FEATURE STORY | Trends
10 AUGUST 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com
Outdoor Power Equipment's sister publication Landscape and
Irrigation (L&I) recently asked a wide range of equipment man-
ufacturers to share their insights about the equipment market,
and how the trends they are seeing will impact equipment-
buying decisions. Their observations are as follows:
L&I: What is new or different with your company for 2015?
We've really been listening to the changing needs of contrac-
tors. Although we'd like to think the TurfEx line is perfect, we re-
alize that responding to the requests from our customers is good
for both them and us. That means tweaking our base models to
better fit contractors' requirements. A good example is that we
made some improvements to the 7200E spreader/sprayer product
line in terms of the boom assembly.
— Patrick Dietz, vice president of marketing, Douglas Dynamics
on behalf of TurfEx
Redesigned FasTrak, FasTrak SD, and the new FasTrak SDX.
Completely redesigned from the ground up: 1.5-inch by 3-inch
welded tubular frame; 22-inch drive tires; 13-inch by 6.5-inch
caster tires; Kawasaki engines; premium internal suspension
seats; new 5-inch-deep deck; Hydro-Gear transmissions; new
54-inch Super Z with choice of two engine options, Vanguard
810 EFI or Kawasaki FX; new Vanguard big block engines, 36 hp.
available on the Super Z HyperDrive and Super 104.
— Brad Unruh, senior product manager, Excel Industries
(Hustler and BigDog)
2015 has been an exciting year for the Ryan brand. We recently
introduced a new Ren-O-Thin power rake this winter with Hon-
da and Briggs & Stratton Vanguard engine options. We also in-
troduced the models with a seed box — and new to this unit — a
spring tine reel option. We continue to receive customer feedback
and work to innovate and bring solutions to our end users that
PHOTO
PROVIDED
BY
TORO
