Considering an Electric Mower

  1. Never tried it, thanks for the heads-up.

  2. Heh heh. And I thought everybody scrapes the cruddy mess clean from the bottom of the mower after every mow like I do. Even using compressed air to clean off the bottom and top. I am kind of anal about keeping my vehicles and stuff spotless though.

  3. I tried that deflector/blocker discharge attachment too. It worked OK but deposited the clipping clumps along a big line. I took it out and let it mulch so as to distribute the crud over a wider area. I don’t rake or bag: I have the shittiest soil east of the Mississippi and the decomposition of the dead clippings does help to make a nice loam.

I have a Ryobi one and love it. It’s really quiet, it’s very light, there’s virtually no maintenance (no oil, no gas, no filter, no plug etc), it’s very easy to store since you can stand it up, put it on it’s side, you can store it upside down if you want.
The only issue I’ve had, if you even want to count it as an issue, is that it’s so light, it has a habit of bouncing more than you’d expect it to. Whether you’re tilting it back to turn or you hit a small bump, there’s no weight to keep it on the ground so I do get missed spots here and there if I’m not paying attention. On the other hand, the time it takes me to mow the law is probably close to half since it’s so easy to push around the yard.

I might have done it 15 times or so in the last 20 years. It never seemed to be a issue.

Bye and large there may not be any major issues, but then it could be a case of “I haven’t brushed my teeth for a week…and yet, they’re still there”. :slight_smile:

Always did it on my other mowers too. The cleaner the underside, the more “space” there is for the clips to be whirled about and re-cut by the blade. Another good reason is that “the nose knows”. The decaying mess under there really reeks, and makes the garage reek. It also keeps moisture at bay…less likely to rust the deck.

Although most (all?) of the newer mowers use lithium batteries, I have some fondness for older mowers which use lead-acid batteries. They can often be found used on sites like Craigslist for next to nothing, as the owners don’t want to be bothered to get new batteries. But a new set of lead-acid batteries will cost about $75 and are generic. You aren’t locked in to a proprietary battery system. I usually get 2-3 seasons out of a set of batteries.

One downside is that the older mowers won’t be as powerful as a $400 Li-Ion mower. It may have a smaller deck, lack any self-propel feature, not mulch as well, etc. But if you have basic lawn, it can do a fine job and not cost too much.

I have an Ego; self-propelled.

This thing will cut a mix of massively overgrown grass and weeds (I’m talking thigh-high) with less hassle than any walk-behind gas mower I’ve ever used. And I’ve had a couple that were selected specifically for that ability.

It doesn’t do a neat job if the grass is that tall, of course; but it cuts it. If the lawn’s not entirely out of hand it does a better job.

It’s not as quiet as I hoped – it’s a lot quieter than a gas mower, but the noise it does make hits one of my personal can’t-stand-that-frequencies; so I use it with hearing protectors. Most people I expect wouldn’t have that problem. I can’t remember whether it’s the wheel drive causing it or the blade drive.

Batteries certainly don’t take ten hours to charge; more like one. By the time the battery needs charging I’m usually ready for a break anyway. Somebody young and vigorous with a large lawn should most likely get two batteries, but it should do a small lawn on one charge. I eventually wound up with two batteries anyway because I was happy enough with the mower to get a chainsaw, and it was almost as cheap to buy the saw with a battery as without one.

I only use it as a mulcher because I never fertilize the lawn, and don’t want in any case to go through the hassle of emptying bags; so I can’t speak to the bagging issue.

Anyone who’s experience with a battery run mower is several years old: they got massively better fairly recently.