This is what I see as the issue. I’d like to get an electric mower at some point, and some of the other tools in the system, but I just don’t believe it will be adequate for our yard in all conditions. We have a little less than an acre that takes me about an hour to mow with a gas self propelled mower. And Im not exactly religious about mowing so there are times when it gets a bit thick.

Fixed that for you.

---

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Why would it not be adequate? We have 1/3 of an acre, oddly it also takes us about an hour to mow, guessing you have more gardens and house footprint?

Anyhow, wife uses our electric and could mow 10 acres or 100 or what ever, A battery lasts about 30 min (I have the smaller batteries) they take about 20min to charge, but since I don't want to keep them hot all the time. The bigger battery that came with our snow blower is big enough she gets it done without stopping. Well she still stops cause she like to take a break and get some water.

Point is if you have the right system or enough batteries you can go as long as you need to. Actually longer than any gas operated one, cause eventually you will run out of gas at your house and have to go get more.

---

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Wait. People mow their lawns a couple times a week?

Bought one of the Ryobi's about 6 years ago. Thing was like $600. It malfunctioned and quit working in under two weeks. Brought back to the store for a full refund, they said many of them are duds right off the shelf. That was six years ago though, maybe they've improved. Sticking with my $50 gas push mower for now.

Ego came out with the double blade model this year.

I have had an EGO self propelled for a little over a year. It has been good to me. I got a floor model at HD for a pretty good deal I think. I liked it enough that I bought the string trimmer and leaf blower as well. I use the big (7.5? Ahr?) pack in the mower and the smaller 2.5 pack on the blower/trimmer. My yard isn't huge, I will cut once a week and the whole mow/trim/blow routine takes maybe an hour. I did not want to mess with having gas tools for the size of my yard. They work well, are plenty powerful and reliable. Would absolutely recommend and buy again for any of them.

Only downside with the blower is there is a small delay spinning up/down from your trigger action so it can be tough to be super precise in small areas but its not really a problem.

I have a Ryobi 18v mower. It uses the same batteries as my drill, blower, hedge trimmer, weed wacker/edger, saber saw, circular saw, pole saw, and my wife's vibrator. I don't have a huge yard, but it is split up across about 6 patches and strips of grass so the smaller size of the mower is a big plus. It uses two of the batteries, but I've never had it struggle through tall grass or run out of charge (but I have 5 cells so I can swap whenever).

I love that I don't have to worry about different batteries or chargers. The only tool I don't like is the hedge trimmer because it cannot handle larger branches. I usually just end up using my manual trimmers.

---

Trieatalot

It's a C minus world.

We’ve had an Ego for I wanna say about 6-7 years now. It’s been great. About a year ago the battery wouldn’t hold a charge very long. We called the number in the manual, they asked us a few basic questions and mailed us a new battery and charger for free. It gets used about once a week from April through October. We also have a full suite of Ryobi battery powered yard tools (blower, weed eater, trimmers, etc) and love them.

I have read through this thread almost every time it comes up... Then I remember it is an old thread.

My 2 cents. I have 2 40v ryobi 16" electric mowers, 2 string trimmers, leaf blower, chain saw, hedge trimmer, snow blower and 12 batteries. The leaf blower is the only tool I have gotten new and I have 2 mowers/string trimmers due to having a weekend house with my wife and a work house in another state.

Tips for use and battery life.
1. Keep the blades sharp.
2. The mowers/tools are typically limited by the battery protection circuit when they load up and try to draw more power the battery trips out. You have to release the trigger and restart.
3. If you want to be hackey.... I have not done it yet but plan to. You can make a 4 battery pack to limit the loss of power due to over current of the batteries.
4. With the mower do not try to cut 6" tall grass off at the ground... I did that today and went through 4 batteries on a pretty small yard. (all batteries are 2-3+ years old)
5. Battery maintenance. Do not let the batteries sit more than a day or two at a low charge state. Keep them reasonably warm unless they are fully charged.
The battery management system (BMS) is always drawing current and when the batteries get cold the cell voltage drops. When the voltage drops below a low voltage cutoff the BMS goes into a fail safe mode where it fully discharges the battery to prevent potential fires(bricks the battery). Apparently when the cell voltages goes really low it allows dendrites to grow in the cell. Think little spikes. When the battery is then charged again those spikes can pierce the electrodes and cause the battery catches fire.

Final thoughts I love them otherwise I would not own 2. Craigslist if you are willing to wait has them for well under $100 with a battery and charger. You can find other 40v tools for even cheaper with batteries if you find the mower for cheep. Yesterday there was a bare mower for $20 on facebook in my area. My gas mower normally would start on the first or second pull... excluding the first start of the summer. Not dealing with gas and oil is really nice I can drop in a battery pull the lever and go. I will only go back to gas if I end up with a large yard. Then I will likely buy a riding mower.