Cub Cadet Ultima ZT1 (46") 22HP Kohler Zero Turn Mower

Makes it fun to mow the lawn.

Great power on hilly terrain.

Extremely satisfied with this purchase, and I can't say enough good things. I would definitely recommend it.

uilt and cuts great. The mulching accessory is well with it.

Great product, I will get the Comercial edition next. There's nothing like Cub Cadet zero turns!!! The Best is the series.

Great mower so far! It is sturdy, easy to use and simple to change levels, and easy to clean.

I spent several months looking at zero term mowers and could not make up my mind. What sold me on this mower was the 46” deck, large rear wheels, lights, seat, and quality. I also purchased the mulching kit which was easy to install. I have trees in the yard, and it maneuvers around them easily. I recommend for anyone looking to move up to a 46” deck.

This is my first zero turn mower so I have nothing to compare this with, but it's been an excellent experience so far. There are a lot of pros to this mower.

Design
The design is great, the mower looks really sharp, steel frame seems extremely durable and practical. I like how easy it is to access basically everything on this mower without disassembling the entire thing. The seat is extremely comfortable. It has big tires. The 42" and 46" have smaller tires than the 50/54" but they're still bigger than most mowers in this class. I'm still learning the ropes with ZTR mowers and I was warned by friends that I would be tearing the crap out of the turf my first few times out. That hasn't been the case. Maybe it's because I got a a warning, but I can say the tires on the 42" and 46" work great. Its got headlights. I mowed at dusk one-time and the headlights worked great.

Engine
The Kohler 22hp engine runs nice and quiet and has plenty of power for my 3 hills. Two hills have pretty steep inclines and it climbs them without a hitch. I did also test on wet grass and it never bogged down or felt stressed. I can't speak to longevity yet. This mower has a large gas tank 3.5 gallons. I filled it up 1 time and I've gotten 4 full mows out of it (1.4 acres) and will need to put gas in next time, but I feel like that's pretty efficient.

Deck & Cut
46" is a great size for my yard. I have about 1.4 acres I maintain. There's a combination of wide open space and tight quarters with lots of obstacles. Since you get a couple extra inches of width out of the 46" I felt it would be better for trimming close to obstacles. I'm not sure how well the 42" trims but I do great with the 46" and can go much longer without needing to weed eat than on my last mower. It's easy to change the height on the fly. I mow my nice turf at 3.75" and our unmaintained areas near a pond at 3" and it's nice to quickly switch. I want to get the mulch kit. I've always had a mulch kit on my mowers, but the grass gets diced pretty finely and doesn't leave any visible clippings so I'll hold off for now. I do have a mixture of nice turf grass, hills, uneven areas, wild grass and it does just fine across the board. It has a clean out port on the deck, but I haven't used it yet. The mower isn't a world class striping machine if lawn strips are important to you, but if you have nice turf it will stripe it.

Speed & Handling
It's a fast mower. At full speed there are a couple stranglers left behind but not bad enough you'd have to double cut unless you're a perfectionist. If you slow it down just to 85-90% of max speed it cuts cleanly in my testing. It handles really well. Its my first ZTR, but it only took one time out to feel like I've mastered the controls and it's truly fun to mow again. The 1.4 acres to mow and weed eat use to take me a little over 3 hours on my previous go-cart style mower and (I recently moved and had a much smaller yard previously). On the Ultima it takes me 40 min to mow and 10 minutes to weed eat.

Assembly & Delivery
Showed up in a big crate, drive was nice enough to bring it up the driveway for me. You'll want a pry bar or two, a nice hammer or small sledge, drill/screwdriver, and socket set and it's a piece a cake. It tore down in 5-10 minutes and me and one friend rolled it off the pallet. Assembly took 10 minutes as well. Really straight forward. I was a little nervous getting a mower all boxed up but it was not a big a deal and is actually nice getting a mower wrapped in plastic.

Cons
I wish this had a gas gauge. It has plastic springs under the seat. For the most part the ride is pretty smooth. But when I get moving out in a less maintained part of my property is very bumpy. I think real springs my perform better, but it's not so bad that I'm feel the need to do anything about it.

Overall
I'm super happy with this mower. I get excited when it's time to mow instead of dreading it. I was really torn between the 50" and 46". The 50" is probably a better value since it has a bigger engine, bigger tires, and fabricated deck. I chose the 46" because it takes up a little less space in storage, I have lots of trees and obstacles with a whole lot more being added soon, plus a fenced area and dog run that really don't accommodate the 50" as easily as the 46" without lifting shoots and whatnot. For me it was just a more logical choice with a shrinking lot as I add new buildings and landscaping with a few existing tight spaces like a dog run.

We shopped around before buying a new zero-turn mower and glad we went with Cub Cadet. Great quality and I am sure it will last us for years.