mtn
mtn MegaDork
4/25/18 1:24 p.m.

I'm tired of dealing with small gas engines. I want to get a battery powered mower. 

 

Any thoughts on which ones work best? It is a small yard, but I'll want to use it for leaf cleanup in the fall so it must have a bagger. Other than that, I really don't care. I already have a Dewalt ecosystem of batteries for my tools, but by no means am I hooked on DeWalt.

mtn
mtn MegaDork
4/25/18 1:26 p.m.

Oops, meant to put this in off topic

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
4/25/18 1:48 p.m.

I've been using a battery mower exactly for that purpose for about 4 years now.  Works great.  It's a Black & Decker.  Has more than enough battery to go over my lawn multiple times shredding and picking up leaves.

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
4/25/18 1:55 p.m.

I'm not able to look for the discussion, but there was a good response to this question some time in the last year. 

I have some input, but can't post more until I get off work. I don't have a battery mower, but have some tools that use the 80 volt battery that the mower uses.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
4/25/18 2:00 p.m.

I just picked up a Kobalt 80V mower from Lowe's, our yard is light on grass so I haven't had a chance to use it yet. But I will in the next few days. 5 year warranty on the mower itself, 3 year on the batteries. It came with two.  

And of course there are a bunch of other yard tools in the 80V line that will use the same batteries. 

I also was tired of dealing with small gas engines and having oil/gas in the garage. 

Downside, it was $499+tax.

Robbie
Robbie GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/25/18 2:09 p.m.

I have the ryobi if you want you are free to borrow it and try it out.

tuna55
tuna55 MegaDork
4/25/18 2:13 p.m.

I very much want a battery ride-on. They are starting to come down to reasonable prices now.

 

How loud are the electric pushers? I always wondered how much noise was blades and how much noise was engine.

mtn
mtn MegaDork
4/25/18 2:17 p.m.
Robbie said:

I have the ryobi if you want you are free to borrow it and try it out.

Probably not worth that much effort--does it work?

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
4/25/18 2:20 p.m.

In reply to tuna55 :

Pretty darned quiet.  

Robbie
Robbie GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/25/18 2:31 p.m.
mtn said:
Robbie said:

I have the ryobi if you want you are free to borrow it and try it out.

Probably not worth that much effort--does it work?

ha! I was secretly hoping you would volunteer to mow my yard...

It does work great. I wish the headlights didn't always run, but I DO love the headlights. It is quiet enough (much like an electric weedwacker) that I don't feel bad mowing at dusk, and the headlights make it really easy to see where you have mowed and where you haven't.

Headlights would be a worthwhile upgrade to a standard gas pusher.

Jaynen
Jaynen UltraDork
4/25/18 2:47 p.m.

My experience was that the cordless I had at the time didnt have the juice for heavy/wet lawn, but the corded electric one i had would go through anything.

I really like my newer Toro mower (gas 4 stroke) that you can stand on its end for storage

mtn
mtn MegaDork
4/25/18 2:56 p.m.

Homedepot was having a really good deal on a Ryobi when I just looked, so I pulled the trigger. 

Pete Gossett
Pete Gossett GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/25/18 3:25 p.m.

In reply to mtn :

I hope you have better luck than I’ve had with their cordless blower & weed eater. Within 2 years I’ve had one battery & one charger die. I rarely use them too. I contacted Ryobi about warranty replacement since I’d mailed in the registration cards after I bought them, but they said that doesn’t apply to the warranty & I need my receipt. I’m not about to spend hours combing through my box of receipts from 2-years ago, so I’ll not be buying any of their products in the future. 

mtn
mtn MegaDork
4/25/18 3:42 p.m.

I'll save the receipts and also plan on storing the batteries indoors over the winter. 

wheelsmithy
wheelsmithy GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/25/18 3:49 p.m.

Handy info I have heard, and believe. 

 

It is better to use the holy heckfire out of your cordless tools, than to rarely use them/keep them charged. 

I bought a $200 cordless Jegs impact, and got approximately $10 of use out of the darned thing before the batteries went breasts up. It would have cost approximately $10 less than the whole thing cost to get new batteries.

TLDR: Use them hard, run them down to zero charge, and don't store the battery on the charger.

 

rslifkin
rslifkin SuperDork
4/25/18 3:52 p.m.

Lithium ions definitely prefer to be stored at lower charge levels.  Stone dead isn't good (because if you over-discharge it, it's toast for good).  But definitely charge before use, not after.  And storing the batteries in a cooler environment will help their lifespan as well.  

szeis4cookie
szeis4cookie Dork
4/25/18 3:58 p.m.

Good to know about the battery stuff.  I just bought the Kobalt 40V model, so far so good.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
4/25/18 4:01 p.m.
Jaynen said:

My experience was that the cordless I had at the time didnt have the juice for heavy/wet lawn, but the corded electric one i had would go through anything.

I really like my newer Toro mower (gas 4 stroke) that you can stand on its end for storage

Brand? Voltage? 

Jaynen
Jaynen UltraDork
4/25/18 5:21 p.m.
z31maniac said:
Jaynen said:

My experience was that the cordless I had at the time didnt have the juice for heavy/wet lawn, but the corded electric one i had would go through anything.

I really like my newer Toro mower (gas 4 stroke) that you can stand on its end for storage

Brand? Voltage? 

Neuton CE6 I think, https://www.neutonpower.com/ce6-mower/ce6-4-neuton-mower-19in-w-bagger-plug-charger-new.axd

 

The corded one was this one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZVOLXE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Greenworks 12amp. I could cut knee high grass that was wet and it would just go through it

 

No Time
No Time Dork
4/25/18 6:04 p.m.

In reply to tuna55 :

My grandfather had one of these when I was growing up. Way ahead of its time, but subjected to battery limitations at the time (1970-1980s).

 

I want one of these, but still struggle with the price

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
4/25/18 10:32 p.m.

I have the 80v kobalt line trimmer, which I use with multiple other attachments: pole saw, edger. Thing's a beast, especially the chainsaw. Battery charges fast. Can run it really hard for about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Friend has the mower, which he loves. 

I did have to change the trimmer head, the original one was terrible. Other glitch, the attachment got stuck on the first one and I had to return it. I keep it well greased now. 

tuna55
tuna55 MegaDork
4/26/18 6:56 a.m.
No Time said:

In reply to tuna55 :

My grandfather had one of these when I was growing up. Way ahead of its time, but subjected to battery limitations at the time (1970-1980s).

 

I want one of these, but still struggle with the price

A buddy at work took a ton of time and energy and rebuilt one of those, even though we couldn't find the drawings anywhere. He's weird, and for some reason, it is re-disassembled and in his basement,.

sobe_death
sobe_death Dork
4/26/18 12:45 p.m.

I have used Greenworks, eGo, and the Kobalt battery versions. All are good, but the main piece of advice I would give is go for the highest voltage you can afford, as the 56-80v versions seem equivalent to cheaper gas options in terms of performance!

I've also heard that Worx tools are pretty robust.

porschenut
porschenut Reader
4/27/18 7:48 a.m.

Bought an EGO self propelled last year.  Worked great but bagging it did not pick up as efficiently as a gas mower. It runs for over an hour on a charge and cuts clean.  So quiet you can hear people walking by talk.  I didn't store the battery inside, was in a garage that gets down to about 20.  It had a full charge, seems ok now but just did one cut.  Will see if it hold up.

FIYAPOWA
FIYAPOWA Reader
4/27/18 8:02 a.m.

I bought the Kobalt 40v pusher ($299) last summer - it folds up and stands on its end for storage, has plenty of juice to do my small yard (subdivision boredom), pretty quiet - you can carry on a conversation with it running.

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