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Old 04-16-2021, 09:27 AM   #41
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It is kind of like the EV (automobile) discussion. For those not affected by range issues, they are great and wonder why people worry.

I see something similar here. I've got a suburban lot with only a front yard. Battery is absolutely fine. Over 4 years, my mower only died once and that was because I was trying to get 4 cuts out of one charge. So, I'm a battery convert. I love the quiet and lack of fumes.
The type of lawn certainly factors into it. As I said, my yard is about 1 acre. It is mostly shaded so our grass tends to be rather thin. I can easily cut our entire yard in about 40-50 minutes on one battery with plenty of capacity leftover.

That said, the EGO mower is light so I occasionally fold it up and pop it in the car to mow my mother-in-laws yard. She has a standard city lot but her grass is in full sunlight in very fertile soil. It is much thicker than our grass, and we don't mow it as often so it tends to get taller between mowings too. Despite her much smaller yard, it uses most of the battery in my EGO mower too. I still haven't run out of power, but it comes close.

For those with much larger lots, EGO does make a zero turn battery powered riding mower now. With four batteries it's quite expensive (around $5000 I think). Someday I might not be able to use a walk behind mower anymore, but right now that's way out of my price range. I wouldn't have any place to store it anyway.

https://egopowerplus.com/zero-turn-r...mower-zt4204l/
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Old 04-16-2021, 07:15 PM   #42
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The instructions recommended changing the blade each year, did not mention sharpening the blade. The blades are inexpensive.
That's surprising that they no longer recommend sharpening the blades. It's easy to do, I sharpen mine several times a year and just alternate two blades, sharpening the "off" one when I feel like it so it's then ready to use.

To sharpen it I just use an angle grinder (wear goggles!) and one of those cheap blade balancers that I've had for ~40 years. Works fine. There are any number of videos on youtube on how to sharpen a lawn mower blade.

I guess they don't make enough money off the mower, now they want to sell blades like Gillette does it.

When I bought the last lawn mower, also a Toro but gasoline powered, the manual says you don't have to change the oil. Huh? The physics haven't changed although I'll grant that oils are better in the last 40 years. Well, it seems that the average lawn mower life is seven years. That being the case if you're going to throw it out every seven years then you don't need to change the oil. Where I come from a power lawn mower is a luxury, coming up from a hand-powered reel mower, so they are treated with care and I usually get ~20 years out of one.
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Old 04-16-2021, 07:21 PM   #43
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I recall dad trying to teach me how to sharpen our reel push mower. It was difficult and tricky, and I messed it up.

They work best sharpened, otherwise you just create a grass juicer.
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Old 04-17-2021, 07:49 AM   #44
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The instructions recommended changing the blade each year, did not mention sharpening the blade. The blades are inexpensive.
It sounds like they're trying to create an annual revenue stream.
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Old 04-17-2021, 08:38 AM   #45
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It sounds like they're trying to create an annual revenue stream.
Just becuase they recommend changing the blades every year doesn't mean you have to. I have gone 4 full years on the same blade in my EGO and probably won't change it this year either.
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Old 04-17-2021, 08:42 AM   #46
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Just becuase they recommend changing the blades every year doesn't mean you have to. I have gone 4 full years on the same blade in my EGO and probably won't change it this year either.
Of course not. But the fact that they suggest changing them every year instead of every XXX hours of operation is dishonest and tells me that they want a constant revenue stream. Person A could use it 10 hours a year while person B uses it 100 hours a year.
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Old 04-17-2021, 09:14 AM   #47
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I recall dad trying to teach me how to sharpen our reel push mower. It was difficult and tricky, and I messed it up.

They work best sharpened, otherwise you just create a grass juicer.
I still have a reel push mower. I got it for free.

I tried to use it a couple of times since I have a small plot. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me - stone driveway, so I always have the random stones in the grass from snow events. It's not fun when you catch a stone in a reel mower.

It also cuts too low. There is an adjustment, but it's still not high enough, so that facilitates catching more stones.
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Old 04-17-2021, 03:19 PM   #48
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It also cuts too low. There is an adjustment, but it's still not high enough, so that facilitates catching more stones.
Some reel mowers just start really low and won't go up much. We had a tiny lot in Chicago (33 ft wide) so the lawn was perfect for a hand reel push mower. Dad originally planted bent grass. We could cut it real low (think of a golf green). It could not adjust high. The back yard eventually died out to due to some shade from the neighbor, so he planted blue grass. We had to get a new mower for it that could adjust higher!

Eventually we got a gas powered mower. I could cut our tiny lawn in about 7 minutes. This was great since I had time and I started cutting some neighbor's lawns for a few bucks. It was my first taste at making money and saving for the future.
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Old 04-17-2021, 03:38 PM   #49
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Some reel mowers just start really low and won't go up much. We had a tiny lot in Chicago (33 ft wide) so the lawn was perfect for a hand reel push mower. Dad originally planted bent grass. We could cut it real low (think of a golf green). It could not adjust high.
Very few reel mowers will and for good reason. They just won't cut well any higher than two inches or so. I forget the reason but it has to do with the mechanical "scissors" action of the mower blades and the bed knife. Most of the northern lawn grasses in use now grow much better anyway when mowed at two and a half inches or higher, up to about four inches, which is where I mow mine and it's also the highest the mower will go.

The bermudagrasses that do well in southern states can do well being mowed at two inches or less but the northern grasses that will grow well in Chicago won't do well being cut that low.
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Old 04-17-2021, 03:41 PM   #50
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Very few reel mowers will and for good reason. They just won't cut well any higher than two inches or so. I forget the reason but it has to do with the mechanical "scissors" action of the mower blades and the bed knife. Most of the northern lawn grasses in use now grow much better anyway when mowed at two and a half inches or higher, up to about four inches, which is where I mow mine and it's also the highest the mower will go.

The bermudagrasses that do well in southern states can do well being mowed at two inches or less but the northern grasses that will grow well in Chicago won't do well being cut that low.
Yeah, we're in a grass no-mans land in the Piedmont. Nothing does well.

Right now I have fescue and cut it at 3.5" or 4". I share a strip with my neighbor we are converting to warm season zoysia. We cut it much lower. This is one area Snapper excels. It is trivial to change between the two heights with a simple adjustment.

I guess this is a good point when looking for a mower. Check on how it does cutting height.
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Mad about my EGO
Old 04-20-2021, 03:34 PM   #51
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Mad about my EGO

Does that make me an Egomaniac?
I have a fairly big lot with a meadow that requires use of a DR brush mower, but the EGO cuts the shorter lawn grass around my house. Honestly it is the best, lightest and easiest mower I've ever owned. Perfect for my needs and a breeze to handle. Whole heartedly recommend it ������
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Old 04-20-2021, 03:57 PM   #52
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I went to Home Depot and bought a Ryobi 40 V battery operated mower and I’m going on my third season. I have about a third of an acre not counting my house and swimming pool so I probably cut slightly less than a quarter of an acre. I did buy the 40 V Ryobi blower to give me an extra battery. I have no problems cutting the whole lawn and blowing it all off now. I was able to buy the lawnmower for $259.
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Old 04-20-2021, 04:15 PM   #53
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I have a condo with a small backyard that I just bought. I’m planning to buy a manual push mower until the robot mowers come down in price.
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Old 04-20-2021, 04:49 PM   #54
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Our gas powered lawnmower is dying a slow, painful death and is barely useable. Granted, we did not get it sharpened this year, as we were thinking of replacing it. And we went from brown lawn to insanely thick green lawn in the past 2 weeks.

We're looking at purchasing either an EGO mower with a 56 volt battery or a Greenworks with a 60 volt battery. We have a 1/3 acre lot, but half of that is the house, landscaping, pool, and patio footprint. It's a bit hilly in a few areas. I saw some old threads regarding this.

I'm hoping for comments on reliability and customer service, as well as general experience. Thanks!
My neighbor bought a cordless lawnmower about 5 years ago. I do not know the brand, only that it was green in color. We live in town with small lots but we each own 1-1/2 lots due to the house between us burning down many years before I bought the place. Anyway, the first year he was able to mow his entire lawn on a single charge. The second year he could only cut about 3/4 of it before he had to break out the old gas mower to finish the job. The third year he was only able to cut half his lawn with the electric and had to use the old gas mower for the other half. Now he just uses the same old gas mower he used to have and doesn't bother with the electric mower anymore.
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Old 04-20-2021, 05:08 PM   #55
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My neighbor bought a cordless lawnmower about 5 years ago. I do not know the brand, only that it was green in color. We live in town with small lots but we each own 1-1/2 lots due to the house between us burning down many years before I bought the place. Anyway, the first year he was able to mow his entire lawn on a single charge. The second year he could only cut about 3/4 of it before he had to break out the old gas mower to finish the job. The third year he was only able to cut half his lawn with the electric and had to use the old gas mower for the other half. Now he just uses the same old gas mower he used to have and doesn't bother with the electric mower anymore.
It sounds like it's time for your neighbor to buy a new battery. When you buy battery powered tools it's important to buy the right size tool and battery for the job. Some mowers are packaged with under powered 2.0Ah batteries. Stay away from those and buy the ones that come with 5.0Ah batteries, or better yet, a package deal with two batteries. If the battery can barely handle the job when it's new, over time it's going to deteriorate and fail before you finish.
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Old 04-20-2021, 05:16 PM   #56
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I went to Home Depot and bought a Ryobi 40 V battery operated mower and I’m going on my third season. I have about a third of an acre not counting my house and swimming pool so I probably cut slightly less than a quarter of an acre. I did buy the 40 V Ryobi blower to give me an extra battery. I have no problems cutting the whole lawn and blowing it all off now. I was able to buy the lawnmower for $259.
That's pretty interesting. How do you like the blower?
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Old 04-20-2021, 05:16 PM   #57
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Make sure you get the right mower for the type of grass you gave. I bought a Greenworks SP mower which really chopped up my grass and couldn’t handle some of the dips in my very small yard. I pulled back out my old reel mower and now have a great looking lawn again.
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Old 04-20-2021, 05:42 PM   #58
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That 40 V blower is extremely strong.
The lawnmower came with a five amp battery and the blower comes with the four amp battery. Between the two of them I have plenty of power to mow the whole yard and blow everything off.
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Old 04-20-2021, 06:12 PM   #59
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I LOVED my electric lawnmower! Quiet and it was fantastic at pulverizing leaves on the 1/2 acre lot with LOTS of trees. No maintenance problems either. It was not cordless and given the choice, I think I'd still go with this. No battery to recharge and lightweight. However, I found it handy to have two extension cords and one had a breaker on it. So if the mower hit something and got clogged, it would trip that breaker instead of the one in the house.
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Kobalt 80V Self-propelled Mower
Old 04-20-2021, 09:11 PM   #60
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Kobalt 80V Self-propelled Mower

Bought on sale at Lowe’s last year. $299 ($599 retail).

We can mow our 0.45 acre lawn twice with 1 charge. Excellent sharp cutting. Very quiet mower. Easy to adjust the height. Can be stored vertically to save space.

Have not had it long enough to vouch for reliability or battery life but at that price I will be happy to get two (long) mowing seasons out of it.

Also own an EGO blower that could move stray cats if I used the “turbo” setting. It is heavy but it really works well on heavy leaves.
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