Electric mowers

[iej]

The biggest issue I have to deal with is the very long grass growing season and the relatively high growth rate.

My last mow was in late November and first one was in early March and if I don’t mow the grass almost weekly it’s pretty out of hand in mid summer.

What I’ve been doing is letting an area of the garden go to wild meadow - it’s happening naturally but I helped it along with local wild flower seeds. Seems to be attracting loads of polinators and it’s reduced my mowing.

I did the “No Mow May” this year to give the insects a bit of extra access to growth and I’ve also left a dead tree on place and generally tired to let some natural habitat just “be” there. So far it’s working great. Lots of bumble bees, honey bees, various butterflies late in the summer last year too.

I’m trying to plant up as many nectar producing flowering plants as I can too and trying to stick to native species that the local bees and other insects can use.[this post was last edited: 5/8/2022-15:55]

 

[cfz2882]

Stihl

I got a Stihl RMA 370 back in 2011 and it is still going strong as ever It's a small euro size mower, made in Austria, running on 36v Li-ion batt pack.Motor is a Domel brand BLDC driving the blade by a belt.This little mower is a tough,eager, hard worker! My mom loves this thing,so I leave it at her house-can mow all day with 4 batts and 2 chargers going

 

[johnb300m]

On year 3 with a 60v Flexforce Toro recycler.
It’s been really great!
I like it because it’s not a plastic toy.
It’s a real steel Recycler with Personal Pace and standard heavy gauge blade.

Funny story. When I was shopping a few years back, there was a Ryobi rep in the aisle. He talked about the pros and cons. He said Ryobi was built from the ground up to be an electric mower.
Lightweight deck. Headlights.
All Toro did was throw a battery on their standard mower.
Perfect! That’s what I wanted.

If I keep up with mowing and don’t let the grass get too tall, I can mow my thick lush slightly-over 1/4 acre lawn, in mulch mode, on one battery.
But I got a 2nd battery for the snowblower, and extra reserve for the mower.

 

[henene4]

Robotic mowers

Know a lot of people that have them and most are very happy - but the one thing people agree on is not to cheap out there.

Only thing - like with robotic vacuums - is that they just don't mow perfect everywhere.
So they don't keep you from mowing manually completely, they just extend the time between mowing dramatically.
Especially along edges, corners, etc. they often don't work.
A former work colleague said that instead of doing his lawn weekly, he can go 4 to 8 weeks depending on season and weather without mowing.

On the topic of how battery mowers work so good with so "little" power:

Traditional mowers rely heavily on their power to cut grass.
The mass of the blade dosen't play a role, the shear torque rams the blade through whatever.
Same principle as a trimmer: The trimmer line has basically no inertia, but is spun so fast that doesn't really matter.

However, you can go the other route.
You can have a low power motor with a heavy blade.
The small motor does take a bit more time to spin the heavy blade up to speed. But once there, it just has to maintain the speed and add very little power to compensate losses.
The heavy blade has so much inertia that it forces itself through the grass and dosen't loose much speed.

Gas and normal electric mowers however can't produce the torque needed at low speeds.
A BLDC motor (or similar electronically driven brushless motor) however can supply a lot of torque from standstill.
The high speed method is less efficient - on one hand air resistance goes up by the square of the speed, and just looking at a gas mower, all the noise and heat and so on show energy losses. But it is simple and cheap.
The low speed, high inertia high torque method is way more complicated, but can do a lot with little power.

At least that is what I have been told, so don't quote me on that...

 

[circlew]

Sometime back in the mid to late 60's we got a Sunbeam electric mower. It was lightweight and did a decent job, but cut a rather narrow path, so took a while to get done. The extension cord required was heavy and long, since the backyard was large. On more than one occasion I ran over the cord, and cut it in two. We used it for several years, and then it overheated snd stopped working. My dad then bought a new gas mower.

Around 1996 I bought a Black & Decker battery powered mower. It did a good job, and was relatively quiet, but it would run down and require recharging before I could finish mowing. That usually meant me mowing on two days, which I didn't like. Eventually the battery would no longer take a charge, and instead of replacing it, I bought a John Deere push mower in 2006. It had plenty of power, and I could complete the mowing in a timely manner. In 2020 it required some repairs which were going to be expensive, so I spent a little more, and got a nice Honda mower, which so far I like real well. I also got a new gas can that is easy to use, and spill resistant.

I don't like storing gasoline in the house, so keep the can in the shed. I've been keeping the new mower in the garage, which I don't like doing, so only put in as much gas as I think I'll need when I start. I plan to clean out the shed, and repair it this Summer, so will put the mower in it then.

I would not want to keep a mower or other item with large lithium ion batteries inside the house either. I've seen numerous videos of fire departments responding to fires caused by electric scooters. Those batteries are difficult to extinguish, and require haz-mat response to dispose of after they burn. If I ever have a mower with such batteries, it will stay in the shed.

 

[weed30]

TIP if you're buying any EGO mower/tool

Only buy from authorized retailers, which pretty much limits you to Lowe's and Ace Hardware in the US. I read somewhere that if you don't use an authorized dealer for the purchase, EGO will not warranty it. I am not 100% sure if this is true but worth looking into if you find one elsewhere. I got my mower and string trimmer from Ace, and just ordered a blower from Lowe's today.

 

[tolivac]

The cordless battery mowers-their motors wether brushed or brushless deliver GREATER breakdown torque than a gas motor.And to cut a rotary blade must spin at a minimum speed-too slow-it won't cut.For walk mowers blade must spin between 3000-3600 RPM.On the other end of the scale a tractor mount 5ft wide brush hog blade must spin at 700 rpm.Ie blades operate in the 8000-12000 Feet per Minute.I have stored my lithium batteries-either for mowers or tools inside with no problems.Same with batteries in phones or laptop-pad computers.Lithium batteries are MUCH SAFER now than what used to be.Don't need to worry.Put it this way the battery is safer to keep than the can of gas.There is an advantage to gas motored mowers-"recharge" time is fast-only takes less than minutes to refill the tank.Charging the battery can take hours!

 

[robbinsandmyers]

As far as cordless mowers go, do yourself a huge favor and splurge for the best one for longest battery life etc. Box store crap like Troy Bilts that are $400.00 get tossed in the trash when even one $150.00 battery fails outside warranty because they advise changing them both out. At that point its better to just buy a whole new mower and get another 2 year warranty. Doesnt sound so eco friendly to me over tuning your old gas mower to keep it going. Luckily at least the Troy Bilt uses the same thin krappe beer can steel deck as the gas models and can be converted to gas. Ive given 3 of them to a friend thats installed gas engines off rotted deck machines so at least they get repurposed rather than tossed at the transfer station. I also take the batteries to an auto parts store rather than toss in the garbage.

 

[mattl]

The Ego I've decided on has a 5 year warranty on both the mower and battery. Historically the Egos have held up well, they are a poly carbonate body, not rust prone steel and from all reports very durable. With the 7.5 amp hour battery run time is about an hour, with my ICE mower it took me 50ish minutes to do the lawn. There is a Toro super recycler that just came out that is $100 more with an aluminum deck. Have not found any reviews, I'm tempted but the cost is putting me off.

 

Now I just have to commit to spending the $$$.

 

[pumper]

I bought the Worx cordless mower last summer. Other than the fact that you don't throw your shoulder out pulling the cord and that it's much quieter, I'm not impressed with it. A gas mower blade will pull the grass up and cut it off, the cordless doesn't have enough power to do that so it will cut OK on the outer parts of the blade but will leave the center part higher, making a second pass necessary at times. The old mower does a neater job.

 

[tolivac]

My Kobalt or Greenworks can cut and mulch BETTER than gas mowers I used to have.

 

[mattl]

Like with anything else there are good mowers and crappy mowers.  I spent a lot of hours doing research and narrowed down my choices based on performance.

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[mattl]

Well I got my Ego this evening, bit the bullet.  Did a quick charge on the battery and cut part of my front lawn at dusk.  The LED headlights did help, but as noted in one of the reviews you really cannot cut in the dark with this mower, not that I'd want to.

I was unsure about the rear wheel drive, had a gas powered mower 20+ years ago with rear drive and hated it.  With the electric mower simply lifting my thumb off the drive button allowed me to swing around easily.  Cut quality is excellent, noise level is great compared to a gas mower. Jury is still out on the weight of the unit, my old mower was heavier and this one seems to bounce a little more.  Not enough to spend an extra $100+ for the metal Toro but if I get my lawn rolled to even it out it would not be an issue.

 

I'll do the rest of my lawn tomorrow and see how it looks in the daylight.

 

[combo52]

New Cordless Electric Lawn Mower

Well I mentioned above that I got my B&D cordless mower in 1997 and we have mowed the lawn three times this spring and when I mowed last week I decided that it is time for a new battery, it could barely complete the front yard this would be the 3rd time I had to replace the battery.

 

I will probably just get a new Ego mower, I have been very happy with the string trimmer, leaf blowers and the chain saw.

 

I might get the 24"hedge trimmer as well, does anyone have the hedge trimmer and how do you like it ?

 

John L.

 

[mattl]

I did the balance of my lawn yesterday.  I did not get the quoted run time on the battery but my lawn was quite long.  Jury is out on the 50-60 minute claimed runtime, will have a better idea after a few "normal" mows. 

 

As for cut quality- my lawn has not looked this good in ages.  I'm a believer in the double blade setup.  As I mentioned it was over grown but instead of bagging I mulched as that was what the installed blade was for.  The mulch was fine with no mess left behind.  The clippings I looked at were very small and will get easily into the lawn to feed it ongoing. I'm impressed.

 

I will still have to get used to the rear wheel drive, the thumb control works well, just have to get the timing right. The Ego does have a slight glitch noted in many reviews of occasionally locking the rear wheels and needing to roll forward an inch or so to release them after releasing the drive button. Have to be aware of it in tight quarters, but I don't have too many areas like that.

 

All in all I'm impressed.

 

[rp2813]

Matt, it sounds like you made the right choice.

 

I just picked up a Craftsman corded electric mower for $20 yesterday from a seller on Nextdoor.  It has a 19" cutting path, which is plenty for my needs.  I don't know how old it is, but after removing the blade and sharpening it up I mowed the small area of lawn in my back yard, and other than having to mind the cord, I'm impressed.  It's so much more civilized than yanking on a starter cord for a gas mower (just saying, as this mower replaced an old-school manual reel mower), it's quieter, and more climate-friendly.  For me it was a no-brainer to go electric.

 

 

[wiskybill]

Hi Matt,

Good that you're liking the EGO so far.

Each time that I use mine get more accustomed to it, especially not having to deal with the gas and oil. I too am not sure of the battery run-time, but I tend to gage it on how much and what parts of the yard I can mow on the charge amount. I don't generally use the self propel as my yard is fairly flat. I usually do the front first and then put the battery on charge. By the time I use the weed eater and blow off the side walk and drive and take a short break, it's charged full.

I can then do the entire back yard and garden area on that full charge. I use the hi-lift blade for bagging. I tried the mulch blade, which did a good job, but it puts more drag on the motor and shortens run time. I have not tried the economy blade, which is supposed to give the most run time.

I do like being able to stand the mower up when I'm all done and clean the underside of the deck. Just takes a gloved hand to wipe it out and again, no gas or oil spilling.

I'm sure this technology will keep evolving but I'm happy I jumped in now. As much as I love my old gas powered mowers, I see this trend continuing. My local Ace Hardware just revamped their entire outdoor power equipment area and EGO has a large percentage of floor space. They also have the two models of EGO zero turn riders.

Happy mowing! Bill

 

[mattl]

Bill, sounds encouraging, glad you like yours too. What model did you get?  I got the 2135sp, wanted the 2150 but could not justify the price.

 

[wiskybill]

Matt, yes I have the same model.

I noticed the clutch in the rear wheels too. I guess it didn't bother
me that much because my Honda mower has that feature. You get used to it.
Bill

 

[sudsmaster]

Like I stated earlier, I have had a gas mower (MTD Pro with awesome Honda motor) for the past 20 or so years. It runs like a top. I used stabilized regular gas, as well as synthetic oil. Change the oil annually (it's due). It never has a starting problem. Granted, I have a very small grassy area in front of the house (about 600 sq ft) so it doesn't get a lot to do. I see no reason to switch over to an electric mower for the foreseeable future.

The other big garden implements include a reverse roto-tiller, and a chipper/shredder. Both also gasoline powered. And also in good shape. I do not believe an electric powered chipper/shredder or rototiller would work half as well.

I do annual oil changes on all of them, and use a labeling machine to affix a sticker to each that lists the last oil change.

I do have some lithium battery powered hand gardening tools (string trimmer, edger, pruner) but am not pleased with the lack of power (the edger tends to stall out).