Electric lawn mowers; anyone used one?

[John Smith]

I'm thinking of getting one, and this place seems a good place for advice.

My knees don't let me do the hill part of our lawn, so we've been paying to have it cut, and that gets increasingly costly.

My granddaughter and her fiance are probably going to be living here a while, and it might be worth our while to buy a mower and he cut the lawn a couple of times a month.

[TomF]

If the lawn isn't too large and you don't let it grow too long it can be a decent choice. We've only ever had electrics, mostly because I can't stand the sound of the gas models - nor needed the power. We've only used corded machines, with moderately high amp motors (in terms of what was available when we bought them).

Herself rather likes cutting the lawn (odd!), but has a penchant for running over the cord. I've lost track of how many cords I've grafted or replaced over the years, which is why she mostly doesn't get to the mower before I do ...

Haven't tried the rechargeables. I can see great benefits, if the batteries and motors are up to the task.

[Yeadon]

Electric lawn mowers are amazing. Quiet and powerful. Much better than messing around with gas. Push button start. No clogged carbs or early season woes. Depending on size of your lawn you may want a second battery.

[Bobcat]

Had one for many years. It's corded. Always starts and works well. My only complaint is that replacement blades are no longer available.

[switters]

I have a Ryobi, works fine, quiet. Typical suburban lot on the smaller side, one battery, could do a bigger lawn. Does not work well for sucking up leaves and mulching them, that is my only complaint. The maintenance and button start is so nice.
Some may be along in a while to rage against ryobi, fine, I find their products suitable for household or hobby use.

[Doug B]

We have a Stihl 501v we love it. It's probably overkill for our "lawn", but a wonderful machine.

[George Jung]

SIL got a Ryobi from HomeDespot, 'biggest motor/battery', self-propelled. Excellent.

[skuthorp]

We have one, battery powered, Ozito. Start/stop setup was a bit delicate but I changed that.
It's part of a suite of powered gadgets to help control/maintain this place. We have a big area where native ground orchids grow and it being light, Anne uses it mostly to mow small spaces where the two petrol mowers would do damage. It would be OK for a smaller suburban block. We have 2 batteries.

[ERGR]

We have electrical lawn mowers with cords, one at our house in the city and one at our cottage. The main reason for going electric is noise. The second reason is reliability; I grew tired of keeping gasoline operated small motors running. No one in the family has ever cut a cord. It's just a matter of adopting the right routines. Not that it would matter much, a cut cord is easy to fix.
/Erik

[Jim Bow]

We have an E-Go. 56v. We’ve had it for 5 years. My wife is boss. She mulches rather than bag, and the lawn loves it.
Our first battery refused to recharge, I got their service people on the phone. They had me describe the LEDs on the charger. They overnighted a new battery and suggested I recycle the old one. I opened it up, saw it was full of Panasonic AA LiOn batteries. I put it on CL for free, and geeks-nerds-boffins contacted me in minutes.

Great mower. Great service. Lowes sells them.

[David G]

We've had a corded electric for many years. It's not up to tall & wet. Which makes it a challenge HERE every Spring to find dry windows to cut before the exuberant growth overcomes us. I've resorted to using the cordless string trimmer to knock down the worst, then run the mower. But that's extra work.

Next one will be a battery version - Makita or Milwaukee, since those are the two battery systems I'm already running. Cords are a pain.

[ERGR]

It's not up to tall & wet.

In that situation I use a common old fashioned scythe. It's also very reliable, and good exercise.
/Erik

[jpatrick]

I also have the E-Go battery mower. Absolutely no problem with it. We have a fairly large lawn and it mows it all easily on one charge. Recharging the battery from dead takes less than 30 minutes. During the pandemic when yard services weren't coming, I mowed three of my neighbors lawns also. Their yards are larger. If I have to recharge mid-job, that's OK with me. Because by then I'll also need a break. Everyone loves the quiet.

Jeff

[bluedog225]

Corded. Works great. Cheap. Keep it sharp. No dead battery to worry about. Watch the cord, it makes big sparks.

[Dan McCosh]

Been using an E-go self-propelled for a couple of years. First one the battery gave out, and a replacement was almost the same as the mower. Got a newer mower, which seem OK so far. Didn't do anything to see what happened to the old battery. Also use it for a blower. The power is OK< and we have pretty large lawn, which takes a recharging break to finish. Also don't use the muncher for grass, only leaves, and put a higher-suction blade on the the thing. All in all it works fine, but is expensive, considering I've never actually bought a new mower before, only donations.

[Art Haberland]

I am on year 4 with my Kobalt 40v mower. I do not have a large yard, but it generally takes two batteries to do the entire yard with enough left over to weedeat. It is quiet, starts every time I hit the button, I do not need to kill myself with a pull string, I do not smell like gas when using it, it's quiet, and it's light.

The only thing I would have done differently would be to go 80v. Other than that, I have had no complaints about it at all.

[Too Little Time]

I use a corded electric. They last me a couple years.

[elf]

I bought an E-Go last year. Wouldn't go back to gas ever. Battery charges fine, scarfs up all the clippings and they go to the composter. So happy. Hate small motors. Endless fuss, expensive to have cared for, hard to get mower into car, 3 weeks wait for fixing in the spring and then again in mid-August if we have a mid-summer drought. No more. Pop the battery in, push the button and go.

[LOKI]

Wife was given a Ryobi twin 18V battery model for Mothers day a few years back. Came with weedwhacker and leaf blower. Works good so far, Doesn't take long to fill bag if using that instead of mulch mode. She prefers to use it rather than the gas unit, a lot lighter to move around the shrubbery....

[Rigadog]

have a Ryobi, works fine, never will push a gas mower again. These mowers are a gateway drug, after owning one awhile you start thinking about an electric razor and then it's a Tesla and then a Nikola 18 wheeler.

[Concordia...41]

Full disclosure: I am (about as bad as Joe CSOH) full electric all the way including whole-house solar. Right now, I am down to one combustion object (emergency generator). There aren't enough words to describe my decades of hatred of the battles with pulling cords to start some POS crap.

I have greater than an acre, and I've had a Ryobi riding lawn mower for 3+ years. It was great at first, but service has been tough. I think mine was one of the first generation ones. All four batteries have to be removed to test the little sensors and electrical components in the system. A few months ago it would start but not go into reverse or forward - which basically made it a $2,500 hunk of electrical junk LOL Testing pointed to some $30 part that had a 6-month delivery window (in the height of supply chain issues).

A friend just started replacing fuses and all of a sudden it worked and has ever since.

This is the current model. I don't know if I'll buy another Ryobi if this one needs replacing, but whatever I buy will be electric.

https://www.ryobitools.com/products/...hoCwKQQAvD_BwE

[woodpile]

If they could put the smarts into an electric robotic mower similar to the Roomba vacuum cleaners with it able to go back to it's charging station often enough to do an acre of lawn and it knows when there is a rock too high for the blade to clear I'll sit back and have a beer while it's mowing.

[bluedog225]

25 pages on a conversion of a ryobi riding to LiFePO4. If you want a project.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/ry...th-pics.22922/

[john welsford]

My brother in law is a lawnmowing and landscaping clearance contractor, does several hospitals and retirement villages among his many customers.
Everything he uses is electric, from a 5ft ride on down to the weed whacker.
After two years of hard work, he's really happy with the way they perform, the ride on is a "Greenworks" machine, and all the rest are Stihl.

John Welsford

[john welsford]

If they could put the smarts into an electric robotic mower similar to the Roomba vacuum cleaners with it able to go back to it's charging station often enough to do an acre of lawn and it knows when there is a rock too high for the blade to clear I'll sit back and have a beer while it's mowing.

There are quite a few of those advertised, just look around.

John Welsford

[john welsford]

Full disclosure: I am (about as bad as Joe CSOH) full electric all the way including whole-house solar. Right now, I am down to one combustion object (emergency generator). There aren't enough words to describe my decades of hatred of the battles with pulling cords to start some POS crap.

I have greater than an acre, and I've had a Ryobi riding lawn mower for 3+ years. It was great at first, but service has been tough. I think mine was one of the first generation ones. All four batteries have to be removed to test the little sensors and electrical components in the system. A few months ago it would start but not go into reverse or forward - which basically made it a $2,500 hunk of electrical junk LOL Testing pointed to some $30 part that had a 6-month delivery window (in the height of supply chain issues).

A friend just started replacing fuses and all of a sudden it worked and has ever since.

This is the current model. I don't know if I'll buy another Ryobi if this one needs replacing, but whatever I buy will be electric.

https://www.ryobitools.com/products/...hoCwKQQAvD_BwE

Ryobi is a low end price competitor, and you get what you pay for, which is a lot less than if you go a bit further up market.
Until last Christmas one of the things I did to earn a dollar was fix power tools, and after a few attempts, and a very close look, literally through a microscope in some areas I flatly refused to work on Ryobi, they're about as good as the cheapos from harbour Fright or Tractor Supply.

John Welsford

[Rich Jones]

They are the wave of the future. A lot of towns are now outlawing the gas powered machines used by contractors. Once they go to battery electric, they soon learn how great they are.
I just switched to a corded electric power washer. Just as powerful as the gas model but quieter and no problem starting after sitting dormant for a year.

[Nicholas Carey]

We have had a Black+Decker cordless mower for several years now. Lead/Acid, not any fancy LiFePO4 batteries. It's been bullet proof. We sort of share it with out neighbor and it's been more than capable of handling several city-size lots at a single go.

We have two batteries, so even if it runs out, there's another ready to rock-n-roll.

Need to oil it now and again. And [I really ought to do this] probably check the brushes on the motor and see if they need replacing.

If they could put the smarts into an electric robotic mower similar to the Roomba vacuum cleaners with it able to go back to it's charging station often enough to do an acre of lawn and it knows when there is a rock too high for the blade to clear I'll sit back and have a beer while it's mowing.

Those already exist: we call them sheep

Ryobi is a low end price competitor, and you get what you pay for, which is a lot less than if you go a bit further up market.

Until last Christmas one of the things I did to earn a dollar was fix power tools, and after a few attempts, and a very close look, literally through a microscope in some areas I flatly refused to work on Ryobi, they're about as good as the cheapos from harbour Fright or Tractor Supply.

That's my experience with Ryobi. Cheap stuff. Seem to remember a lot of their power tools — drill, routers and the like — have plastic gears.

[David G]

Last time I paid attention - the same holding company owned several other brands beside Ryobi. Their relevant range for a woodworker --

Milwaukee - their top line. Best R&D, newest tech, best specs, build, and QC.

Rigid - their 'tradesman' line. Solid and reliable.

Ryobi - their bargain basement line. Aimed at weekend handymen. Not intended to last as long, nor perform as stoutly. Not total junk, as long as you don't ask too much of them, nor expect them to last as long as the others (though some do).

If it turns out the Ryobi is not performing for you... being maintenance headaches... it would serve you well to upgrade a bit.

[Bobcat]

I went from a corded weedeater to a battery one and will not go back.

The corded lawnmower is fine, but I have a small bit of grass

I really like not have to try to start the gas mower after a winter of sitting

[AnalogKid]

There's a petrol mower in my basement, but that's where it has stayed for the last two years, at least.

My garden is split on many levels, but the back lawn is 2 small sets of steps higher than the basement, and there's a small strip at the front that is up those two sets of steps, down a long flight of steps and on down the driveway. A while back I took to not mowing the front strip, but getting it all with a weedeater, just to save lugging the mower around.

My first weedeater was a fairly cheap two-stroke petrol job that was always a pain to start. I replaced it with a Black and Decker cordless electric one, and that was a big improvement for a while. But it used a NiCd battery that soon degraded and couldn't manage to edge the rear lawn and trim the front strip all in one go. I replaced that with a Makita 18V that uses the same batteries as my drill, driver, circular saw and hedge trimmer. I have 2x 4Ah batteries and that is always more than enough to get the job done.

On the back lawn, I now use a corded Flymo electric mower, light and easy to clean and put away. I thought I killed it a while back and was getting ready to buy the Makita mower (not cheap, but instead of being skin only, it comes with 2x5Ah 18V batteries to run at 36V) but it turned out to be an invisible break in the extension cord, so the Flymo soldiers on for another season or two yet. I do not miss the noise, smell or weight (no track lines in a soft, early-spring lawn with a Flymo).

[skuthorp]

If they could put the smarts into an electric robotic mower similar to the Roomba vacuum cleaners with it able to go back to it's charging station often enough to do an acre of lawn and it knows when there is a rock too high for the blade to clear I'll sit back and have a beer while it's mowing.

Plenty of Robot lawn mowers, but how smart they are I don't know.
With a programmable navigation chip you could have a mowing business and never lreave home…...
robot lawn mowers

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...iAAEgJijvD_BwE

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I used a corded Black & Decker for over 30 yrs with the original cord. Gave the mower to my dad when I moved in with second wife and she was using a larger gas mower for a larger yard.

[John Smith]

Thanks all. Seems I have a touch of pneumonia and I feel like the grass must when it's mowed.

Doc gave me a prescription and, hopefully, I'll stop coughing soon and get some sleep.

[epoxyboy]

Workmate has a cordless Ryobi, loves it.
When our gas mower dies, we'll go electric. Trouble is, at something like five years old, it has still not used a drop of oil, and the Briggs "easy start" thing is still doing what it says on the box - it has never needed more than two lazy pulls to get it going. So I guess it will be around for a while yet.
My wife's boss just gave her an all but brand new two stroke leaf blower, that was "hard to start". Godawful noisy thing started up right away for me, so now we have to keep that too - fortunately peak leaf season is only a three week thing for us, so once a week, three times a year for no more than half an hour. Electric would be so much less obnoxious though.

Pete