If you're ever taken a look at the lawn equipment that professional landscapers use you would have noticed that they tend to use what are called Zero Turn Mowers. A Zero Turn Mower or Zero-Radius Turn Mower is a lawn mower that has the ability to turn 180 degrees on the spot, completely changing directions without missing any grass. With Zero Turn Mowers, the amount of edging that you will have to do is drastically reduced, which will cut down on the overall time it takes to cut the grass.

Zero Turn Mowers have been used by commercial landscapers for a number of years but have recently caught on with homeowners as well. Consider a homeowner with a large lawn to cut, reducing the time it take to cut the grass is important. Also important is cutting down on the number of different machines that have to be used during on lawn cutting. Traditionally large lawns were cut with a riding mower, then trimmed with a push mower and then more trimming was done with a trimmer. This is a very time consuming.

By using a Zero Turn Mower, trimming can almost be eliminated. Zero Turn Mowers are able to navigate close to obstacles without having to backup and go forward multiple times. This is especially important for the aging population as trimming with a push mower can be quite physically demanding.

Zero Turn Mowers operate much like bulldozer with a lever on the left and right of the driver that essentially causes the speed of one of the wheels to vary, which causes it to turn in the direction of the slower wheel.

The normal configuration for a zero turn mower is to have the engine mounted behind the driver and the cutting deck in front. The rear wheels are usually powered and the front wheels are able to swivel in whatever direction the mower is turned, much like the front wheels on a shopping cart.

For a homeowner with a large lawn or a professional landscaper it would be beneficial to buy a Zero Turn Lawn Mower rather than a traditional riding lawn mower. Although they do cost slightly more than a riding lawn mower, the efficiency achieved will make it well worth the purchase price.