Kevin,

Which model mower did you try? We've got a 687 with the front deck that flips up for easy cleanout and blade replacement. When dad bought it he had the dealer put on extra gauge wheels on the deck and a fuel gauge. No scalping problems like we had with the 620(same model but older) which lacked the gauge wheels and horsepower. The deck floats pretty well on this model. Have never run any of the mid-deck Deere models.

Also make sure if you look at this model that it has the dual rear wheels. The single wheel makes it smaller but rides like crap.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/GC/series/GC_ztr_front_series.html