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Currently using an older Honda HRX217HYA but would like to go cordless. Suction is important to remove pine needles, leaves, etc. Prefer to stay below $600 but would pay more for quality. Lawn is flat about 7,000 sq ft. Recommendations?

my suggestion is to see if Home Depot rents battery powered electric mowers and try a couple that look like what you might consider. Around here all the electric mowers lack the HP gasoline powered ones do. Just looking at HP alone, a 5 hp electric motor needs about 20 amps at 120V to make 5 hp. I don't know how you will get that out of any battery powered one, and none of the articles I can find actually address that issue. The articles all appear to be marketing driven, not actual spec driven. The 21" Makita one is quite heavy duty as it has 4 batteries but the blade only spins at 2300 RPM. A 21" gas mower would spin at 2900 - 3200 RPM.

I love my Greenworks 21" self propelled 60V. BUT, I discharge the grass out of the side & have never tried to bag it. I have the mower, string trimmer, blower, hedge trimmer, chainsaw, & power convertor, so you see how much I like their products. Are you sure you only have 7000 sq. ft.?

ammodave said:

Currently using an older Honda HRX217HYA but would like to go cordless. Suction is important to remove pine needles, leaves, etc. Prefer to stay below $600 but would pay more for quality. Lawn is flat about 7,000 sq ft. Recommendations?

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ammodave said:

Suction is important to remove pine needles, leaves, etc.

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Snapper Hi-Vac 21" fire breathing gas engine. Cordless, check. Suction, best on planet Earth. Your grand kids kids kids will be mowing with it.

Took a chance and ordered the sef propelled Makita from HD. Hoping for the best.

ammodave said:

Currently using an older Honda HRX217HYA but would like to go cordless. Suction is important to remove pine needles, leaves, etc. Prefer to stay below $600 but would pay more for quality. Lawn is flat about 7,000 sq ft. Recommendations?

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I bought an ECO 21" self propelled in 2019, mows my entire yard on 3/4 charge. When the grass is overgrown and thick it automatically speeds up and powers through. I love it, much more power than the Troy Bilt pos it replaced!

Use the Makita for the first time; no where near the power of the Honda but I think it will be adequate. Four batteries will not do my lawn.

ammodave said:

Use the Makita for the first time; no where near the power of the Honda but I think it will be adequate. Four batteries will not do my lawn.

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maybe once they are charged again they will last longer. I had to charge my Toro weed wacker for a while when it was new. Battery was only about 50%

There is no battery push mower currently that can match a good gas powered mower for power and suction. Battery mowers have thinner, lighter blades with much lower lift characteristics (lower sail) because this reduces the air resistance against the blade which helps with battery run time. And that is the goal of battery mowers: a compromise between run time and suction/mulching capability. Even ones that can mulch don't cut the grass clippings as fine as the better gas mulching mowers because of blade design and the availability of power with the gas engine for a longer run time. I've purchased 2 of the best rated battery self propelled mowers and am dissatisfied with both of them compared to my gas powered Toro. You are not going to find anything currently that can match the performance of your Honda in a battery mower.

ammodave said:

Use the Makita for the first time; no where near the power of the Honda but I think it will be adequate. Four batteries will not do my lawn.

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Mow more often. Easy right....

axmanjay said:

I bought an ECO 21" self propelled in 2019, mows my entire yard on 3/4 charge. When the grass is overgrown and thick it automatically speeds up and powers through. I love it, much more power than the Troy Bilt pos it replaced!

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Let's not get carried away here LOL. That Toy Built will be around far longer cutting grass than any eco.

ammodave said:

Took a chance and ordered the sef propelled Makita from HD. Hoping for the best.

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You could of bought a Commercial Snapper, Honda or Toro for the price of that $1200.00 Milwaukee. Mower longevity an easy 40-50 years. How many battery jobs will be around that long?

Congratulations on your new purchase . You can always cut part of your yard, take a break, recharge the batteries, then finish. That will let YOUR battery recharge at the same time.

If you have a 'larger than average' yard, it's gonna be a good idea to have 2 chargers and 3-4 batteries.

Think of the batts as pre-purchased fuel. My oldest batteries are just now starting to fail - they lasted 7-8+ years. I DO have other equipment that uses the same batteries so, I have several around.

If you have a 'big' yard, probably best to stay with gas.

My Greenworks speeds up to when hitting higher grass.

You can extend cutting time by not using the self-propelled feature all the time.
If you have downhill slopes, short runs on level ground , turning around , etc. , don't use that feature. Stopping for a short water/bathroom/cooling off breaks lets the mower build back up a tad more voltage, too.

it also took awhile for me to 're-train' myself and actually let go of the DM bail when taking the mower to another area. If it's just across the sidewalk it's fine to leave it runnning, but re-starting an electric is so easy, no need to fear letting it turn off moving from front to back yard or across driveways, etc.