Hi.
To save on having to keep running an extension lead round the front lawn, I am thinking about a battery lawn mower.
The front lawn is approx 50MSq and the rear one approx 30MSq.
I would be interested in hearing from owners of battery lawn mowers on how they are to use and live with, battery life, how many minutes of cutting time etc.
Thank you.
I have the Makita DLM460Z which has the attributes listed below.
I love it, it’s much quieter than a petrol mower - takes two 18v batteries which fully charged will easily cut a large sized lawn.
One factor that you need to consider is a mower such as this at circa £300 + cost of batteries requires pushing. The batteries only power the blade which has smart technology- in that it has a variable power delivery depending on density of grass.
If your lawn is flat then it shouldn’t be a problem but if you want power to the wheels the price of mower doubles.
Struggling myself. I replaced my old Honda petrol mower with a Worx Electric jobby. In short, it’s battery life is fine (carries two) and similar sized garden but on anything but short grass on flat ground it’s p*ss poor at doing its job.
It’s very nimble but the blades just don’t carry enough grunt and I think as a unit it’s too light and is thrown off by lumps and bobbles. I’ve spoken to friends who say theirs are OK but when I have a look, they’re not. They just put up or are happy with a crap job from a poor bit of kit.
I asked the same question myself on here a while back and got a few suggestions if you look back.
However I suspect many ‘budget’ battery mowers, i.e. less than £300-£400 may be similar.
So I’m going to be splashing out on a new one myself shortly, I suspect will go back to Honda!
(Edit: Or Makita!)
I have a Husqvarna LC353iVX….a new model now replaces it. I have many of their products from battery chainsaw to hedge trimmers etc……the batteries are expensive…….but i still use one i bought over 7 years ago with newer ones. The lawnmower can take one or two batteries at a time…….its lively to use and replaced a petrol mower. I use it with the bio clipping attachment which means no grass collection👍
That is the strategy with battery powered tools - once you’ve made the (costly) outlay for batteries then the tools themselves (in the case of Makita) are a reasonable cost.
I’ve picked up the chainsaw, handsaw, hedge trimmer and strimmer for the garden plus a shed load of other DIY tools all run off the same batteries which charge up in a jiffy and hold their charge.
I’ve had a Mountfield self propelled battery mower for a few years now. It will do our ‘formal’ lawns on one charge. It takes about 45 minutes to recharge. However, technology advances have meant that there are better products on the market now.
I bought one of the smaller Hyundai mowers which runs off a single battery and I have been very impressed with its ability to cope with a pretty rough underlying topography. I was going to buy a second battery however, like many products they were in very short supply last summer. I think they are now available. Hyundai make several models with higher capacity batteries/ larger bodies and blades/ and options for self propelled. I gambled that Hyundai would be well engineered compared to the numerous Chinese makes and I’d have no problem recommending the brand for lawn mowers.
Peter
I bought a Bosch one and took it back the week later… It really struggled to cut anything longer than bowling green length. took about 6 batteries to cut my lawn that my petrol Honda would do in 20 minutes.
Didnt fancy spending all day swapping batteries over and waiting for them to charge!
PS One thing to consider is the basket - on the smaller model I bought, the capacity is quite limited and I find the fitting a bit hit and miss until you learn the quirks of attaching it to the mower. I presume the larger bodied units have an appropriately increased sized basket. Well worth considering in hindsight!
Peter
I bought a Bosch 36v one about seven years ago, Rotak32Li I think. It came with a single 4Ah battery. It wasn’t enough for my lawns so I bought a second which would let me mow for about an hour. Mostly plastic construction but worked well enough, still working now but doesn’t get used so much in the last 18 months since I bought a Rotak 36-850 which came with a 6Ah battery.
I’m very happy with it and don’t think it struggles with long grass, but I suppose it depends on your definition of long. It doesn’t have the ‘grunt’ that my old Honda had but it’s a similar deck size and an awful lot lighter.
I wouldn’t go back to a petrol mower now (after 7 years).
I presume this is as in manually operated cordless? I have a battery operated lawnmower, but it is robotic not manual.
We have an EGO Power+ lawn mower with a 56-Volt 5.0 Ah battery. It takes us about 45 minutes to mow our lawn and we still have at least 50% charge when done. We also have a leaf blower and use the same battery for it. The EGO stuff is nice because the products come in versions with no battery for less money if you already have one.
Go robot! I’m on my second Flymo EasiLife 800, works brilliantly except for at least once a year either moles or rats go through the boundary cable. The flashing blue light of doom happens and then you have to find the break. The cable runs under patios and small walls so it’s a nightmare and takes hours. I tried putting it 10cm under instead of just pegging - still broke. Cut however is superb and it just goes off and does it thing 3 times a week, you just need to strim sections that go next to walls of corners (around 10cm). I also use a WORX WG927E for other sections of the garden. It power is good for battery, but doesn’t go near a petrol powered version. As long as you keep on top of the grass it does it’s job and is light and easy to move.
What happened to the first, and how long did it last? Mine’s a Bosch Indego 500, not yet a year old - and given the cost I’m hoping/assuming more than a 10 year life.
I left it out when the beast of the east hit - it was buried under snow and ice for 2 weeks and then didn’t turn on - my fault, it was bad up here!
The best thing I ever did was install a Worx Landroid. It’s been running for just over a year now. It has about two hour mowing time before it takes its self back to its garage for a recharge.
Which magazine recommends eGO.
Phil
We have a Stihl RMA 339 with a mulching blade fitted and are really pleased with it. It gives a really clean cut and leaves no clippings, but the grass needs to be dried to mulch properly (otherwise use the regular blade). We have around a70 sq,m lawn and the single battery never runs out. Now that we solar, using battery products are a real bonus. We have a battery streamer and hedge trimmer for the garden, and just got a battery operated mop and a vacuum cleaner.
I have had a couple of seasons with the Husqvarna LC1411V, which replaced an aging petrol Honda. Its a great piece of kit. Don’t waste your money on the driven wheels option the mower is so light, it won’t be needed unless you have a very steep lawn. Battery is shared with a polesaw and long reach hedge trimmer.
Nice road.
