Boring thread alert – talk to me about cordless mowers

Super boring. I’ve put off and put off getting a new mower. I was going to buy a cobra Honda engined mower last year, but it went out of stock everywhere, so I did nothing.

I have a large garden and currently use a mountfield Honda powered self propelled mower.

been toying with the notion of getting a cordess self propelled mower, I need a 21” model, as it currently takes about an hour to do the job and about 3-3.5 km of walking. I can get a good 21” petrol s/p model for 400 or so, a good cordless jobbie is a lot more – esp if you factor in the high power high voltage batteries!
For comparison I do have a twin makita 18v garden strimmer tool, that can get round the garden but usually then runs out of juice, so I’m not expecting any 18v tech to have any kind of good run time.

my mountfield has been used for 6 years plus and just refuses to die, damn Honda engines just keep plugging away.

anyway, anyone have or use a cordless self propelled mower ? Does the battery last well, would you recommend them for a large lawn over a petrol one ?

if its a large contiguous lawn, what about a robot jobbie? battery doesn’t have to be enough to do the whole lot in one go

My top tip would be to reduce the amount of lawn 🙂 Can a significant amount of it be left to go wild then cut paths through it where you want to walk? Much better for wildlife and a lot less effort for you. We have quite a large garden and do this. The actual amount to mow is quite small and we have a small battery Stihl to do the paths and lawn area. It isn’t self propelled and smaller than you want if you are mowing the lot but the general notion of battery is great. We have quite a few battery tools now. Way better than petrol for the environment and your neighbours.

Yeah, smaller lawn and a 36v Einhell(not self propelled ). It’s fine. But you’ll be wanting a 56v big EGO mower. Not cheap.

I have an EGO hedge/pole trimmer and it’s good. Plenty of power and good enough run time. Heavy though. 56v does seem to be the way to go.

@nickjb we have a wild area. But i don’t find it less work. We cut it at the end of the year like a meadow which is a huge job. If you never cut it will turn to brambles which isn’t for me

We have just bought a 40v cobra mower with a 5Ah battery. It was £300 but i don’t think you could do a huge area. They had a self powered one that was 80v. i think it was £575? He said it would do everything a petrol mower would do and i believe him

If your Mountfield is still working well just carry on with that. Unless you plan on walking faster a cordless one won’t speed up the job. And you can guarantee after six years use the batteries will be dead unlike your Honda engine.

…but the real answer to a big lawn is a ride-on mower! 🤣

We got an Ego at the beginning of the season. It’s quite big and heavy, probably not that much lighter than the Honda it replaced. The battery lasts about an hour, and we can easily mow our relatively large lawn. However the battery reduces in time if you use it as self propelled. Personally I don’t (wife does) because it’s easy to push. Gives a good cut, comparable to the petrol Honda. Interesting feature is the front headlight, a useful feature as I often cut the lawn through the middle of the night!!!!!!!

Buy a new blade, spark plug, oil and filters for your current mower or pay someone else to change all that for you. Will cut like new and as it’s a Honda still keep going for another ten years.

Definitely need self propelled for large mower and big area like that.

Spend the change on beer or bikes 🙂

Just beware that there’s a lot of poor quality batteries around and plenty batteries fail prematurely.  My Dad’s battery has just failed after less than 3 years on his mower (sorry – can’t remember the make).  It’s a 3 month wait for a replacement battery under warranty and no reason to expect the new battery to last any longer.  That motor  / battery combination is also being discontinued so when his new battery dies he won’t be able to buy a replacement battery that’s the same shape so will be new mower time.

My last petrol mower died over winter so I just bought a replacement. Treated myself to a Honda Izy. I looked at battery ones but they were a lot dearer for a similar size. I usually get 10years+ from a mower before the rust kills them and don’t feel confident a battery one would last as long so I stuck to petrol for now.

Just beware that there’s a lot of poor quality batteries around and plenty batteries fail prematurely.  My Dad’s battery has just failed after less than 3 years on his mower (sorry – can’t remember the make).  It’s a 3 month wait for a replacement battery under warranty and no reason to expect the new battery to last any longer.  That motor  / battery combination is also being discontinued so when his new battery dies he won’t be able to buy a replacement battery that’s the same shape so will be new mower time.

^ that would annoy me, esp after an outlay of 600-800 on a powerful leccy lawnmower.

i think I’ll take a leaf out of andy4d’s book and treat myself to a Honda. I should have known that would have been the answer.

We have reduced the lawn area, in fact there will be slightly less when the latest landscaping idea is done. But not enough to make any damn difference.

I did look at the 80v cobra, looks ideal apart from the above comment re batteries, also don’t reckon I’ll be able to get replacement batteries on fleabay for it.

https://www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/cobra-mx51s80v-80v-3-in-1-self-propelled-cordless-lawn-mower-with-2-x-40v-5ah-batteries-2-x-fast-chargers-grouped?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5ImZhczWhQMVYpRQBh09ugCGEAQYASABEgLWSPD_BwE

My Honda self propelled mower is 20 years old and still starts at first or second pull on first use every spring. I’m just about to treat it to its annual DIY service and it’s first replacement blade since new. . After that, I see no reason why it won’t be good for another 20 years at least.  Mine has a durable hard plastic  deck which i think helps – steel decks are prone to rust.  Awesome bits of kit and superb vfm when you consider their longevity and reliability.

Recently got a Stihl cordless mower on the AP battery system, self drive. So far it’s been excellent. Quieter, lighter. Lovely to use. No brainer.

I’ve just got a Makita battery mower and took advantage of the current offer of a free second battery. It runs happily for 1hr on one battery. Grass box is small though so would get frustrating cutting s as large lawn with it.

I went from an old Honda that has self propelled issues. Rather than getting that fixed I went and bought a well reviewed Makita 36v one (I’m invested in the Makita system).

Its ok – just ok. Light, less powerful, whinier, smaller bag. Takes much longer to mow anything when collecting the grass. Probably just about passable if I left the clippings to mulch.

Got the honda fixed now and have decided to keep the makita for a small area out the front and honda does the main lawn.

I have a Makita 40V 43cm mower and that goes for around an hour with a 2,5Ah battery so would probably do a couple of hours with the 5Ah battery. The only problem for you is that to get the mower with the larger deck you would need to buy the ‘pro’ model, which takes two batteries and is well over a grand(!) all in.

6 years on a decent petrol mower is nothing. I have a Hayer that is so old I can’t actually remember how old it is (over 30 years). The engine runs but the deck adjuster failed so it’s useless as a mower.

I have a Makita 36v mower. Lasts about 30 minutes or so with two 6ahs- I use it for the verges at the front and bits that the ride on doesn’t get to. It’s ok but struggles if you leave it too long and it’s a bit damp. If you’ve a large amount to cut, say 0.5 acres or more I’d 100% get a ride on. So much easier and quicker. No good for a meadow tho – too long.

@Ewan thanks that ties in to the run time I see in my makita 36v garden tool. Super powerful, but not a great run time. Shame as I already have numerous 18v makita batteries.
as like others I’m already invested in the makita system

to get the larger deck makita 36v mower is circa a grand, maybe a bit less, but it’s a lot of bike & beer money to throw at a mower.

@walowiz yes I have a bunch of the other 36v makita garden tools as well, I’d say the mower is the weakest of the bunch (tho still decent). My one is 43cm one and not self propelled. The marketing implies the more expensive ones are better, but I can’t believe it’s that much given they use the same batteries. My mate has the big ego mower and it’s certainly better but a lot of money. It’s perfect for my use case (doing a small front lawn and edges on a few bits of my back garden) but I would not recommend for any medium to large garden. As I say, i’d get a ride on in the first instance (I’ve a Husky Rider thing which is excellent) or failing that a secondhand Hayter.