Considering an Electric Mower

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live on 5 acres of which I mow 2 1/2 with a Zero Turn mower. Works well, no problems. But I currently use a Honda self propelled mower to make a path around the house and a small fenced area that the dog uses in bad weather. I mulch rather than bag. The Honda is getting old and probably needs some work done, so thinking of going electric instead. I already have an Echo electric string trimmer that I use where it’s needed.

Any electric mower users will to tell me what they have and whether they are happy or not? I’d want a self propelled unit as there are a few sloped areas around the house.

2

Ego Power+. I don’t have the mower myself, but everybody I know who has a battery powered mower has an Ego. I have a few of their other compatible tools, and they’re all excellent. The chainsaw is my favorite battery powered tool of all time; it’s just an absolute blast to use.

You may want to reconsider the self-propelled requirement as battery powered mowers are significantly lighter than gas mowers. My neighbor, a wee little lady in her 60’s, folds up her Ego and hangs it on the wall of her garage for storage.

3

I have a Homelite electric (corded) and have used electrics for years. I don’t have a garage, and have no desire to store gasoline in the house :eek:

I also have a small lot – less than an acre.

It works fine for my purposes.

4

Electric mowers may mean two things: Corded mower or battery powered. I assume you mean battery powered since I doubt you want to have a cord attached for a lot that large. But that is a very big lot compared to most homeowners. I would think it might exceed the battery capability for most battery mowers. You may need get a mower which has a removable battery pack and use several batteries to completely mow a yard of that size.

Battery mowers also tend to skimp on power-consuming features in order to extend battery life. Either they don’t have self-propelled or the self-propelled may be a little underpowered. Any power directed to propel the mower will shorten the time the mower can mow the lawn. They also might not spin the blade as forcefully, which means there won’t be as much updraft in the mowing area. They may do a worse job at mulching or pulling wet or heavy grass up into the blade.

But for normal homeowners, they often do a great job. For a simple lawn that just needs regular mowing, they’ll get the job done without the hassle of dealing with gas. They are also quieter, which means less annoyance to people in the house or neighbors. One downside is the batteries may be costly to replace. If you don’t mind used, you can often find cheap mowers on craigslist that just need their batteries replaced.

5

Get a outdoor storage box, store the gasoline there. Also leave extra room in the gas can when you fill it to avoid the thermal expansion from getting out.

I say that because I used a corded mower, then gas, I won’t go back to corded. Not only does gas have much more power, I don’t have to move the cord every pass.

6

I have a Black & Decker cordless mower and it’s been a very reliable beast for a number of years. The one quarrel I’d have would be battery life, on a big lot like that you would be highly unlikely to get the whole job done on one charge. More like 3-5 unless battery life has improved significantly since I bought mine. Maybe if you got one of those with removable batteries and kept spares around fully charged? Looking at this one, with a run time of 60 mins and a charge time of 30 mins, guess you could just keep swapping batteries until it’s all done. Looks like a self propelled model is available, just not from Amazon at the moment.

And that’s only about $100 more than I paid for mine years ago. So yeah, seems feasible.

7

I have a Black and Decker corded mower that I bought for about $150 8 years ago or so. I have a typical suburban 1/8 acre and it’s fine. The mower seems to do a good job compared to similarly priced gas mowers, but not as good as a $400 gas mower.

The only maintenance I’ve ever done is sharpen the blade and clean the underside of the deck. It is not self propelled, because I expect only battery powered electric mowers are self propelled. It is very light for a mower, so that isn’t too much of a problem, but is a bit of a pain on the sloped part of my yard.

The cord is annoying. If you’ve ever used a corded upright vacuum then you’ll have a sense of what using the cord is like. The reason I went with a cord was because at the time the highly rated battery powered mowers were 3 times the price, and I had doubts about the longevity of the batteries.

8

I have a Ryobi 40V battery mower. And a 40V powerhead for an edger, weedwhacker, and hedgetrimmer (powerhead seems a little underpowered for edging, but I may just not be good with it yet). Like the mower a lot. It’s self propelled, but I rarely use that feature due to the impact on battery life. It’s light enough to push without a problem, but it is nice to have the motors when the angle is weird and I can’t actually get my weight behind it. I mulch and it seems fine at it.

One battery isn’t enough to mow everything, but I have two, which is enough to mow everything and weedwhack a good portion. Ryobi did a good job locking me in on small tools, then having a good enough end of season mower sale when my old gas one died that I went there too. Now I’m locked in there too, probably getting a leaf blower next.

9

You can’t say “gas has much more power” without being specific about what you’re comparing it to. I’ve found just the opposite. For decades I had a reliable two-cycle Lawn Boy which was fine except that it tended to struggle in tall, thick grass and if I wasn’t careful would sometimes stall. When it developed a major problem after a very long time, I replaced it with a cheap store-brand corded electric at a time when the government was offering rebates to those trading in gas lawn mowers for electrics, and the electric has no such problem. The thing was so cheap that after the rebate it was practically free. Sometimes I’m afraid it may trip a circuit breaker when going through thick overgrown grass, but it never has.

What I will say, though, is that I found a corded electric mower to be a really major PITA. I have no experience with battery-powered electrics but if I was going electric, for me that would be the only option to gas. I really, really hate dealing with that cord.

10

I have had a Greenworks electric mower for about 2 years now, and I like it much better than a gas mower.

It’s quieter. It cuts at least as well as a similar-sized gas mower. It starts up instantly in the spring; my gas mower never did that even though I treated the residual gas properly. It doesn’t leak or stink up the garage and I don’t worry about dangerous gas storage near the house.

My model isn’t self-propelled, but there are models for just a little more money that are.

The only criticism is my experience with batteries. This unit can store two under the hood, so you aren’t left at the far end of the lot when one battery gets low; you can just swap them in the field and charge both later. But I have experienced a 50% failure – out of the box – with batteries, and of two chargers I bought new, one never worked.

Because batteries are so heavy, it wasn’t cost effective to return them, so I ate the loss. I even tried a supposedly compatible brand, which wasn’t. If it wasn’t for the good things about electrics, I sure would be soured on the whole idea, but I have been hating gas-powered mowers for so long, I decided to stick it out.

My old gas mower would handle about 4 yard mows on a tank. My electric will handle not-quite a single mow on one battery.

Batteries take a long time to charge – 10 hours. Since it’s unlikely you will cut your lawn every day, that might not seem like a problem, but my batteries also fit a string trimmer. That seems like a good thing – compatibility among garden tools – but it makes a hand-held trimmer very heavy, and you have the same battery charging problem. Now you need 3 fully-charged batteries before starting to work on the lawn!

Some cost statistics. I bought the gas mower 35 years ago, used, for $20. Perhaps I spent $200 over time for maintenance and gas. The electric cost me $600 if you include the extra (and failed) batteries. I doubt if the batteries will still be good after 5 years, but the maintenance should be minimal (mostly blade sharpening). So if economics is your primary concern, electric may not be the way to go.

ETA: My electric mower has an automatic 2-speed motor, so if it doesn’t need the extra power, it drops back. I’m sure this saves battery life and it doesn’t seem to impact the quality of cutting.

11

As I mentioned in the OP, I’m only wanting this for trimming around the house and the dogs pen. The pen is about 20 by 10 and one push around the house is about 300’ more or less. I more the rest with a 54" zero turn mower.

If it runs for 20 minutes that would probably be good enough.

I do want to mulch or rear discharge the clippings though.

I guess I’ll be heading to Lowes or HD next time I’m allowed out.

12

i understand you only want small area of your five acres to be cut with the new mower.

back when i was scouting around to replace my corded b&d mower … ego was just coming on to the scene (as were others) … think the year was 2010 or thereabouts. the mowers were severely under-powered … had to cut twice a week, in late afternoon (damp grass = less powerful) … batteries lasted only 2-3 seasons ($140 each pack) … could cut only small areas before needing recharge. at that time … home-depot offered their most powerful ego (20" blade) for discounted price of $450.

the majority of the above information i had gleaned from consumers’ reviews back then … not from personal experience. i never did purchase a unit … instead, kept fixing the 13-year old corded mower i had. aside from occasional repairs, it kept tripping the breaker … caused by morning dew (5am work-outs) seeping into the connection between two extension cords … resulting in 5 minutes with hair-dryer to dry the connection … before finishing the job. i digress.

home-depot purportedly offers ego’s LM2102SP model for $499 which includes battery-pack and charger. i’d suggest you read customer’s reviews (ego’s, amazon’s, homedepot’s) … as well as reading what consumerreports.org has to say. furthermore … you might also watch a few videos on youtube.

imho … for what you need it for … it probably could suffice on a single charge. find out if you need to trickle-charge the battery during winter season when not being used. paraphrased from ego’s website … " battery life is usually measured in terms of recharge cycles ". if you use other ego products … a single backup battery-pack might be universal … but the pack may cost $250 or more.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/EGO-21-in-56V-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Electric-Walk-Behind-Self-Propelled-Mower-7-5-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-Included-LM2102SP/206515944
https://www.google.com/search?&q=EGO+LM2102SP

13

A “report from the ground”, if you will:

I replaced my long time and well used gas push mower with an electric; a 21 inch EGO non-self-propelled model. 5 A/hr battery. When I mow my lawn, it takes 45-50 minutes, and the battery charge indicator still shows green. It’s powerful; cuts through the thickest fescue ( plus crabgrass! ) as good as any 4 HP gas engine. It seems very good at modulating amperage use based on the load it’s under.

But what I really like about it came as a by-the-way discovery: It’s so super QUIET. Compared to your zero turn mower, which ( the ones I’ve heard ) is as loud as a C-130 Hercules transport, this electric thing is so quiet that the bumpity-bump of the wheels over the terrain can be heard over the mower itself. You can actually hear yourself think. My guess is that they keep the blade speed lower, and manage the “oomph” through torque rather than RPM.

I like the fold-ability for storage as well. From what I understand, the battery can also be used in other products of theirs.

Very happy with it.

14

The Ego is one of the ones under consideration. If I mow CCW around the house I can go down the steepest slope and might not need self propelled. But then I’d be going up the other slope, but it’s not as steep so there’s that.

My electric string trimmer is an Echo 40V and it works well. Got a 2 stroke Sthil gas trimmer as well but seldom use it any more unless I need to head into the woods.

15

Late last year I got an amazing deal on a Sun Joe 100v mower and snowblower. 600 for both, with 1 battery and charger between them. The mower is self propelled and cuts very nicely. I cut abou 1/4 acre with no problem at all. A friend had an ego and loves it as well.

Look for brushless motors, as they are more efficient. Most of the folks making battery powered gear waited til the second or third generation of their tools to offer brushless motors and you can still find some of those earlier models for sale.

16

I have one of the Ego mowers and it is pretty good. It is expensive though at $400 for a mower that I would say is not as powerful as it should be for that price. Also the deck is plastic and mine is already starting to scratch some on the sides and i am careful when I use it. I am kind of shocked that it was not something like aluminum for the price.
It cuts great - so long as you don’t try and cut wet grass that is too high and it solves the problem that I had.
I am a renter and so did not have a shed to keep my old gas mower and kept it outside thru winters double covered up and gas drained. it used to take a few heavy pulls but once it kicked on the first time it was good for the season. When it died I bought a new one and found that the carburetor kept getting clogged making me take it back (on warranty) to be fixed over and over again. Of course the 3 weeks they took fixing it made me have to cut my small lawn with mostly a week whacker. That got old fast.
I bought the electric mower after that one kicked the dust.
It is much less trouble so far. It runs about 50 minutes on a charge - a new battery is over $200 - and that is enough and it charges in about 30 minutes. I also wipe down the bed after each cut and bring the mower inside and stand it up in the unfinished part of the basement where it takes up very little room.
This is supremely convenient and a lot less messy as far as I am concerned.
I also went out and got a battery powered weed whacker which makes that part of it easier too.
I am sure it would work easily for the place you need to cut provided that you felt it was worth the extra money.
If it means anything it has a headlamp on the front which can be turned on a night and it is about 1/2 as loud as a gas mower. Good luck.

17

I have an EGO but have some issues:

  1. It doesnt bag well.
  2. Grass sticks on bottom and you practically need to clean it off every time you mow.
  3. No real side discharge. oh theres this thing you stick in but it doesnt work well.

Otherwise its ok.

18

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that the Ego electric mower is at least 1/3 lighter than a regular gas mower. At least that is the way it feels to me.

19

I don’t get this - I’ve always used corded mowers (never had a garden big enough to justify a petrol mower) and provided you turn towards the cable, you should rarely if ever need to stop and move it. For example, say you start by mowing down the left edge of the lawn. When you reach the end, obviously you turn to your right to head back up. The cable should go round your body (as long as there is a bit of slack in it) and follow you back up on your right. When you reach the top, you turn to your left to do the next row and the cable will follow you back down on your left, and so on.

Of course, on large lawns you will need an extension cable but if you unroll/untangle it all at the start, it’s no real problem.

20

Unless your yard is very small and simple (no trees or landscaped islands), electric cords are a pain in the ass. For years I’ve tolerated a cord for my trimmer and blower. I always found it a hassle to get the cord laid out at the start, to drag it along while in use, and then coil it up afterwards. This year I replaced my gas mower with a battery-powered model, and I also replaced my trimmer and blower with battery-powered models. Looking forward to better weather so I can try these things out.