Recommend an electric residential lawn mower

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timmmay

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#248569 31-Mar-2019 20:11

Original question (see update below / latest post)

I have a Victa ESP360A Lawnkeeper 1300W mains powered electric lawnmower. It's about 7-10 years old now. It works great for most of my lawn, but where it's thickest or on a slope it's starting to struggle. I'm having to mow on a higher setting, which means I mow more often. I need something a bit more powerful, ideally not too heavy as there's a small slope. I really like the electric lawnmower, not interested in petrol ones as they're too heavy, too loud, too much hassle. I like that electric is zero maintenance.

My trimmer is a Ryobi ELT1100A electric. I've ended up getting the Alex Brushcutter head for it and it's working really well.

Can anyone recommend a good electric lawn mower.

Update Aug 2020:

I'm trying to decide on an electric lawn mower, with a strong preference for corded rather than battery, mostly because they're cheaper and have worked fine for me so far. A battery mower would be fine, standard residential lawn only takes 30 - 40 minutes to mow, but they cost $300 to $400 more than corded and I don't see any point spending more.

Considering Ryobi and Bosch mostly, but just want something that does a decent job. My Victa Lawnkeeper 1300W has been fine for a decade, it's just worn out.

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#2208333 31-Mar-2019 20:36

FYI there is 4kg difference between the 40cm ryobi electric and battery (heavier) lawn mowers vs about 14kg between the battery and petrol models.

and the line trimmer are about the same weight for the comparable models including the battery.

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#2208335 31-Mar-2019 20:43

If the mower used to work fine but is now struggling, you could try sharpening the blade. I'm also not sure about electric being zero maintenance either; I always make sure I clean off the grass and the sodding flax fronds that wind themselves about the shaft. A good clean might restore a bit of vim and vigor?

We've got a ryobi mains lawnmower. It's fine, good for the price ($300 ish from memory). Benefit of hindsight, I wish I had paid extra for the battery model though, the cord is a pain.

For line trimmers, I've found the balance much more important than the sheer weight. New one weighs more than our old one but it is evenly balanced so feels much lighter. You can also add a shoulder strap to some to take the weight, but only works if balanced. I did go battery for this - AEG 18V brushless - and highly recommend this one but sounds like it doesn't suit your purposes.

timmmay

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#2208337 31-Mar-2019 21:05

Thanks guys. I bought a new blade a couple of years ago, helped a bit. Sharpening costs about the same as buying a new one. It just gets caught up on all that grass, even sharp I think it just needs more power. I don't maintain it at all. Having a cord doesn't really bother me, I've been using one for best part of a decade.

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#2208338 31-Mar-2019 21:07

I just purchased a brand new Sthil trimmer the other day $195 works great

rp1790

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#2208433 1-Apr-2019 09:23

I've gone from the Ryobi 18v lawnmower to a electric start, self propelled mower and now have a Victa 82v battery driven mower. The Victa 82v range are the bee's knee's, light and powerful. So impressed with the power I have also bought the 82v hedgetrimmer, blower and line trimmer. The lawnmower is very light and easy to move around, the linetrimmer is powerful as anything, you could almost call it a brush trimmer. It is a little awkward as it's long though, I'm short so that's probably the reason.

timmmay

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#2208515 1-Apr-2019 11:01

I just read the consumer review, and apparently the battery powered ones are more powerful than the mains ones. That's odd, I thought the mains would be able to deliver more power. The battery ones cost only a bit less than petrol ones, though they're lighter.

The Black and Decker mower is 1800W, which is 500W more than the Victa - worth looking at. Ryobi has a 1900W mower as well.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far, and I'm still interested in recommendations for both, especially if based on experience :)

timmmay

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#2208520 1-Apr-2019 11:03

Linux: I just purchased a brand new Sthil trimmer the other day $195 works great

Feeds ok? Not too heavy?

rp1790:

I've gone from the Ryobi 18v lawnmower to a electric start, self propelled mower and now have a Victa 82v battery driven mower. The Victa 82v range are the bee's knee's, light and powerful. So impressed with the power I have also bought the 82v hedgetrimmer, blower and line trimmer. The lawnmower is very light and easy to move around, the linetrimmer is powerful as anything, you could almost call it a brush trimmer. It is a little awkward as it's long though, I'm short so that's probably the reason.

Battery trimmer would be handy. Feeds ok?

I used to pick up the electric lawn mower and use it to trim bushes... pretty light.

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Dynamic

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#2208566 1-Apr-2019 12:13

rp1790: I've gone from the Ryobi 18v lawnmower...

I've just bought one of these to do the little bit of lawn at work for $400 on special (plus i bought an extra battery, both 4ah). It's good but not fantastic. The lawn is pretty flat and takes less than 15 minutes to mow, but cutting it every two weeks, the mower still gets bogged down and stops maybe half a dozen times when the front wheel dips into a small rut. I understand the 36v ones have more grunt to make this less of an issue.

Good for a bowling green lawn, but for anything else, 36v would definitely be the way to go.

(Sorry OP to hijack your topic - just wanted to mention this for people searching in the future)

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jonathan18

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#2208581 1-Apr-2019 12:35

Have you tried out a battery mower, either in the shops or (ideally) in a similar situation to your own?

It's just that you mention your reason for not wanting one is the weight but, as Jase2985 reports above, there's not necessarily a huge difference between the plug-in and battery-powered models. Testing one out in real-world settings may be worth it to ensure a battery mower wouldn't work for you.

I've owned both plug-in and battery mowers, and I'd not touch another plug-in mower. Totally happy with my 36V Ryobi, which gets stuck far less than my old plug-in mowers (and also no cord hassles - I was quite good at running over them!); just need, at some stage, to buy a second battery.

timmmay

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#2208592 1-Apr-2019 12:48

jonathan18:

Have you tried out a battery mower, either in the shops or (ideally) in a similar situation to your own?

It's just that you mention your reason for not wanting one is the weight but, as Jase2985 reports above, there's not necessarily a huge difference between the plug-in and battery-powered models. Testing one out in real-world settings may be worth it to ensure a battery mower wouldn't work for you.

I've owned both plug-in and battery mowers, and I'd not touch another plug-in mower. Totally happy with my 36V Ryobi, which gets stuck far less than my old plug-in mowers (and also no cord hassles - I was quite good at running over them!); just need, at some stage, to buy a second battery.

I haven't tried a battery unit. Until you guys posted they were more powerful I'd never have guessed a small battery would give better mowing performance than mains.

I can manage an extra few kg of battery. However, if I can upgrade from a 1300W mower to a 1900W mower that might be sufficient, as the 1300W is powerful enough most of the time. Also, mains cost $300 instead of $600 for battery powered plus I might need an extra battery, and batteries tend to wear out after a few years, especially if you fully drain them regularly. It takes me an hour to mow the lawn, but actual mowing time is probably 30 minutes of that or a bit less.

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#2209188 2-Apr-2019 07:57

timmmay:

Linux: I just purchased a brand new Sthil trimmer the other day $195 works great

Feeds ok? Not too heavy?

rp1790:

I've gone from the Ryobi 18v lawnmower to a electric start, self propelled mower and now have a Victa 82v battery driven mower. The Victa 82v range are the bee's knee's, light and powerful. So impressed with the power I have also bought the 82v hedgetrimmer, blower and line trimmer. The lawnmower is very light and easy to move around, the linetrimmer is powerful as anything, you could almost call it a brush trimmer. It is a little awkward as it's long though, I'm short so that's probably the reason.

Battery trimmer would be handy. Feeds ok?

I used to pick up the electric lawn mower and use it to trim bushes... pretty light.

The trimmer feeds well, yes.

LisaM77

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#2209364 2-Apr-2019 11:39

timmmay:

I just read the consumer review, and apparently the battery powered ones are more powerful than the mains ones. That's odd, I thought the mains would be able to deliver more power. The battery ones cost only a bit less than petrol ones, though they're lighter.

The Black and Decker mower is 1800W, which is 500W more than the Victa - worth looking at. Ryobi has a 1900W mower as well.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far, and I'm still interested in recommendations for both, especially if based on experience :)

I bought a Ryobi 36V about 6 months ago and love it. It cuts better than the petrol mower which wasn't very old and had been serviced so was in good condition. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well it cuts. I went battery for a couple of reasons: 1 - I hate having a cord when working with power tools. I've done it plenty and have never hurt myself, but it's very nice not having it there (especially up on ladders, etc). 2 - I have multiple machines now that use the same battery. Edger, strimmer, mower, hedge trimmer, blower/vac. I have 2 batteries for convenience (one charger). I have a reasonable sized property (the neighbours all have ride-ons but I had one and sold it (I don't mind doing a bit of walking and it didn't actually save any meaningful time) and 2 batteries easily covers what I need. I usually do the lawns over 2 days anyway.

I also like that the battery mower is significantly quieter than petrol and frankly wish my neighbour would get one and ditch his bloody noisy ride on too!

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#2209368 2-Apr-2019 11:53

LisaM77: I also like that the battery mower is significantly quieter than petrol and frankly wish my neighbour would get one and ditch his bloody noisy ride on too!

It *is* really nice not to have to use earmuffs when mowing with the battery mower (at least with my 18v work mower). It means I can wear my hat in the summer, and listen to music. :)

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timmmay

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#2209384 2-Apr-2019 12:46

I'm puzzled why battery models are reported as being so much better than cord models. Surely the 1900W Ryobi is pretty powerful? Also, $300 for mains model vs $600 for battery model plus potentially up to $300 for a second battery is double to triple the price. I'm really just looking for "good enough for a fairly flat residential lawn", I don't need to mow a field, wet grass, or super long grass.

I'm used to cords, so no problem. The Ryobi battery and corded models look very similar, I guess the main difference is the motor.

@jonathan18 what model of mains mower did you use that wasn't as good as the 36v Ryobi?

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#2209386 2-Apr-2019 12:53

timmmay:

I'm puzzled why battery models are reported as being so much better than cord models. Surely the 1900W Ryobi is pretty powerful? Also, $300 for mains model vs $600 for battery model plus potentially up to $300 for a second battery is double to triple the price. I'm really just looking for "good enough for a fairly flat residential lawn", I don't need to mow a field, wet grass, or super long grass.

I'm used to cords, so no problem. The Ryobi battery and corded models look very similar, I guess the main difference is the motor.

@jonathan18 what model of mains mower did you use that wasn't as good as the 36v Ryobi?

You can come mow my lawn to "test" the Ryobi 1900W any time! 😀

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