I have a Simplicity Conquest with the 44 inch deck and was told the same thing by the dealer - only my problem was that I wouldn't be able to get the tractor with the blower and tube through the gate in my fence - so it was not an option for me. Instead, I opted to put the mulching kit on the deck. As long as you don't cut wet grass, the deck works great, chops the grass clippings into nothing which returns the nutrients to the soil. In the fall, I no longer blow or rake leaves, I just run over them as the mulching deck turns them to dust, also returning nutrients to the soil.

The only downside is that if you do happen to cut grass that is wet, you will need to scrape down the deck after each time you cut wet grass as it gets clogged up with the wet grass.

You may want to consider this option, it is a lot cheaper than buying the blower along with the bag system. In addition, you don't have to empty bags of grass / leaves and put the debris someplace (trash or compost pile etc).

Thanks. I considered the mulch kit. My grass is really thick so I wasn't so sure it would work.

My neighbor has a john Deere with a 48" deck. He has a grass catcher without the blower/turbine and it works fine? What's up with that?

ask that question to whoever told told you the blower was needed on the Broadmoor...

My lawn is thick as well, mostly Kentucky Blue Grass, as long as the grass is dry, I don't have much of a problem with clumps, when I do, I just run over them again. When the grass is growing rapidly (like right now in May), I tend to have to cut 2x a week. It takes me about an hour to cut my just shy of 1 acre, if I had to stop and dump grass for disposal or composting, it would greatly increase the amount of time needed to do the job.

The only downside of the mulch kit is that if and when you do cut wet grass, you need to clean out the deck, which takes me about 10 minutes with a paint scraper.