Electric Lawn Mowers in The Triangle (Durham, Chapel Hill: chapel, Home Depot, store)

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by alice_61

We have a battery operated mower that we have used for many years with good results on .3+ acre lots. It lasts ~30-40 minutes per charge so you may have to do your yard in sections. I don't mind that since it is easy to start up and push around (no cord to plug in or starter cord to curse at). Ours is a Sears, bought ~1997. I don't know what is best now.

Alice,
THANKS! I've been wondering about the length of charge. Thanks for answering that for me. Did your mower come with a drop in battery that can be exchanged out when the battery dies? Or is it the kind you plug the mower into the outlet directly?

I'm really hoping to stay away from gas powered mowers. And I do love the ease of starting the electric mowers.

[ADVentive]

My neighbor uses a corded electric mower on his .25 acre lot. Sorry, I don't know much more about it beyond that.

[alice_61]

The battery charger just plugs into the mower so you don't have to remove the battery.

[geoff2v]

This thread has been dormant for 13 months, but since I'm going to have to mow a lawn for the first time in my life , I need to look into this. I'm deciding between a corded and a cordless electric mower. Given the small size of our lawn, the fact that the battery adds some weight to the unit, the cordless mowers cost more, and the fact that I don't trust the battery not to die, I'm leaning towards a corded one. But I just don't know how annoying the cord will be. Since I've never mowed a lawn before, I have no frame of reference. Anyone have any suggestions? (There's a Black & Decker corded model that's highly rated by Consumer Reports, the MM875, and the Homelite UT13122, which is cordless and about $70 more; Home Depot has another Homelite which is corded and which is about $60 less than the Black & Decker model.)

[starla]

Originally Posted by geoff2v

This thread has been dormant for 13 months, but since I'm going to have to mow a lawn for the first time in my life , I need to look into this. I'm deciding between a corded and a cordless electric mower. Given the small size of our lawn, the fact that the battery adds some weight to the unit, the cordless mowers cost more, and the fact that I don't trust the battery not to die, I'm leaning towards a corded one. But I just don't know how annoying the cord will be. Since I've never mowed a lawn before, I have no frame of reference. Anyone have any suggestions? (There's a Black & Decker corded model that's highly rated by Consumer Reports, the MM875, and the Homelite UT13122, which is cordless and about $70 more; Home Depot has another Homelite which is corded and which is about $60 less than the Black & Decker model.)

Okay dude, if you've never mowed a lawn before, I DO NOT recommend a corded electric mower. In fact, I don't think I'd ever recommend a corded electric mower. When I was a renter in Carrboro, the landlord bought a corded electric mower, which I had to use to mow the lawn. Much like you, I had never mowed before. The cord was such a PITA. Unless you have no shrubs, trees, or anything else on your lawn, you'll inevitably get annoyed with the cord. I was always trying to whip the cord up over shrubs, and having to backtrack around trees and stuff. Plus, you REALLY don't want to run over it. It's not like vacuuming where running over the cord is barely an annoyance. You'll friggin' die if you run over it with the lawn mower, right? I can't understand why people buy them. I'd rather sweat it out with a gas mower, which is what I do now on my .35 acre lawn, than have to be paranoid about running over the cord of an electric.

Those rechargables would be pretty awesome if my yard were smaller, though. For those of you who suggested a manual reel mower: haha, that's funny.

[Ananda3]

I agree that the corded electric mower is a pain on a lot bigger than a tenth of an acre or so. Mine just burned out so I bought a Homelite battery powered mower from Home Depot (the one reviewed in Consumer Reports). It is heavy (about 80 pounds), but not difficult to push around my relatively flat yard. The charge lasts about 40 minutes (which is fine), but it takes 15 hours to fully recharge (so you can't really mow twice in the same day....pity if you have a nice day when it isn't 100 degrees outside). Sears has Black and Decker and Craftsman cordless mowers (basically the same model) and I saw one advertised for $500 (about $100 more than what Consumer Reports said it should cost).

[geoff2v]

Originally Posted by starla

Okay dude, if you've never mowed a lawn before, I DO NOT recommend a corded electric mower. In fact, I don't think I'd ever recommend a corded electric mower. When I was a renter in Carrboro, the landlord bought a corded electric mower, which I had to use to mow the lawn. Much like you, I had never mowed before. The cord was such a PITA. Unless you have no shrubs, trees, or anything else on your lawn, you'll inevitably get annoyed with the cord. I was always trying to whip the cord up over shrubs, and having to backtrack around trees and stuff. Plus, you REALLY don't want to run over it. It's not like vacuuming where running over the cord is barely an annoyance. You'll friggin' die if you run over it with the lawn mower, right? I can't understand why people buy them. I'd rather sweat it out with a gas mower, which is what I do now on my .35 acre lawn, than have to be paranoid about running over the cord of an electric.

Those rechargables would be pretty awesome if my yard were smaller, though. For those of you who suggested a manual reel mower: haha, that's funny.

Oof, thanks for the advice. I'll have to take another look at a cordless model. My big issue is that my yard has a nice slope, so I need to look at the difference in weight between corded and cordless to see if my muscles will be able to handle it. (I really really don't want to have to deal with the maintenance scut of a gas mower, nor the emissions, so I think I will skip with some sort of electric.)

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by geoff2v

Oof, thanks for the advice. I'll have to take another look at a cordless model. My big issue is that my yard has a nice slope, so I need to look at the difference in weight between corded and cordless to see if my muscles will be able to handle it. (I really really don't want to have to deal with the maintenance scut of a gas mower, nor the emissions, so I think I will skip with some sort of electric.)

You will not die if you run over the cord on a corded mower.
If the home does not have GFCI protection on exterior electric outlets, as has been a code requirement since 1973, have one installed immediately, electric mower or not.

I would think that the corded would perform much better than the battery mower.
The landscaping and other potential cord entanglements are definitely a consideration.

[HeHeHe]

Battery charge will last 45 to 60 minutes. Plenty of time to do less than a half acre.

[geoff2v]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

You will not die if you run over the cord on a corded mower.
If the home does not have GFCI protection on exterior electric outlets, as has been a code requirement since 1973, have one installed immediately, electric mower or not.

I would think that the corded would perform much better than the battery mower.
The landscaping and other potential cord entanglements are definitely a consideration.

Good point -- my house was built in 2004, so I should be all set on that front. I didn't realize that outdoor outlets would have GFCI although in retrospect it's obvious that they should.

Someone on some other website said they put a few small stakes in the ground and would place the power cord around those, and that the stakes were placed in such a way that they could mow the lawn without problem.

Sigh. Maybe I'll just sow my yard with salt.