I put gator blades on right away, I got mine in august. No complaints although I didn’t try the factory blades to see if maybe the grass itself is a neater cut. The gator blades will cut any and everything. It will mulch a fully covered lawn with leaves to almost completely unseen in three passes. That’s a lot of leaves. I thought about getting the bagger but after seeing how it disintegrates leaves I’m going to rely on different blades to do the work. I’m hoping to see how the factory blades handle nice grass this summer and compare it to the toothed blades I’ve been using. By gator blades I mean the toothed blades that came with the mulch kit. I bought the mulch kit because I wanted the trap door and I didn’t want to pick up grass, which by the way the grass nearly disappears Also. It’s actually pretty good. It does get all kinds of grass pushing through on taller grass but after a two passes it does the job. More on reddit.com

There isn’t a “universal” one. You need the bagger for MTD tractors. You can buy a Craftsman one for MTD made Craftsmans sure, it’ll be packed as a bagger to fit 42/46 decks - but they aren’t really any cheaper than the Cub branded one More on reddit.com

Looking at getting a new zero turm any recommendations. Im thinking of getting one with a bagger system too. So were particularily interested in deere, toro and cub cadet. More on reddit.com

I own the zt1 with the Kohler 7000 and a 54 inch deck and I absolutely love it. This subreddit is obsessed with Scag and Gravely that you buy at a special independent dealer. Anything outside of that everyone will say it's crap but the mower you just posted is sold probably 20 to 1 More on reddit.com