9500, anyone got one yet?

If any one in the Raleigh Durham area gets one let me know. I would like to see how it stacks up against the John Deere X520.

I don't think anyone has even rated it on the Sears website yet. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will post a YouTube video about one.

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=145394

http://todaysmower.com/2010/30-hp-craftsman-garden-tractor/

The first refers to an earlier thread on this forum. The second thread is a guy who makes his living writing reviews for landscape equipment. I find him very informative about the Craftsman line. His is the only review I've seen so far on the new PGT9500.

His name is Paul and my name is Paul; no connection at all..

It is a Simplicity Prestige. It is competitive with the Deere X500 series. I have the Simplicity version and I am well satisfied with it.

I left a comment on there- he is funny... He says "They build them better than they used to" and has a picture of an early custom with dual rear wheels, a million pounds of weight, and a huge cultivator on the back, and it has a broken axle and a pile of blankets on the seat...

I guarantee if you do that with this one for forty years, it will break too!!!

Are they really only going to make 50? Maybe why they cost so much. I'm a big fan of Craftsman but still think I would pay an extra $800 and get a JD X530 at this price point so I could have local dealer support.

Mine's on order, will be here by the end of the month. Full reasoning posted here:

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?p=1398204#post1398204

fixmdude said:

Mine's on order, will be here by the end of the month. Full reasoning posted here:

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?p=1398204#post1398204

Click to expand...

Don't forget the "Snob" appeal of owning a very very veeerry expensive Craftsman.

:not_worth

3 GT5000s and counting!

Hey mxrdrver, when you have a chance can you set up an album so we can see the other 2 Craftsman?. Pictures of engines are nice too. What year, engine type, tranny is the gray one there?


:thanku:

FULLTHROTTLE said:

Are they really only going to make 50? Maybe why they cost so much. I'm a big fan of Craftsman but still think I would pay an extra $800 and get a JD X530 at this price point so I could have local dealer support.

Click to expand...

The way I read it, only 50 Sears stores will have an actual unit on display. There should be way more than 50 built.

TheSaturnV said:

The way I read it, only 50 Sears stores will have an actual unit on display. There should be way more than 50 built.

Click to expand...

The first 50 were a market test. They sold out before I was able to order mine. Paul over at Today's Mower contacted the Sears buyer for me and got me one a couple days later. http://todaysmower.com/2010/30-hp-craftsman-garden-tractor/ Now Sears has them in stock again in the Midwest.

It should have a Vanguard branded engine in it. Why go B&S 'professional grade' and not have it a Vanguard is beyond me. Craftsman brand to me is a negative and it needs all the street 'cred' it can get by way of good brands.

Didn't B&S make the Sears mowers ELS motors with the bad 'dirt breathing' air filter assmebly?

HiPocket said:

It should have a Vanguard branded engine in it. Why go B&S 'professional grade' and not have it a Vanguard is beyond me. Craftsman brand to me is a negative and it needs all the street 'cred' it can get by way of good brands.

Didn't B&S make the Sears mowers ELS motors with the bad 'dirt breathing' air filter assmebly?

Click to expand...

All manufacturers make various quality motors. Briggs makes:

- Powerbuilt (very cheapo)
- Intek (cheapo for MTD China Sears tractors with bad air filters)
- Professional (As good as Kohler Command and Vangaurd)

Briggs does not "make" Vangaurd, it's made by a foreign company in a joint venture with Briggs. I prefer the American Made Briggs to the foreign one to keep jobs here, though the quality between them is equal.

fixmdude said:

All manufacturers make various quality motors. Briggs makes:

- Powerbuilt (very cheapo)
- Intek (cheapo for MTD China Sears tractors with bad air filters)
- Professional (As good as Kohler Command and Vangaurd)

Briggs does not "make" Vangaurd, it's made by a foreign company in a joint venture with Briggs. I prefer the American Made Briggs to the foreign one to keep jobs here, though the quality between them is equal.

Click to expand...

Did not know that about vangard. What foreign company? Does the simplicity carry same b&s motor?

HiPocket said:

Did not know that about vangard. What foreign company? Does the simplicity carry same b&s motor?

Click to expand...

Twin Cylinder Vanguard engines are made by Dihatsu of Japan. The single cylinder Vanguard Engines are a joint venture with Mitsibushi. The Briggs Professional series twin cylinder engine in the new Simplicity is designed and built by Briggs in the US. Simplicity uses the 24 hp Briggs Professional in the Conquest, a model below the Prestige. They use the 27 hp Kohler in the Prestige. Sears upped the Prestige to the 30 hp Briggs Professional to improve it further when they labelled it as PGT 9500. Sears does that, like when they took the best selling Whirlpool frontloader washer with a 1200 rpm spin cycle and upped it to 1400 rpms then put the Kenmore name on it, to make their version a little better than the brand name.