Just purchased a Lithium Powered Lawnmower

[ecotourist]

I have a number of Ryobi power tools and the batteries have had a good life (so far). They don't get industrial use, but regular DIY and yard maintenance work.

My neighbour recently bought a Ryobi battery powered push lawn mower and I helped her neighbour mow his lawn. That mower was a pleasure to use. Very light pushing especially up a steep hill (the wrong way to mow on a hill, but no other way to mow that section). It has 2 batteries and runs just fine and mows her lawn (or the neighbours) on only one. The batteries are bigger than what I use for my power tools but might still be interchangeable.

 

[loneryder]

Coastal area of NC
No longer than 30-40 Max. minutes of mowing, well aware of the limits of lithium. Perfect solution in the new home. Also made to be folded up and stored on the 2 rear wheels flat against the lawn. As promised to someone else I'll update as time goes on.

I remember you were looking in FL.

 

[John105]

imho everyone plays games with numbers. My gas lawnmower has 5.7 HP and 9.4 ft lbs, but it's listed as 12.7 nm. Even still, it would seem this mower is 7 ft lbs although can't make out exactly what unit is 7. Then we can get into net v. continuous. All I know is my 2021 mower can mulch very tall grass, that would stall my 6.5 HP (was it really) Craftsman from 2002. It's all about cutting imho but then again making a statement that I just did would be like saying a car is about driving. It's really not in 2023

 

[John105]

Concerns over battery life and large battery packs with unknown replacement terms and conditions on Ego and other mowers led us to a Makita. Same 18v Li-Ion as my drills, reciprocating saws, multi tools, impact wrenches, impact drivers, blowers, jig saw, string trimmer, hedge trimmer (a new one, and love it). I'm all in on the 18v Makita system. I've got about 18 batteries, several chargers. The batteries aren't cheap, but they're completely interchangeable and replaceable. I won't be sending the mower (or any of the other tools) in for a new battery. My 40+ year old Makita drill still works great, by the way. They build excellent tools.

I ended up in the Dewalt 20V family starting with an impact wrench for the car. The one device that destroys the batteries.....an orbital buffer. Needed it when a local church was spraying a front door and red paint landed all over my wife's SUV. You guessed it, they denied it.

I was prepared to use polish, but didn't have to. A lot of elbow grease, the Dewalt, and cleaner wax got the red paint off her car. Being a SUV, it had a huge surface area. I told myself don't get mad because it will make it worse for myself. I got 'er did.

 

[Pablo]

I ended up in the Dewalt 20V family starting with an impact wrench for the car.

Me too on Dewalt. Then I had to buy a couple Milwaukee 12V tools that DeWalt didn't make. Fell in love with the size, power, mobility of the small tools. I use the DeWalt 20VMax plenty still for real power, saws and such.

Then I bought the Greenworks 80V stuff. Love it big time and glad I didn't get any DeWalt or Milwaukee ODPE in 20V-12V. The reviews don't look great. Maybe the only thing tempting are the small hand e-pruner and micro chainsaw pruner.

Anyway Yes, I went 3 voltages and I am happy with that.

 

[alarmguy]

I remember you were looking in FL.

Yes!
Yulee Florida, still love the area there but very glad we didnt chose the community that we considered. If you remember, we got so close to buying there that the unsigned contracts are still in my inbox from last early summer for a purchase.
Fast forward to a vacation on the SCN/NC coast that we were taking in August of that year 2022 and stumbled upon the community we now live in near the coast of NC. Literally a few miles from the beach. It was an excellent decision for us. I think we would have regretted Florida, ONLY because of the community we were considering, Im not knocking Florida but the cost there, to what we have here is incredible.
Also at this time, the Florida community seems to be in a state of turmoil, for us, we feel like we missed a flying bullet. My wife really called this one.

 

[John105]

Me too on Dewalt. Then I had to buy a couple Milwaukee 12V tools that DeWalt didn't make. Fell in love with the size, power, mobility of the small tools. I use the DeWalt 20VMax plenty still for real power, saws and such.

Then I bought the Greenworks 80V stuff. Love it big time and glad I didn't get any DeWalt or Milwaukee ODPE in 20V-12V. The reviews don't look great. Maybe the only thing tempting are the small hand e-pruner and micro chainsaw pruner.

Anyway Yes, I went 3 voltages and I am happy with that.

Batteries are super expensive but I have qty 5 of the 5 Ah. Not sure rhyme nor reason but I swear I got 2 on amazon for $99 plus the charger, on some lightning deal. It dawned on me maybe it's counterfeit but nothing about the packaging nor batteries indicated that. Some of the smaller tools came with a slim 2 Ah one. One of the best cordless tools is a pole hedge trimmer. Then I have my LED light (the big one, not the small), and my air compressor which is great for bike or if there's truly a leak it can be thrown in the car to get to the patching place. Drills and hammer drills go without saying. I hear the warranty is bad on Dewalt but never needed it. Oh cordless weed trimmer is so much better than 2 stroke gas...

 

[Pablo]

Batteries are super expensive but I have qty 5 of the 5 Ah. Not sure rhyme nor reason but I swear I got 2 on amazon for $99 plus the charger, on some lightning deal. It dawned on me maybe it's counterfeit but nothing about the packaging nor batteries indicated that. Some of the smaller tools came with a slim 2 Ah one. One of the best cordless tools is a pole hedge trimmer. Then I have my LED light (the big one, not the small), and my air compressor which is great for bike or if there's truly a leak it can be thrown in the car to get to the patching place. Drills and hammer drills go without saying. I hear the warranty is bad on Dewalt but never needed it. Oh cordless weed trimmer is so much better than 2 stroke gas...

Yeah, not cheap. I was able to accumulate a number of Dewalt an Milwaukee batteries for my own company use, so that worked out pretty good when we closed down.

But the 80V batteries I do have to save for each one!

 

[alarmguy]

...

But the 80V batteries I do have to save for each one!

Yeah, agree on that but like everything cost is subjective.
Batteries are boatloads less expensive compared to the cost of a landscaper. Never mind for me. I like the exercise and landscaping.

 

[atikovi]

How do you get your grass to grow so slow? I have to mow our 1/2 acre lot at least weekly, and twice a week during the prime growing season.

I spray Roundup on it.

 

[ecotourist]

I spray Roundup on it.

Doesn't that just kill the grass?

 

[atikovi]

Apparently not since I still have to mow a few times a year. It's meant for spot treatment I think, so spraying it all over the lawn isn't as effective.

 

[Oily Ed]

I’m on my third year with the EGO mower. My only complaint when I first got it was it didn’t bag very well. After some research I found out that I didn’t have the correct blade for bagging. Anyway ,it only takes me 15 minutes to mow my front and back yards. I have to charge the battery 3 maybe times for whole year. If I had a significantly larger yard I would probably still be using a gas mower but I am happy with the EGO.

 

[alarmguy]

I’m on my third year with the EGO mower. My only complaint when I first got it was it didn’t bag very well. After some research I found out that I didn’t have the correct blade for bagging. Anyway ,it only takes me 15 minutes to mow my front and back yards. I have to charge the battery 3 maybe times for whole year. If I had a significantly larger yard I would probably still be using a gas mower but I am happy with the EGO.

Yes, thank you. I hesitantly bought the Ego Model that came with 3 blades, all serve a different purpose. Whether I needed them or not I wasnt sure but since I cut the lawn myself figured it would be worth the extra $100+ dollars for this new ( I believe just recently came out) model which I think is the same as the other model, just another way for them to make more profit and higher price.
So it comes with the high lift bagging blade, Mulching blade and compromised high lift/mulch for best battery life.

I was on the fence, since I am in a new home about bagging, my last house it was a must, I had thick zoysia grass, the kind everyone in the community talked about our house *LOL* but it was impossible to mulch so thick and needed to bag with my Honda mower and had to be cut up to two times a week.
New house has Centipede Grass, much less dense and think I can just mulch and will need that mulch blade. It still bothers me a little that I paid extra (even on sale) for the extra blades, clearly a big mark up for EGO unless there is something else different with the mower. At any rate, I'll have the blades in case I do decide to bag I can put on that high lift bagging blade.

Thanks for your post, I am still a bit leary and hope it's everything I expect. Pretty pricey over gas but if it's as good I will be very happy. I agree, like with my past lawn I honestly dont think the power of the EGO would have matched my Honda gas mower. But this grass now will be much more normal and I think ok. I'll be extremely upset if it is not and extremely happy if it is.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Honda makes their last gas powered mowers in September. Just sayin.

 

[jeepman3071]

I spray Roundup on it.

I hope you don't use well water for drinking.

 

[atikovi]

It's in a city area with everyone on city water. Place used to house a dry cleaner in the 50's and 60's so those chemicals would be a greater concern.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I told my 86 year old dad , that his gardeners were ripping him off, in addition to annoying the snot out of everybody.

It was as if generating maximum noise, and maximum dust, in as short a time as possible, was their chief goal.

HE told me to Congratulations, their job is now yours. Fire them, nicely, and find a mower for our small lawn.

A long way from the Kohler powered cub cadet riding mower that taught me how to drive in the early 80s, 1200 miles north.

He still has hedge trimmer from then, and the many times spliced extension cord too.

I linked him the cheaper Makita 36V , with 4 4.0ah 18V batteries and charger for 400$.

He ordered that, and the makita weedwhacker, the makita blower, and makita hedgetrimmer as some sort of package deal, apparently too good to pass up.

Blower and trimmer showed up in less tha 24 hours. No batteries/charger, yet.

Gonna get some Makita to Ridgid, and Ridgid to Makita battery adapters, as i have 4 recently acquired Ridgid batteries, 2 2.0 and 2 4.0 Ah.

My Ridgid to Ryobi adapter paid for itself today when the weak Ryobi 18v leaf blower quit unexpectedly on me.

I see that the Makita tools have 3 contacts, but the adapters have 2.

I'm kind of eager to play with the blower, but have refrained from feeding it from a Ridgid battery, so far.

 

[alarmguy]

Honda makes their last gas powered mowers in September. Just sayin.

Yes, kind of sad they are getting out of the business though I have no use for them anymore since the EM I loved the engine on my last Honda mower and the excellent cut it provided.

 

[alarmguy]

I thought I would give this an update.
Im pretty impressed with the mower performance.
It certainly is more quiet, after all there is no gasoline engine nor combustion taking place.
Its powerful enough and where our new lawn is really starting to thicken up, seems to do a good job with its mulching blade.
Im not 100% sure yet that I can say it clearly is 100% equal the power of a gas mower but I'll update more as the season wears on.
I have had no issues at all to make that above statement, I think the fact that it doesnt vibrate and make noise makes me wonder if it is as powerful *LOL*

As far as battery power, first time I used it, it had enough power for the entire lawn but, I dont know, maybe I expected more battery power to be left over than there was. The second use, I had more power left over and the 3rd use way, way more battery power left over.
I have read this in a forum about this mower, battery lasts much long after two uses. Speculation is break in occurs both in battery charging and the engine itself.

An example. 1st use I used about 90% of battery power by the 3rd use including 2 or 3 recharges I used only about 40% battery power leaving a whopping over 50% left after cutting the lawn. Scratching my head on this one, as the lawn this time of year is also growing much faster and thicker. Some might be due to a little less use of the self propelled as I have discovered the darn thing is so easy to push that many times I decide to push it if trimming around trees ect.

Anyway, todays thoughts are in some ways I still think gas rules, at least my Honda, more so for a large super thick lawn but if you dont want to bother with gas, oil, air filters, spark plugs and want a carefree easy to store mower with none of the mentioned. This thing rules so far. It's just after cutting grass for decades with the noise and smell of gas, it still messes with my mind that there is none of that.