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I have a 20" Earthwise, I paid about $175. My property is 70 x 100 so it's not huge. I use a 100' 12 gauge cord. It is important to get a 12ga cord so you don't experience a lot of voltage drop. Voltage drop means less power. I think my mower draws around 15 amps. I figure 15 amps at 120VAC is almost 2.5HP. I've seen people use 16ga extension cords and they're just not able to handle the current load.
In short I love it and here's why.
-No gas fumes in my garage or exhaust in my face.
-Other than sharpening the blade there is no maintenance. I've used it almost a full season and all I've done is hose it off and sharpen the blade.
-I had forgotten how quiet it was until my neighbor started mowing his lawn and I could hear his mower over mine. I like to listen to music while I mow and it keeps me from going deaf.
-Once the winter gets here I'm folding it up and sticking it in the basement to make space in the garage.
-Electricity is cheaper than gas.
-I'm obsessed with pulling weeds by hand. As I'm mowing if I see a weed I just stop, pull it out and start going again. No cord to pull and get it going again.
-I was surprised at how much torque it had. Gas mowers make the most torque at their optimal RPM. If you bog them down in high grass they stall out easy. Electric mowers have constant torque no matter the motor RPM. If the blade stops you just back up and it starts going again.
-I'm doing just a little bit to cut down on my carbon footprint.
-Its lightweight. No need for self-propelled wheels to drag the thing along and chew up my grass. The wheels actually have ball bearings.
The only downside is the cord. However, I've managed to figure out how to mow so it doesn't get in my way. Basically, I just start mowing close to the outlet and work my way away from it. If I had a large lawn I think a cord would be too much of a pain though.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hdwell
Well I thought maybe an electric mower-no matter if it's cord or battery-would be easier to handle for my wife and teen daughter if for some reason I couldn't mow myself. Neither have ever started a gas mower. I switched to an electric weed trimmer a few years ago and don't have to mess with a 2 cycle engine anymore. But I have no exsperience with an electyric lawn mower. Getting a lot of interesting info on this thread. Has anyone heard of the Neuton mower? It seems to get high ratings.
Good idea, get the wife and kid to mow. I like that.
I am currently using a corded electric mower. You know what I like best about it? It ALWAYS starts. It is quiet, lightweight, and does not vibrate my arms to the point of numbness. It does not care about tall or thick (not that I ever let my grass get what most people would consider tall). The only thing I don't like is the cord.
My 63 year old MIL just purchased a cordless electric mower. She has just under an acre of St. Augustine to mow. It holds a charge long enough for her to push the lawn and she is not speedy by any definition of the word.
Good idea, get the wife and kid to mow. I like that.
Well, yeah, they should probably learn how in case they have to. If they fall in love with it so much the better! But I don't look for that LOL. Since lawn crews abound in most cities, I'm sure many would prefer to pay for that service.
I may teach wife and daughter how to load and fire a gun one day so they will know how just in case. But neither seem interested in that, so OH WELL.
Good idea, get the wife and kid to mow. I like that.
My Uncle married late in life, he lucked out because she was lawn freak. She asked him the mow the lawn once so he purposely left clumps everywhere. She hasn't asked since.
-I'm doing just a little bit to cut down on my carbon footprint.
I read a study comparing gas to electric once, I'm not so sure they focused on CO2. In any event the electric corded motors were considered much more environmentally friendly but again I'm pretty sure that pertained to other emissions. Since gas lawnmowers or anything gas doesn't efficiently utilize the resource nor do they many much pollution controls if any that shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
They concluded the lead based battery operated ones were the worse of the lot because of the impact of the lead from mining it, disposal etc.
We have used a Black & Decker cordless rechargeable mower for years.
I would never go back to a gas mower unless I had a large area to mow, then I would use a tractor.
Or hire somebody to mow it for me.
The weak link in many of the electrics was the on - off switch. Lots of them were paddle type designs that you had to hold down to keep it running. After awhile they would go South and it was either try to repair or buy a new mower. Sort of the hidden flaw built in to make it obselete at some point. Was normally what failed on most mowers. I got to repair a bunch of them in the old hood. Replacement switches were either impossible to find or expensive, most got a jury rigged switch of different design.
I used to tape my switch down, tie the cord around the mower handle, leaving a small amount of slack and just plug / unplug it to start / stop. Also prevented that other foobaa common to using an electric mower, losing the cord by running out of slack and having the plug pulled out of place. You usually said Grrrr........ when that happened.
The other possible failure point was some motors had brushes. After a while those would get eaten up, again not that easy to find the exact replacement but you could slap something else in there. Some the brushes did not have pig tails, about like some of the light weight table saws today, burning out the brushes is end of the line. The brush holders get fried.
Might ask today if the motors have brushes. Hopefully things have progressed to the point where all are of a brushless design. Don't expect the clerks to know what they are selling. Even most instruction books you can't exactly tell.
That trick of humping it up, by lifting the front end and then coming down in very tall grass or a tough area works best, never really stall one out big time, you can burn out the motors.
On garbage day you could go out cruising around. If you saw one at the curb, usually easy to repair. They brought good prices at yard sales. Peeps could try it and knew they would work, unlike most gas mowers.
We have a small yard and love our corded electric mower.
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The one thing that can go wrong..........
