Quick Answer: The Swisher Response Gen2 60” with the 24 HP Briggs & Stratton engine (model ZTR2460BS, roughly $5,900-$6,200 at current listings) is the best overall Swisher zero-turn for most homeowners — an 11-gauge fabricated deck and Hydro Gear 2800 transmissions at a price well under dealer-network commercial brands. Buyers who need maximum cutting width should look at the 66” ZTR2766BS (roughly $5,965-$7,000+), and anyone who wants a Kawasaki engine instead of the standard Briggs & Stratton can step up to the Kawasaki-powered Z2460CPKA (roughly $7,100-$8,600). One catch worth knowing before you shop: Swisher’s 3-year residential warranty drops to just 1 year if you cross 250 hours of use in the first year, per the company’s own owner’s manual — a lower bar than it sounds for a homeowner mowing a few acres weekly.
Swisher doesn’t show up on this site the way most of the brands we cover do — it’s a founding-era zero-turn name (the company dates to 1945 in Warrensburg, Missouri) that today sells almost entirely through big-box home-improvement retailers rather than a dealer network. That’s a genuinely different buying channel from Scag, Ferris, Encore, or Grasshopper, and closer to how Toro and Cub Cadet’s lower trims reach homeowners. Here’s how the current Response Gen2 lineup compares.
Swisher zero-turn mowers, compared
| Model | Best for | Deck | Engine | Price (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZTR2460BS | Best overall | 60" fabricated, 11-gauge | 24 HP Briggs & Stratton V-twin | ~$5,900-$6,200 |
| ZTR2766BS | Best widest deck | 66" fabricated, 11-gauge | 27 HP Briggs & Stratton V-twin | ~$5,965-$7,000+ |
| Z2460CPKA | Best engine upgrade | 60" fabricated, 11-gauge | 24 HP Kawasaki V-twin | ~$7,100-$8,600 |
1. Swisher Response Gen2 60” (ZTR2460BS) — Best Overall
Swisher Response Gen2 60" (ZTR2460BS)
- Built on an 11-gauge fabricated steel deck with three Gator mulching blades, Hydro Gear 2800 transmissions, and an Ogura electric clutch, per Swisher's own published specs and retailer listings — a heavier-duty deck spec than the stamped decks most homeowner-tier brands use at this price point.
- Carries Swisher's 3-year residential/1-year-commercial warranty, with commercial use triggered by logging more than 250 hours in the first year of ownership, per Swisher's owner's manual. The Briggs & Stratton engine carries its own separate warranty from Briggs, not from Swisher.
- Current listings (Yard Patriots, AllMachines) put this model around $5,900-$6,200 — a real increase from the roughly $4,300-$4,800 figures still floating around older forum threads and discontinued-listing caches for the prior-generation Swisher ZT platform.
2. Swisher Response Gen2 66” (ZTR2766BS) — Best Widest Deck
Swisher Response Gen2 66" (ZTR2766BS)
- Shares the same 11-gauge fabricated deck construction, Hydro Gear 2800 transmissions, and Ogura clutch as the 60" model, scaled up to Swisher's widest current cutting width — useful on open acreage where fewer passes matter more than maneuverability.
- Steps up to a 27 HP Briggs & Stratton V-twin to handle the larger deck; warranty terms (3-year residential/1-year commercial, 250-hour first-year threshold) are identical to the 60" model.
- AllMachines' current 2026 listing prices this model at $5,965, close to the 60" model despite the wider deck — but other retailer listings for comparable Response Gen2 configurations run meaningfully higher, so expect some spread by retailer.
For how a 66” deck compares against other brands’ widest commercial decks, see our best commercial zero-turn mower guide.
3. Swisher Response Gen2 60” Kawasaki (Z2460CPKA) — Best Engine Upgrade
Swisher Response Gen2 60" Kawasaki (Z2460CPKA)
- Identical deck, transmission, and frame to the Briggs-powered ZTR2460BS, swapping in a Kawasaki V-twin instead — the same brand-vs-engine-option pattern buyers see across other brands covered on this site, including Toro's Kawasaki-EFI option on the Z Master 3000.
- Retailer pricing runs noticeably higher than the Briggs-powered model: Kit Superstore lists this configuration at $8,599.95 retail with a $7,117.92 sale price, roughly $1,000-$2,400 above the Briggs-engine equivalent.
- Same 3-year residential/1-year-commercial warranty structure as the rest of the Response Gen2 line; the Kawasaki engine's own warranty terms come from Kawasaki, not Swisher.
If the engine-brand premium isn’t worth it to you, the Briggs-powered ZTR2460BS above delivers the same deck and transmission for roughly $1,000-$2,400 less.
A big-box brand with a dealer-brand deck spec
Swisher traces back to a Warrensburg, Missouri business founded in 1945, and the company’s own materials describe it as an early contributor to the zero-turn concept — though exactly how that claim stacks up against other early zero-turn pioneers is murkier than most of the low-quality recap pages repeating it online suggest, and we weren’t able to verify a clean, single-inventor origin story worth stating as settled fact. What’s easier to verify: Swisher’s current distribution is almost entirely through Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply rather than the authorized-dealer model used by Scag, Ferris, Encore, and most of the commercial-grade brands on this site — closer to how Toro and Cub Cadet’s homeowner trims reach buyers. Despite that big-box channel, the Response Gen2 line’s 11-gauge fabricated deck is a genuinely heavier-duty spec than the stamped decks most homeowner-tier competitors ship at a comparable price (see our zero-turn mower brands guide for how deck construction tracks price tier across every brand we cover).
The other thing worth flagging before you buy: Swisher’s 3-year residential warranty steps down to just 1 year once a mower crosses 250 hours of use in its first year, per the company’s own owner’s manual — a lower bar than “commercial use” implies, since a homeowner mowing 2-3 acres weekly during a long growing season could plausibly hit that threshold without ever doing paid work with the machine. See our zero-turn mower warranty guide for how that compares against the flatter, use-agnostic terms some other brands offer.
We found no CPSC recall on record for any Swisher zero-turn model, current or discontinued, as of this writing.
The bottom line
The Swisher Response Gen2 60” (ZTR2460BS) is the best overall pick for most homeowners — a fabricated deck and real transmission hardware at a price below most dealer-network commercial brands. Buyers who want maximum width should look at the 66” ZTR2766BS, and anyone who prefers a Kawasaki engine over the standard Briggs & Stratton can step up to the Z2460CPKA, at a real premium. Whichever model you land on, budget for Swisher’s current $5,900-$8,600 pricing rather than the $4,300-$4,800 figures still circulating from older posts, and keep an eye on that 250-hour first-year threshold if you mow more than a typical homeowner’s acreage. See our zero-turn mower brands guide for how Swisher’s big-box channel compares against every other brand covered on this site.
Last updated: October 25, 2026 — deck gauge, transmission, and clutch specs verified against Swisher’s own published specs and matching Home Depot/Home Depot Canada retailer listings for the ZTR2460BS, ZTR2766BS, and Z2460CPKA. Warranty terms (3-year residential/1-year commercial, 250-hour first-year threshold, separate engine-maker warranty) sourced directly from Swisher’s owner’s manual documentation. Pricing cross-checked across AllMachines, Yard Patriots, and Kit Superstore’s current 2026 listings; older $4,299-$4,799 figures (Northern Tool, owner forum threads) confirmed stale by at least two to three years. No CPSC recall found for Swisher as of this writing.