In reply to mtn :
I figured I'd just grab the battery while heading out to the shed. If I were to build/get a shed, of course.
In reply to mtn :
I figured I'd just grab the battery while heading out to the shed. If I were to build/get a shed, of course.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to mtn :
I figured I'd just forget the battery while heading out to the shed, get the mower set up, realize I don't have the battery, go back to grab it, get distracted by something else, forget what I was doing, go back inside the house and grab a beer and my guitar, only to realize that I forgot to mow the lawn halfway through my beer. If I were to build/get a shed, of course.
FTFY, for me at least.
Nothing to add here other than I just saw this:
Last spring I stopped at a whim to look for a replacement gas mower. Was tired of fighting with the old one. I went in thinking I would finally but my wife a new snapper as she is obsessed with them. Ended up buying a snapper XD electric on clearance. I will never look back. Lighter, realtivley no noise. No oil. No gas. No more cleaning out the carb. Spent 500 I think and it's self propelled. When it dies I will buy another electric.
Ooo I am just now realizing that there is a world of 25"-30" deck mowers. I don't want a giant ride-on, but a 25" mower is a 19% increase in cutting width. Thats huge.
https://www.greenworkstools.com/pro-60v-brushless-25-inch-lawn-mower-2531502
mtn said:One potential source of annoyance that I just thought of: I've long wanted to get a little shed for the mower and rakes and everything. If I did that, I'd have to either move the battery in and out of the shed or run electric to my hypothetical shed.
Definitely not a deal breaker for me, but something to think about.
All my neighbors are young and yuppies (we still use this term?) and many are getting electric lawnmowers. The 55 YO heavy equipment union mechanic next door is NOT using an electric mower.
Our grass is growing fast currently with all the rain and the guy across the street cut his lawn with a battery powered mower then an hour later he's running his gas mower.
Me? I'm like the crazy 455 side pipes Trans Am guy that bought the new 30" Toro Timemaster that is loud encouraging ear plugs and it sucks more than a tank of gas in one cutting (last one cut the entire lawn without refilling)
Pm sent
In reply to ProDarwin :
That is one of my favorite competitor units we have second to the EGO select cut and is one of the few decent mowers to come from Globe Tools.
mtn said:One potential source of annoyance that I just thought of: I've long wanted to get a little shed for the mower and rakes and everything. If I did that, I'd have to either move the battery in and out of the shed or run electric to my hypothetical shed.
Definitely not a deal breaker for me, but something to think about.
I deal with that now with my battery trimmer. It definitely makes me want to trench a couple of circuits out to the shed, but I deal with it for now. But getting the charger out of my garage would be nice. Of course, I'll decide to do that right after I finish the 12V LED lighting system...
I ended up buying the Dewalt offering. It runs on 2, 20 volt, 10 amp/hour batteries. The nice thing is that it accepts all of the Dewalt 20v batteries and I can use the lawnmower batteries in my line trimmer, pole saw, drill, grinder ect. It does the job and can finish my yard on one charge.
I ended up selling my $500 Ryobi 40V to my friend after much frustration. The main issue for me is the previous owner of our home had the back yard resodded. It is a lush dense lawn. Lovely. It's simply too much for the Ryobi. After 1 week of growth it would be so dense that I would have to stop every 2 steps to lift the deck so it could clear the clippings. Rinse repeat. I refuse to cut the grass more than once a week. It would take me 45 minutes to an hour to mow my quarter acre.
The grass that grows in my front yard is perfect for this mower. And it's the exact same type of grass that grows in my friends yard. I had to use 2 batteries to get the job done. His yard is so small and grass so wispy he probably can mow it 5 times before needing to charge the battery.
TL;DR Electric didn't work for me. At least not the Ryobi. I need more power!
In reply to clutchsmoke :
I have one 5x5 section of my backyard that is like that with my Ryobi. If the whole yard was like it... Yeah, no chance. This section also bogged down a Honda, for comparison.
mtn said:In reply to clutchsmoke :
I have one 5x5 section of my backyard that is like that with my Ryobi. If the whole yard was like it... Yeah, no chance. This section also bogged down a Honda, for comparison.
This is why I was asking if the battery mowers offer a performance advantage. My Honda push mower bogs pretty bad on a few sections of the yard. I know commercial grade stuff doesn't even flinch, but thats often large expensive stuff. Wasn't sure if there was a middle ground.
In reply to ProDarwin :
This question is actually for both of you. How frequently do you sharpen your blades? Have you looked into an aftermarket blade?
My newer Toro push clogs instead of bogging, and it sucks hard for a lot of the yard that needs pushed. I've been blade shopping but haven't seen anything that screams "I destroy everything I touch" yet to pull the trigger on. But I found that taking my grinder to the blade helps for a few cuttings.
Usually once a year, which is approximately 26 hours of mowing I guess. Its usually in pretty good condition and after a fresh sharpening it doesn't make a big difference - it will still choke up on the grass for sure in the thick sections.
It clogs, then bogs if using the side chute. Straight to bogging if mulching.
So, for that 5x5 section of grass, in both the Honda and the Ryobi I would only do a half pass, only get 10 inches or so. The Honda, being self propelled, actually did worse in it than the Ryobi - obviously I could have stopped the self propulsion, but if you didn't, you'd get pulled into it.
I grew up though using a Sarlo with a 30 inch deck. That thing did NOT bog down. In fact, we'd used it as a brush cutter before. I miss that.
mtn said:So, for that 5x5 section of grass, in both the Honda and the Ryobi I would only do a half pass, only get 10 inches or so. The Honda, being self propelled, actually did worse in it than the Ryobi - obviously I could have stopped the self propulsion, but if you didn't, you'd get pulled into it.
I grew up though using a Sarlo with a 30 inch deck. That thing did NOT bog down. In fact, we'd used it as a brush cutter before. I miss that.
Thats basically what I do, just narrow my pass as I approach the thick sections. Would be great to go charging in there with a 25" deck at top speed.
this is my 4th year with my 40v Kobalt mower. In the fall I put it away and make sure the batteries are full. In the spring I take it out, pop a battery in, and go. I did not even charge them before putting them in.
My only advice, go for the highest voltage you can. I should have gone to the 80v, it would make mowing the thick stuff easier. Other than that, no complaints.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
No side discharge = no sale for me.
I have a Toro TimeMaster. Got it for $125, rebuilt both spindles, new high lift blades, bumped the RPM up to a little over max and run synthetic oil.
You can pry it from my cold dead hands.
Ha, I mowed the lawn for the first time this season yesterday, and when my nearly 30 year old Toro 6hp Recycler mower didn't want to wake up from its winter slumber, I sure thought of this thread! But, as it always does, it eventually fired up and did its thing. I was in elementary school when my dad brought that thing home, and it's still trucking along. All it's needed is gas and an occasional oil change and spark plug. I'm wondering if the current crop of electrics have half a chance at lasting that long.
Tony Sestito said:Ha, I mowed the lawn for the first time this season yesterday, and when my nearly 30 year old Toro 6hp Recycler mower didn't want to wake up from its winter slumber, I sure thought of this thread! But, as it always does, it eventually fired up and did its thing. I was in elementary school when my dad brought that thing home, and it's still trucking along. All it's needed is gas and an occasional oil change and spark plug. I'm wondering if the current crop of electrics have half a chance at lasting that long.
Consumer grade, no chance. Way too much plastic. But that's the same for most consumer grade mowers period.
In reply to mtn :
Great point. One of the reasons this Toro still does lawnmower things almost 30 years later is that it was purchased at a Toro dealer and not a big box store. The deck is cast aluminum (the consumer version back then was sheet metal) and it has a different engine than the consumer model from that year. It's a completely different machine.
When I got my house with a relatively small yard I went for a plug in Kolbalt. The 13 Amp 21" for $200 and a 100ft extension cord is going strong 2 years later and will chew through just about anything; thick grass and weeds, sucker saplings up to 8 inches tall, its been a beast.
If you can deal with the slight inconvenience of cord management its well worth it. Though I would probably go battery powered for my weed eater if I were to buy today, as you move further faster with it
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