Electric cordless SP lawnmower

[EastWest Gal]

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!

 

[Rustic23]

I purchased a 21 inch corded mower from Lowe's. $79. We have a small court yard that I mow. A cordless would be nice but for $200 I can put up with the cord 10 or 15 times a year.

 

[Ready]

Ego and Greenworks both make good products. The catch with both of these brands is that the battery cost 90% of the price of the battery/mower/charging base. So try to find a mower that has a large enough battery that you will never need to buy a second one. Or if you need multiple tools buy the same brand and battery size so you can share batteries across all tools.

I purchased a 56V Ego leaf blower in March. It died after 3 weeks. I was never able to get through to customer support so I returned it to Lowe’s. Now I have a Greenworks unit on order and I’ve been waiting almost a month for it with no ship date in sight. Their website states they are having shipping delays. And all of their batteries are completely out of stock and have been for months. When I tried calling Greenworks to ask a question I never got through.

Customer service in general has been awful ever since COVID and it doesn’t seem to be improving.

 

[JRon]

I have done a lot of research, but haven’t purchased yet and I read nothing but good about the quality of the EGO mower (and the electric Toro as well). Nothing bad about Greenworks either so I don’t think you’ll have issues as long as you get the functionality you desire.

 

[Markola]

I like the concept but live in Minnesota and wonder how well the batteries will survive in the cold garage. Anyone know? I see they do sell them around here.

 

[bloom2708]

I have an Ego with the 7.5ah battery. I mow for 55 minutes and still have 50% battery remaining. I have the self-propelled, but it is not needed. Very light and well built.

I kept the batteries (also have the blower and trimmer and hedge trimmer, 3 batteries in all) inside during the winter. I would not leave them outside in the cold all winter.

I left them charged at around 50% as directed. I will charge them fully before first use.

Ego are really well built. The only gas item I have left is my snowblower. I've looked at the Ego 2 stage. Most reviews are good, but we get big snows and very cold, so unsure.

Our Ace Hardware has $50 off the Ego mowers right now.

 

[MRG]

I like the concept but live in Minnesota and wonder how well the batteries will survive in the cold garage. Anyone know? I see they do sell them around here.

I'm in Colorado with three year old batteries stored in my garage, no probtop. It's normally about 50° in there.

I have a EGO weedeater and a blower. If I can get grass to grow in our backyard patio I'll buy the mower too.

 

[Ready]

If you open a Home Depot credit card to purchase the mower they give you a full year to return it if you are not happy with it or if anything goes wrong. And you get $50 off the purchase if it cost at least $300. They don't sell Ego any more but they do sell the Greenworks line and a few of the mowers are currently on sale.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Costco deals on Greenworks products pop up from time to time. I bought a 21-inch 80V Greenworks Pro self-propelled last year with two batteries (one large, one small) and a charger. So far I'm very happy with it. My yard is huge and very hilly, and the mower powers up the hills nicely. I also mow with a rider, but some of the slopes are so steep that I don't feel safe on the rider.
Sixty volts might be OK for a smaller yard.

I'm in Wisconsin, and I stored the batteries in the basement over the winter. My in-laws bought a battery-powered EGO snow blower last fall and were happy with its performance.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

I purchased a 21 inch corded mower from Lowe's. $79. We have a small court yard that I mow. A cordless would be nice but for $200 I can put up with the cord 10 or 15 times a year.

Same here.

If you take care of it, the corded mower could last 20+ years. For the cordless, you would probably have to replace the battery a couple of times in 20 years.

 

[JoeWras]

I've got this Snapper: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Snapper...tteries-and-1-Rapid-Charger-1687884/301766189

It is now almost 4 years old. When I got it, there was only one battery. It is still lasting (knock on wood). It charges fast.

I like that it is quiet and I cut without exhaust. It still doesn't cut as well as my gas mower, and it has lousy suction compared to gas. Still, I gave away my gas mower to someone in need and this is now my only mower and I'm doing just fine with it.

I can't comment on the brands you speak of. Perhaps those brands cut better or have better suction. In general, for a 1/3 acre lot (but not really that much grass), I'd say go for it and enjoy the quiet and clean air.

 

[Music Lover]

While I do like cordless, often the extra cost isn't warranted and I'd probably get a corded electric for far less money. Start cutting close to the outlet and work away from it to minimize the risk of running over the cord.

If the battery runs out before you're finished you either need a second battery or have to wait a half hour or more to resume cutting. I'd rather cut start to finish without stopping.

 

[pacergal]

DH just bought an electric, self propelled Snapper. He has been using an old fashioned push mower, but the side hill is getting a bit harder to mow.
He likes it so far.

 

[JoeWras]

While I do like cordless, often the extra cost isn't warranted and I'd probably get a corded electric for far less money. Start cutting close to the outlet and work away from it to minimize the risk of running over the cord.

If the battery runs out before you're finished you either need a second battery or have to wait a half hour or more to resume cutting. I'd rather cut start to finish without stopping.

I'm lucky that I only have a front lawn, so the battery is fine. I actually get 3 cuts on one charge most times.

Funny story about cords... When I got my hedge trimmer, I was trimming away thinking, "What idiot cuts the cord? Come on, it is easy to avoid the..." And right then and there I cut my cord in half. After I calmed down I had a good laugh.

 

[Dawg52]

I bought an inexpensive brand from Home Depot 5 years ago and it works as well as the day I bought it. Its a 40v 16 inch Sun Joe and has a 40 minute runtime. I bought an extra battery(refurbished) off EBay for $30 and it does just as well as the battery that came with it. I really didn't need an extra battery as I have a patio home on a small lot and it takes just 20-25 minutes to mow. I got it in case the mower/brand becomes obsolete making batteries hard to find later. Anyway.....I've been pleased with my purchase and if it goes out tomorrow I got my money's worth out of it. Paid $250.

 

[Music Lover]

I'm lucky that I only have a front lawn, so the battery is fine. I actually get 3 cuts on one charge most times.

It's great if it could be done in one battery charge or if you had extra batteries. That being said, my yard is big enough to warrant a riding mower so I'm not really in the market.

I do have a set of 18v Ryobi cordless tools: weed whacker, drill, impact driver, reciprocating saw, circular saw, oscillating tool, even a Bluetooth speaker. I picked up a couple knock off batteries and really like the convenience of cordless tools.

 

[Jerry1]

It's great if it could be done in one battery charge or if you had extra batteries. That being said, my yard is big enough to warrant a riding mower so I'm not really in the market.

I have a riding mower also. However, I use a hand mower to trim and do small areas. When I moved here, I didn’t think to get an electric mower. Now that I know more about them I wish I would have bought one. I think that they’re lighter would be a plus, not to mention quieter.

 

[Running_Man]

I have the Ryobi and 3 batteries and mow about 1/2 acre. You can put the spare battery with the lawnmower to switch, the 5AMPH runs about 30 minutes. It is extremely quiet and lightweight and can either bag or mulch effectively. And the batteries work in my leafblower and snowblower. I enjoy the exercise of mowing and not having to have gasoline on hand.

 

[JoeWras]

I mentioned my Snapper with the large capacity Briggs and Stratton battery (yes, you read that right) gives me 3 cuts, many times 4. A few more details on that:

- I have a generous front yard on about 2/5 acre lot. It isn't a patio lawn. It takes me about 30 minutes of mowing time per cut, so I typically get 90 to 120 min of mowing per charge. I'm pretty happy with that.
- The downside (and upside) is the Snapper has some sort of torque feedback algorithm. It runs low and slow most times until it senses resistance, and then it spins up. I only see it do that in the spring (right now) when the lawn is really thick. Even then, it is occasional.
- Low and slow doesn't always cut the best. I get uneven places if I walk too fast. It also has terrible suction.
- The high speed cuts better and has better suction. But I rarely get the mower to activate
- I wish it had a "turbo" button that I could push to activate this mode.
- Last spring my lawn was so thick it ran much of the mow in high mode. This clearly drains the battery at about 2x faster.

So I'm thinking Snapper made the trade off to run in a mode that doesn't cut the best to optimize battery time. I just wish I had manual control.

* BTW: I thought the "Briggs and Stratton" name on the battery is just a marketing gimmick, but I think they are actually giving small electric motors a try. Here's a link to their page. They talk about their "Load Sense" technology which I've spoke of in this post.

 

[MikeWillRetire]

I bought one of the first battery powered mowers back in the mid 90's. It was a Black & Decker, and it lasted about 20 years. I replaced the battery once. A few years ago I bought a Sun Joe. I'm amazed at how much lighter it is, and how much smaller the battery is.
I'm a big fan of batter powered mowers, but keep in mind that my lot is only 0.1 acres.

 

[aaronc879]

I have had the EGO SP with the 7.5ah battery for 4 full years. Cuts well and the battery lasts the whole yard unless I try to cut too low with the mulching attachment on but that would be my fault not the mowers. The extra $100 for the SP motor is worth every penny to me. I would buy another one if it broke but it shows no signs of doing so.

 

[JoeWras]

I have had the EGO SP with the 7.5ah battery for 4 full years. Cuts well and the battery lasts the whole yard unless I try to cut too low with the mulching attachment on but that would be my fault not the mowers. The extra $100 for the SP motor is worth every penny to me. I would buy another one if it broke but it shows no signs of doing so.

What's SP?

 

[aaronc879]

What's SP?

Self Propelled. It was in the thread title and my post was directed toward the OP(original poster) so I thought the abbreviation was warranted.

 

[38Chevy454]

For a small yard, the battery mower is a good choice. As suggested buy into a brand where you can use common batteries for other yard equipment like blowers or trimmers. Batteries are the major cost item, so shop around for a deal. I guess self propelled is nice if your yard is not flat, and is also nice to make it little easier to mow up hilly areas.


Your old gas mower is probably fine if you do a little maintenance. You can sharpen the blade, or just replace it with basic hand tools. If it has been sitting for long time with gas in it, the gas is probably bad and the carb is gummed up. Put fresh gas, clean or replace the carb (hint cheap replacements on ebay), change the oil, and that mower will be good for many more years for less cost than a new battery mower.


Just as a note: last year I picked up 2 old mowers on the road for free pickup. Got them tuned up and running good, made $100 profit for maybe 3 hours work total. Nice little cash bonus. Those small gas engine mowers are near indestructible and usually die of neglect rather than actual part failure.

 

[JoeWras]

Self Propelled. It was in the thread title and my post was directed toward the OP(original poster) so I thought the abbreviation was warranted.

Ah thanks. My next mower will have this. I have some inclines that are challenging without it.