Is electric the way to go now?

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1 Lucky Texan

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At present, I think if most of your 'dollar-volume' is from commercial and large 'estate' machinery, I wouldn't worry too much.

As a homeowner with 9 years experience with batt-powered stuff, I can't see ever going back to gas. Doesn't mean I wouldn't switch back to ice in a heartbeat if I began having to maintain 'acreage' though.
 

smhardesty

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My opinion is that Washington DC is just completely filled idiot politicians of all parties. As long as they are fighting a cookie like a bunch of spoil brats we are never going get anything done by them. So I have just been ignoring them and take care business around here without them.
Oh, you are dead right. There is no way to pin all the idiotic crap on just one party. They are ALL to blame. Politicians have ZERO understanding of how the average Joe lives from day to day. None of them can relate to you and me. They just go merrily along, taking bribes, I mean lobbying money, and totally disregarding serious issues in this country. It's sad.
 

bertsmobile1

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Oh, you are dead right. There is no way to pin all the idiotic crap on just one party. They are ALL to blame. Politicians have ZERO understanding of how the average Joe lives from day to day. None of them can relate to you and me. They just go merrily along, taking bribes, I mean lobbying money, and totally disregarding serious issues in this country. It's sad.
IF you find it convienant then use battery power
But don't go battery if you think it will do anything to abate any form of pollution other than noise pollution which really only annoys people & dogs .
Every battery device powered by a Li battery creates far more pollution than it adverts and that is before all of the "accidential" warehouse fires where the stockpiles of spent Li batteries that are uneconomic to recycle without TAXPAYERS subsidizing it spontaneously combusst , problem over + insurance profits .
 

smhardesty

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IF you find it convienant then use battery power
But don't go battery if you think it will do anything to abate any form of pollution other than noise pollution which really only annoys people & dogs .
Every battery device powered by a Li battery creates far more pollution than it adverts and that is before all of the "accidential" warehouse fires where the stockpiles of spent Li batteries that are uneconomic to recycle without TAXPAYERS subsidizing it spontaneously combusst , problem over + insurance profits .
Oh, I have no intention of changing any of my OPE. I was mostly trying to get an idea of other guys are getting training in repairing the things and if anybody is going out of their way to stock battery powered stuff. Nope, I'll be using ICE equipment until I either drop dead or get to a point I can't do my own lawn work.
 

Bertrrr

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Oh you can bet this Green Agenda is making lots of politicians lots of money otherwise there would be no push in that direction, There is only concern about our environment when it's profitable for them.
 

Tiger Small Engine

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Oh, I have no intention of changing any of my OPE. I was mostly trying to get an idea of other guys are getting training in repairing the things and if anybody is going out of their way to stock battery powered stuff. Nope, I'll be using ICE equipment until I either drop dead or get to a point I can't do my own lawn work.
As a private repair shop owner, you have the option to repair or not repair any piece of equipment, period. Therefore, just like after learning about certain gas equipment that you will no longer repair (for various reasons), battery equanimity fall into this category if you do choose. When a customer buys a Kobalt, Rigid, Ryobi, Poulan, etc. battery leaf blower for example, and it takes a crap, good luck finding a shop because these are big box store brands. Kind of like your own personal protest to battery power.

When they say battery will last 5 years, in reality it is often more like 3. Then when you go to buy batteries they are expensive! Then after a period of time, the manufacturer sometimes change the battery pack so it won’t fit the older equipment.
Sidebar: Look up lithium battery mining/disposal on the internet and do some reading.
 

smhardesty

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Oh you can bet this Green Agenda is making lots of politicians lots of money otherwise there would be no push in that direction, There is only concern about our environment when it's profitable for them.
Yep. I have sure noticed that. It's just like a lot of other serious matters. The politicians will only get onboard if it will make them money, or help get them re-elected. I guess being re-elected is kind of the same thing as making money. LOL!


When they say battery will last 5 years, in reality it is often more like 3. Then when you go to buy batteries they are expensive! Then after a period of time, the manufacturer sometimes change the battery pack so it won’t fit the older equipment.
Sidebar: Look up lithium battery mining/disposal on the internet and do some reading.
I have run onto that expensive battery thing firsthand. A few years back, I bought a combination set of Porter Cable battery powered tools. It included a drill, reciprocating saw, flashlight, charger, and two batteries. Shortly after that I went ahead and purchased a circular saw to go with the rest of the stuff. Things went well for a little over 2 years and one of the batteries went down on me. I plodded along for a couple of months, then decided to go buy 2 or 3 replacement batteries. I had purchased everything from the local Lowe's so went there to buy the batteries. When I found the batteries, I just stood there for several LONG seconds. They wanted $199 for two batteries. I only paid $149 for the origianl kit and I think either $49 or $59 for the circular saw. So, they were asking as much for two batteries as I had paid for everything! I left and went home and jumped on the old computer. I searched and searched and even on eBay, two new batteries were priced at $199. I think I might have found a couple of listing for maybe $179 or $189, but it was still way too much. On a hunch, I searched for Porter Cable combination kits and found the same thing I originally bought and the kit was only $129. They aren't in the tool business. They are in the battery business. I just tossed the whole mess into the trash and went and bought new, corded tools. I had a few tools, but they were older and I wanted to be sure I had good equipment to work with if I needed to do some project. Yep, that's a ripoff business

I'm not sure why, but I had in my mind that the new battery powered stuff wouldn't be that way. From what a few guys have told me now, it appears things are the same. Batteries don't last as long as they should. New battery prices will set you on your ear. And if the tool breaks, you toss it away and buy a new one. Nope. That's all I need to know. I'll stick to my gas powered OPE and my corded power tools.

I do have a Worx string trimmer and leaf blower I got a few years ago as a gift. The trimmer isn't too terribly bad, except that no matter what I try or do, the thing won't feed line automatically like it is supposed to do. The leaf blower is a joke. I had never used it and one day I was getting ready to mulch the leaves in the fall. My wife was outside tinkering around and she asked if I needed her to do anything. I went into the garage and grabbed the leaf blower and stuck a battery in it. I told her to just get the leaves blown out from around the house so I could mulch them. I got her started and jumped on the mower. She had only made it across the front of the house and halfway down one side and stopped. She was standing there making some hand motions that I didn't understand. I stopped the tractor and asked her what the problem was. She said the battery was dead. I thought maybe that battery wasn't fully charged so just grabbed it to put on the charger and grabbed the one that was in the charger to get the wife started again. She made it the rest of that one side and a little over halfway across the back and stopped to make those hand signals again. Sure enough, the battery was dead. I made the mistake of assuming she had been doing something wrong. We had a little tiff and she took off for the house. It wasn't until 3 weeks or so later I found out she had done nothing wrong. I ran the blower to get the leaves away from the house and I ran out of batteries quicker than she had. LOL!

I have actually read a few articles about the whole lithium mining fiasco. Every time I hear The Idiot in The White House rambling on about cleaning up the environment and doing away with ICEs and even gas cook stoves, my mind immediately goes to the problems with lithium batteries. It's not just him. It seems the world is filled with imbeciles that can't seem to understand that we are accomplishing NOTHING as far as saving the environment. I read one little article where some real genius has suggested just hauling all the defective and retired lithium batteries out to sea and dumping them. I couldn't believe what the mental midget was proposing. I guess if the crap is buried underground in some remote, obscure location like Montana, or dumped deep into our oceans, then we are somehow improving the environment. What a freaking joke. LOL!
 

RayMcD

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Oh, you are dead right. There is no way to pin all the idiotic crap on just one party. They are ALL to blame. Politicians have ZERO understanding of how the average Joe lives from day to day. None of them can relate to you and me. They just go merrily along, taking bribes, I mean lobbying money, and totally disregarding serious issues in this country. It's sad.
Hard to believe that much of this lame brain crap is not padding the pockets of our lame brain president...
 

smhardesty

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Hard to believe that much of this lame brain crap is not padding the pockets of our lame brain president...
There is just no way he isn't taking buckets full of money for some of the crap he has done. I'm not sure exactly who got to him and a lot of the Congressmen over the ceasing of oil and gas exploration and future drilling. His nonsensical actions were to stop all such things here in the US of A, but then turn right around and increase the importation of foreign crude. I guess drilling for oil in Saudi Arabia doesn't affect the environment. Kinda strange, don't you think?
 

slomo

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Haven't seen any pro yard crews running anything battery yet. That will tell you something. Those guys can tear up new anvils.
 
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