I heard this was coming, but i wasnt expecting such.... Rubbish? I believe its actually a direct copy of the 20+ year old rover ranger, Never thought I'd see Greenfield copy Rover...
And boy is the front end on the new fastcut woeful. Is that really the best they could come up with? the fastcut was a tough looking mower, am also curious as to how they have "improved" the friction drive....
Just been doing a bit of quick reading. The improvement might be referring to them no longer needing shims to stack out the play. Depending on what they’ve done this might be a good idea?
I was wondering if the 10xl might be more inspired by greenfields own 5xls from the ‘80s? Either way, it’s significant to note that this design was a epic fail back then. They say this one is made in China (and in fact the fastcuts have an option for a Chinese engine too). The same Henderson’s mowers site says straight out the steering is rubbish on the xl! Love the honesty!
Clearly the old business model that the old Greenfield company had was no longer working. Something had to change to reflect modern consumers and the modern manufacturing world.
That said, I hope they know what they’re doing......
Hi prd, is there any reason the 5xl was an epic failure, I didn't think they were that bad for a small rider, cutting deck height adjustment was a bit average. The Stalion with its gearbox and no brakes to me was more of a problematic machine. I have rebuilt both and to me the gearbox was of more concern. The Stalion cutter deck height adjuster was the better design
The more i look at that 10xl, the more i see it it an exact copy of the ranger, the deck shell, the deck hangers and tension springs, brake lever, park lock, engagement lever, height control, throttle and key location. Also the steering on the ranger was the worst I've ever seen.
If they were going to copy something, it could have been the amc explorer, much better design than the tragic rover.
I get that business model wasn't working, and that their product was too expensive. $6000+ and you're only getting a 34", later 42". Its just a shame they cant just let the product die. I hate it when they just slap a sticker on something like this and say it has the same quality and pedigree, it jyst doesnt. Much like rover, nothing about that brand is even remotely Australian anymore.
Nath, typical of any take over, it isn't going to trash the Cox name so why should they worry, the list of well known brand names are taken over and the the bean counters just look solely at how they can downgrade the quality while cashing in on the name in the short term then the product often just fades into oblivion. I'm sure Cox will recoup any money they put up in the liquidation of Greenfield with plenty to spare and they then have reduced competition from a local supplier
Whilst not "new news" today it is most definitely still hard to read. It also make some sense of why Lewis was very active at one point then no longer even logging in.
I would suspect he had quite a bit on the past year or so, especially reading some of the documents, which, Im no lawyer, but to me read very uneasy....And I'm just a consumer.
Almost makes me just want to cover up my Greenfield gear and leave them as they are.
Ive only been here for 5 mins compared to some, but i do wish Lewis all the best and i hope this is cleared up as quick as possible for his and his family's sake.
And fwiw, that Fastcut Hydro looks terrible. It looks like something we will see Bunnings selling in the near future.
I don't have any updates on the Greenfield litigation, but I can now report that Lewis has returned to an old field of endeavour of his.
He was the Australian distributor [trading as Beeman Australia] for some high-end makes of air rifles [Beeman, Feinwerkbau and Theoben at least, and associated specialities] for some years, and operated [as a licensed QLD firearm dealer - yes, air arms are classified as 'firearms' in Oz], from one of the older Greenfield premises, up to 2009.
He also offered parts and upgrade kits for those and other brands; and a very highly regarded air arm servicing facility, which was a great loss when it closed.
A company relocation [and associated hassles wrt approvals as a firearm dealer premises], and changes of ownership of the Beeman brand, caused him to exit this field at that time.
He is now running air rifle sales and service at Queensland Gun Exchange, and often posts on a couple of Oz hunting/shooting forums I frequent - and the 'tone' of his posts is very cheery and enthusiastic.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
Thats pretty cool to hear, I guess it would probably be a bit of a sore point still and likely a huge weight lifted off, but it would be so awesome to get a bit more history out of him, so much of the aussie history is lost when no one writes it down!
