Self propelled mower. Gas or electric?

[Ausfahrt]

Ok.

It's been a couple of weeks with my wife mowing the yard as I recover from knee surgery. She refused to deal with my (admittedly cantankerous) old 2-stroke Lawnboy and is not comfortable riding our Deere L110 garden tractor on our sloped lawn.

It was not easy getting info out of her but I got this...

PROS
Lighter and easier to maneuver than our old Honda that we gave to our daughter.
She loved not having to pull a starter cord and deal with gas. Put the battery in and mash the button.
As a tree hugger at heart, she loves the quiet and lack of exhaust especially compared to the Lawnboy.
The ability to fold it up and store it on end to save space without leaking fluids.

CONS
The discharge chute clogged up on her several times.
The handle grips were too sensitive and the mower shut down several times while she was turning or maneuvering around obstacles.

 

[Ronsant]

I got an Ego mower ( plastic deck, self propelled), in July. So far, I like it a lot. It’s quite, pretty powerful, and has speed adjustable self propel.
So far the battery life is good, I have a little over half an acre ( less the house and garage) property to mow. The 7.5 amp battery lasts the whole job. Up and down hills in the back and mostly flat in the front. 3/5’s of the charge was as low as I could get it, mowing everything I could and using the self propel up the hills.
Much lighter than my gas mower, like half the weight!
Easy to manage and battery takes a full charge in less than an hour.
Assuming the battery lasts for the 5 year warranty period ( or longer) this will be a great tool.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Forget the electric, it's just a phase now. Stick with gasoline. The batteries alone probably cost more than the machine when you need a replacement. 90% of the Lithium Ion comes from China. USA does not have those precious metals to mine it.....not to mention they explode when charging it. Those have to be pretty big,

 

[nickaluch]

I got an Ego mower ( plastic deck, self propelled), in July. So far, I like it a lot. It’s quite, pretty powerful, and has speed adjustable self propel.
So far the battery life is good, I have a little over half an acre ( less the house and garage) property to mow. The 7.5 amp battery lasts the whole job. Up and down hills in the back and mostly flat in the front. 3/5’s of the charge was as low as I could get it, mowing everything I could and using the self propel up the hills.
Much lighter than my gas mower, like half the weight!
Easy to manage and battery takes a full charge in less than an hour.
Assuming the battery lasts for the 5 year warranty period ( or longer) this will be a great tool.

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I wonder what the cost is to replace the battery in 5 years? That was my sticking point on battery mower ended up going gas Honda i got over 15 years on my old Honda powered mower only 1 spark plug change and air filter and sold it for a little over $100 paid $200

 

[50yr Street Mech]

That battery will not be cheap. That's why I said to go with gas. I don't know the price, but even common cordless drill batteries are expensive.

 

[Ronsant]

That battery will not be cheap. That's why I said to go with gas. I don't know the price, but even common cordless drill batteries are expensive.

I looked into that. If I buy an Ego battery, it’s $300, but there are “knock-offs” in 7.5 amp for less than $100. The Ego battery has a five year warranty. I will be happy if the running costs are $100-$200 per five years.
We will see. I have a Craftsman (Kohler) riding mower from 1996 that runs well. I also kept my 25 YO gas walk behind. The mower works but the self propel is non functional. Repair shop told me the transmission will cost more than a new mower.
So I weighed the options and got the Ego electric. Time will tell…..

I’m not a proponent of electric over gas, but so far the Ego is working out well.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Enjoy the Ego while the battery lasts. As it nears it end of life, it won't cut as long. Keep the blade sharp. That will lower the drag on the motor and save the battery too.

 

[LenMac]

First of all, I don't want to replicate previous posts but I don't have much time and I do have specific needs. Mainly that I rarely bag or mulch and usually just discharge the cut grass.

I am scheduled for total knee replacement surgery this Monday the 23rd. We have about one acre of land that is mowed but is very hilly. I mow most of it with our old JD L110 lawn tractor but there are portions that are too steep for the JD and I usually weed whack and/or mow them with my ancient push Lawnboy. I expect my mobility to be limited in the weeks following surgery so my wife may be mowing for the remainder of this growing season.

My wife understandably won't run the weed whacker or the Lawnboy but is ok with mowing the flat areas on the lawn tractor. We have been contemplating a new self-propelled mower for a while but now push has come to shove.

I have narrowed the choices down to two. A Honda HRX217K6VYA which is still available for $800 or a Ryobi RY40HPLM02K2 with two batteries for $650. I am open to other alternatives too but I need to decide quickly.

Honda gas is my preference. I have an ego, that I mow around a pool area to catch debris. But it lacks the torque to cut very thick fescue very well because the high lift blade pulls it down ever so slightly. I will go back to a gas bagger and high lift blade.

 

[LenMac]

I am now deep into the electric mower rabbit hole. Many Youtube videos watched and I'm going through a process of elimination.

Since the impetus for this purchase is for my wife to be able to mow while I am laid up after surgery, the Honda is out. I looked at the Ryobis at HD and I was not impressed so Ryobi is out too.

I know. The two mowers that I had narrowed it down to are out of consideration. What now?

Greenworks or Ego.

The Greenworks has a steel deck that I like versus the plastic Ego deck but the side/rear discharge on the Ego looks better. I can buy the Ego at my local Ace store and it's nice having a local shop that can service what they sell and I can talk to a real person.

Buy the ego over greenworks. If you are just mowing a hill and are not trying to with yard of the month, run the high efficiency blade for battery life and higher rpm. You will need to sharpen blade more often for battery life