My Review of the EGo Electric Lawnmower (LM2135SP)

[Qs Laptop]

I bought the EGo LM2135SP battery powered lawnmower on sale for $599 at Ace Hardware. Got a chance to put it through its paces last Wednesday (May 17th.)

First of all, let’s get the biggest question out of the way—Did the battery last throughout the entire mowing of the yard? No, it didn’t. And I couldn’t care less. This mower is so much better and different than my old gas powered mower I can’t imagine going back to gas.

There are a lot of factors that go into battery life: size of battery and state of charge, number and type of cutting blades being used, size of lot, length of grass, flat or hilly lawn, use or non-use of self-propelled feature.

I started out with the 7.5Ah 56 volt battery fully charged. The mower is ridiculously easy to start. Drop the battery into the receptacle at the top of the mower deck, push to lock it in place. Close the safety bail and press the start button. It’s up and running. To activate the self-propelled feature you press either/both of the two large button pads on the horizontal handle bar. A dial in the center of the horizontal handle bar controls the speed of the self-propulsion. I twisted the dial to get the speed correct then made subsequent tweaks with my thumb while mowing. Overall, I give ergonomics and controls a grade of A. Very easy and intuitive.

Speaking of controls, the push handle has three adjustment positions, which can be adjusted with a single hand. I’m 6’ 2” tall so I put the handle in the furthest upright position. This is the first lawnmower I’ve ever used where I didn’t have my back hunched over when mowing. Adjusting the height of the blade cut was ridiculously easy—one T-shaped handle is moved, with minimal effort, and all four wheels respond simultaneously.

I hadn’t even started mowing yet and I’m already super impressed.

I went with the installed blade pack, which is the regular blade in tandem with the mulching blade. EGo advertises the battery will last 60 minutes when using the regular blade only.

The first thing I noticed about mowing was how much lighter in weight this one is compared to my gas mower. The maneuverability was incredible! Forward, backward, around trees, you name it, it’s easy.

I have a rather large lot, 200’ x 85’, and approximately 15,000 square feet of it is lawn. Also, since this was the first mowing of the year the grass length was rather tall, about 6 inches overall and in many spots 8 or 9 inches in height. I’m happy to report the mower didn’t flinch at all when going through the taller grass.



My lot is mostly flat though there are slight hills on either end of the 2-story walkout house. The front yard is gradually sloped toward the street. There is also a gradual incline down to a “gulley” at the far end of the backyard. I soon discovered I didn’t even need to use the self-propelled feature on level ground. I got into the habit of using the self-propelled feature whenever I was going uphill and/or going up slight inclines, otherwise pushing this mower is very easy. Overall, I’d say I used the self-propelled feature about 33% of the time. With my gas mower it was very difficult to push, therefore self-propelled function was 100%, except perhaps when circling trees.

I ended up doing the entire front yard, both sides of the house and the backyard all the way to the point where the ground starts sloping to the gulley before the battery was blinking red, meaning it was almost out of charge. I estimate the unmown portion of the yard was about 35 feet by 85 feet, or roughly 3,000 square feet, out of 15,000 square feet total. So I mowed about 12,000 square feet of thick, long grass using self-propel about 33% of the time before I needed to charge the battery.

I went inside, put the battery on the charger and ate dinner. Astonishingly, the battery was fully charged in 52 minutes. In fact, knowing the discharge rate of the battery, I could have placed the battery on the charger for 15 minutes and that would have been enough charge to finish mowing the backyard.

I went out and finished mowing, which took about another 20 minutes.

Things I noticed about this mower:
1. It’s very lightweight. It’s extremely easy to maneuver. I know it’s kind of silly, but I was getting a thrill out of mowing my lawn, an emotion I’ve never experienced. This alone would convince me to get this mower over a gas mower, battery life be damned.

2. It’s not loud, but it’s not really quiet either. I’m guessing the noise doesn’t carry far, meaning I would say the neighbor approvement factor is high.

3. I can smell the grass that’s been clipped without an overtone of gas exhaust fumes.

4. Because the mower is so much lighter in weight than a gas mower, mowing the lawn is much faster, even though I was pushing the mower most of the time and not using self-propelled.

5. The controls and ergonomics are much better than any gas mower I’ve used.

6. The quality of the cut is very good. I had the bagging door blocked meaning I was in “mulch mode”. The grass clippings are chopped very fine, almost undetectable.

7. The width of the cut was maybe not as wide as my gas mower. Both mowers are advertised as 21” mowers, but I thought the EGo might be missing out on an inch compared to the cut that I got out of my Lawn Boy. Or else I was unfamiliar with the cut width and overcompensated with the EGo to get complete coverage.

I'm a convert, maybe even a zealot. I'm curious to see how long the battery lasts and how tough the mower itself is. The battery comes with a 3 year warranty and the mower comes with a 5 year warranty.

I'm considering buying the EGo 650 cfm leaf blower as it comes with a 5Ah battery which is interchangeable with the 7.5Ah battery on the mower. In this way when the battery on the mower goes dead with 20% of the lawn left to mow, I could pop in the charged battery from the leaf blower to finish the job with no time interruption. Although as I said a quick 15 minute topping of the charge on the lawn mower battery and I could have finished mowing.

 

[Taco]

Great review - thanks for sharing that!

While I do still have a gas mower, I recently got a EGO blower and now no longer have any machines that require a gas-oil mix. Liking the blower a lot. I rarely run a blower for long, and often it is just a couple of minutes for something like blowing out the garage. The push button start is start is so nice.

 

[MBAustin]

Very interesting! Thanks for the review. We've had a lawn service for the 20+ years we've lived here because I despise gas lawn mowers (DH is physically unable to mow). This makes me seriously consider buying one as our yard is quite small compared to yours.

 

[fosterscik]

Nice review!
I've owned a self propelled EGO mower since 2020 - I think it's the same model (but there may have been minor mods over the years). I think your review perfectly sums up my experience with this mower. The original battery is still going strong.
Like you, I have a large yard (100' x 300'), and I am happy to mow it in stages. I typically mow the front or back one day; the other the next day. It is very easy to push the mower on any flat surface and the self propulsion works well when needed. DW happily mows with the ego - although she typically uses the self propulsion feature all the time.
I bought a backpack EGO blower which came with a large 7.5Ah 56 volt battery (identical to the mower one ) so its easy to use the second battery to mow the entire yard in a single session whenever I feel like it.
I highly recommend the large backpack blower. It's very comfortable on my back and easy to use for long periods of time. I find that I need a shoulder strap to use blowers for any long period of time and the backpack support is very comfortable even with the heavier battery.

 

[RetMD21]

Maybe its the newness factor but my 3 year old EGo mower will stall in tall grass just like a gas mower. If I turn down the self propelled feature to a crawl it will make it through. Online reviews are saying about 81 db vs 96 for gas so it's substantially quieter.

I actually tried a corded electric for part of a season. It took a very long extension cord and the mower was narrow so it took many more passes. I gave up on that.

 

[joesxm3]

Thanks. I have been considering getting one, although my Honda is still running.

Is it light enough that I could lift it up and put it in the back of my Tesla model Y?

 

[Qs Laptop]

Thanks. I have been considering getting one, although my Honda is still running.

Is it light enough that I could lift it up and put it in the back of my Tesla model Y?

Can you lift 55 lbs.? Then yes.

You can store it vertically in your garage so it takes less of a footprint to store it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Maybe its the newness factor but my 3 year old EGo mower will stall in tall grass just like a gas mower. If I turn down the self propelled feature to a crawl it will make it through.

It's weird, but I swore the motor sped up when it got into longer grass, at least the sound of rpm's of the blade motor seemed to change to a higher pitch. I did not have any problem going through long grass. This was with the self-propelled not engaged.

I actually tried a corded electric for part of a season. It took a very long extension cord and the mower was narrow so it took many more passes. I gave up on that.

No thank you. Just keeping the power cord out of the way of the mower must be a chore in itself.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Nice review!
I've owned a self propelled EGO mower since 2020 - I think it's the same model (but there may have been minor mods over the years). I think your review perfectly sums up my experience with this mower. The original battery is still going strong.

That's great to know.

Like you, I have a large yard (100' x 300'), and I am happy to mow it in stages. I typically mow the front or back one day; the other the next day. It is very easy to push the mower on any flat surface and the self propulsion works well when needed. DW happily mows with the ego - although she typically uses the self propulsion feature all the time.

DW is the lawn person. She enjoys it. I just happened to use the mower on its maiden voyage. With this mower I will gladly mow whenever she doesn't want to.

I bought a backpack EGO blower which came with a large 7.5Ah 56 volt battery (identical to the mower one ) so its easy to use the second battery to mow the entire yard in a single session whenever I feel like it.
I highly recommend the large backpack blower. It's very comfortable on my back and easy to use for long periods of time. I find that I need a shoulder strap to use blowers for any long period of time and the backpack support is very comfortable even with the heavier battery.

We have an older plug in model leaf blower. I'm not sure we have enough trees/leaves to need a backpack model. I don't think the leaf blower is used more than 10-15 minutes at a time, max. But I suppose the handheld model might be a bit heavy with the battery pack unless it's balanced nicely. I'll bring DW to the store to try it out. LOL.

 

[joesxm3]

Can you lift 55 lbs.? Then yes.

You can store it vertically in your garage so it takes less of a footprint to store it.

I think my Honda is 90 lbs. Too heavy to easily lift and drop into the trunk of the acura. The Tesla has a flat opening so 55 lbs should work.

Vertical hanging is definitely a plus.

 

[bloom2708]

I don't use the self-propel on my Ego 21". I have the single blade system.

Thanks for the review. This is year 4 mowing with mine. I can finish my 55 minute lawn on my 7.5ah battery, but I don't use self-propel. I mow on height 3 or 4. I have gone up to 5 and 6, but my grass quality is not great. A nice quality grass could use 5 or 6 and still have it look good.

 

[Sanstar]

We use the Roybi mower, blower and edger for our smallish lot. Two chargers, four batteries. What I like best of all is no gas stored in attached garage, no filling gas cans at gas stations and transporting it.

I got gas in my eyes 30+ years ago filling the mower. Excruciating pain and trip to ER. Never going back to gas.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I don't use the self-propel on my Ego 21". I have the single blade system.

Thanks for the review. This is year 4 mowing with mine. I can finish my 55 minute lawn on my 7.5ah battery, but I don't use self-propel. I mow on height 3 or 4. I have gone up to 5 and 6, but my grass quality is not great. A nice quality grass could use 5 or 6 and still have it look good.

Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

 

[Sunset]

Thanks for the review !
I've wondered how well those things work, and and now I have an idea.

 

[Dawg52]

I'm into season 8 with my electric mower. Very light and no need for a self propelled imo. My backyard has a mix of bermuda and centipede grass. The bermuda can be a little tough to get through when it's thick so I have to slow down a little when walking through that. But overall I like mine a lot. No desire to return to gas.

 

[Tranquility Base]

First of all, let’s get the biggest question out of the way—Did the battery last throughout the entire mowing of the yard? No, it didn’t. And I couldn’t care less. This mower is so much better and different than my old gas powered mower I can’t imagine going back to gas.

With all due respect, the biggest question you should ask yourself before you purchase an EGO or any other battery powered lawn mower is how and where you are going to get it serviced/fixed/repaired if you ever encounter problems with the electronics. Your options for that are much more limited than in the case of a gas powered lawnmower, if not nonexistent.



Since you already own an EGO, I would recommend you consider getting the high lift blade. I think it costs about $25, at least it did a few years ago. It will probably cut the grass better and it will work on leaves better. An EGO mower is never going to handle leaves like a good gas powered mower. But the high lift blade is a decent improvement worth the extra $25. I think the standard blade that EGO includes is just a step above junk and EGO should have included the high lift blade in the first place.

 

[Qs Laptop]

With all due respect, the biggest question you should ask yourself before you purchase an EGO or any other battery powered lawn mower is how and where you are going to get it serviced/fixed/repaired if you ever encounter problems with the electronics. Your options for that are much more limited than in the case of a gas powered lawnmower, if not nonexistent.

What electronics? It's a motor that spins the cutting blade and a motor that spins the rear wheels for self propulsion. There is some sort of a mechanism that regulates the amount of power that goes to the rear wheels so you can adjust the forward speed of the mower. What exactly do you figure will need repairing?

The warranty is for five years. I presume there are authorized repair facilities that would handle any warranty repairs. The user base is increasing every year. The knowledge of how to repair these things will expand.

There is little to no maintenance with electric mowers. There is no spark plug coil, no spark plug, no carburetor, no throttle linkage, no oil, no air filter, etc. to replace. On my gas mower I replaced or repaired all of these things.

Since you already own an EGO, I would recommend you consider getting the high lift blade. I think it costs about $25, at least it did a few years ago. It will probably cut the grass better and it will work on leaves better. An EGO mower is never going to handle leaves like a good gas powered mower. But the high lift blade is a decent improvement worth the extra $25. I think the standard blade that EGO includes is just a step above junk and EGO should have included the high lift blade in the first place.

My mower came with the high lift blade as an option. Actually this blade does not "cut the grass better" but it does create more of a wind tunnel effect under the mower deck which lifts and moves the grass clippings so they get pushed into the rear bagger more effectively. The high lift blade is used if you are bagging the grass clippings (which I will likely never do.)

As to the leaves, we use a leaf blower to gather the leaves and bag them. We don't mulch much leaves except for the stragglers that still exist when we're done blowing and collecting them. I can say that tall, thick grass presents no problem to my new mower, whereas my gas mower would have a noticeable decrease in engine rpm when going through thick patches.

I think it's unfair to make blanket statements about the EGo mower not being able to handle leaves as well as a gas mower. How much torque does the gas mower produce compared to the EGo mower?

 

[Tranquility Base]

What electronics? It's a motor that spins the cutting blade and a motor that spins the rear wheels for self propulsion. There is some sort of a mechanism that regulates the amount of power that goes to the rear wheels so you can adjust the forward speed of the mower. What exactly do you figure will need repairing?

The warranty is for five years. I presume there are authorized repair facilities that would handle any warranty repairs. The user base is increasing every year. The knowledge of how to repair these things will expand.

There is little to no maintenance with electric mowers. There is no spark plug coil, no spark plug, no carburetor, no throttle linkage, no oil, no air filter, etc. to replace. On my gas mower I replaced or repaired all of these things.




My mower came with the high lift blade as an option. Actually this blade does not "cut the grass better" but it does create more of a wind tunnel effect under the mower deck which lifts and moves the grass clippings so they get pushed into the rear bagger more effectively. The high lift blade is used if you are bagging the grass clippings (which I will likely never do.)

As to the leaves, we use a leaf blower to gather the leaves and bag them. We don't mulch much leaves except for the stragglers that still exist when we're done blowing and collecting them. I can say that tall, thick grass presents no problem to my new mower, whereas my gas mower would have a noticeable decrease in engine rpm when going through thick patches.

I think it's unfair to make blanket statements about the EGo mower not being able to handle leaves as well as a gas mower. How much torque does the gas mower produce compared to the EGo mower?

I am not making any "blanket statement." I am simply posting based on my experience with EGO. I made a longer post about a month ago in one of the gazillion other threads relating to EGO and other battery powered lawn mowers so I am not going to repeat it here.



My point was simply DON'T "presume there are authorized repair facilities that would handle any warranty repairs." And if there aren't any electronics involved, and if there is little to no maintenance with electric mowers, who needs a 5 year warranty, or any warranty at all for that matter? If nothing can possibly go wrong and if you've got the dough, go ahead and buy it.

 

[6miths]

I put my Honda mower into the container that went out west for my son. I now have 3 40V Ryobi mowers and absolutely love them. Quiet, lightweight, no fumes, no gas cans, easy starting, great looking cut and mulching. Total convert. Love the other Ryobi outdoor gear as well.

 

[DayDreaming]

It's weird, but I swore the motor sped up when it got into longer grass, at least the sound of rpm's of the blade motor seemed to change to a higher pitch. I did not have any problem going through long grass. This was with the self-propelled not engaged.

I have a Ryobi battery powered mower and had a WORX before - both of these adjust the motor speed depending on how heavy the load is. It's a battery saving feature to not use more power than needed. Your mower must be doing the same.

 

[eytonxav]

My neighbor and I bought and shared an EGO electric last year to mow our backyards (our front and side yards are maintained by HOA). The mower was great, but both of us opted for synthetic turf this year so no need for the mower unless the HOA fails on their maintenance obligation.

 

[aaronc879]

I have had a Ego self propelled mower for several years and like it. I do use the self propelled motor almost 100% of the time as I have a hard time walking for an hour after my hip replacement even without pushing a mower. I use the second lowest setting of 2" when I mow. I have found that if I use the lowest setting then the mower is more likely to stall and the battery won't last nearly as long when mulching. I have a 7000sqft lawn and sometimes have to use a second battery which is no big deal. I have a blower and a snow blower so lots of extra batteries to use as needed. I will continue buying Ego mowers until I have to give up mowing and pay for a service.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I am not making any "blanket statement." I am simply posting based on my experience with EGO. I made a longer post about a month ago in one of the gazillion other threads relating to EGO and other battery powered lawn mowers so I am not going to repeat it here.

Here's your post:

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...d-tools-which-brand-117879-4.html#post2931911

You bought an EGo lawn mower in June 2019. You used the mower 32 times and one day in August 2020 it would not start. You searched online for repair and servicing tips but found little information.

You then called the Home Depot where you purchased the mower but they didn't answer the phone. You tried calling EGo corporate but they did not answer the phone.

You then threw away your $500 electric lawn mower that was still under warranty.

That's it. An online search and two phone calls and you gave up?

...if there aren't any electronics involved, and if there is little to no maintenance with electric mowers, who needs a 5 year warranty, or any warranty at all for that matter? If nothing can possibly go wrong and if you've got the dough, go ahead and buy it.

I guess you didn't need the warranty and had the dough because you threw your barely one year old EGo lawnmower away because it wouldn't start.

 

[RetMD21]

For those who aren't planning to use the self propelled feature getting the push version might be a consideration. I have both and the push version is lighter, cheaper, and simpler.

 

[6miths]

I have both versions and generally prefer push version for reasons you state but one drawback with Ryobi mowers is that the push version is not available with dual blades which is a feature that I also prefer. That said, the single blade Ryobi gives a very clean cut in my experience.