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Lawnmower - Gas or Electric?

Lefty Moonshot

Lefty Moonshot

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Just moved into a house from an apartment so am looking to by a lawnmower. I am considering an electric lawnmower, but am wanting actual unbiased reviews. Does anybody use one? What has been your experience and would you recommend a certain brand?

My house sits on ~0.2 acres, so its not a large lot. My general concerns with an electric mower would be power and ensuring the battery can make it through a full cut.
 
Get 2 batteries. Not fun times to run out of a charge halfway through.
 
The Ego Mower will get the job done, but the mower is the only gas-powered lawn tool I have, and I prefer gas personally.
 
FWIW, I recently did the same analysis and selected a gas powered Toro.
 
If I were to buy again today, I'd get everything electric - from the same company. Mower, trimmer, etc. I'd have at least three batteries on hand so that mowing/trimming didn't require battery swaps, and I'd still have one on the charger.

With a smaller yard, no real reason to go gas (unless you can't remember to charge batteries :ROFLMAO: )
 
I have a Troy-Bilt mower with Honda engine that I love. I recently used a Greenworks electric mower for a month. It definitely got the job done, but I prefer the gas mower. I'm on a quarter acre lot with fairly thick grass and I could make it through the entire yard with two larger batteries. I found the electric mower slow to react to the self-propelled mechanism and it senses grass thickness and increases cutting power, which I also felt was slow to respond.
 
Lefty Moonshot said:
Just moved into a house from an apartment so am looking to by a lawnmower. I am considering an electric lawnmower, but am wanting actual unbiased reviews. Does anybody use one? What has been your experience and would you recommend a certain brand?

My house sits on ~0.2 acres, so its not a large lot. My general concerns with an electric mower would be power and ensuring the battery can make it through a full cut.
Click to expand...
I've got a Ryobi. I like it alot. I interchange the battery's with my edger, trimmer, chainsaw etc.
 
Use electric as our lot is like .33 acre and an 80v self propelled works great.
 
RealPretendPsychic said:
I have a Troy-Bilt mower with Honda engine that I love. I recently used a Greenworks electric mower for a month. It definitely got the job done, but I prefer the gas mower. I'm on a quarter acre lot with fairly thick grass and I could make it through the entire yard with two larger batteries. I found the electric mower slow to react to the self-propelled mechanism and it senses grass thickness and increases cutting power, which I also felt was slow to respond.
Click to expand...
I have the Troy-Built with Honda engine push mower. I check the oil and add as needed but never changed. Starts 1st time with an easy pull and I know the engine will outlast all of the other parts on it. I did replace the air filter because a branch on a bush caught the filter cover just right and as I pivoted away the filter popped out and I ran it over... same flat-ish 0.23 acre lot.
 
Gas mower and trimmer.
 
At 0.2 acres, an electric mower will probably serve you well. I just bought a gas-powered lawn tractor for a 0.5 acre lawn and I considered going electric.

Personally, I would get a gas-powered Honda mower. Best mower going, IMO. Will give you decades of service with due care.

If you have aspirations for a lush, thick lawn, be sure your electric mower has enough guts to handle thick growth.

If you go electric, as noted above, I would make sure I'd pick an "ecosystem" and go with it. I think @JB, for example, has all of his outdoor tools by Greenworks, so he doesn't have to fiddle with different chargers and brands. He reports being very happy with his choice. I'd take that a step further if you are looking to buy lawn and power tools as a new homeowner. You can buy all of those from a single manufacturer such as DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, and Ryobi. Most all have offerings ranging from leaf blowers to mowers to dills to circular saws. I would take some extra time to figure out a manufacturer and go with that. Will save you time, money, and space in the long run.
 
Gas!
 
I purchased an electric mower last year after my 20 year old mower went kaput. I really like it. It's quiet, and I don't have to mess around with oil, gas, etc.
 
@Lefty Moonshot - Not sure what the rules are around where you live. But a lot of municipalities around me have started putting in rules requiring electric/battery mowers, instead of gas. Before you invest in a gas mower, check your local town rules (or see if they are discussing the topic).

Yes part of the change is due to energy conservation -yada yada, but the biggest driving force around me is ever since people started working from home due to the pandemic, folks have been hearing the loud mowers all day long and started complaining. The battery mowers are much quieter. And with the size yard you have would certainly be an option. My town doesn't have the ban yet, but it is being discussed. Spoke to a few friends that have electric, and they like them and has enough power to cut their yards.
 
I went through the same decisions last year. My 1/3 acre lot shouldn’t be too big for a battery mower, but sometimes, the grass gets deep and I didn’t think one set of batteries would last. An extra 56 volt battery for an Ego mower costs more than a gas mower does. I’m not convinced that battery technology is advanced enough yet. As a battery ages, and the more times it’s charged, the less time it lasts. Most of the negative reviews on battery mowers are about battery failures. In an entire season, I only go through a couple of gallons of gas. If the battery mower needs new batteries after a few years, will the current battery still be available? And, how much will it cost to replace? I wasn’t willing to gamble. If I had a much smaller lawn, I might have gone electric. I went with a Toro gas mower. It starts every time, and does a great job.
 
GolferDad66 said:
@Lefty Moonshot - Not sure what the rules are around where you live. But a lot of municipalities around me have started putting in rules requiring electric/battery mowers, instead of gas. Before you invest in a gas mower, check your local town rules (or see if they are discussing the topic).

Yes part of the change is due to energy conservation -yada yada, but the biggest driving force around me is ever since people started working from home due to the pandemic, folks have been hearing the loud mowers all day long and started complaining. The battery mowers are much quieter. And with the size yard you have would certainly be an option. My town doesn't have the ban yet, but it is being discussed. Spoke to a few friends that have electric, and they like them and has enough power to cut their yards.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen a case yet in which these kinds of regulations did not grandfather existing units in service. They ban the sale of units from a certain date forward.
 
This is the correct answer.
 
I may be a bit crazy, but if you can keep up with the lawn, mow every 2-3 days during the growing season, I really enjoy an old fashioned reel mower. I use one on a small portion of our the 1 acre that I mow. It's off the patio and around the fire pit, and just about .1 acre. It takes me about 15 minutes, and I do it for a bit of a work out and to keep the grass short. The cut is fantastic, and is much better than any rotary mower can give you. After purchase, no costs. This is the one I have:

1652382933751.png
 
Gas. I have a 1987 Toro with an aluminum deck that will outlive me. I haven't changed the oil or spark plug and I haven't needed to add oil either. The oil and plug still look new. Starts on the first pull 99 times out of 100.
 
Gas.. I thought about going electric but thought the cost was too high.
 
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