Which Electric Mower

Looking to get a new electric mower, I have a price racing around $150-$300, I have been researching battery operated and have found Kobalt, Worx, and Ryobi, are all in my price range. I like the idea of not having a cord to bother with, but it has been hard to find any information in the longevity of these mowers. Does anybody have first hand experience?

We've sold a metric ton of Kobalt 40 volt mowers at Lowe's. I have yet to see one come back broken.

I have a Neuton CE6 battery mower (Neuton Power)which I've been using to mow 1/4 acre for about 5 years. Zero problems - I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

I have the dual battery 40v Kobalt. I picked up a 5Ah battery from eBay for ~$50 because it was coming up a little short if I tried to mow the front and back at the same time with the included 4.0 and 2.0. The mower uses only one battery at a time, so mix and match is OK. I just ordered the matching line trimmer, tool only package.

It works just was well as my old gas mower. It's easier to start, folds up really tiny, weighs nothing, and is pretty quiet. It sounds like a vacuum.

The non obvious thing: it has overload protection that makes it kill in thick grass much like a gas mower.

I wouldn't get anything less than 40V if you're going cordless. I use my neighbor's 56v E-Go and it works better than my gas mower.

Very timely. I need a mower when I move. I'll be going from multiple acres on a riding mower to maybe 1000 square feet.

Another E-Go vote, picked it up last spring before surgery as I previously used a reel mower and wasn't going to subject swmbo to that. I'd never go back to a gas. No maintenance and better torque. The torque really allows for the blade to cut through the grass while maintaining it's speed cutting it as opposed to tearing it. It does an absolutely fantastic job.

From the love fests in other threads here regarding the Ryobi 40volt power tools, I'd be inclined to get one of this brand. Just to have battery interchangeability with the string trimmer and the like.

LOL. I just came to the conclusion three days ago that I need a battery mower. My yard is small and it takes all of 15-20 minutes to mow with my 21" deck push mower and I don't want a cord. I will be watching this thread for ideas/opinions.

In typical GRM fashion, I'm going to recommend something totally different than what you are asking about.
The battery lasts forever!
It actually does an incredible job cutting, you just can't let it get too long. That's the only downside.

DrBoost wrote: In typical GRM fashion, I'm going to recommend something totally different than what you are asking about. The battery lasts forever! It actually does an incredible job cutting, you just can't let it get too long. That's the only downside.

BTDT. I liked them, but there are 1.5 issues:

1 Round-stalked weeds just lie down, so recovering from a missed mow is hard.

0.5 the units I've seen are cheaply made. The Fiskars looks like it would solve that. I strongly suggest avoiding the sub $125 models the big box stores stock. They all seem uniform and awful. Uniformly awful, even. They appear to have come off the same assembly line.

I've thought about a reel mower but I miss days too often. My sister just got a Green Machines from Amazon and she's been happy.

Reel mowers also hate sticks and such, and are darn fiddly when it comes to sharpening and adjusting.

But, they certainly are an exercise option!

In reply to trigun7469:

You listed 1 private label and 2 manufacturers.

Kobalt doesn't build anything. They just use blue plastic. Worx and Ryobi are manufacturers.

I believe Worx does Craftsman and Kobalt. Don't hold me to that.

Lawnmowers is a price business. Find one that is reasonably built and get it.

If someone has a good cheap and reasonably durable (read will get it out of warranty) design, people flock to them. MTD and Husqvarna (HOP) are competitors right? HOP builds a version of MTDs tractor for them because they can do it cheaper. I believe Toro's home line is the same. There is one tractor that gets peddled from $1000 to $2400 and the only real difference is the deck and the wheels. The motors are the same Briggs with different stickers (Briggs adopted a small block/ big block pricing structure where you buy the block at X dollars and then you buy the sticker with the HP on it for Y dollars. Slick isn't it?)

With electrics I would look at who's battery's are serviceable (replaceable at a decent cost with a decent life cycle) as that would be your issue. I haven't replaced anything more than brushes on any of our electric yard equipment, ever, but they are corded.

The customer reviews on some of the Kobalt mowers have me a little scared of them. The Ryobi 40V mower at Home Depot looks like the one I am leaning toward. I already have a ryobi weed wacker and blower although they are not 40v so no interchangeability for the batteries.

EDIT: I just ordered a tiny 16" Greenworks 25322 40V Li-ion mower from Amazon. It was cheap, but seems to have decent reviews. My yard is small enough that this little guy should do all right. I've been cutting it this season so far with just my weed wacker since I haven't taken the time to fix whatever went wrong with my 19" troy bilt that refuses to come out of winter hibernation. It has fresh gas, gets a spark, so I assume I need to rebuild the carb).

The neuton that turboeric recommended above is 36V and used a sealed lead-acid battery instead of litium ion. The recharge time is 12 hours and other than that I don't see a downside, but with my small yard that shouldn't be an issue. The ryobi 20" is a little cheaper, has Li-Ion battery and a brushless motor and I can get a 10% discount at HD.

We have a Cub Cadet gas powered motor that we can't kill, but is a pain in the butt to start (even for me). My dad has the same model motor and it's easy to start. I've already replaced the recoil starter assembly once, and the effort on this one isn't any better.

We only use the mower for trimming now, and my wife was asking the other day about replacing it with an electric mower. I'm definitely following along with interest to see what's working for everyone else.

I don't have any experience with it, but the Echo one at Home Depot looks pretty good. If it as good as their electric weed eater, then it will be as good as a gas one.

We've actually switched to electric blowers since we can store them in the truck, and we just picked up one of the new Echo electric weed eaters. With the 4ah battery, it gets us through our entire mowing day on one charge. On average, that's 6 or 7 20 to 30 minute jobs. The head is the same as their gas weed eater, and is interchangeable with the other Echo heads, like their edger. I'm actually selling my personal Stihl weed eater to get a refurb Echo from HD. They're only $190.

Anything new since then now vs 3 years ago? I could’ve sworn there was another electric mower thread but did not find it. I’m ready to buy this weekend for an electric mower and trimmer. Reviews are all over the place for several brands and it’s getting annoying for lack of consistency. 

Right now, my front runner is the EGO 21 in. 56 Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Battery Walk Behind Push Mower with 5.0 Ah Battery and Charger Included for $399

Yard is not big. .27 acres. I do want to be able to remove battery to switch it to the trimmer or vice versa. 

I love my Ryobi. One 40v 5ah battery is good for about 50 minutes of mowing which is almost enough to do my entire large suburban yard. 

This is my third season on the batteries and mower, all seem to be doing great.

I have the matching leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and snow blower so I've got a few batteries.

One battery was mostly junk right out of the box but Ryobi sent me a replacement free of charge.

Another vote for the Ryobi.  This is my second season with it and zero problems.

My mom has the 40v ryobi too, awd and she likes it a lot. It even has headlights

Whoa. Zombie.

Still plugging away with the 40v Kobalt. I've added a leaf blower to the fleet. My 5Ah battery died. I've bought some smaller batteries. The original two packs that came in the box with the mower are doing great. The blower included a charger, so I have two now. 

I ended up going with a WORX 20” Deck Cordless Mower Trimmer Combo Kit from Sam's club. It was on sale and came with the trimmer. THe mower uses two 20v batteries. Worked as good as my corded mower, and the trimmer actually works way better the then corded trimmer I have. Mower has Plenty of battery, for my yard I barely use a bar, but I wish it had some more power, but again that is what you get with electric vs. Gas.