unheard of company in Japan. I marked them off the list and am looking at Hustler and Scag.
I have to bite the bullet this year and get a zero turn mower. My craftsman riding mower gave up the ghost last year. I have 2.5 acres and just can't spend 4 hours of my week on a regular riding mower anymore. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for bang for my buck? Hoping to stay around $2500 or so, but definitely no more than $3k. Found a decent deal on both a Husqvarna and a Troy-bilt.
Side note: I splurged on a battery powered weedeater last year and will never buy another fuel powered one again. It's great.
You made a mistake, if you marked Exmark off your list because you think they still aren't using koher and Kawasaki engines. They still are. The new Radius X line has a Kawasaki engine, as do all of the Lazer-Z line. And the new engine that they are putting in the Radius E and S series, and the Quest line is a very good engine. Designed for Zero turn mowers. They worked on it for 4 years on a dyno, before putting it out. And it's very easy to maintain. https://blog.shankslawn.com/exmark-radius-line-of-commercial-ztrs-e-series/
Exmark has the best cut out there, in my opinion. Very clean.