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Are battery lawnmowers any good yet?
I need a new lawnmower and was thinking of a self propelled petrol lawnmower for approx £250 however you can get battery ones for about £400
However are they any good ?
Battery mowers are very good in the right gardens. Clean, quick and light.
You need to ask yourself how big the garden is, how long do you let the grass grow and do you mow it when wet?
If your a once a month mower, go petrol, if you’re a weekly mower with an appropriately sized lawn, go battery. Just bear in mind first cut of the year may take more than one pass if it’s wet or longer than a few inches
£100 options in Home base & Aldi currently. I have a tiny garden so the battery option is tempting for me.
I’d go petrol until a hydrogen fuel cell mower is commercially available.
Petrol gardening stuff is generally very poor for the environment. I appreciate it is often the best tool for the job and batteries aren't exactly super green but you can still do your bit.
I've got petrol, but would probably go electric if it ever dies if only because I read somewhere that garden machinery now produces more NOx than traffic?
I'd probably go with the makita ones, but only because I already have a drill so having compatible batteries and chargers would be useful.
OTOH, the petrol one just works. It's 2nd hand, been 4 years without even taking the plug out let alone an oil change. I imagine even with two batteries the mowers must be quite hard on them so. Mulches leaves and plant waste as well which is useful for composting.
Our gardens just that bit too big and awkward that a corded one wouldn't reach the end of the lawn down by the road.
I fancy one of those automatic robot mowers. Still a bit pricey but coming down and i’ve got a relatively simply shaped and small garden so should be fine. The only problem is it couldn’t do the rear and front garden so would still need to mow the front myself.
2 petrol push mowers and two ride ons here. I love a Briggs and Stratton motor so petrol all the way for me.
So it looks like battery isn’t quite there yet. It’s quite a large lawn (currently takes 1.5hrs to do) all sloped, some to the point it’s difficult to get the lawn mower to not tip over. plus it’s mowed when I can rather than religiously every week
I went for electric + long cable recently when my last petrol died. I could have fixed it but I was happy to take the inconvenience of a cable vs the smoke of the petrol.
Can you let a bit of it go wild to make it more manageable? If its a steep slope then is there much benefit to having lawn anyway? Better for wildlife plus maybe one less petrol mower out there. A big chunk of ours is wild and it seems to largely self regulate now. Just a bit of selective weeding, which is a pain but a lot less work than regular mowing and its great habitat.
Small garden -Electric and long cable
Large garden- petrol
Funny, I walked past a big smelly petrol mower in action in the university grounds the other day and wondered about this. The mpg of a petrol mower can't be great. Has anyone tried these cheap battery mowers? I think Wickes have one too.
FWIW, I have a moderate size garden which is an awkward shape. Lots of reversing and moving around. I wish I'd gone for anything except a corded electric mower, which is a royal PITA. I used to love mowing the lawn. I will probably take a look at the Aldi battery mowers ones this week!
The mpg of a petrol mower can’t be great.
Its not just that. There is a lot of petrol spillage when filling and in use. Apparently in the U.S. the amount of petrol spilled from gardening equipment every year is around the same as the Exxon Valdes spillage!
These are worth considering
Funnily enough I've been looking at non-corded mowers lately after the first mow of our new garden with our existing plug in job.
I've a speculative bid in on a petrol one nearby on ebay, if that fall through I'll be looking about for a battery one as cheap as possible...
It might make sense to do a weekly/fortnightly run round with a battery one during spring/summer but keep the old corded one just for the first cut of the year...
Won it!
Sovereign petrol mower under £20*. Pick it up on Saturday...
Take that environment!
*May need some fettling
My mum switched from a petrol to a battery mountfield, essentially the same body and cutter with a large battery driven motor. She likes it, it's lighter than the petrol one, doesn't require servicing and starting isn't an issue. Cuts the grass just fine.
Even better I got the petrol one
My battery mower is superb. I can do the back lawn plus the two little bits at the front (total about 100 square metres) at least twice on one charge. Then the same battery fits the strimmer. It’s a Mountfield of some kind and cost about £300.
Got it, and it's a runner.
But the kill switch doesn't work!
Had to pull the lead off the plug to stop it, I won't be using it till I sort that out...
So beware, if you do get a cheap used petrol mower, there will inevitably be things that need sorting...
I forsee hours of fun tinkering in the Garage 😀
I see the robot ones all over the place here in Germany complete with German men standing in the gardens staring love struck at their new toy. I wonder though if the claim that dumping the cut grass on the lawn is better for the lawn is actually true though or just marketing BS.
Lawnmowers with a mulching feature are reasonably common.
Stihl, Husqvarna, Ego, Bosch etc cordless battery lawnmowers are all fairly tried and tested.
Bought myself a petrol mower yesterday.
Why did I not get one years ago! Halved the time, not even tired from doing it (self propelled) and coped with the silly slopes. Best bit is that it’s got an engine so what’s not to like !
I did seriously look at battery. For similar performance it was twice the price for mixed reviews, and then they end up weighing the same as petrol, but get iffy reviews
double iOS post.
Mains Mountfield replaced a vintage petrol mountfield. Much easier with a proper extension cable. Same quality cut. Garden lawn is about 100 m2 and flat. Would consider battery next time, but it would still be about £400. I wouldn’t buy a cheap battery mower. I also have an electric leaf blower that frankly was a total waste of money. A large rake is much easier!
Bought a Bosch battery one 9 years ago, somehow it is still going, I have to recharge it to do both front and back lawns so will buy one with a little more capacity when it dies.
Small area though, had a petrol one before, comparatively; 100% more maintenance required.