Battery Lawn Mowers

[Brinormeg]

Has anyone got one? Any opinions on them?

My old petrol ones deck is rusted through and the whole thing is just about ready for the skip being held together with duck tape at the moment.

Considering buying a new one or even second hand but wondered if battery is the way forward nowadays.

The 2 things against that idea for now is:

I am not sure if they would be sturdy and powerful enough for my use as the grass areas are far from being a bowling green.
The other consideration is i will have a supply of old(ish) outboard fuel kicking around and both our cars are diesel at the moment, although that's likely to change in the future.

As for pros: No messing about with fuel. Easier starting for the better half. No issues with ease of sharpening blades and maintenance. Probably more plastic so less rust. No cables compared to electric mowers.

Costs are becoming similar as time goes by, although got to factor in replacement batteries in the future.

[rik_elliott]

how big an area are you mowing? We have a little lawn and a worx 40v battery mower and it is fine, i like that i can share the batteries with my portable jet washer and my drill. i dont know how long it would mow for on a larger lawn though - i think the blurb said it was good for small to medium gardens, but if you have spare batteries then i guess that wouldnt matter so much.

[treerat]

I've moved to one, works on our 4 x 8m lawn. Uses the same batteries as my drill and chainsaw which is handy.

[Brian]

I have one made by Stihl.
Does a superb job.
PM me if you want to know more.

[Oldman2]

I bought this Bosch Rotak 37 LI 37cm 2.6Ah Li-Ion Rotary Cordless Lawn Mower 36V in 2014 to mow my 100ft x 30ft lawn. I was very happy with the machine but found the battery wasnt man enough for a full lawn cut in one go without a recharge. I purchased a 2nd 4Ah battery which does the whole lawn in one hit. Its been in use every summer since so has been probably my best (and most expensive) mower.

[Fenlander]

Despite my reluctance to trust batteries in tool type devices have to admit they are getting better. About 20yrs ago I bought a cordless drill which was weak and had such a short battery life it never made one whole task. Now my Aldi cordless drill has a good bit of grunt and only needs a recharge about every 4th job. Similarly with an early Dyson Cordless on high power even when new it lasted about one minute, so annoying. Same vac now retired to garage/car use with a higher capacity £20 replacement battery from Ebay never runs out during a task.

Now just about to go from a corded to cordless strimmer as the feeling of battery trust grows.

[Steve509926]

Hi Brian, great believer in battery powered kit and with what I do/did I have a lot. All 18v 4AH Milwaukee, which I think are very good and 3 batteries is always enough for a full day.
I was given a Bosch 4AH lawn mower (only one battery) , which I have since given to one of my daughters. It just didn't last for the full lawn (misnomer it's a moss patch really!) which isn't big, so I have reverted to using my petrol mower.
I will need to replace it in the next year or so, as like yours, the deck has seen better days. I will go battery but not one of the better known retail brands. I will probably go with Milwaukee, for obvious reasons (if they make one) or Stihl.

[TmMorris]

Always worth hosing off all the muck from under the deck at the end of each season as it's the rotting grass that eats away the rubbish tin plate they're stamped from.

I'm slowly migrating my garden stuff to Ryobi. I'm generally looking for used kit on eBay and have a couple of new batteries

[Fenlander]

Funnily enough Ryobi is my choice for the soon to be purchased cordless strimmer after liking their corded version I have currently.

[Steve509926]

Wow! Just googled Milwaukee mower! My patch of moss isn't worth spending that kind of money!

[Brinormeg]

Sounds like we have a lot of converts here to battery power.

I would be looking at less than 80x30ft in total of rough lawn so looks like battery might be on my radar yet.

Definately worth cleaning under the deck, something I do neglect to do enough. Be easier with battery of course just to flip it over onto its back for cleaning and maintenance.

Used to have an old petrol honda with a garden hose connection that worked well.

Cant say I've seen a Milwaukee mower steve, but several of my contractors use their drills, circular saws, lamps etc and cant see past them

Ryobi seem to be getting a good following online and perhaps are amongst the best bang for buck around.

I'm kind of in the Dewalt camp now with a few 5.0mah batteries kicking around. I already have the combi and impact drills and recently bought the jigsaw which was a revelation to use after all the old crappy corded ones I've used over the years.....I spent hours trying to find more things to saw up after the first time I used it.

The dewalt mower on screwfix is pricey at £600+ although with 2 batteries. (£450 bare) I would almost be as well just going with another brand thats cheaper and buying extrta batteries if needed.
Could get another outboard for that

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Wow! Just googled Milwaukee mower! My patch of moss isn't worth spending that kind of money!

Oooops...I thought dewalt was bad. Could get someone in to trim it with a scissors for that price

https://www.powertoolsuk.co.uk/milwa...awn-mower.html

Nice looking mature gardens by the way!

[spartacus]

Milwaukee as a brand seems to have a loyal following in the motor trade. I looked at their impact wrenches and they have one with 1/2” drive with 5.0Ah batteries with 1356Nm fastening torque and 1898Nm of nut busting torque. That’s insane!

Back to mowers. Still using a 20 year old 4-stroke Honda and has been very reliable. I had a hole in the cutting deck too. Chemical metal and fibreglass is currently patching that hole.

[HDAV]

Isn’t ryobi the consumer brand from Milwaukee?

I had a ryobi tool set (drill, circ saw, jig saw, sander etc from 2009/10 is the batteries had all finally given up drill a hole charger battery
So bought an impact wrench from same range to get the battery and then drill died while replacing some decking missus went to B&Q click and collect on Sunday morning and a new drill with batteries so now back to 3 batteries and for £100 there were 2 4ah or maybe 5ah on offer direct from ryobi worth signing up to the mailing list for offers angle grinder next on list I think

[Steve509926]

Owned by the same Hong-Kong /Chinese parent company, but massively different build/battery quality, aimed at different end market users. Professional everyday use - Milwaukee, DIY casual use - Ryobi.

[Fenlander]

>>>Back to mowers. Still using a 20 year old 4-stroke Honda and has been very reliable

I must say Honda petrol mowers are the business for small to medium gardens. Our current retirement place... as we call it... is a massive downshift in terms of grass area and negates the previous need for boys toys. When we moved here ten years ago I bought a new Honda Izzy self push petrol mower for simplicity and light weight.

Embarrassed to say it's had almost no maintenance yet is even tempered to start and run with no repairs in those ten years. Similarly our hedge cutter is a reliable 20yr old 4-stroke Honda as we have always had some to do out of reach of a cord. But it's damn heavy to hold at and above head height so a cordless might be on the cards before too long now batteries are so much better.

Really I guess I should look at that when I get the Ryobi strimmer and have battery compatibility.

[Steve509926]

Wonder if Ryobi and Milwaukee batteries are interchangeable? A Ryobi "bare" lawn mower would be of interest to me then?
Sorry Brian, doesn't help you though.

[TmMorris]

Some of them are between brands as there are various adaptors available. I know there is a Ryobi to Bosch adaptor because I went looking for the opposite with no luck.

I quite like the modern concept of bare tools and just having one or two batteries. The quality of the individual cells in the batteries has improved dramatically in recent years which is why the batteries work a bit better but last much longer. The big brands used to Chuck any old rubbish in, including reflected cells but competition plus battery factories getting better have meant the cells are now consistently higher quality.

I imagine that a mower that can run on the same batteries as one's other tools would be really very useful.

[Fenlander]

I suppose it's to be expected but I was a little surprised how much cheaper the battery/charger works out when bought with the tool... in the strimmer/hedgecutter range I'm considering the battery and charger are £90 stand alone but only £50 if supplied with either tool.

This thread has been useful though because it's prompted research to show my favoured Ryobi strimmer/hedgecutter pair plus one battery and a charger will cost less than the Honda 4-stroke hedgecutter will make on Ebay.

So another part of my proper retirement age plan can be enacted in a scrooge like way.

[lakelandterrier]

I now have a 13" Spear & Jackson jobbie. Easily does my lawn 8m x 10m.
Removable battery charges fully in a hour