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SPRING TURNS A MAN’S fancy to… wait for it… outdoor power tools. Every April, I’d haul out the gas mower to prep it for the summer season. That meant a trip to the hardware store for oil, a spark plug and an air filter. Then I drove to the gas station for some new fuel.
For an hour, I would pretend that I understood the manly art of maintaining an internal combustion engine. I would gap and change the spark plug, clean or replace the air filter, and then add the fresh oil and gas.
Finally, it was time to pull the starter cord and hope to hear the engine roar. Or a cough followed by silence. There were times I’d forgotten to connect the spark plug or failed in some other significant fashion. After all was done, I’d wash at the laundry sink with gritty Lava soap, stripping grease, oil and little bits of my skin from my hands.
This year was different. Now, I own a battery-powered mower. Late in the 2021 season, during a moment of inattention, my mower blade whacked an immovable object. With a loud clang, my 12-year-old gas mower stopped dead. Suddenly, I was in the market for a new model.
I had to borrow a neighbor’s mower to finish my yard. Although I’d just destroyed my own, he bravely lent me his relatively new Toro self-propelled gas mower that adjusted its speed to your walking pace. Pretty nifty. I told him I was thinking of a battery model. He shook his head, expressing concern over whether an electric model would have enough power.
My brother-in-law had already bought an EGO battery-powered mower. I called to get his view of it. He said he was happy with its performance, but then he lives in the Southwest, and so has a different mowing environment than I do in green Ohio.
Next, I consulted the reviews in Consumer Reports. It had very positive test results and no major power issues were noted. EGO mowers are sold through Lowe’s. Comments on its website and Amazon were favorable, and also mentioned that the mower can mulch grass and leaves.
That’s an important attribute for my tree-filled yard. Besides, my quarter-acre suburban lot—with significant areas devoted to planting beds—isn’t exactly a big spread to cover. I thought an electric model could handle the job.
EGO won points from Consumer Reports for its ecosystem of products. Interchangeable batteries worked with its leaf blowers, trimmers, weeders, chainsaws and more. I already owned an EGO blower. While its smaller battery would fit the mower, it probably wouldn’t be sufficient to cut the lawn. There are limits to interchangeability, although it’s handy that both batteries power off the same charger.
I took the plunge. I bought a self-propelled mower light enough to push in most situations. After multiple uses, I’ve become a convert. The mower cost almost $600, including tax, perhaps $100 more than my neighbor’s gas-driven Toro.
In 2022, Consumer Reports published a calculator comparing the costs of electric versus gas mowers. It shows a relatively short breakeven point for the higher-cost battery-powered mowers because they cost less to operate than gas models.
The real payoff has been the new mower’s convenience. I recharge the removable battery for less than an hour after mowing. When it’s time to mow again, whether it has been a week or the whole winter, I simply insert the battery, push the start button and begin mowing. My hands never smell like gasoline. I’m never breathing fumes. And even my neighbor has commented on how quietly it runs.
My brother-in-law facetiously suggested that I can now thumb my nose at “Big Oil.” I don’t think the few gallons of gas or quarts of oil I’m saving each year will make a difference to Exxon.
While walking behind my mower, I do ponder the environmental pros and cons. Yes, I’m saving gas, oil and exhaust, and I no longer have to transport used oil for recycling or run out to buy gas.
My mower’s lithium-ion battery does have a finite life, however. I store the battery in the house to avoid the temperature extremes in the garage, which I hope will extend its life. Replacing it costs $300, and I’ll have to learn where to recycle it.
What happens to all the old batteries? Are they completely recyclable? And what are the implications of mining the materials to make the batteries? I don’t have all the answers.
Yet I have settled the question of the mower’s power to my satisfaction. Autumn brought the ultimate test. I ran the mower through piles of leaves before bagging them for recycling. No problems. If there was a light coating of leaves left on the lawn, the mower mulched them right in. The bottom line: I may have questions about the mower’s battery. But I’m a believer in its functionality.
Howard Rohleder, a former chief executive of a community hospital, retired early after more than 30 years in hospital administration. In retirement, he enjoys serving on several nonprofit boards, exploring walking paths with his wife Susan, and visiting their six grandchildren. A little-known fact: In May 1994, Howard was featured—along with five others—on the cover of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance for an article titled “Secrets of My Investment Success.” Check out his previous articles.
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A few years ago, after much frustration with a gas powered trimmer and all the trouble getting new line wound on the head, I purchased an EGo trimmer. I love it. It’s powerful, and the line is so easy to put on. You just pull about 15 feet of line through the head until to two sides are of equal length, press a button, and voila–it winds the line for you. I eventually bought a second battery. I could not trim my entire yard with one charge. If you are looking for a trimmer, I highly recommend the EGo. You can’t beat it.
Thank you Howard, you reminded me to unplug my own mower I had recharged after doing the back this afternoon. 😉 I also take the batteries inside during the winter. Also, these are lead acid and have water in them that I refill when low for longevity of life.
Incidentally, our vehicle batteries should be topped off with distilled water to keep working them longer. I take a flat screwdriver to pry off the top caps and keep the water above the cells. This really helps to keep me from having to buy a new one every 5 or 6 years.
My mower is a decade old Craftsman with 48 Volts of batteries. For a given power requirement of a mower, a higher voltage source will last longer to finish a yard so when looking, look at that spec in general terms.
Happy yard work!
Our lot is 0.2 acres. A plug in mower works fine. It has benefits touted here such as quiet and no fumes. The lowest priced model mulches leaves, is very lightweight, and doesn’t have us thinking about the ramifications of the battery. Solar panels (on the house, not the mower) provide the electricity.
One of life’s little pleasures in sunny FL used to be seeing young (and some older) hotties in their bikinis mowing their lawns to work on their tans.
That is now a rare sight as they are in the gym while crews of guys with pricey equipment blast through lawn after lawn as a business.
We bought an Ego mower a few years ago and have been very happy with it. It’s great not having to deal with the gas, oil, and mess.
We have a 1 acre yard, although only about 2/3 of it is mowed, and the Ego handles it fine. About the time the battery winds down, its human pusher does, too, so both get a rest and a quick recharge.
When my old gas-powered weed trimmer finally died last summer, I did a little research and switched over to a battery-powered one, and have been pleased with the results so far. I already owned several small B&D 20 volt tools, and so had several batteries already. I wasn’t certain that a smaller 20 volt trimmer was up to the job, but I’m happy to say that for my situation it is more than adequate. A high-powered, blast-thru-heavy-growth-and-brush tool it is not, but an adequate, up-to-the-job-most-of-the-time-tool for my yard it most certainly is. I’ve been impressed with the advances in battery and motor technology for power tools in general in the last decade or so, they’ve improved a great deal in both power and longevity.
It’s good to know that a power mower for the yard is now a realistic option, and one that I may be considering within the next few years. Thanks for the info.
Still suspicious that electric mowers are under powered, but as long as it works why not. What’s more encouraging is that you do the lawn yourself, instead of paying somebody to do something you can still do.
EGO mowers have plenty of power and they even make a riding one. I consider EGO the Tesla of yard care products.
What is wrong with paying someone to do a job you don’t want to do yourself? They probably need the money more than you do, and in the case of yard work they will do a much better job than I would.
I know it comes as a shock to many HD readers, but there are those of us who actually like doing yard work, or at least can say we enjoy the end results of it. I can think of no better workout than pushing around a mower in the yard, even a self-propelled one will work you pretty good. And the longer we do this kind of stuff, the longer we are going to be able to do it, which is a win-win in my book. To each their own.
If you like doing it, more power to you. I don’t, I’m bad at it, and I can get plenty of exercise in ways I prefer. No reason to denigrate people for knowing their limitations, and you are not somehow a better person for doing it yourself.
Really? At least 16 of you think you are a better person if you do your own yard work? Why is that?? Is it the Puritan ethic at work? Or is it some macho thing?
Hek YEAH! Not everyone is of the same mind. I hire plenty of professionals to do the ‘dirty’ work I don’t want to mess with and don’t mind it. I spent many years making it, so now I can spread it to others at my choice.
I love my battery powered mower, weed eater, and mower. They always start right up and as Howard pointed out, I never have the gas smell anymore. I can’t see ever going back to gas powered equipment.
As for an electric car: I’m probably a few years away from making the switch. The charging network will need to be much more robust for long trips.
I am considering a plug-in hybrid instead of going full electric. I would wait, but I bought my existing Camry hybrid in 2007, although the mileage is under 70,000.
That may be the other issue with switching as we normally buy vehicles around with around 70K-100K miles and drive them until the wheels fall off. It may be as everyone starts switching to hybrid and electric that the unloved older gas vehicles get much cheaper, which would in turn keep us buying them! (Being the HD cheapskates that we are.)
Back in 1989 I (female) moved to a house with a small yard. Having no interest in fighting with a gas powered mower, I bought an electric one that plugged into an outdoor outlet. No problems with batteries. It seemed to work fine, but I soon employed a local guy and later a lawn service instead. Eventually I gave the mower to friends who seemed pleased with it.
I mowed a neighbor’s yard in high school (around 1975) with a mower with an extension cord. It weighed almost nothing. And, over the course of a couple of summers, I only cut the cord once!
Then you probably remember the Hover Craft mower that had no wheels. The prop kept it off the ground as it cut. Can’t remember the name and don’t see them now, so there must have been a glitch in them….
Your Toro probably could have been repaired at a relatively low cost. The shear pin probably broke which likely saved the engine from serious damage. That said, I totally understand your decision. I recently switched from a very-hard-to-start gas powered pressure washer to a very nice (read “expensive”) battery powered model. Couldn’t be happier. Had to give away the gas powered one to a local repair shop so it wouldn’t go directly to the dump.
As battery life and charging times improve, I will eventually switch other lawn tools to battery powered. However, my Toro mower is over 35 years old, still going strong, and starts on the first pull every time – amazing.
I ended up donating the old mower to a neighborhood guy who repairs and resells old mowers….to keep it out of the landfill. He confirmed that he probably could repair it for me, but I was reluctant to put money into a 12 year old mower.
Instead of the shear pin, it might have been the crankshaft. You never know until you know. I’m waiting for a decent battery-powered garden tiller. I just prepped my vegetable garden with a very old gas-powered tiller. It’s loud, heavy, hard to handle, gets caked with mud, and leaks – but it works. In a few short weeks I’ll have fresh tomatoes, okra, basil, beans, and squash.