Well, the other day BOTH the riding mower and the push mower started struggling to work after I gassed them up. I'm guessing the last time I got gas it was nasty and now the bowls in the carbs need a cleaning. Both of these units are probably 15 years old.
I've been planning on getting an electric push mower. Now the question is: Do I get an electric riding mower, too? They're double the price, which buys quite a bit of gasoline, oil, tires, blades and other things.
Specs on how much torque is spinning the blade seem to be hard to come by, and the Ryobi ones seem to only be sold at Home Depot (who screwed up hard enough that I'll only buy there if there is no other option).
Link to a kind of sparse review of some models.
Anybody have any experience with these? Thoughts?
I would wait unless you want to be an early adopter that is going to wind up on an obsolete battery platform. The Ryobis at Depot today are not lithium packs, they are 4 12V 100Ah sealed lead acid batteries strung together to make 48V. The battery packs for the next gen of lithium riders are currently in the works across all of the brands but Greenworks is looking like the main leader in the larger Outdoor lithium powered equipment right now from the product announcements they have released in the last year.
I have an older Ryobi 54" zero turn that is really a pieced together test mule from the Sealed Lead Acid era of Ryobi mowers. It is a good mower, has all of the benefits of DC mowers but lacks some cutting power in thicker grass. The future is bright for battery powered riding mowers but it's still the future. I think they will be a lot stronger performers in about 3 years but the price points are going to stay about where they are at unless we have a serious breakthrough in consumer grade battery tech this year.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
This is very much my experience as well.
I’ll add that lead acid batteries tend to last four to six years, and cost around $1000 to replace.
I bought a dewalt push mower, and it is total trash. I won't buy an electric mower of any kind again until battery powered mowers have proven to be superior, or I have no other option.
Oh, I had another brilliant idea. Take the money I was going to spend on this and just hire somebody to mow my grass. Considering the time I'll save, the cost may be worth it.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
At least according to my local standalone cub dealer, that can't handle hills. Like at all. Could be a traction issue, maybe changing the tires would help, by no telling what that would do to range.
Even the garden tractor version struggled according to the sales person, I have to assume she was telling the truth because I had cash and they had one in stock and they wouldn't sell it to me, despite or maybe because it was almost twice the cost of the same model in gas powered.
I inquired about them earlier this summer when I needed a new rider and wanted something with a warranty.
I think electric riders are getting there, but not quite ready for prime time yet, at least in non commercial settings. The commercial ones I've seen had been great, but they're ridiculously expensive.
Racebrick said:
I bought a dewalt push mower, and it is total trash. I won't buy an electric mower of any kind again until battery powered mowers have proven to be superior, or I have no other option.
Well that's not really a great battery push mower to compare all others too and honestly unfair to lump DC push mowers into the same category as the Dewalt mowers. The Dewalt offerings in OPE (Outdoor Power Equipment) are straight garbage and that is one of the worst DC push mowers on the market.
In reply to Racebrick :
We bought a 40V greenworks self propelled "push" mower used about a year ago, and are quite happy with it. Not enough range for someone with a decent sized yard (we don't have) but a very well built machine.
To O. P. , I've no info on riders at all.
The battery life is not the same as a gas engine life. The savings of charging vs gas is non existent. I was an early adopter of self propelled mowers, my ego is 7 years old and has been a nightmare for the last 3. One battery failed completely, wiring in the handle developed internal opens and had to be rewired. I had hoped a 500 dollar mower would last longer than that. I would stay away from riders unless you think 3 years is an acceptable life span.
