School me on electric lawn mowers

[RickN]

No problem. We won't have the garage sale till next month anyway. Just let me know if you decide.
Floyd

Soon as she is better I am interested.

 

[MacFromOK]

I bought a small (19" IIRC?) corded electric mower a few years ago, and it will pretty much cut anything you can push it up on (tall johnson grass, etc.). Don't remember the brand, but it's a bright lime green color. And dealing with the cord is a nuisance. However, I wouldn't expect that kind of power out of a battery unit.

On a side note, I never liked our self-propelled gas mower (4hp B&S). It was too fast to walk behind comfortably, and would also bog down (because of the speed) unless the grass was kept short. I finally removed the chain & drive assembly and just had a heavy push mower.

If they make a battery operated one with a variable speed drive, that might work just fine.
___

 

[Shadowrider]

Rick I have the basic (non-self propelled) Kobalt 40V which I bought because I couldn't justify keeping the Honda HRX after having bought a Toro ZTR. I only need a conventional mower for around close stuff and the inside corners now.

It seriously impressed me. I've stalled it a couple of times but only because I was plowing through stuff it had no business cutting and was never designed to do. It'll do a lot deeper grass even when wet than you would imagine. They are seriously impressive! I also threw the grass catcher in the garbage where all of them belong so it's mulching and it'll still do my whole yard on a single 5amp battery. I liked the convenience so much I went out and bought the blower and a trimmer to match. So I have a 5 amp and a 4 amp battery and that's way more than I need even if I can't run the ZTR and have to do it all.

 

[Timmy59]

I have an Echo cordless 56V battery lawn mower. It's 3 years old now. It's not self-propelled. It came with one battery although it has a spot for a second one. It will mulch or bag. The motor is load sensing and will speed up when it senses thick grass.
The battery can be shared with other Echo cordless tools.
The styling and design looks like a traditional gasoline powered mower and not like a Transformers toy. I'm very satisfied.

I'd take this as good advice Rick.

 

[HoLeChit]

Yes we had a guy mow most of last year, but frankly I need the exercise badly. It is a little rough on my breathing but good for my heart and legs. Looks like we may just take our ICE mower into the shop if I can not get it running.

A lot of times these days it’s gonna cost as much to get the mower fixed as it would be to buy another. I had this problem 2 years ago, took my 5 year old $400 push mower in for a service, it wasn’t running too well, no power. $120 and 6 weeks without a mower later ($180 in mowing services down the drain), I had a slightly better running mower that could barely do the job.

upon replacing it, I decided to try the electric route myself. Bought the cheapest plug in electric push mower from Lowe’s I could get. It worked great, was quiet, and was easy to push around. Very lightweight. But, handling the mower without running over the extension cord was cumbersome and ended up making my mowing job take noticeably longer. I ended up returning it for a good old fashioned ICE push mower again, works great still. Bought the cheapest Honda powered one they have, no self propelling stuff, less weight and things to break. Cheap enough that if it craps out in two or three years I can replace it for roughly the same cost as a major repair.

 

[KOPBET]

I had/have an older Honda gas push mower that the wife (she likes to mow) could not start because she couldn't operate the pull cord so I would have to start it for her. After mowing for a while and it got hot, it would no longer start until it had cooled somewhat. A regular PITA. Not to mention it made the nasty fumes. I bought her/us a Kobalt 80v cordless walk behind from Lowes that has a 5 ah battery and a charger accessory. She loves it. It will usually do the front and back on a single charge, unless the grass weeds get too high. It will rev up speed under heavier loads so it doesn't bog down. Unfortunately the increased speed comes with a battery life penalty. I have since bought a cordless weed trimmer and leaf blower that use the same 80v system but with smaller 2.5 ah batteries (which will also work in the mower if needed). Don't need a self propelled one (fairly light weight), and that would drastically reduce the battery run time.

 

[HiredHand]

I’ve never had a ICE push mower that loved mowing grass that was either too tall, wet or both. It usually requires raising the cut height, shorter width on each pass, and making a few passes over the lawn. I wouldn’t expect an electric to do that well in those conditions either.

With the nice weather we’ve had the windows open at the house. A couple of weekends ago it was a nice Saturday morning and the neighbor fired up her ICE mower. I could immediately smell the exhaust and obviously hear the mower while inside the house. It made me appreciate my electric mower even more.

 

[TerryMiller]

We were leaving our son's house near Yukon one day about a week ago and saw a woman out front mowing her yard. She was using one of those old-fashioned push reel mowers.

I was impressed that someone actually still used one of those.

 

[turkeyrun]

We were leaving our son's house near Yukon one day about a week ago and saw a woman out front mowing her yard. She was using one of those old-fashioned push reel mowers.

I was impressed that someone actually still used one of those.

THAT Gurl

 

[kamojke]

Having trouble getting our lawn mower to run again and thinking an electric might be the way to go. Wife wants a self propelled.
Do you have one?
Do you like it?
Will they handle a yard with lots of weeds?
What brands do you guys recommend?

I have a battery powered one. I really like it. I do have a small yard. I self propelled would be better on a larger yard. They do cut into the battery run time. Mine is a ryobi.