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Battery-powered mower advice -- looking to buy a new one.
#1
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
I'm currently in the market for a battery-powered mower. My yard is overrun with thick weeds, so I need something that will get the job done there.
I currently have a reel mower, but that doesn't work well on taller weeds, and I have a Black & Decker CM1200 that just isn't cutting it anymore.
Consumer Reports rates the EGO LM2156SP very highly (84 out of 100), but it's rather pricey. A friend of mine recommended a Makita, but I can't really find any reviews on it. I've heard good things about Greenworks mowers, too.
I'd really like this to be a longer-lasting mower, especially one that will last long enough for me to get these weeds under control.
Does anyone have any guidance here? It's very appreciated!
I currently have a reel mower, but that doesn't work well on taller weeds, and I have a Black & Decker CM1200 that just isn't cutting it anymore.
Consumer Reports rates the EGO LM2156SP very highly (84 out of 100), but it's rather pricey. A friend of mine recommended a Makita, but I can't really find any reviews on it. I've heard good things about Greenworks mowers, too.
I'd really like this to be a longer-lasting mower, especially one that will last long enough for me to get these weeds under control.
Does anyone have any guidance here? It's very appreciated!
#2
S
slomo
S
slomo
Just stating the obvious. Batteries will fail in 1-3 years. Not if but when. Very expensive to replace. Gas mowers will last many decades longer. Electricity is typically generated from nuclear, water or coal. Unless you have a huge solar grid in your backyard. To me, battery mowers offer nothing over a gas mower.
#3
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
Sure. I get that gas mowers last longer. We've had a battery-powered mower since we moved into our house (I'm actually kinda surprised the mower has lasted this long). I'd get one, but electric seems better for the environment (at least until I get my weeds under control, then the reel mower), and my wife's not really comfortable with having gas stored in our garage. Otherwise, I'd be looking at gas. When I was growing up, we had a great Briggs & Stratton gas mower that worked really well.Just stating the obvious. Batteries will fail in 1-3 years. Not if but when. Very expensive to replace. Gas mowers will last many decades longer. Electricity is typically generated from nuclear, water or coal. Unless you have a huge solar grid in your backyard. To me, battery mowers offer nothing over a gas mower.
#4
S
slomo
S
slomo
Use what you like and are comfortable with. I get it. Just saying they are a never ending expense compared to gas.
Far as the environment goes, most likely not better. Coal is filthy for the air and nuclear is even worse. It's all good!
Far as the environment goes, most likely not better. Coal is filthy for the air and nuclear is even worse. It's all good!
#5
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
Oh, I understand. I'm looking at it as (hopefully) a temporary solution until I get the weeds under control. Then I can go back to the reel mower that I have. But for now, I need something that can power through weeds, and what I'm currently using isn't working.Use what you like and are comfortable with. I get it. Just saying they are a never ending expense compared to gas.
Far as the environment goes, most likely not better. Coal is filthy for the air and nuclear is even worse. It's all good!
#6
dougand3
dougand3
Why not get a lawn service to mow the yard short 1 time, then use reel mower?
#7
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
That's a good question. I like mowing every week or week and a half. And unless I mow every couple of days, I think the weeds would probably grow too fast for that. It's a thought, but I'm not sure how well it would work, unless I wanted to mow every couple of days.Why not get a lawn service to mow the yard short 1 time, then use reel mower?
#8
S
sevenhelmet
S
sevenhelmet
I've gotten a full season out of my Ego push mower with no problems. It has plenty of power for tall weeds. My only minor gripe with it is the front wheels aren't castering, so you have to push up the front end to turn. The batteries are warrantied for 5 years, and I plan to store mine inside at 50% charge for the winter, as recommended. The Ego batteries should last for a while- I have numerous lithium tool and OPE batteries in various brands; some are 10 years old and have been stored in my garage through all seasons, and they still work fine.
Regarding the environment, I'm not convinced electric mowers are better for the planet unless they last a really long time, since there's a lot of up-front manufacturing footprint. But the electrics are quieter, convenient to use, easy to maintain, and there are no fluids to spill or fumes to breathe. For my suburban half acre, electric OPE works well. When I buy 5-10 acres out of town, that'll likely be a different story for mowing, although a lot of my electric tools will still work fine.
Regarding the environment, I'm not convinced electric mowers are better for the planet unless they last a really long time, since there's a lot of up-front manufacturing footprint. But the electrics are quieter, convenient to use, easy to maintain, and there are no fluids to spill or fumes to breathe. For my suburban half acre, electric OPE works well. When I buy 5-10 acres out of town, that'll likely be a different story for mowing, although a lot of my electric tools will still work fine.
#9
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
I'm not really worried about castored front wheels. I'm worried about the price tag, and what can get the job done in my yard, that's a quality product that's going to last me several years. Those are the main things.
Maintenance is another, and the fact that honestly, part of it is that my wife doesn't like the idea of storing gasoline in the garage.
The mower I'm using now (A Black & Decker CM1200) can barely do my front yard, as far as power goes. And my back yard has even more weeds.
Maintenance is another, and the fact that honestly, part of it is that my wife doesn't like the idea of storing gasoline in the garage.
The mower I'm using now (A Black & Decker CM1200) can barely do my front yard, as far as power goes. And my back yard has even more weeds.
#10
S
sevenhelmet
S
sevenhelmet
How big is your yard? I mow around 9,500 square feet and my Ego does fine. I know you're not thrilled with the price tag, but they do make a good push mower. Maybe pick one up used, or on a Black Friday sale?
Mine is actually up for sale since I bought the Ego Z6 riding mower, but I doubt you'll want the hassle of shipping a push mower.
Mine is actually up for sale since I bought the Ego Z6 riding mower, but I doubt you'll want the hassle of shipping a push mower.
#11
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
Not even really a quarter acre. And that's including my house, driveway, sidewalk, and walkway.How big is your yard? I mow around 9,500 square feet and my Ego does fine. I know you're not thrilled with the price tag, but they do make a good push mower. Maybe pick one up used, or on a Black Friday sale?
Mine is actually up for sale since I bought the Ego Z6 riding mower, but I doubt you'll want the hassle of shipping a push mower.
#12
S
sevenhelmet
S
sevenhelmet
Sounds like an Ego walk behind is perfect for you. They fold up for easy storage too- no worries about hanging it on the wall with no gas to leak out.Not even really a quarter acre. And that's including my house, driveway, sidewalk, and walkway.
#13
M
Monte1076
M
Monte1076
That may be the one. If it'll tear through the thick, overgrown weeds in my yard, like I've seen in some videos, that might be the one for me.Sounds like an Ego walk behind is perfect for you. They fold up for easy storage too- no worries about hanging it on the wall with no gas to leak out.
#14
oldlawnguy
oldlawnguy
Maybe another option, not sure how suitable for you-- how about treating those weeds with a herbicide option then you can be all good again with with your current battery pack mower? Maybe point out to the Mrs. that you are storing gas in the garage if you have car(s) parked in it. 
Battery pack powered stuff takes a page from the old razor blade/razor industry and printer/printer ink industries.
Battery pack powered stuff takes a page from the old razor blade/razor industry and printer/printer ink industries.
#15
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
Are they more expensive? I wonder how many tanks of gas you use while a battery remains in service. Charging is likely no costlier than regular oil changes.Use what you like and are comfortable with. I get it. Just saying they are a never ending expense compared to gas.
Far as the environment goes, most likely not better. Coal is filthy for the air and nuclear is even worse. It's all good!
#16
Pracher G
Pracher G
My experience with BATTERY powered yard tools is they lack power for ANY tough job. I have a battery push mower I never use because it has problems with normal length grass. It is useless in moderately high grass.
I also have a corded 120V push mower which has reasonable power and can handle taller grass. That would be my suggestion to get the power you need and avoid the gas.
I also have a corded 120V push mower which has reasonable power and can handle taller grass. That would be my suggestion to get the power you need and avoid the gas.
#17
S
slomo
S
slomo
Much cheaper that way.Why not get a lawn service to mow the yard short 1 time, then use reel mower?
#18
S
slomo
S
slomo
Do you park any cars in the garage? Most have gas in the tanks.part of it is that my wife doesn't like the idea of storing gasoline in the garage.
#19
A
AdamE
Here's a very interesting video:
A
AdamE
Just curious, but why is nuclear even worse than coal? A lot of folks are coming around to nuclear energy. I've always been a fan.Use what you like and are comfortable with. I get it. Just saying they are a never ending expense compared to gas.
Far as the environment goes, most likely not better. Coal is filthy for the air and nuclear is even worse. It's all good!
Here's a very interesting video:
#20
B
bertsmobile1
That is the $ 65,000 question that no one will give an honest or strait answer to .
Every one selectively quotes statistics to enhance their position so basically every one lies.
What you have to get your head around is ENERGY is FOREVER and all energy ultimately has come from the destruction of matter.
Thus ultimately , apart from bombs & nuclear power, all the rest of the energy we consume has it's origins in our sun .
From then on all we do is convert it from one form to another and every time we convert it heat is a waste product .
And HEAT is the big problem that has finally come home to roost because from the dawn of time heat was simply dumped into the atmosphere or water .
And because the volume of heat was small and the volume of the atmosphere & oceans was vast the tiny incrimental increases were not noticed and not a problem
Every thing you do converts some form of energy to heat and that heat has to eventually b radiated into outer space from the atmosphere or the atmosphere gets hotter.
And the problem is the heat, not the CO2 , although the CO2 reduces the speed that the atmosphere can raadiate the heat you converted into space .
As for battery power , it is filthy if you take your starting point the mines that extract the raw materials that go into making the batteries right through to the disposal of the dead batteries
Petrol is actually less polluting overall even more so if the mower is manufactured from reclaimed materials .
As for energy conversion to electricity because we don't actually produce energy we just convert chemical , gravitational , wind , solar or mechanical energy to electricity every single one of the process generates pollution and in most cases, that which has a small pollution quotent at the generation stage has a massive pollution quotent at the manufacturing stage and visa versa.
Atomic energy produced the second lowest amount of pollution per Kw of electricity used , but when you look at the steels & concrete used to make a power station, it has to generate a lot of power for a long time to get to the break even point.
The other problem with atomic energy is it convert matter into heat so actually generates more heat both directly at the power station and at the consumption end when all that electricity heat or houses or drives our computers.
Hydro is the least polluting pre Kw produced but then you have the environmental damage from the building of dams and the problems at the water discharge end.
Waterwheels are probably the best for the environment , particularly if they are made of wood .
Any one who thinks they are environmental heros for using battery powered anything are deluding themselves .
If you want to be environmentally benign then use a corded mower or a sythe .
The biggest problem is people are lazy and thus stupid so we jump on a popular band waggon without any thought of the consequences.
So right now it is LESS CO2 so ask anybody and they will happily tell you once we get to zero CO2 emissions it will be back to life as we used to , but it won't because CO2 is only a tiny part of the problem that the media & politicans have become fixated with .
B
bertsmobile1
Joe,Are they more expensive? I wonder how many tanks of gas you use while a battery remains in service. Charging is likely no costlier than regular oil changes.
That is the $ 65,000 question that no one will give an honest or strait answer to .
Every one selectively quotes statistics to enhance their position so basically every one lies.
What you have to get your head around is ENERGY is FOREVER and all energy ultimately has come from the destruction of matter.
Thus ultimately , apart from bombs & nuclear power, all the rest of the energy we consume has it's origins in our sun .
From then on all we do is convert it from one form to another and every time we convert it heat is a waste product .
And HEAT is the big problem that has finally come home to roost because from the dawn of time heat was simply dumped into the atmosphere or water .
And because the volume of heat was small and the volume of the atmosphere & oceans was vast the tiny incrimental increases were not noticed and not a problem
Every thing you do converts some form of energy to heat and that heat has to eventually b radiated into outer space from the atmosphere or the atmosphere gets hotter.
And the problem is the heat, not the CO2 , although the CO2 reduces the speed that the atmosphere can raadiate the heat you converted into space .
As for battery power , it is filthy if you take your starting point the mines that extract the raw materials that go into making the batteries right through to the disposal of the dead batteries
Petrol is actually less polluting overall even more so if the mower is manufactured from reclaimed materials .
As for energy conversion to electricity because we don't actually produce energy we just convert chemical , gravitational , wind , solar or mechanical energy to electricity every single one of the process generates pollution and in most cases, that which has a small pollution quotent at the generation stage has a massive pollution quotent at the manufacturing stage and visa versa.
Atomic energy produced the second lowest amount of pollution per Kw of electricity used , but when you look at the steels & concrete used to make a power station, it has to generate a lot of power for a long time to get to the break even point.
The other problem with atomic energy is it convert matter into heat so actually generates more heat both directly at the power station and at the consumption end when all that electricity heat or houses or drives our computers.
Hydro is the least polluting pre Kw produced but then you have the environmental damage from the building of dams and the problems at the water discharge end.
Waterwheels are probably the best for the environment , particularly if they are made of wood .
Any one who thinks they are environmental heros for using battery powered anything are deluding themselves .
If you want to be environmentally benign then use a corded mower or a sythe .
The biggest problem is people are lazy and thus stupid so we jump on a popular band waggon without any thought of the consequences.
So right now it is LESS CO2 so ask anybody and they will happily tell you once we get to zero CO2 emissions it will be back to life as we used to , but it won't because CO2 is only a tiny part of the problem that the media & politicans have become fixated with .
#21
S
slomo
S
slomo
Just curious, but why is nuclear even worse than coal? A lot of folks are coming around to nuclear energy. I've always been a fan.
Here's a very interesting video:
#22
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
Interesting docco, but little there that was not already known
A badly laid out plant and a lesson learned that actually got acted on.
You will find that since this most remaining nuclear power plants now have triple redundancy in the operational power.
There was another docco showing some of them with remote generation stations a few miles away .
China commissioned their first Thorium salt reactor in 2018 and India was to get there up & running in 2019 but AFAIK that is on hold because of Covid .
I believe that the Thorium salt will be the way of the future for nuclear power however the down side to them is the power output is quite modest when compared to the potential power output from a fast breeder or even pebble bed reactors but of course that is one of the reasons why they are substantially safer
And of course they cost a small fraction of the cost of a uranium powered plant to build .
And if you want to be frightened , then research the radioactive output from a conventional coal powered power station.
It is a lot higher than most would believe depending upon the source of the coal, another reason why we down here get a premium price for our substantially cleaner coal
A badly laid out plant and a lesson learned that actually got acted on.
You will find that since this most remaining nuclear power plants now have triple redundancy in the operational power.
There was another docco showing some of them with remote generation stations a few miles away .
China commissioned their first Thorium salt reactor in 2018 and India was to get there up & running in 2019 but AFAIK that is on hold because of Covid .
I believe that the Thorium salt will be the way of the future for nuclear power however the down side to them is the power output is quite modest when compared to the potential power output from a fast breeder or even pebble bed reactors but of course that is one of the reasons why they are substantially safer
And of course they cost a small fraction of the cost of a uranium powered plant to build .
And if you want to be frightened , then research the radioactive output from a conventional coal powered power station.
It is a lot higher than most would believe depending upon the source of the coal, another reason why we down here get a premium price for our substantially cleaner coal
#23
J
Joed756
J
Joed756
That was an excellent read Bert, thanks for all of that.Joe,
That is the $ 65,000 question that no one will give an honest or strait answer to .
Every one selectively quotes statistics to enhance their position so basically every one lies.
What you have to get your head around is ENERGY is FOREVER and all energy ultimately has come from the destruction of matter.
Thus ultimately , apart from bombs & nuclear power, all the rest of the energy we consume has it's origins in our sun .
From then on all we do is convert it from one form to another and every time we convert it heat is a waste product .
And HEAT is the big problem that has finally come home to roost because from the dawn of time heat was simply dumped into the atmosphere or water .
And because the volume of heat was small and the volume of the atmosphere & oceans was vast the tiny incrimental increases were not noticed and not a problem
Every thing you do converts some form of energy to heat and that heat has to eventually b radiated into outer space from the atmosphere or the atmosphere gets hotter.
And the problem is the heat, not the CO2 , although the CO2 reduces the speed that the atmosphere can raadiate the heat you converted into space .
As for battery power , it is filthy if you take your starting point the mines that extract the raw materials that go into making the batteries right through to the disposal of the dead batteries
Petrol is actually less polluting overall even more so if the mower is manufactured from reclaimed materials .
As for energy conversion to electricity because we don't actually produce energy we just convert chemical , gravitational , wind , solar or mechanical energy to electricity every single one of the process generates pollution and in most cases, that which has a small pollution quotent at the generation stage has a massive pollution quotent at the manufacturing stage and visa versa.
Atomic energy produced the second lowest amount of pollution per Kw of electricity used , but when you look at the steels & concrete used to make a power station, it has to generate a lot of power for a long time to get to the break even point.
The other problem with atomic energy is it convert matter into heat so actually generates more heat both directly at the power station and at the consumption end when all that electricity heat or houses or drives our computers.
Hydro is the least polluting pre Kw produced but then you have the environmental damage from the building of dams and the problems at the water discharge end.
Waterwheels are probably the best for the environment , particularly if they are made of wood .
Any one who thinks they are environmental heros for using battery powered anything are deluding themselves .
If you want to be environmentally benign then use a corded mower or a sythe .
The biggest problem is people are lazy and thus stupid so we jump on a popular band waggon without any thought of the consequences.
So right now it is LESS CO2 so ask anybody and they will happily tell you once we get to zero CO2 emissions it will be back to life as we used to , but it won't because CO2 is only a tiny part of the problem that the media & politicans have become fixated with .
#24
B
bertsmobile1
B
bertsmobile1
I had a stand up with an achademic self imposed "Eco warrior" who was very strongly advocating for the total ban of all 2 stroke engines as the solution to atmospheric pollution.
By the time I had forced her to look at more than just the tail pipe emissions she was in tears because she finally realized that the cast iron engined 2 strokes she had dedicated her life into removing from Australian yards were far less polluting over its full service life ( which is over 100 years as there is 3 oversize pistons available ) than the cleanest of clean 4 strokes with a service life of 10 years and a environmental compliant life of 4 years .
And when you take all of the pollution of battery powered mowers ( including disposal ) they are the dirtiest of all with the shortest service life to amortise the embedded pollution from their manufacture.
By the time I had forced her to look at more than just the tail pipe emissions she was in tears because she finally realized that the cast iron engined 2 strokes she had dedicated her life into removing from Australian yards were far less polluting over its full service life ( which is over 100 years as there is 3 oversize pistons available ) than the cleanest of clean 4 strokes with a service life of 10 years and a environmental compliant life of 4 years .
And when you take all of the pollution of battery powered mowers ( including disposal ) they are the dirtiest of all with the shortest service life to amortise the embedded pollution from their manufacture.