Battery Mowers

shinytop

Has anyone bought a battery mower for a medium to large lawn (3-400 m2)?  My petrol mower is slowly falling apart and I need a new one.  From what I can see the E mower market is similar to the EV one. They are more expensive to buy than ICE models and can have range issues but are cheaper and cleaner to run.  There are some new entrants but the ICE incumbents are selling them too. While charging isn’t a problem I’d rather not have to stop for an enforced cuppa and my bladder can definitely last long enough to cut the grass in one go! 

Which website recommend one by EGO - an E mower only company.  Quite pricey at nearly £600 though.  

https://www.egopowerplusuk.com/lm1903e-sp-47cm-self-propelled-mower.html?_ga=2.156551225.340407919.1652938119-780276868.1652825940

Any thoughts welcome.

94JDH

shinytop said:

Has anyone bought a battery mower for a medium to large lawn (3-400 m2)?  My petrol mower is slowly falling apart and I need a new one.  From what I can see the E mower market is similar to the EV one. They are more expensive to buy than ICE models and can have range issues but are cheaper and cleaner to run.  There are some new entrants but the ICE incumbents are selling them too. While charging isn’t a problem I’d rather not have to stop for an enforced cuppa and my bladder can definitely last long enough to cut the grass in one go! 

Which website recommend one by EGO - an E mower only company.  Quite pricey at nearly £600 though.  

https://www.egopowerplusuk.com/lm1903e-sp-47cm-self-propelled-mower.html?_ga=2.156551225.340407919.1652938119-780276868.1652825940

Any thoughts welcome.

I've one of the Stihl range mowers, battery also runs my Stihl chainsaw, long reach hedge trimmer and leaf blower - I do have two batteries bought on one of their promotion offers.

arty688

Are you invested in any particular battery system for any other tools ? 

As the cheapest way would be to buy one without batteries.

shinytop

arty688 said:

Are you invested in any particular battery system for any other tools ? 

As the cheapest way would be to buy one without batteries.

I've got some Ryobi ones but tbh I'm not that impressed and their mower is too small.

michaels

We got a home base one for 70 quid, came with two small batteries and will just about do our 250sqm lawn as long as it is short and dry, they seem to have suffered from premature degradation as well. Get what you pay for I guess but since we went battery DW has not managed to cut through the cord nor do we have to run chained extension cables and spend the time rewinding them. Could never have a petrol mower for environmental and noise reasons.

Exiled_Tyke

'Which' seems to like Ego, Hytner and Stihl best in the big lawn category.  I looked into this myself last year and came to the conclusion that it's not the right thing for me right now.  These all  tend to have around 20-25 mins battery life (and presumably that will start to deteriorate quite quickly?). I think I'd need about double that so would need an extra battery which obviously puts the already high prices up further.  My petrol mower cost less than half of one of these machines.  I'd love to switch to a battery powered mower but can't justify it. 

arty688

Although its a bit like cars it probably not so much the range that's important but how quickly they can recharge. Also how often you mow you lawn ? The football lawn I do most weeks but the rest I usually leave too long so is always a struggle to mow so would kill a cordless in no time probably.

Exiled_Tyke

arty688 said:

Although its a bit like cars it probably not so much the range that's important but how quickly they can recharge. Also how often you mow you lawn ? The football lawn I do most weeks but the rest I usually leave too long so is always a struggle to mow so would kill a cordless in no time probably.

For me range is very important. Like @shinytop I don't want to have to stop (at all!) mid way.  And while I could tolerate a 'short' break I really don't want to have to do two or possibly three shift while I wait (for any time at all) for the recharge.    

A good point on the long grass. I have bulbs in some of mine so some areas don't get mown at all until June.  Most cordless mowers as you say won't cope with that.

michaels

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

How much does the petrol you use cost, the electricity in the battery(s) will cost pennies.   Google suggests about 1 litre per hour.

Plus petrol mowers have no emission controls so really do pollute orders of magnitude worse than burning the same amount in a car.

I don't know how they reach those estimates.  A five litre can lasts me the whole season and these experiences seem to be similar. 
https://www.hotukdeals.com/discussions/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-petrol-lawnmower-3661949

arty688

Exiled_Tyke said:

arty688 said:

Although its a bit like cars it probably not so much the range that's important but how quickly they can recharge. Also how often you mow you lawn ? The football lawn I do most weeks but the rest I usually leave too long so is always a struggle to mow so would kill a cordless in no time probably.

For me range is very important. Like @shinytop I don't want to have to stop (at all!) mid way.  And while I could tolerate a 'short' break I really don't want to have to do two or possibly three shift while I wait (for any time at all) for the recharge.    

A good point on the long grass. I have bulbs in some of mine so some areas don't get mown at all until June.  Most cordless mowers as you say won't cope with that.

I was thinking more along the lines of a cheaper one with 2 batteries that charge quite quickly , Emptying the grass box I assume is something most have to empty regularly anyway so battery swop at the same time.

need to rationalise my mowers ATM I have 5 ranging from ride on to push, but only use the £50 petrol one from Tescos I bought 5 years ago. Can't get a new one until I get rid of a few.