Electric or Cordless Mowers - Any Good

Koffee_Kosmo

I am researching electric or cordless mowers
I don't have much lawn @ approx 200 mt sq

I know they have been around since the 50s on cylinder mowers

Bunnings have this one on offer - http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_ozito-ecomow-electric-mower_2060.aspx

The query is does anyone own one and how does it go
Are some brands better than others

Or shall I have the 4 stroke serviced and keep it another 20 years ?

KK

beanflying

I had an Ozito one I used for the tiny shop lawn of 60m - died after 10 months, failure of the brush gear. I now walk my 6hp self propelled 21" cut one the 2 blocks and cut it  - overkill  ;D

SniffCoffee

I had an enviromower for about 5 years.  They got taken over by Victa a couple of years ago.  It wasn't bad, nice and quiet, but after a while it struggled to get through both the front and back lawns.  I usually mowed one, the recharged the battery overnight, then mowed the other. I replaced the battery once, which cost about $100, and then the chassis cracked and that was that. I bought a 4 stroke, and it'll probably still be going after I'm long gone. There was a bosch cordless one I saw - looked nifty and at least used a Li-ion battery, for faster recharging.

UNM

Our front lawn is about 7m by 6m and then there is the nature strip (as they call the bit if grass.next to the road in these parts) of about 1.5m by 10m. The flymo does a fine job. A petrol mower would be better for the environment though.

mycuppa

My neighbor fixes all sorts of things, including numerous types of mowers (electric and petrol), power tools, etc. and of course many a fine vintage sports car. He has a lot of people always bringing him Ozito stuff and other Chinese made cheap brands that have just expired warranty and not working, or by the owners highly optimistic ideas....."surely it's just gotta be repairable". Very few are band-aided......most end up in the dumpster without a second look. His words....."Cheap equipment designed for very light use and the specific basic purpose intended for a short time then disposable once the warranty expires or the product starts to malfunction in some way". it's not a slur against Ozito equipment....there are obviously many happy customers out there still going strong......but this is the view from an unauthorized repairer. Whilst not exactly On Topic.........A recent rant of my mates at the moment............. He thought he would buy a couple of cheap Quad bikes for his young boys - he spend about $2.5K for 2 new bikes. Damn things keep breaking down after 15-20 mins of use, requiring him to then spend 5hrs each time stripping down and rebuilding. In his words "worst thing I have ever done was buy those cheap Quad bikes". He learned a valuable lesson

adelaidecoffee

We have a cheapie electric mower, think cost around $200, we've had it for 2 and a half years now and still going. It struggles when the grass is thick and a bit long but then I cheat and move the blades up a notch  8) Bit of an annoyance with the cord as well but i've learnt to deal with it.

derrilex

Agree. As a chippy ( among other things) good quality and reliability is a must. Guys that turn up on site with rubbish generally have a rubbish attitude and produce rubbish work. Garbage in = garbage out

askthecoffeeguy

I've got a victa electric 'lawn keeper' mower - admittedly it doesn't have much grunt compared to the big boys, but it does a fine job, and you get used to the power cord after awhile I've got a pretty big front and rear yard and I find as long as they're mowed regularly there's no problems - and even if I've left it for a while I just adjust to the higher  settings and then clip closer next time I've had mine for two years with no probs, although I expect that the blades could doo with some sharpening Based upon my experience I'd recommend one  :coffee2:

Koffee_Kosmo

I am going to pull apart the 4 stroke tomorrow and give it a service New Oil, new plug, new air filter, And clean the problem area of the simple electrics so it runs OK Currently my mower its having a tantrum and wont start with the filter on but is quite happy to run without it Wife and daughters are going to the city tomorrow and I can tinker KK

Seeya Latte

The 18v battery Ryobi brush cutter and blower for light duties are great. No petrol no extensions you can be done in no time. So light and easy to use that my wife uses them more than me. Even though I am an advocate for them I still believe batteries are  better suited to powering tools  but for anything heavier like lawns , I'd still stick with petrol or a Flymo for very small lawns.

Koffee_Kosmo

OK an Update as it has unfolded I went and purchased a new spark plug & air filter , new blades I fitted them both setting the plug to 22 thou at Briggs & Stratton spec Removed the tank and carburetor to firstly inspect, then strip down & service Diaphragm was in good condition Carburetor service complete (Some may know on the forums, that I am a qualified mechanic and specialised in carburetors) Cleaned the electrical cut off section (this was my suspect area) Note - New Blades not fitted due to them being the wrong ones STARTED first time tuned and running like a dream Time taken with lazy thinking time - just short of 1 hour Cost $22.00 + my free labour  Thats the upside Now the downside, - I need to cut the grass  :laugh: Should I take a video ? nah KK

Dry_bean.

Had a Flymo for a couple of years, only had a tiny patch of lawn, the Flymo did the job, just, the trailing power cord was a real pain and the quality of cut was way below average (yep fitted new blades) Am now using a two stroke Victa, the difference is chalk and cheese.

Koffee_Kosmo

Just posting on this subject again as my mower is playing up again So after some research I have found out that huge strides have been made with advances in mower / batter technology I am leaning towards a 36 volt cordless model and looking at two brands Ryobi and Bosch - both around the same price The advantage for the Ryobi is available from Bunnings located just near me is that it can be both a catcher or mulcher mower And the same battery can be used on other garden devises As noted on the first post I have a very small amount of lawn and can usually do it in les than 20 min So the question is does anyone use any of the above models and how good are they KK

derrilex

All you small grass patch people need to get together and invest in a community sheep. Leave it at each house for 2 days and rotate to the next investor. Half joking but not a bad concept I reckon

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1352977194:

All you small grass patch people need to get together and invest in a community sheep. Leave it at each house for 2 days and rotate to the next investor. Half joking but not a bad concept I reckon

Problem is that at about Easter time I may eat it  :stir As its traditional Easter food KK

Lacehim

:rofl:  A goat would be a good idea.  :thumb: Anyway back to mowers.  The Ryobi can run for about 30mins from memory.  Found a bit of info about it here and there.  The Bosch is also available at Bunnings KK. I also like the fact that the batteries are usable across the Ryobi garden range.  I have the 18v drill and about 3-4 other accessories, and it's great to use the same power pack. I think my grass area is too big to do in 30mins, but maybe if I bought a mower, and a weedeater with the batteries included I could use the mower and then load the second battery, and be charging the 1st while I continue to mow.  I think I read that the batteries reach 80% charge in 30 mins but there's a lot of info out there. It's kinda hard to know if it's a worthwhile path to go down or not.  I guess for a small yard it would be useful.

askthecoffeeguy

I recently got rid of my mini put put and traded it in for something big and orange and electric from Bunnings - twice the size, twice the power, and twice the grunt - and yes, still electric! Cant remeber the brand but the blades are much wider than my old 'lawn keeper' and it gets the job done in half the time FTR I dont recommend the battery powered models as from my experience they always run out of power before the job is done, and batteries are expensive to replace! Cheers, Pat

askthecoffeeguy

here it is: http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_lawn-mower-electric-homelite1600w-420mm-cut-hlm400ac_P3400207.aspx

Kelsey

That's cheaper than I would've expected.

derrilex

on 1352978705:

Problem is that at about Easter time I may eat it  :stir As its traditional Easter food KK

Just have make sure its at a non greek house at easter time then  :D

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1352993205:

here it is: http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_lawn-mower-electric-homelite1600w-420mm-cut-hlm400ac_P3400207.aspx

I saw that one and seriously considered it But I have some snags that the cable will get caught up I have a small lawn and it takes approx 15/20 min to mow So I'm my case a battery model will suit A cable electric model my be more suited for lawns that take more time to mow KK

Seeya Latte

on 1353016632:

I saw that one and seriously considered it But I have some snags that the cable will get caught up KK

Hi KK I'll check if its the 1600w this weekend for you but I'm pretty sure the one Pat mentioned is the same one we got for my mother-in-law for her small front yard Yes the chord is something you have to be aware of but moving it out of the way at each turn soon becomes second nature Quiet and cuts well Simple to use so much so that our 15 year old nephew has been given the job to cut his grandma's lawn as repayment for always eating her out of food

Seeya Latte

I mentioned up earlier that the ryobi battery brush cutter & blower work great for our 'Flower bushes' (light-ish duties) I would not use it for lopping however. Maybe the battery mowers are better now but the ones I saw when we got this set a couple of years ago didn't instill a lot of confidence

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1353018071:

I mentioned up earlier that the ryobi battery brush cutter & blower work great for our 'Flower bushes' (light-ish duties) I would not use it for lopping however. Maybe the battery mowers are better now but the ones I saw when we got this set a couple of years ago didn't instill a lot of confidence

Homelight  has a 24 Volt lead acid cordless model / version of the cord model for only $30 more http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_lawn-mower-cordless-homelite-24v-420mm-cut-hlm400dc_P3400208.aspx With lead acid batteries its an 8 hour charge time KK

conikal

Being realistic.. An 18 volt rechargeable battery ( 3Ahr at best) can only supply 54Whrs Total...and probably only 500watts max instantaneous power ! So , at 500W load ( not a lot ?) that battery will only last 6 mins ! To make it last 30 mins you couldnt load it with more than 100W  continuous. Remember that mains powered mower was a 1600W motor ! Different animals completely .. ..and i vote for the sheep !   ( actually a Goat would be more adaptable and could trim the hedge as well !)

Dry_bean.

As a matter of interest KK, I'm also in the market for a new mower (have been for a couple of years) anyhow as they say, during my shopping around (done plenty of it) I have never been offered a battery or 240V electric mower as a serious contender. When I do pull the trigger my choice will have a Honda motor.

JamesM

I bought the top of the range bosch lipo mower from bunnings, it was $600 or something like that. It's excellent. Easy to move, easy to use, fast charge. I've had it a year and charged it three times. Mind you my two lawns are only 6x7 and 2x20m. I had a scott bonnar 45 petrol mower (cyl) which cut real nice but was old, clunky, difficult to start and cost a killing in servicing and rebuilds. One thing to mention, the bosch probably couldn't cut low enough for a really short couch type lawn. Mine works a treat on palmetto (buffalo variety).

Koffee_Kosmo

I bit the bullet and went down to Bunnings Hardware I ended up getting the Ryobi 36 volt cordless lawn mower First test was on my new Sir Walter lawn - its a thick flat grass variety Over the last week with abundant rain it grew to approx 200mm high The mower sliced through the long grass like butter but it was set on the highest setting of approx 70mm cut height The grass area of approx 20 meters square filled the 50 litre catcher 2 times The power used on this small area after checking was 50% but I suspect that it worked hard for it Will try and post some photos of in boxing and set up later KK

Brett H

on 1354509496:

I bit the bullet and went down to Bunnings Hardware I ended up getting the Ryobi 36 volt cordless lawn mower First test was on my new Sir Walter lawn - its a thick flat grass variety Over the last week with abundant rain it grew to approx 200mm high The mower sliced through the long grass like butter but it was set on the highest setting of approx 70mm cut height The grass area of approx 20 meters square filled the 50 litre catcher 2 times The power used on this small area after checking was 50% but I suspect that it worked hard for it Will try and post some photos of in boxing and set up later KK

Brilliant mate.  Of interest to me is how long those expensive batteries last.

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1354516836:

Brilliant mate.  Of interest to me is how long those expensive batteries last.

Because the grass was so long I did a 50% overlap and I had the mower running about 15/20 min KK

Brett H

Sorry mate, I actually meant the estimated time to replacement.  :angel: