8/8
OVERALL:
Pros - Just as good a cut as a gas mower for the same product cost and much less energy cost. Significantly softer noise. A little easier to handle. And zero pollution.
Cons - Have to charge batteries in advance, a smidge less maneuverable, fears about plastic wheels.
EGO Power LM2130SP 21" lawn mower.
7/
My old mower used 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of gas to cut our lawn. In Biden-era pricing that was about $0.60 to $1.19 per cut. In Trump/Iran-era that's more like $1.09 to $2.19 per cut.
The charger used about 500w of electricity (measured with a Sense device) for about an hour. At my local electricity rates, that's about $0.15-0.20 per cut.
6/
Finances:
We paid about $650 for the combination mower and 2nd battery. It was a sale of about $250 off so I'm thinking they're going to discontinue this model soon for an upgrade. This is about what a new gas mower might cost, maybe a little less. They have more expensive models that are larger, designed for larger lawns, and have more features.
5/
The mowing took slightly longer than usual. Some of that might be getting used to the mower. We set the height as high as it would go and I might try 1/2" lower next time.
It was lighter and easier to push, but harder to turn. Also, I worry that the plastic wheels (think Big Wheel back wheels) might wear out too easily.
The 7.5Ah battery was *almost* enough to finish in 60 minutes. I put in the 5Ah battery to finish. Swapping was easy.
4/
The cut was as good as the gas mower. The EGO mower comes with a main blade and 3 choices of second blade - mulching (pre-installed), bagging, high-efficiency. We mulch so we didn't need to change. I did noticed that the mulching left longer cuttings than my gas mower. But it also didn't have the problem of clumping mulched remains. It remains to be seen if that makes any difference. It looks fine.
The mower can be set for cut height 0.5" to 4.0"
3/
It is self-propelled. You have to put your palm over two switches to engage the drive. It will go from 0.9mph to 3.1mph depending on the setting on a round switch in the center of the handle.
I discovered the hard way that the self-propulsion is on whenever the battery is installed, even though the blade motor is off. I had undone the clips to push the handle down for storage and the mower leaped forward.
2/
Taking it out of the box involved just unboxing and removing packing and protective material. Very little setup. We did have to charge the batteries which took about an hour total.
It's simple to start once you know the order to do things in. To get the blade going, you have to push the Start button and THEN pull back on the blade "clutch" deadman lever. It is SO MUCH softer than a gas motor, more like a loud or large fan.
My first experience with a battery lawn mower.
Our 15-year-old Honda gas motor works fine, but the handle broke in a way that makes it unusuable. We will sell it for parts. We bought a EGO Power LM2130SP 21" mower. It came with a charger, 7.5Ah battery, and the deal included another 5Ah battery. Shipped from Amazon in a week.
1/
Mark Smith