117 Pictures Of What I saw at the 2015 GIE-EXPO For Todays Mower and a Surprise!

GIE+EXPO is the largest Lawn & Garden Equipment Show in the U.S.

GIE+EXPO takes place each fall in Louisville, Kentucky, with over 700,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibition and hands-on demonstration areas. The show also has educational classes for dealers and mechanics.

It’s a huge show! This year it was a lot bigger and busier – more than one person can cover. I’ll go over what I saw related to TodaysMower in this article. If you would like to read about the new items for snow removal I have an article over on MovingSnow.

GIE-EXPO is for: “Outdoor power equipment, distributed through dealers, retailers and distributors for consumer, professional and rental use; Lawn and garden products/outdoor leisure items, distributed through home centers, dealers and retailers; Light construction and landscape equipment used by general contractors, landscapers, golf course superintendents and parks & recreation crews.”

In reality today GIE+EXPO is a show primarily for lawn equipment dealers and lawn/landscape contractors.  So there is really very little for the residential retail market at the show. Yes, the large brands like Ariens, Toro and Husqvarna show a few of their residential products but for the most part retail brands like Troy-Bilt and Craftsman don’t show their products here. I always attend the show as a Dealer/Landscaper instead of “the Press.” This allows me to interact with the shows participants in a more natural way instead of the “corporate view” many companies give the press corps.

Besides a meet-up with dealers it’s a place for the Brands to showcase their new products. As always there were over 100 great new products, 100’s of refinements to existing products and a few copy-cats. Unfortunately many of the copy-cats have issues and just muck up the works. For example, one orange brand is offering a new stand-on zero-turn. It looks cool but they missed some very important ergonomic features. I’m sure they will sell a few just on their reputation alone but it will never be a strong seller.

It’s also a show where small, independent builders show off their creations in hope of attracting dealers to sell them. Many names like OxCart, Mean Green Mowers, and Nordic got their start here.  As usual I found many great ideas still looking for an audience. For example L. T. Rich had a prototype 4-wheel contraption they were showing off and OxCart was showing a walk-behind version of their great cart.

I talked with many great people this year. Contractors, dealers, area reps, owners and engineers. Clayton Bruce — Husqvarna, Barbara Bermudez – Ketchum , Rob Wittl, John Horn – Ariens/Gravely, Bill Wright – Wright Manufacturing and many, many others who I didn’t remember to get a business card from. I closed down the show Wednesday night talking to the engineers who developed the Toro SnowMaster and Toro steering wheel ZTR.  I enjoyed listening to buyers who purchases 500 zero-turns at a time and many young mowing contractors looking to upgrade to their second mower.

It’s great to talk to old friends in the business like Gary from Acrease Mowers who have had their products at the show since the 90’s when the show was  “International Lawn, Garden and Power Equipment Expo.” It’s also great to talk with the “new generation” like Matt Kunz, Nick Ariens, and Stephen Ariens who are carrying on their fathers and sometime great grandfathers dreams.

How important is this show?  The owners and presidents of the companies at the show come from all over the world and spent the entire time on the floor. For example, Dan Ariens – Ariens/Gravely spent all three days on the floor, Nathalie Barendrecht – General Transmissions flew over from France just for this show. Every year almost the entire Craftsman L&G division attends looking for quality items for Sears. 

 The newest trend that will benefit the industry:  Radial Lawn Mower Tires.

Radial tires are tougher, have better traction and handle side-hills well.

The best new product: Gravely PRO-QXT 2-Wheel Tractor.

Gravely re-invented the 2-wheel tractor. Gravely’s first L&G product was the garden tractor. It’s fitting that they reintroduce the 2-wheel tractor for the start of the next 100 years.

The most talked about product: Intimidator Group – Spartan Zero-Turn Mowers.

The list price on the new American made Spartan mowers caused an uproar at the show. We’ll see if Mr. Foster can actually keep that price once the mowers go into production.

Best maturing product: Stand-on Mowers.

20 years ago I stated, “Stand-on mowers are the best way to mow lawns.” All the major brands now have a version or two of this versatile machine.  Now – if they will only make a residential model…..

Here are a few pictures of the new items shown: There is a surprise at the end.

Click on the pict to see a large view.