Ybravo Commercial 25″ Mower Blows Away Our Expectations
Say you have 3 acres of field to mow, but the sogginess of the ground prevents you from bringing out your zero turn. That’s what we had to deal with and after several failed attempts to find a solution with other manufacturers, we brought the Ybravo Commercial 25″ lawn Mower Gen II out to take its turn…
… and we haven’t looked back.
Pros
- Outstanding build quality
- Excellent cutting power
- Excellent suction for bagging and mulching
- Outstanding cut evenness
- You can take your hands off the handle without shutting off the engine (blades are disengaged)
- Engine guarding bar on the front
Cons
- Transmission shifter is on the deck
Ybravo Commercial 25″ Lawn Mower Gen II Power
Messy Business
Our primary goal was to find out if this Ybravo mower and its Kawasaki FJ180V engine has the muscle to mow a typically soggy field. Since it’s not your typical lawn, it doesn’t get the benefit of a weekly maintenance cut. On our first day of testing, most of the grass was 8″ – 12″ high, and were cutting it back to 4″.
After a few successful passes in the shorter and dryer grass, we started working our way into the soggy areas. Even as our boots slopped around, the mower’s wheels held good traction and cut confidently.
When we moved into the tallest grass, we had to slow down the pace some to keep the blade RPMs up. The good news is that it just kept cutting.
We’ve tried other walk-behind mowers in this mess, including eXmark’s 30″ commercial model, without anywhere near the success we got with Ybravo.
Part of the credit goes to the engine, blade, and deck design. But part of it goes to the weight as well. The Ybravo Commercial 25″ Mower weighs only 127 pounds—the kind of weight we see on some commercial 20″ and 21″ mowers. It’s well under the 150+ pounds of many large deck walk-behinds and certainly helped to keep us moving in such wet conditions.
Note that there’s a little quirk in the throttle design. When you push it forward, you’ll feel it reach a stop, but that’s not actually full throttle. Push it over that and you’ll get to your highest cutting speed.
When you’re on a normal maintenance cut, the first stop is a great place to balance fuel savings with effective cutting. You’ll get more power and airflow at full throttle, making your mulching and bagging more effective, though.
Shifting Gears
Shifting into the self-propelled drive and transmission, we saw even more impressive performance. Florida doesn’t have a ton of hills, but we have a pretty steep embankment on our field. We needed to give the mower a little help moving straight up. Once we got there, it did an admirable job of mowing side-to-side on the slope, holding its traction well.
The transmission has 2 speeds to choose from to go along with the engine throttle adjustment lever on the handle. It’s down on the left side of the deck where you have to stop to shift it over. You can disengage the blade and take your hands off the handle without shutting off the engine, so it’s not a deal-breaker for us since we rarely need to shift it on a single property. It’s something to keep in mind if you have varying conditions, though.
Practically, it’s nice to be able to drop it into low gear when you’re looking for the best control. There’s also a neutral setting if you get into a situation where you want to disengage the drive completely.
How Good is the Cut Quality?
Evenness
The single blade that comes on this Ybravo mower does a great job cutting cleanly and creating tons of lift to leave you with a very clean cut. If you have clients with Floratam, Zoysia, or other varieties that offer a nice, thick carpet, they’ll love how even the lawn looks when you get done cutting.
Bagging and Mulching
The Ybravo Commercial 25″ Mower does an excellent job of bagging. Its sloping deck helps to guide clippings back to the bag and there’s a lot of suction that keeps those clippings from dropping lines or clumps.
That suction also helps to really pack the bag full of clippings and there are two takeaways from it. First, it’s impressive how much grass makes it into that 2.8-bushel bag. Second, it gets packed so tight, that you’ll likely need to pull some clippings out by hand to give it a little help emptying if you completely fill it.
On the bottom of the deck, there’s a replaceable wear strip to protect the side and it’s an important feature. Without a wear strip, the bottom of the deck can take damage that makes little changes to the airflow characteristics. By themselves, they might not be a big deal. But over time, the sum of the wear can reduce your bagging and mulching efficiency along with your cut evenness.
One of the things we noticed is that even though the cutting power is impressive, the blade doesn’t cut the grass as small as the clippings on stacked blade systems. That’s not a huge surprise, but something worth noting. For a single-blade system, it does very well, though.
What Else Should I Know?
Rigid Build
The Ybravo Commercial 25″ lawn mower feels rock solid while you’re mowing. A solid axle on the front improves that feel considerably. Compared to other gas mowers we’ve used, there’s very little flex in the system.
4-Point Height Adjustment
We love the simplicity of single-point height adjustments on residential mower. But for a commercial mower of the size and weight that the Ybravo Commercial 25″ Mower is, 4-point is better for long-term durability and helping to keep that rigid feel.
Belt Drive System
Using a belt drive instead of a direct drive helps protect the blade system if you hit something solid. The belt will absorb a lot of the shock and give you a better chance at avoiding a bent or broken shaft.
Service After the Sale
Our mower isn’t due for its first repairs or part replacements, but one of the things that Ybravo touts is less expensive parts than many of its competitors. Looking around the mower, it seems like many of the wear parts are also easier to access, reducing the cost of labor.
Additional Features
- Bar protects the front of the engine during transportation and cutting sketchy areas
- Easy access to the air filter on top of the engine
- Freewheels easily in reverse
- Side discharge accessory available separately
How Much Does it Cost?
There may be some variance depending on which dealer you use. Our closest dealer has the Ybravo 25 Gen II for $1299. If you’re using it commercially, you get a 2-year warranty. It moves up to 5 years for residential use. Either way, the Kawasaki engine has a 3-year warranty.
Ybravo’s price is clearly in the commercial Pro range with brands like Honda, Bad Boy, eXmark, and others. What we’ve experienced in performance certainly puts it into consideration even against the top names.
The Bottom Line
The Ybravo Commercial 25″ lawn mower does so many things well in its Gen II model, but it’s still not that well-known. That’s changing in our little corner of Central Florida, though. Neighbors and Pro lawn crews stop me pretty frequently to ask about it. For those that stop long enough to try it, they leave just as impressed as I am.
Don’t just take our word for it. Call up your local dealer and arrange for a test run. You might just find you have a new favorite mower.
Buy it if you’re looking for an all-around great commercial-level walk-behind mower. Pass if you just have to have a 30″ deck or a Honda engine.
Ybravo Commercial 25″ Lawn Mower Gen II Specifications
- Model: Ybravo 25-210
- Engine: Kawasaki FJ180V
- Fuel Capacity: 1.8 liters (0.48 gallons)
- Self-Propelled Speed: 3.0 – 4.2 MPH @3500 RPM engine speed
- Transmission: 2-speed belt drive
- Deck: 25″ stamped steel (14 gauge)
- Cutting Height: 1″ – 4.5″ (8 stops)
- Bag Capacity: 2.8 bushels
- Warranty: 3 years (engine), 2 years (mower, commercial), 5 years (mower, residential)
- Price: ~$1299
Find a Ybravo dealer here.
