Battery Powered Lawn Mowers

[burnin_vernon]

How well do these work? I do not want a gas one anymore, Reel mowers are useless, and I hate running around with a cord. I am just skeptical about the battery life of these things.

[Barnes]

Mine works awesome. I have a Black and Decker that sells at Home Depot.

It takes awhile to charge but I live on a corner lot and I can get at least 2 mows out of it. I've never had it die on me. It's a little heavy but I have no hills or complex turns.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I'm getting one delivered by Rona sometime today so I can stop using my gas mower. I'll post impressions as soon as I can.

[Gundo]

I got a Home Lite 24V cordless mower from Home Depot a few months ago when they had a $100 trade in deal for your old mower if you went to a greener model, and I couldn't be happier with it. I have a good sized corner lot and can easily mow it 2 or 3 times on a single charging. Before I had my back yard sod in I even used it to hack down some 3ft high weeds and it went through them like a champ. I highly recommend one of them.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Hmm, that's pretty cool that they have something like that. It's apparently these type of small gas powered engines that are the bigger contributors to air pollution.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Gundo

I got a Home Lite 24V cordless mower from Home Depot a few months ago when they had a $100 trade in deal for your old mower if you went to a greener model, and I couldn't be happier with it. I have a good sized corner lot and can easily mow it 2 or 3 times on a single charging. Before I had my back yard sod in I even used it to hack down some 3ft high weeds and it went through them like a champ. I highly recommend one of them.

What make and brand is yours?

[Gundo]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

What make and brand is yours?

Its the Home Lite 24V 20" Model from Home Depot.

[TurnedTheCorner]

So mine is the Utopia mower made by Linamar. Self propelled and has a brushless (?) motor that the company claims will outperform 48V and 60V motors. We'll see how it runs. It uses 2 batteries at once, but came with 3 - seems kind of pointless. 2 or 4 would be fine.

It recommends a 24 hour charge before initial use, and then the regular charger will fully charge the batteries in 12 hours. According to the FAQ:

How often will I have to buy a new battery? • The batteries if used/stored properly have a rating of 5 years or more. Always remember not to leave batteries in temperatures below 0°C or 32°F.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

So mine is the Utopia mower made by Linamar. Self propelled and has a brushless (?) motor that the company claims will outperform 48V and 60V motors.

Brushless motors are great. More efficient, more powerful, and essentially maintenance free. Conventional DC motors use brushes to conduct the electrical current to the armature, and are a high-wear item on high current motors like you'd find in a lawn mower.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

How often will I have to buy a new battery? • The batteries if used/stored properly have a rating of 5 years or more. Always remember not to leave batteries in temperatures below 0°C or 32°F.

My concern with battery-powered lawnmowers is that a replacement battery might cost more than a new mower (like many other battery-powered tools these days). Anyone know how the batteries are priced? I really wish some of the big companies would start pushing standardized batteries in different sizes so replacements would be affordable, but I guess that's one of the ways they make money.

[burnin_vernon]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

My concern with battery-powered lawnmowers is that a replacement battery might cost more than a new mower (like many other battery-powered tools these days). Anyone know how the batteries are priced? I really wish some of the big companies would start pushing standardized batteries in different sizes so replacements would be affordable, but I guess that's one of the ways they make money.

I think they cost from $100-to $150. If they last for 5 years, I'd say that's better than paying for all that gas and oil

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

How often will I have to buy a new battery? • The batteries if used/stored properly have a rating of 5 years or more. Always remember not to leave batteries in temperatures below 0°C or 32°F.

Where do you keep the battery during winter?

[TurnedTheCorner]

I just emailed Linamar for pricing, will post the response.

Originally Posted by Shazam

Where do you keep the battery during winter?

I'll just move mine from the garage to the basement.

[missdpuck]

Good thread. I hate gas mowers so much that I bought a reel one. It's actually okay except that a few patches have to be gone over with a weed eater. I was wondering about the B&D battery powered mowere. The weedeater is pretty good.

I also wish they'd have standardized batteries for these things as I have both Ryobi and B&D cordless tools...2 completelly different batteries of course.

[Doctordestiny]

My first battery-powered mower lasted about 12 years, then I replaced it when the battery power started to dwindle. I love it!!! My yard is very large. I get a full cut out of one charge. I've stored my mower in an unheated garage in an Albertan winter by keeping it fully charged with no apparent ill effects. I would never have another gas mower again and my yard is too large for a cord.

Has anyone had any experience with the Neutron? Seems to be all the rage these days.

[Gundo]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Has anyone had any experience with the Neutron? Seems to be all the rage these days.

I looked into one of those goofy looking things when I bought my Home Lite 24V, I found that the square footage it cut on a single charge to be alot lower than some of the others and I wanted a mower that looked like a mower.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

I just emailed Linamar for pricing, will post the response.

Sorry for the late reply:

Hi xxxxxxx,

Getting 3 is odd - you will only need the two. We sell pairs of batteries for $99 plus shipping from our Customer Service centre at 866-857-1445. Please call us if you’d like to order.

LINAMAR Consumer Products Ltd.
150 Arrow Road,
Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1K 1T4
Tel: 519 515 1000 ext.
Fax: 519 515 9971
email: lcpsupport@linamar.com
linamar.com
linamarconsumerproducts.com

Forgot to add that I was able to cut the whole lawn on a single charge. My lot is 6,213 sq. ft., and obviously that is not all lawn to cut. The mower was a lot quieter than my gas one, but not whisper quiet. The self propelled feature was nice, too. It seems a little harder to get as close to the fence edges with the electric, so I have more trimming to do.

[Fugly]

I'm ditching my electric mower and getting one of those old-school push mowers. I'm tired of wrestling cords from trees and I'm not a fan of gas mowers. Plus, I figure that the old-school mowers are safer so I'll be able to get some slave labout out of my kids a year or two earlier than I would with an electric or gas. They're going to hate me...hehehehehe.

[millhouse11]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Has anyone had any experience with the Neutron? Seems to be all the rage these days.

I had one. The battery life was ok. I could cut my lawn twice before the battery died. I have a pretty big yard, so I thought that was ok. I thought it was decent until my charger went after a year, and I had to borrow my neighbor's polluting gas powered Toro. My lawn never looked better.
I had to order a new charger from the states, and after I got the charger, I sold it and went back to a gas powered mower.
The blade was tiny, 11 inches. It took along time to cut the lawn. I did an ok job if you cut the grass regularly. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it.