I’m looking to purchase a new lawn mower and I’d like it to be non-gas powered. I don’t want one where I’m lugging a cord around the lawn with me. I want a battery powered one where you can charge it overnight and then just take it out to use.
Anyone have experience using them? I’m looking for an appropriate one for a small to mid-sized lawn and would like to know more about how easy they are to handle/turn, how well they cut, how difficult they are to maintain, what happens if you skip a week or two in mowing. etc.
The cost shouldn’t be of primary concern BUT I’m still interested in getting a good deal and I’m hoping that the off-season is the time to do it.
For the most part, those are good questions to consider. I normally do not bag grass so the mulching aspect is of particular importance. Also, as I said, I have a relatively small yard. I’d imagine (or sincerely hope) that I could complete my entire lawn mowing on one charge and I won’t have to worry about that.
Is your lot level? I ask because few of the battery powered ones are self propelled and are a bitch to push uphill (I tried my neighbor’s). You can get self propelled ones, but you may run out of juice (I really don’t have any experience with these). My next door neighbor has this one(not self propelled), and if he lets the grass grow a bit long, he has to borrow mine (a gas, self propelled mower).
It’s level enough that I’ve had no problem using a push mower on it, so getting a self propelled one isn’t necessary but it’s still a good option to look at.
Your typical push-mowers use very light, 4hp engines. Battery operated mowers are much heavier, at about 75lbs. Cord-operated mower might be a better option if that’s an issue for you. I have no idea how well they cut or mulch. My front neighbor has one and he uses it and seems to like it. My back neighbor has one and he hates it.
Mowing wet grass seems to cause more problems with electric mowers than gas powered ones.
We have one with a cord and only once in ten years (so far) has my SO accidentally run over the 100 ft. cord. Otherwise, still running great, no horrible gas odors, relatively quiet and cuts the grass well.
A reel mower is easier to use than electric. Reel mowers are very lightweight and I find them easier to push. Pushing a 70 lb battery powered mower is a major workout. Either type mower requires frequent cutting. Only a gas mower can handle tall grass.
We have a reel mower. I used it for a year. It may work well for other people but I found it to be horribly impractical.
First, the blades rotate perpendicular to the wheels meaning that tall grass or weeds that spring up fast in between mowings are very difficult to cut. Second, twigs and other obstacles would slow your progress down. Third, the blades were inside the wheel rather than flowing over them like other mowers meaning that if you followed your wheel tracks up and down the line you’d miss a good 3-6 inches of grass.
I have a pretty small lawn and have owned both a cord and a battery model.
As other people have said the battery-powered models weigh considerably more than corded models. If your lawn is small and pretty level I don’t think that should be much of an issue for you (my short, skinny 13-year-old daughter has mowed with mine).
In my experience the fears about having to constantly mow are a bit overstated. You definitely can’t mow a hay field with either electric model, but I’ve skipped a week and been able to handle it without issue. When the grass is tall and wet you do have to slow down more than with a gasoline powered mower. In my case mowing both my lawn and my mother-in-law’s takes about 45 minutes normally. Even with tall, damp grass I’m done under an hour.
This is what I currently have: http://www.blackanddecker.com/cordlessmower/
As for maintenance, you have to plug it in and sharpen the blades.
I’d recommend you not judge a corded mower too harshly unless you’ve had experience with them. They’re really not that bad. I mowed my grandmother’s yard with her corded mower for years when I was a kid and you just get used to it. Once or twice per cycle you have to flip it over your head, but for the most part cord management is pretty easy. If you can work in a straight zig-zag instead of a concentric pattern it would be even easier. Corded mowers are more reliable, cheaper(both in energy and dollar terms), less toxic(no battery acids/lithium), virtually maintenance free, lightweight, and “greener”. We replaced our two-cycle gas/oil string trimmer with an electric and it’s light enough for my eight year old to use and I don’t have to worry about her burning herself on the motor, spilling gasoline, not being able to start it, or polluting. She can handle the cord, with occasional help when it’s time to put it away. 100’ cords are not easy things to handle at her age.
Mtgman reminds me I meant to talk about corded mowers too. I had no problem with the corded mower, it was considerably lighter and flipping the cord around wasn’t a big deal as long as you moved back and forth away from the plug.
I will say my wife and kids, who didn’t use it as often as I did, hated it. I think largely because they didn’t use it enough to get used to it.
Reliving my experiences as a child with reel mowers I would agree but if you get a chance to look at the new Fiscarsone I would just to see if it’s as different as it looks. It’s a full width mower. My fear of a battery powered unit would be weight. If you have a small lawn then I don’t think the running time is going to be a factor but pushing a heavy mower around would. I’ve recently been mowing a friend’s lawn which has a slight incline but even the light weight gas power is a PITA. I suppose I’m spoiled by a self propelled.
Black & Decker makes the highest rated electric mulching mowers on the market. It also comes with a bag, if you don’t want to mulch. The height adjustment is a simple one-lever operation. I bought one, and it works very well for the mulching operation. My only complaint is that I tend to have to go over some small areas a couple of times because the grass is flattened instead of cut.
I have a Craftsman battery-powered, mulching mower that’s now about 12 years old (although there are some years that I’m away and don’t get to use it). It’s a smaller model, probably about 20" deck, and it was perfect for my 1/3 city lot for several years. I use it now for the periphery of the house, shed, and mailboxes where the tractor doesn’t fit (different yard).
I don’t know that it weighs 75 pounds. It certainly doesn’t seem very heavy to me, although I’m used to non-self-propelled mowers anyway. It’s certainly very easy to push.
It uses two, in-series 12VDC batteries. I don’t recall if they’re lead-acid or not (but they’re maintenance free). I’ve replaced them once in 12 years, and they’re probably ready to be replaced again. Other than sharpening the blades once per year (twice per year when I did the entire, previous yard with it), and the batteries, I couldn’t have asked for a better machine.
Mulching is only a slight problem when it’s rainy and I’ve not gotten to the grass before it grows too much. It has a bag, but I never use it because I prefer to mulch (I wish the tractor mulched).
I loved my 24 volt electric mower. I could do an hour of mowing with it. The problem was it required two $100 dollar batteries for the fifth year. Buy a 12 volt one battery mower if you go with a battery mower. I could have mowed at any time because it only made a whoosh noise like a window fan. The neighbors wouldn’t have woke up if I mowing at 2 AM in the morning. I didn’t have to deal with gas so I could store it inside. I didn’t have the starting problems of a gas mower stored outside and exposed to the weather. The underside was a solid molded piece of plastic so the grass even if damp never built up under the mower in the cutting area at all. The downside was I couldn’t find a dethatching blade that fit it and the fact I needed to spend $200 dollars on the batteries for year 5 and the mower was $250 new. I would go with the AC model unless $200 for batteries isn’t a problem. An electric mower solves many storage and run problems that the gas models have.
Not impressed with the comments on the Craftsman at all. And it’s 80 lbs to boot. Doesn’t make me want to abandon my trusty B&S Poulan rear drive 6 speed at all. Hit the primer and it starts on the first pull ready to cut down the bush clippings I feed it while mowing.
I get so excited over battery technology and it just doesn’t seem to be there yet. It’s the frickin 21st century. Forget the flying cars, give us cheap batteries that work.
I used a Black & Decker cordless mower for a year and then sold it and bought a gas powered mower. There were several problems with a cordless mower:
Not enough suction to pick up leaves. I had to rake any and all leaves before mowing the lawn. The gas mower can easily pick up leaves.
19" cutting width. The gas mower is 22". The extra three inches makes a noticeable difference.
The battery mower really had trouble when the grass was long or wet. Mowing at least once a week during the growing season was essential.
Battery mower is not self propelled.
When the batteries were new and the grass was not too long, I could cut the entire lawn on a single charge. After a year of use, I would have to stop and recharge after mowing about 5,000 sq ft. If I let the grass get too long, mowing became a two-day project with an overnight charge in between.