SPARTAN ZERO TURN MOWERS

With aggressive styling and impressive specifications, they were hugely successful and quickly became the fastest growing mower company in history. B T South was approached several times about becoming a dealer for Spartan. We declined for a number of reasons. Even though Spartan used heavier steel and more components than competing models, making their mowers very appealing, in other ways they fell short. Their short falls were mostly a result of less than thorough testing. While premium manufacturers like Scag and Toro, test and test and re-test sometimes for years before releasing their products, Spartan often implemented what they thought would work and would be a good idea with very little testing. Some of those ideas were good and worked, while others were problematic.

Owning a Spartan mower first came with pride that it had a very heavy built deck, innovative features and aggressive styling, but later for some customers came disappointment that it had a weak link here or there that caused failures. Spartan didn't intentionally make products with problems, in fact they genuinely tried to make a quality mower by using heavy steel, extra bearings and extra components, but without extensive testing it is virtually impossible to assure quality.  

The quality of cut also fell short of some customer's expectations. Those who were accustomed to top tier machines from industry leaders like Exmark, Scag & Toro were not impressed. These industry leaders hold patents for their deck designs that make it difficult, if not impossible, for companies like Spartan to match their quality of cut without infringing on those patents. Ferris mowers, for example, had to re-design their decks and pay Exmark $33.65 million for deck design patent infringement. And now many of their customers say the new Ferris mowers don't cut as well as the old ones.

In 2022 Toro/Exmark acquired Spartan Mowers which changed our attitude about where the brand was headed. We had confidence that as a Toro company, Spartan would become a well organized, respected top tier brand, like other brands under the Toro umbrella including Exmark, Ventrac, DitchWitch & Boss, among others.

It took a while, but the new Spartan models released through 2024 went through the rigorous testing standards of the Toro company. With dozens of upgrades and redesigns implemented, these new Spartan mowers are well built, well tested machines, and with access to The Toro Company's patents, they also cut beautifully. While the Spartan Mowers of the past have fallen short and deserve much of the criticism they receive, the products being built today are a completely different breed.

In 2025 the distribution of Spartan mowers and Spartan mower parts was moved into the Exmark distribution network. This well established, well organized distributor network is a huge step forward that will allow Spartan dealers to serve Spartan mower owners more efficiently.

In 2025 there is still a lot of 2023 inventory in dealer warehouses. While these older models are not built to the elite standards that the latest models are, they are also not at the bottom. Most customers who have bought legacy Spartan Mowers are happy with them, and given that they are being heavily discounted they may be a good opportunity.

We stock the Spartan SHIELD & DEFENDER.

The Spartan SHIELD is built on a modified version of the TORO TimeCutter MAX Frame. It has the TimeCutter MAX cutting deck with some upgrades like a rubber discharge chute and additional steel reinforcement. Unlike the Toro, the steel foot pan is covered with rubber mats, the HOC (height of cut) is adjustable in 1/4" increments rather than 1/2", and it has a HOC transport position lock which allows the HOC pin to be moved without having to keep your foot on the pedal. Perhaps the biggest difference is the styling. Come see one yourself to see how awesome they look.

The Spartan DEFENDER is built on a modified version of the TORO Titan frame. It has the same deck spindles, pulleys, belts and many other parts as the Titan series. They really hit it out of the park with the Defender's styling. Come see one in person today.

At this time we are not stocking the alphabet legacy named models (KG, RT, RZ, SRT). As the market clears of these old versions and it becomes more known that the new versions of these old names are top quality machines then we will reevaluate. In the meanwhile we have very solid offerings from Toro on the commercial end that don't have the reputational baggage that some of the alphabet models suffer.

To minimize freight cost we need to order a truck load of 18 mowers at a time. If someone's desire to special order happens to coincide with us placing a truck load order then we may be able to piggyback a special order unit with our stocking order, but otherwise it would require some freight cost to order a unit by itself.