Are 18V mowers really that bad?
- Thread starter KevinMalone
- Start date
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Watched my unfriendly neighbor's electric mower fail yesterday. Her battery quit halfway and didn't resume mowing for 6 hours. The grass was fairly thick, not that long though.
They're probably trying to get increase spending on products by killing off "buy it for life" stuff and making us buy more disposable stuff.
My 1999 Toro recycler 21" push mower is still in good shape and it replaced a 1981 mastercraft my parents bought before I was born. I'd still be using that but I bit a large bolt sticking out of concrete under tall seeds and bent the crankshaft or rod. I was using that as a side job for extra income after work.
My 15-year-old Toro battery electric 20" mower died recently. The original battery pack was still good - three 12 V 12 A-h VRLA lead-acid batteries in series (for a nominal 36 V output), but electric motor's base had rusted out, so the motor was flopping around in the chassis. The best deal I could find on a replacement motor was C$306 plus shipping plus tax.
I replaced it with a Kobalt 40 V 20" mower from Rona for $399 plus tax, so about $450 all-in. I love it, except the Li-Ion battery is only rated at 5 A-h, so if the grass is at all thick (as easily happens with our so-far rainy summer) I can't cut both the front and back lawns on one charge.
I know a fellow with a smaller battery electric mower - it's got a narrow deck (14"?) and it's just too small. I wouldn't go smaller than 20" myself.
I replaced it with a Kobalt 40 V 20" mower from Rona for $399 plus tax, so about $450 all-in. I love it, except the Li-Ion battery is only rated at 5 A-h, so if the grass is at all thick (as easily happens with our so-far rainy summer) I can't cut both the front and back lawns on one charge.
I know a fellow with a smaller battery electric mower - it's got a narrow deck (14"?) and it's just too small. I wouldn't go smaller than 20" myself.
You can somewhat future proof your concern by acting quickly. Home Depot is selling a limited stock of actual Honda mowers until they are depleted. Honda stopped new mower production last October, but just released the remaining supply of the last units to HD and other authorized dealers. I believe these were the final units that were being assembled when the "stop sell"/recall order was issued so Honda could retrofit the part (camshaft?) that was defective with a revised part.
Yes I'm going this week to my local authorized Honda dealer to pull the trigger United AG and turf
I've been watching a guy on Youtube and he repairs a lot of small motors. Rebuilding them is not that difficult and not any special tools other than a torque wrench and ring compressor sleeve. Just watched him rebuild a B&S that threw a rod and wrapped it around the crank!
But he repairs a lot of things and makes it look easy.
Honda does make battery mowers for sale in Australia and Great Britain, eventually they might make it here
Yeah I bought a brand new mower from Lowes with a blown engine, nicer mower deck with big rear wheels, side discharge chute. Some zoomer bought it and ran without oil, blew the engine, returned it, lowes sold it to me for $15.
I knew it was only a matter of time before I got a free beat up neglected mower. Got with broken push handle, missing discharge chute so there was just a hole that throws grass and pebbles back at you and small wheels all around, 2 of which were slightly broken.
Put that old engine on a new deck it was a $120 mower.
Yes they are. I found plug in ones to be tolerable. I ran a plug in from 2006 till it died it's finally death in 2017 but I was only cutting a half acre.
With a 12ga cord and a dedicated 25amp circuit it was unstoppable.
How long was the extension cord?
A 50 foot cord was able to reach everything with 1 plug in the back yard and 2 plug-ins to chose from in the front yard.
Thats not an 18V mower.
It's a 36V mower and requires 2 batteries that are run in a series.
Yeah my flagship push mower right now is a 22 inch Briggs 6hp flathead made in 2014 with side discharge.
I'm not sure what the engine displacement is but I bet its over 200cc.
It was like someone bought it, used it for a year or less and put it away and forgot about it. Then I bought it, some one was selling it "like new mower, can't get it stated, $30".
Displacement is likely 190 cc.
I don't think Makita was making them back then. I had a black and decker.
I’m on my third year with a HF Atlas self-propelled mower. Unit and batteries are holding up just fine, no issues.
