My new yard is small so I think an electric will be OK. Probably buy a Kobalt from Lowes. Anyone have opinions on that or other electric mower brands? I will get a self propelled mower.
I bought one several years ago. (it wasn’t self propelled). It had two batteries you could swap out (although one was plenty for my yard). It worked great, when it worked. There was some electrical problem and the mower would cut off intermittently. The problem got worse and worse and I ended up throwing it away and buying one with a cord. (no problems). I prefer the cordless, and perhaps I just got a lemon (or perhaps they’ve improved the product). I hope by the time my current one quits I can go cordless.
Anyway, keep your warranty info and take it back at the first sign of trouble.
just bought one and love it. A small one (19" blade) and not self-propelled. Seems to have good power and length of charge. Goodbye gas can and tugs on the rope.
I’ve had the Kobalt 40V for several years now. Not self-propelled, but very light and easy to push. Very small yard, about 1/10 acre. I love it. I can mow at 8:00am without bothering the neighbors. No gas storage. It’ll bog down if you let your grass get way too high. I have replaced the batteries as well which is not cheap.
Here is a thread from a couple of months ago that may be of use. (No idea how that link will work after the changeover tomorrow.)
I’ve been using a Sun Joe mower for a year. It doesn’t feel like it has very high build quality, but it’s never failed to work.
Bought a Toro 22" Smartstow this spring, with the biggest battery available (7.5 Ah).
Pros: It’s quiet, much quieter than a gasoline-powered mower. Not only is the pop-pop-pop of the engine exhaust gone, the blade also spins more slowly. I don’t breathe engine exhaust anymore while mowing. Plenty of power, even for mulching. Whereas my old 4-horse would slow down or even stall in heavy grass, this thing goes into Hulk-mode when it hits the heavy stuff: it keeps an eye on current draw, and actually speeds the blade up until it senses that the grass isn’t so thick anymore. Self-propelled, which is a nice change from what I’ve had for the past 20 years or so. Battery is plenty big for our yard (0.2 acres, minus landscaping and house footprint). Mower folds up quickly and stores vertically, taking up much less floorspace than my old mower did.
Cons: This was an expensive mower, >$600. I was OK with that, since it’s something I’ll be using a lot. Battery charging is a little slow: if it’s very close to flat, it’ll take over two hours to fully charge it. For best battery life you don’t want to store it for long periods of time fully charged (true for all Li-ion batteries), so this just means you need to plan ahead. Not a big deal for me. Gonna mow the lawn today? Step out to the garage before breakfast and put the battery on the charger; it’ll be ready when you are.
Bought an EGO 21 inch self propelled mower. Seems light which is good. I will use it in 2 weeks and will let you know how it goes.
I’ve been using an Ego 21 inch (not self propelled) mower for over a year now and absolutely love it. It isn’t as noisy as a gas mower, and I can mow the front and back yard both on a 5 Ah battery. It isn’t nearly as heavy as a gas mower, and I don’t smell like gasoline when I’m done with the yard.
I paid $500 for my EGO which was my budget. My son bought a house so I got one for him too.
Agreed. Another thumbs up for the EGO. As far as the quietness goes, to say it isn’t as noisy as a gasoline mower is quite an understatement. It’s quiet quiet quiet. It was a most pleasant discovery not known till I used the thing. You can actually hear yourself think. Because it’s cooler, I mow at twilight and it’s quiet enough not to ruin the neighbor’s evenings. The little LED headlights really help then; at first I thought they were a gimmick, but they really do a good job at that time of day.
How big a battery does it come with (how many Amp hrs)? I think the lion’s share of the cost of the Ego mower is the battery, Trying to confirm that.
It comes with a 5 Amp-hour battery. Enough to cut my slightly more than a quarter acre lawn, with at least 15 minutes of run time left over.
I might get a spare battery eventually.
Sounds like they’ve greatly improved the battery performance of cordless mowers, which I would expect by now. My Pop bought one of the first models by Toro back in the late 70’s. It drove me nuts. The battery wouldn’t last long enough to complete our medium sized yard and it took many hours to recharge. It should have taken just over an hour to complete the yard work, instead it turned into an all day job. Even 40+ years later you can imagine my reluctance to buy one.
I blame cell phones (and later, electric cars) for the upswing in battery performance in the past decade. With the side-benefit of quadcopter drones and electric lawnmowers that aren’t terrible.
I think it’s the other way round; cell phones were made more compact and powerful by the battery performance that’s been available in the past decade or two. Googling, lithium-ion batteries have been available for only twenty or thirty years, and they’re what many or most of these devices use now.
I have the Kobalt electric fwiw. It’s better than the Black and Decker I had before. Mine is older, and the only issue I’ve really had is the batteries going bad. It uses 2, and basically won’t work unless both batteries are working. I’ve had the mower…um…I guess 6 years…and I’ve replaced 2 so far. So, not terrible. The B&D was much worse and didn’t have interchangeable batteries (new ones probably do). I’ve heard the Ego is pretty good and I think it’s got a bigger battery.
Basically, I think you can’t go wrong with the newer electric mowers. I’d never go back to the gas powered ones.
I’ve used a Greenworks electric mower for 3 or 4 years with no problems.