The John Deere Saber line of mowers very often causes confusion and consternation among both mower enthusiasts and John Deere fans who do not like the Saber range of mowers manufactured and produced by JD. These mowers were not only confusingly painted a shade of green that isn’t exactly the same as regular John Deere green, but they were also called Sabre, which is not something you’d expect from JD. There are actually a surprising number of Saber models available. There are five models of walk-behind mowers, the 14PS, 14SS, M10, M21 and M23, all of which have since been discontinued.
But there are many more models of ride-on mowers in the John Deere Saber range. These are the 1338gs, 15, 538gs, 15, 538hs, 1538gs, 1538hs, 1546g, 1638hs, 1642hs, 1646gs, 1646hs, 17. 542hs, 1742gs, 1842G, 1842HV, 1846hms, 1846HV, 1846GV, 1846GV, 1848GV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948HV, 1948GV, 1948GV, 1948GV., 2046HV, 2048HV, 2148HV, 2254HV, 2354HV and 2554HV. Like the walk-behind mowers, they have all been discontinued.
These models were never very popular with consumers, as most did not know exactly who made these tractors. They heard John Deere, but when they looked at the actual logo, it said Saber by John Deere. The problem was that Saber had a very large font size, but by John Deere it was much smaller. Consumers did not know what to think. Many thought they were cheap (and sometimes even illegal) imitations of real John Deere tractors, when in fact all John Deere Sabers were made by John Deere. The idea behind making them was that John Deere thought they would compete with the cheaper tractors their competitors were selling. Obviously, they didn’t want to sell “real” John Deere tractors for less than what people are used to paying, so they created a “pre-owned” brand. Unfortunately, all the tractor brand JD Saber did was confuse people. Luckily for John Deere stalwarts, who don’t want the John Deere brand to be diluted, the Saber range has been discontinued, as has the Scotts range of mowers that John Deere briefly produced.
