Battery powered lawn mower

[bigdog1962]

I got tired of yanking on my gas powered mower so I got the Kobalt battery powered mower from Lowe's. I must also say that I live in a neighborhood and have nice grass.

I did have to go out and buy a second battery, but I love this thing. Here's what I love about it:
1. push a button and engage the lever and it starts.
2. it has a variable speed engine - runs at a lower rpm when the grass is short and speeds up when it detects a load being put on the engine.
3. one handle to easily adjust the deck height - it adjusts all four wheels at once.
4. it's quiet and doesn't vibrate like a gas powered one.
5. no gas, oil or air filter.
6. with a push of a simple button you can tell how much power is left in the battery
7. it doesn't get too hot and vapor lock.
8. it doesn't flood out
9 I dont' have to keep a gas can handy (but I do have to keep the batteries charged).

Not sure what other's experiences are but I think this one is a winner. I'm going to convert my gas trimmer to battery too. I'm just tired of yanking on cords.

It's not made for yards with alot of debris or knee high grass.
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Oprn wrote: I'm getting to the age that any self propelled woman (no wheel chair or walker) looks HOT!! Oooo! look at that Babe! She made it from the dining room all the way to the TV room without help!! Hubba, hubba!!

[OB Bus]

25 years ago I got tired of pulling the cord on gas mowers that caused me grief. I went out and got corded electric mower. Battery ones did not exist then. In those 25 years I have done zero repairs to that mower, other than occasional blade sharpening. I am still using the original blade. Yes the cord is a pain at times but everything else is wonderful. If this mower ever dies I'll happily switch to a battery one.
I also take care of a big yard that has hundreds of feet of edging to do. I went through 2 gas weed trimmers. Both of them were reluctant to start, would not run smoothly, stalled at altitude (house is at 6,600 feet), noisy and I had to smell 2-stroke exhaust the whole time. (Yes, they were professionally maintained.) Four years ago I purchased a 48 (?) volt B&D cordless trimmer. With two batteries I can get 1 hour and 20 minutes of use, which is plenty. The trimer is strong enough to cut through 1/4" Aspen saplings. Love it.
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Larry in OB
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

good review.

I have been thinking of a battery powered trimmer. never had the issues you have with gas powered stuff....but have seen it on the "home owner" specials sold at most big box stores.

I can't get rid of gas powered equipment. I have a JD LX280 and a trail mower....I cut 10' at a time, and it still takes me an hour+.....more like 3 if I do the trimming. but, I can see the appeal if you didn't have much to cut, and would look into electric if I had a smaller place
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[oprn]

Just like electric cars, those things are only good for city folks. A push style mower here take 8 hours to cut the grass, ride on is 2.5 to 3 hours all without any trimming! I bought a 5 foot 3 point hitch mower to go behind my 60 hp David Brown tractor and got it down to about 1.5 hrs.

The exception to this "electric mower" range problem is a ride on mower my Dad found about 25 years ago made by General Electric. That sucker took about 6 or 8 gulf cart batteries and fully charged would run for over 4 hours. It had a snow blower and rototiller as well as the mower deck. Sweet rig but there were no parts available for it anymore so eventually is was abandoned and given away.

[TDCTDI]

It sounds like a great solution until you take into consideration that DeWalt, Black & decker, Ryobi, & the like change their battery pack designs damn near every 6 months to make the older units obsolete leaving you with an otherwise perfectly functioning piece of landfill fodder.
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[Zundfolge1432]

I could really see the benefits of electric especially in an urban setting, small yard, noise restrictions, air quality concerns etc. As for reliability of gas powered equipment I started using commercial grade Stihl products and have some over ten years old that start on first or second pull. The damn things are bulletproof. A zero turn Toro with 50 inch deck still takes me over 2 hours to cut about 2 acres mainly because of obstacles. I must say that when I was younger it was easier, seems more like a pain I the ass now. 😁

[mark tucker]

I have a battery powered riding mower ,i havent used it in about a year, atleast 1 battery is dead and there kinda pricey,and I dont get much exersorsize with it so the gass mower does fine, I reckon when I get to where I cant push I may get some batterys and ride..I was fun to buzz around in almost silence.

[anthracitedub]

I’m getting ready to make the change as well... sick of all th extra bs...oil, filters, gas, engine repair all that shit.... I don’t expect to ever be maintenance free... but every bit counts.

[iowa vw]

I've never had an electric mower that does sound nice. I have used many of teh battery powered trimmers and weed eaters. I've had Stihl, Husqvarna, and other high end trimmers but once I got a 48V trimmer there is absolutely no way I would go back to gas. Gas, oil, filters, can be finicky sometimes; what a PITA. Electric is light, fast, clean and just plug in the battery; DONE.

[vwjetboat]

hurricane took out gas mower last year.. I had issues health wize using anyway.. got a 110 electric mower at yard sale for 20 bucks and i absolutely love it.. no cord to yank and throw back out.. so light i can push it with 1 finger... I will never go back to gas mower...

[bigdog1962]

I do realize that batteries don't last forever but if I get five years out of the mower (not counting the blade) and batteries, I'll be happy. Even if I have to replace the battery before then.
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Oprn wrote: I'm getting to the age that any self propelled woman (no wheel chair or walker) looks HOT!! Oooo! look at that Babe! She made it from the dining room all the way to the TV room without help!! Hubba, hubba!!

[notchback]

My kids mow, so I don't worry about it. I bought them a new front wheel drive Toro last year. Once they grow up and move out, I'll hire someone and still won't worry about it.
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[oprn]

We just now finished cutting the top off a 1" steel pole to set a bird house on. It had a ball on the top that the pipe on the bottom of the bird house would not fit over. My daughter's friend said "No problem, I have a cordless sawsall that will cut that off in my truck!"

1/2 an hour and 2.5 battery packs later the job was done. That is the problem with the cordless stuff - only good for a few minutes and quick light jobs, no real usable run time for serious jobs.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[ach60]

I think everyone has to find their happy place with yard work.
Years ago I would mow my mother's property, and mow for hire too.
So I spent two to three days a week pushing a mower, so to this day, the simpler the lawn mower the better.
No batteries, no cords, no self propelled, and no two cycles!
Simple, and in tune is all I need, that being said, I lived in a small townhouse, and used an electric corded mower given to me by my sister.
That little Black & Decker was at least 20 years old when I sold that house, and never cost me a dime.
I have a larger property now, and the former owners left a lawn mower, and a power washer.
I never got the power washer running because there where too many missing parts.
But I got the mower tuned, and running. It was 10 years old and down on power, but got two years of use out of it.
I replaced it with the exact same cheap Home Depot Mower the third mowing season.
I have Dewalt drills and such, but for edgers, blowers, trimmers, and chain saw I'm using, and happy with corded stuff.
And I haven't cut a cord in three years!
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Good Luck
Al

[busdaddy]

Indeed, junior recently picked up a Makita Sawzall which I "borrow" now and then when he's not around, that thing lasts longer on a single battery than a brand new Harbor freight/Princess auto plug in version
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[Joe 20]

I'm becoming a believer. Got a hand me down Black and Decker 20v drill/driver. Hasn't let me down yet. Bought a $49. corded Works brand electric chainsaw to take down a good sized tree a couple months ago.WOW!! It worked great. My neighbor had one 30 years ago and I used to laugh at his. I think they've come a long way.

[cdennisg]

[oprn]

It was a Mikita.

I have a company supplied Dewalt cordless drill in my service truck. I do really like it for the small jobs but if I have a bigger job to do I need to have all three battery packs on the go, two on charge and one in use to keep up. On jobs where there is several guys we abandon the cordless stuff altogether, take a power plant and a bunch of cords and do it the old fashion way. You need the power plant to charge the cordless stuff anyway and this saves a lot of running back and forth switching battery packs.

[rcroane]

I just saw a display in Lowe's for one of those robo mowers (like the vacuum cleaners). I have no interest and haven't read any reviews, but I can't imagine them working very well unless you have a perfectly flat and straight edged yard.
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