Experience Electric/Rechargeable Lawn Mowers/Tools

Just bought a new house with a small yard and recycled my crap gas mowers before we moved. Looking for a rechargeable mower, weed whacker and blower.

Anyone using such devices?

Worx for weed-whackers - not sure if their mowers are any good. The wheedwhacker had a early battery failure that they replaced for free, since then it's been two years of solid service.

I have a Worx weed eater. I don't love it. I like the lack of maintenance needed but I feel like it could be better at actually cutting grass. I mean it isn't horrible but it ain't great either.

B&D weed whacker is 5 years old, no issues.

How about a reel mower? They work fine if you keep them sharp and oiled.

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/grd/4034303702.html

I just picked up a reel motors for a fairly good sized yard. It far exceeded my expectations.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/reduced-my-cylinder-count-by-one-reel-mower-conten/64362/page1/

My reel mower is so old that the steel wheels are so worn they have no traction.

My B&D battery trim works great. Better than the three previous gas jobs.

iceracer wrote: My B&D battery trim works great. Better than the three previous gas jobs.

Same here. My brother gives me crap about having a battery powered trimmer, but he has bought 2 gas ones in the 5 years I've had my B&D. The only thing I've done is add trimmer line when the original ran out.

My only experience with a borrowed electric mower lasted exactly one pass. I headed to the depot and bought a Briggs-powered model. I prefer gas. They smell nice. They're cheap, dependable, and have enough power to get the job done. And early on a Saturday morning they make a soothing roar that lets the neighbors know that they stayed up too late and drank too much the night before.

I trim around one suburban house and wouldnt trade my professional grade gas powered string trimmer for anything. Tons of power, tons of noise, starts first pull every time. Put good 93 octane (no ethanol) and some Bel-Ray oil in it, it runs all year on a gallon of gas, and the sweet two stroke noise takes me back to my days of having a dirt bike.

My mom has a battery powered lawn mower, don't know the brand. She lives in Cali and has a very small yard. My front yard is bigger than her front and back yard combined and my house sits towards the front of the lot. It does fine for what she uses it for. Would have to charge it a couple times with my yard. I have a battery powered leaf blower (B&D) that fortunately came with 2 batteries. One with full charge will barely clean off the sidewalk and driveway after mowing my yard. Of course, I have 1.2 acres. Prefer my gas equipment. No long power cords stretched across the yard, no recharging batteries and handles the thickest stuff with more than enough power.

I have a B&D weed whacker. It sort of works. Sort of. Provided you trim after every mow and thus don't ask it to work to hard... if you're like me and only trim when things get unruly, then it gets overwhelmed pretty quickly. When I have a shed again, I'll get a gas weed whacker...

For a mower, I have a cheap 4 stroke push mower from Home Depot. It's going on 3 years old now... gets almost zero maintenance... lives in my falling apart shed... and every time I start it, mouse bedding gets ejected from various vents. I think I've replaced the plug once and had to reattach the plug wire when some brush ripped the boot off. I'll use it until it dies, then put it to the curb and go back to Home Depot and buy another one.

Have Ryobi 18V trimmer and leaf blower. Got strictly because they were cheap at the tool outlet, and I already have a crapton of Ryobi 18V tools and had plenty of batteries.

Both work fine around our small lot, but battery life isn't super long, even with the Lithium packs.

93gsxturbo wrote: Put good 93 octane (no ethanol)

And where do you find that? I thought it came out of the pipeline with ethanol already mixed.

I much prefer a battery powered mower than a gas one. It allows someone other than me to mow because there's never a hassle starting or keeping it running.

I haven't had quite as good of luck with the removable battery yard tools tho. The batteries seem to last about like the ones on power tools which I don't believe is long enough.

But with that said, if you like your battery powered drill then you'll like your battery powered yard tools. Power's never been the problem, battery life and cost of a new battery is what I object to.

A couple of my neighbors have Neuton mowers. They love them. Apparently they are a couple steps above B&D battery mowers. I live in an older neighborhood, so the yards aren't massive. That said, I'm on a corner and have a 1800 sqft house on an 8500 sqft lot. When my gas one needs fixing and the required part is prohibitively expensive, I'll borrow one of these electric ones to see if that's the right choice for me.

93EXCivic wrote: I have a Worx weed eater. I don't love it. I like the lack of maintenance needed but I feel like it could be better at actually cutting grass. I mean it isn't horrible but it ain't great either.

Aww crap - because of my recommendation? Now I feel bad. I do love mine.

My B&D rechargeable mower is going on 3 years. It's great for my 1000sq ft of actual lawn (out of 1.2 acres). I keep it inside, rarely charge it to 100% and never fully discharge it to maximize battery life.

I have tried battery-powered mowers and trimmers, but neither lasted long enough for even a small yard that gets overgrown quickly. It took 4 batteries, to use the B&D trimmer, and then my tools were down for the rest of the weekend.

The cheapest plug-in mower and trimmer will have more power, last forever, and be more convenient in the long run. I just bought a 100' cord and learned how to wrap and store it properly.

At the new house, I went with a Riding Mower, Honda-powered Push Mower, and a Stihl trimmer. Based on my experience with Stihl, I would try their KombiSystem battery-powered line if you really want to go that route. They make amazing stuff!

tuna55 wrote:

93EXCivic wrote: I have a Worx weed eater. I don't love it. I like the lack of maintenance needed but I feel like it could be better at actually cutting grass. I mean it isn't horrible but it ain't great either.

Aww crap - because of my recommendation? Now I feel bad. I do love mine.

I feel like it is about as good as a gas weed eater at the same price but I don't have to worry about maintenance and it is really light. I think the biggest let down is the single line instead of dual line.

Thanks guys. I'm trying to sort through voltage and pricing now.

Someone mentioned one of the other reasons I'm looking for cordless is light enough for the wife and kid to push.

In reply to VWguyBruce:

I'm not sure the weight is all that much different, but there will definitely be a difference in starting. My mother has a 2-stroke gas leaf blower that's really easy to start... but for whatever reason, she can't seem to grasp the concept of a quick pull on the cord.

I'd forgotten about the difference between weed-whacker lines: 2 or more for gas powered models, 1 line for the B&D, which probably accounts for some of its lack of cutting power.

carguy123 wrote:

93gsxturbo wrote: Put good 93 octane (no ethanol)

And where do you find that? I thought it came out of the pipeline with ethanol already mixed.

Depends on where you live. Around here (Atlanta) everybody's gas is E10 thanks to the EPA.

carguy123 wrote:

93gsxturbo wrote: Put good 93 octane (no ethanol)

And where do you find that? I thought it came out of the pipeline with ethanol already mixed.

It's around. There is one station in the town I live in that has ethanol free gas and it's 93 octane. Ain't cheap though. Use it in my Opel GT. Last time I bought some it was over $4 a gallon.

I have a B&D trimmer and leaf blower (36 Volt, not the 20V). The trimmer is excellent and got very good reviews with consumer reports. The leaf blower is good, but doesn't pack the punch a gas powered one does. I use it for clearing the sidewalk, but I could see myself wishing for a bit more power when fall hits. IMO its still worth it to not have to deal with another engine.

Both have great battery life.

jde wrote: Have Ryobi 18V trimmer and leaf blower. Got strictly because they were cheap at the tool outlet, and I already have a crapton of Ryobi 18V tools and had plenty of batteries. Both work fine around our small lot, but battery life isn't super long, even with the Lithium packs.

Did you buy the blower and trimmer with the double sized battery designed for them? Using my normal sized battery only gets me about 20 min with the trimmer instead of the 40 with the big battery.

Another vote for Neuton mowers. I've been mowing 1/4 acre with one for 3 years now, which it handles extremely well even when I come back from holidays and the yard looks like a hayfield. My old dinosaur powered Husqvarna mower didn't do any better.