Grass Bagger: Turbo Vs Non-Turbo Assist

Whether you want to bag grass or leaves, knowing the advantage and disadvantage of the type of catchers you can choose from is very important. Most riding lawn mowers have the option of a grass bagging system but whether that bagger system will work for you is a different story. Lets explore the difference between a standard grass catcher and one with a turbo assist or power flow system.

Non-Turbo Assist

Most residential riding lawn mowers are going to offer a standard grass catcher, or one without a turbo assist. These baggers are affordable solutions for disposing of grass clippings and leafs and work reasonably well on mowers with smaller decks.

This type of grass catcher works with a top discharge mower deck, one with a removable plate on the top of the decks discharge. This design is dependent on a high lift mower blade to force the clippings up the chute and into the bag.

This style grass catcher often struggles with lush grass and wet leaves. When clipping volume increases over ordinary cutting conditions the uptake chute is prone to clogging, making this a fair weather option.

Turbo Assist

If your mower has a larger deck width it is more likely to have a turbo assisted bagger available. Turbo assist baggers are generally twice the price of a non-turbo system but provide more consistent results.

The turbo system works by creating suction from the mower deck and pushing grass into the bags while mincing the clippings even finer. This set up is great for increased cutting volume when doing leaves or cutting overgrown grass.

The turbo assisted grass catchers are the ideal choice for the best bagging results, but there are some downsides. There is no way around the additional wear and tear a turbo bagger can have on your machine. The added pulley and belt system puts more stress on the drive belt and pulley while robbing engine power. In addition, there is an extra step of re-leveling your deck when taking the turbo on and off.