Cordless lawnmower....

[NikNak]

Anyone got one and care to give any opinions.?

Currently have a Viking, cant remember the model no. but it has a blade brake. Been no problem in the 18yrs or so we've had it. Never been serviced. I did inquire a few years ago about a service.... i said "i can buy a new petrol mower for that..!!" so just carried on cleaning the plug and filter myself. But am aware i'm getting a bit older and its a teeny bit heavy. So thought about a cordless one. Looked at the Which? reviews and the 'Best Buys' i just thought pffff i wouldn't buy one of those

So.... recommendations please

 

[Sandyn]

Keep pushing it about as long as you are able, it's actually very good exercise for you.
What area of grass do you have? What's the budget?
It seems the battery mowers run for an average of 25 min according to Which? Will you cut all the grass in 25 min? They are very expensive!!
This is what Which? suggests for different lawn sizes.

I personally wouldn't buy a battery mower, too much grass and I prefer good old fashioned petrol power. My son in Law did have one of these robot lawn mowers and it worked surprisingly well, but was just about 150 sqm and a new lawn.
I have had a Ryobi for years it always starts no problem. I abuse it terribly by using it to chop shrub/tree cuttings from the garden, but it just keeps going. I just replaced the blade, so good for another few years. Also have Murray a ride on.
I would look at a small petrol mower, self propelled. There are so many to choose from. I usually get my mowers at the end of the season when you get some real bargains, well once upon a time you did.

 

[skelf]

I’ve had a Greenworks 46cm 40v self propelled mower for about 3 years. Bought it with 2 x 2ah batteries. You can put both batteries in the mower at the same time but only one compartment is connected so you need to manually swap them over when one is depleted.

My back garden is about 500 sq. metres and if I manually propel the mower at a fair pace and the grass just needs a quick trim then I can do it with the cordless using both batteries.

If I’ve left it a little long between cuts then I might get about 2/3 of it done with 2 batteries and need to charge one of them again to finish it off.

The batteries need to cool down for about 30mins before they’ll start charging and it takes about an hour to charge each one.

If I’ve been really lazy and let it grow more than 4 inches then I use a corded Bosch instead and don’t even try with the cordless.

In summary, I find the cordless to be really convenient and quick as long as I don’t leave it more than 2 weeks between trims.

 

[chris.gid]

I have a Ryobi 'hybrid' mower and have been really happy with it for the past 5 years. I think i have used it plugged in to the mains about twice when i was mowing some really long grass/ weeds which i had left to go wild and it does produce more torque on the mains.

My Garden is about 200ft long, only about 1/2 is grassed but has some awkward areas in and having a light battery mower is perfect as its easy to get into smaller areas and push in and out where a petrol mower would be a lot more work just shifting the mass.

Think Makita also do battery mowers so if you have tools that share the same battery platform chances are you will always have charged up spare batteries that you can just swap over if you do run out of juice.

 

[Gavlar]

Recently bought the larger of the two Karcher models as the petrol one was getting on and a pig to start.
Pros: Very quiet, light weight and a doddle to use/push/turn, battery charging is about an hour and you can send off for a spare one with your proof of purchase. Battery life is about 25mins for these ones but we also have a Karcher hedge trimmer and the batteries for that also fit the mower (although they are half the capacity, it's a get-you-out-of-trouble bonus)
Cons: Doesn't have the torque of the old petrol mower, so either keep the trim height up or mow frequently. Likewise damp grass is a problem.

with the above qualifications, I'm happy with the new one

 

[dickm]

Look out for a secondhand robot of a decent make. Think what you could be doing with the time you save!

 

[Donald Sinclair]

I have had an Atco Liner 18S 46cm rear roller self propelled 80v cordless mower for three years.
It has been used to cut a small front lawn, and the edges and tricky bits of a quarter acre rear "lawn".
It has been an effective replacement for a similar sized rear roller driven Mountfield petrol mower.
The main plus is easy reliable starting, and no need to empty out fuel before a winter layup.
It has no speed adjustment, and seemed a bit fast at first, but I have got used to it.
The only issue has been a non-functional plastic wheel trim going awol.

 

[Ralfyfix]

My wife just bought me the Aldi one.. Will let you know how it does.

 

[D_W]

I have a cordless. Scotts classic 20 inch. I've used it exclusively for four years, perhaps 5 now. No batteries.

Still keep an old Honda for mulching leaves, but it's very seldom used.

 

[DrPhill]

I bought a Bosch one to match the Power4All range of other tools that I already had.
Negatives: It is expensive, with three cutting heights. Feels a bit tacky/plasticky. Not as high quality as the rest of the tools.
Positives: Works well, really light, a lot quieter than petrol, sufficient power for the job.

I decided to 'go electric' in the garden because I do not like the noise, smell, and hassle of petrol devices. Bosch battery hedge trimmer and strimmer work well enough for the jobs I need done. The electric drill is brilliant. The batteries are all interchangeable - I have fewer batteries than machines - and they charge fast. I am pleased with my choices, butif your garden is huge, or you leave it too long between cuts then this option may not suit you as well as it does me.

Hope that helps.

 

[baldkev]

I bought a makita brushless twin 18v ( ive got something like 11 or 12 batteries ) when my petrol one died last year... its lighter, easy to set heights, easy to push etc......

As the above post, plastic which is good and bad... less power than petrol.... when my grass gets tall ( 8 to 10 inches ) the mower bogs down.... still running, but slower and definitely working hard )

I like it, but I wouldnt feel confident using it on anything that requires a bit of guts! I do have a brush cutter though

Using my oldest batteries 3ah, it cuts our grass ( about 90sqm ) without using much of the battery power. I just dont let it get long

 

[mynamehere]

Same here, I bought the makita twin 18V just because I got the batteries.
If both 5Ah batteries are fully charged it will cut the grass (about 75 square meters) 3-4 times.

Cheers!

Ferenc

 

[GuitardoctorW7]

Recently bought the larger of the two Karcher models as the petrol one was getting on and a pig to start.
Pros: Very quiet, light weight and a doddle to use/push/turn, battery charging is about an hour and you can send off for a spare one with your proof of purchase. Battery life is about 25mins for these ones but we also have a Karcher hedge trimmer and the batteries for that also fit the mower (although they are half the capacity, it's a get-you-out-of-trouble bonus)
Cons: Doesn't have the torque of the old petrol mower, so either keep the trim height up or mow frequently. Likewise damp grass is a problem.

with the above qualifications, I'm happy with the new one

Great, thanks for the review, just bought one yesterday, big selling being the spare battery offer

 

[Ollie78]

I have an Atco cylinder mower (well 2).
They are cordless because they have engines, one is from the 1960's and is still great.
They are self propelled cut beautifully use a tiny amount of fuel per year are probably 95% recyclable and are not using any new resources.
Not sure why anyone needs a plastic battery powered mower.
Get a decent old Atco and you can't go wrong, you can even get a roller seat and they will drive you along.

Ollie

 

[D_W]

I have an Atco cylinder mower (well 2).
They are cordless because they have engines, one is from the 1960's and is still great.
They are self propelled cut beautifully use a tiny amount of fuel per year are probably 95% recyclable and are not using any new resources.
Not sure why anyone needs a plastic battery powered mower.
Get a decent old Atco and you can't go wrong, you can even get a roller seat and they will drive you along.

Ollie

They don't make any sense to me as the longevity is attached to the battery. If the battery is crap, the whole thing is crap.

My cordless doesn't use any fuel, but if it pushes me to break wind under strain, maybe it's contributing to global warming.

https://www.scotts.com/en-us/products/tools-accessories/scotts-classic-20-reel-push-mower
reviews not so great, but not a surprise as how well it works depends much on the ability of the user to set it up ideally. And in really really heavy grass, it can be a load to push.

GMIL has one of the battery ego mowers. It goes about 20-25 minutes. Her yard seems to be about 5-10 minutes more than the mower goes, and no clue on the battery cost (but it's probably $200).

There's a printer and ink issue here that I can think of - meaning, if you bend over further and buy two or three batteries and then one or two go - do you go out and buy more? This becomes costly.

I do think that more folks who are running a riding mower should look into reels as they're monstrously more efficient. It'd be nothing to pull 8 feet of finishing reels with a few horsepower and enough weight to put it to the ground. When I was in college, I rode large swaths of time on a jacobsen F10. 5 miles an hour, 14 feet wide, less than a gallon of fuel per hour running at that (it was a ground drive reel with hydraulic lift - lots of what's out there now is hydraulic reels and hydraulic motors, which is a huge waste of energy, but I guess it's not complicated to make that type and the reel speed can be a lot higher).