Battery outdoor power equipment

[BlkGS]

Anyone switched over?

My gas mower may have died on me, I'm gonna be switching the carb out for a new one, but the two stroke trimmer, etc are all getting to be pretty tired. I've got about a .25 acre lot, pretty much flat, but being FL heat becomes an issue quickly.

I was thinking about switching to Ryobi 40v, they've got a nice kit that comes with a blower, mower, and string trimmer that uses the gas attachments (since I have that edger attachment from my gasser), but the mower uses 2 batteries, and you have to manually pull the cover and flip a key for which one is being used. Not a huge deal, but seems stupid, and all the other brands auto switch.

Was at Costco and they had a green works 80V mower, comes with 2 batteries that auto switch (and you apparently don't have to use the same size battery for that). You get an 8 year battery warranty if you buy from Costco, and they've also got a full line of tools. Price is a bit higher than the Ryobi, but seems to go on sale at Costco in May type time frame.

Also looked at eGo, they're single batteries, 56V, but big ass batteries that are really pricey. They seem to be the nicest overall.

When we moved here I gave the Atlas 80v a try, and with the single battery I wasn't anywhere near finished with a single of the smaller battery, but I did have it set to cut lower than I likely would now. Their warranty sucks though, and honestly their stuff is kinda expensive overall, two of their big batteries is over $500, double what the mower costs, and there's no generics available for them.

I did look at gas again, but a basic self.propelled gas unit is $500 now and I'm sure it's not gonna be better quality than my existing stuff.

 

[Bluewater272]

We've switched almost entirely to electric, but retain gas for the chainsaw and a pair of backpack blowers for fall cleanup. I have Ego tools for the trimmer, another blower for day to day cleanup, and an edger - all of them are best in class tools to me, and I had nice gas predecessors. We have a Cub Cadet riding electric mower that's the bees knees, but I scored it on clearance for $500 - would not have paid full price, but this is way overkill for you.

The costco tools look nice, and had I not already bought into Ego when they started showing up, I'd have done that instead just for the costco warranty. Would absolutely pick that over Ryobi, and I like their 18V lineup of tools.

 

[granitetech]

I have made the switch as well. All tools are Ego I haven't had any issues

 

[Sherwood]

I'm on my second greenworks mower and chainsaw.
Love them..I don't have a gas can.
My back up generator is duel fuel. Propane never goes bad or gumes up the carb.

 

[Bottom Bracket]

All gas.

Mower, trimmer, weed wacker, pole saw, 2 generators. 2 stroke auger, 37 ton splitter,

I store my jenny's full with engineered fuel.

imo batteries pretty much suck.

Klotz in my chainsaws makes me feel like a kid on a dirt bike again.

 

[Oafy44]

I own a landscape company and about 5 years ago bought about $8k of greenworks equipment from a landscape nursery for about $500 because they couldn’t sell any of it and wanted to experiment with it on one of our crews.

90% is about the batteries. Had about 20 batteries that came with all the equipment and ended up throwing out about 16.

However the equipment itself isnt bad at all so I would get costcos if they are warranting the batteries. If you have about 3-4 batteries then you can mow/edge/trim/blow off a 1/2 acre easily Go 80v IMO. Didn’t hold up on a commercial setting since at the time no trucks had a charging set up but now the f150/250 have the onboard generator in the trucks it’s only matter of time before the commercial trucks will do the same. At that time it will make sense to switch over electric for a commercial use but I took all that equipment up to the lake house and use it all the time with no problems.

 

[jeffrt]

Still have a gas mower, but I switched to the Dewalt 20V blower and weed whacker a few years ago and love them. Sold my Stihl stuff this past summer after not using it for a while, so I’m committed now! I also have the Dewalt chainsaw but it’s pretty small, so I kept my Stihl for bigger jobs. I have the Dewalt hedge trimmers too, and they’re also great. Works out nicely since I have all their tools too, so sharing batteries is very convenient.

 

[BlkGS]

I'm on my second greenworks mower and chainsaw.
Love them..I don't have a gas can.
My back up generator is duel fuel. Propane never goes bad or gumes up the carb.

Why second? Did the first ones fail, or just wanted to upgrade?

 

[Sherwood]

Why second? Did the first ones fail, or just wanted to upgrade?

I had two years on $60 pawn shop mower and a bearing went out on the shaft. It still runs, just needs a new bearing. One of those things I never get around to.
Bought a bigger self propelled one.
Used my first chainsaw (another pawn shop find) for like 10 years. I had a farm at the time, and a 5 acre fenced and cross fenced bordering tree lines. I used the piss out of that saw. It was so light, i just took it with me whenever I checked the fence. Bought a bigger one when that one went, and limping saw.
I got a weed eater that works great, but I just hate weed eating. I'd rather use a little edging spade. Bush trimmer , and leaf blower. Leaf blower is probably my favorite. Works great. I use it all the time. Blowing leaves out of boat, garage. Dust from the shelves, corners, under the furniture.

 

[zipper]

This time of year, out in the woods I rely on my 20v Dewalt drill to make 5300 holes this season. I use up 2 batteries a day tapping. I also use it to raise the mainsail with a winch bit. Wife did get herself a battery powered trimmer for the yard. However, the Kubota tractor which is our workhorse, snowplow, tree skidder, wood splitter, rototiller, hay equipment, etc runs on diesel. My Husqvarna 2-stroke chainsaws get a workout this time of year. The Husqvarna 2-stroke brush saw gets a workout in the blueberry field. The mower(s) Cub Cadet and Husqvarna awd walk behind are gasoline. 40ac. of grass, 440ac woods. There is a time and a place for everything.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

A quick search showed that the Ryobi electric is $600-$800 depending on model with 60 mis of run time and a Honda gas powered self propelled mower is $549….

I have gas powered line trimmer, back pack blower, riding mower, and I have a mower deck for my kubota 3350.

Gas powered tools are easy to care for, just treat the gas with a little Sta Bil or Amsoil fuel stabilizer. And their recharge time is darn quick. The only battery powered tool I have is a drill, might get a Milwaukee blower for quick jobs.

 

[BlkGS]

A quick search showed that the Ryobi electric is $600-$800 depending on model with 60 mis of run time and a Honda gas powered self propelled mower is $549….

I have gas powered line trimmer, back pack blower, riding mower, and I have a mower deck for my kubota 3350.

Gas powered tools are easy to care for, just treat the gas with a little Sta Bil or Amsoil fuel stabilizer. And their recharge time is darn quick. The only battery powered tool I have is a drill, might get a Milwaukee blower for quick jobs.

I have the M18 blower. Don't bother, it's not great. I bought it mainly for grass clippings on the sidewalk, and that's about all it can do. I try to use it to dry the cars off after a wash... It almost works for that.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

I have a 40v Ryobi mower that I’m very happy with. Got a great deal on it at Home Depot in the pre-season. Have already used it for two years, and zero issues with it. Bought it as a replacement to the tiny 18v Ryobi (13” cut) that I used at our townhouse rental for three years, that was way too small for the new house. I just have a single battery for the 40v mower, as I cut most of my grass with my 22 hp John Deere gas ride-on mower. Also, have a 18v Ryobi trimmer (5 years old) and a 18v Ryobi leaf blower (3 years old) that have had zero issues.

I’ll never go back to a gas power push mower, blower, or trimmer, as they are perfect for my needs, always start, and have almost no maintenance.

Jim

 

[drewkaree]

I'm not certain how they work on your types of grass down there in Fla, but why not get a reel mower? Fiskars seems to be the champion of quality, but there's other less expensive brands that work just as well. Zero gas OR electricity, and the modern versions of these are far better than the versions of the past.

At the size of your lot, it would seem to be a no-brainer for a reel mower, and all the rest of what you're looking for (trimmer & blower) are easily handled by any number of battery power - with the small size of your lot, you don't even need the super huge batteries - the Dewalt 20v that you use for cordless tools will be more than adequate for your needs, and the batteries won't be a wallet killer either.

Working 3rd shift, I've done this just to avoid noise ordinance violations so I can take care of my lawn at 5 am ?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I have the M18 blower. Don't bother, it's not great. I bought it mainly for grass clippings on the sidewalk, and that's about all it can do. I try to use it to dry the cars off after a wash... It almost works for that.

Thanks I actually wanted it to blow pine needles off the concrete

 

[Neutron]

I have 3 acres, 1.5 to 2 of just grass so batteries are out of the question. I do have a 20v dewalt trimmer, its pretty good but for quick around the house stuff. I have a dewalt 20v blower for the shop and driveways. I also have a 40v worx blower, its powerful but cant last too long.

Anything major and its the husky backpack blower, zeroturn, chainsaws, trimmers, leafvac, etc too much property for full battery power, just not convenient for me

 

[drewkaree]

Looking at this thread again, I recall one of the funnier things I ever saw. 2-3 years ago, bad windstorm came through (tornadoes elsewhere, never touched down or materialized in our area). Power was out from Thursday through Sunday, but one of my neighbors had a generator to borrow, and I've since finally picked up my very own of that same gennie.

My FIL's friend has a place about 5 minutes away, so since we couldn't really do much without power, I took a ride over to see how his place fared. He had a tree down on one side of his property, and on the other side where they were building a new house, another huge tree down, just missing their huge LP tank (but damaged some of the new construction).

The guy I went to visit, one of his kids (65 year old kid!) had come up to help his dad clear away the fallen trees, and luckily I stopped by at the right time. This guy left his GAS chainsaw, but brought 2 of his battery-powered chainsaws. No generator to charge anything, and the batteries for his chainsaws were all dead - again, no power for 3-4 days ?‍

I headed back to my place, borrowed a neighbor's chainsaw, and brought them my gas-powered saw plus the neighbor's saw, and told him if he brought me the saws back with dull chains, he'd be buying me new chains, as we both had bullet chains on our saws, and neither of us are fans of sharpening them.

Your dad tells you there's no power, trees are down, you don't have a generator, you leave your gas saw at home, and purposefully bring battery-powered saws with no way to recharge them. That was a special kind of stupid that just caught me flat-footed.

p.s. he ran the battery flat dead, damaging the battery in the process. Not sure if the problem was a bad battery, or if he was in the habit of running it completely empty, or what, but if it's not a Stihl, or maybe an Echo, I'm not even considering a battery-powered chainsaw. All I remember was that his saws were blue. For all I know, they could have been a Harbor Freight POS.

 

[biffdotorg]

Still have a gas mower, but I switched to the Dewalt 20V blower and weed whacker a few years ago and love them. Sold my Stihl stuff this past summer after not using it for a while, so I’m committed now! I also have the Dewalt chainsaw but it’s pretty small, so I kept my Stihl for bigger jobs. I have the Dewalt hedge trimmers too, and they’re also great. Works out nicely since I have all their tools too, so sharing batteries is very convenient.

I had mostly DeWalt 20v tools, so when I wanted a chainsaw to carry on my SXS, I bought the DeWalt. Knowing I would only use it those few times on the trail I didn't want to deal with gas and the effects of sitting.

Since doing that, we bought a 10 acre lake lot and home and use it much more. It was sort of a toy, so when I bend the bar wedged in a tree, I installed an 18" bar and their special Oregon chain (thinner for electric) and she's a beast now. I bet the 60v would be better. But a 10ah battery and it handles most the jobs I need it for. But I borrow my buddies Stihl gas once in a while for the big jobs. His Stihl electric is like a precision dental tool. Amazing piece of equipment, but about 5x the price of my DeWalt.

Since, I have bought the trimmer, and blower and love them. As well as more batteries. Heck, I wired up my Garmin Livescope setup with Dewalt batteries, as it helped me justify buying another 10ah and 8ah battery.

The pole saw works really well. I think I will give the pole saw and my chainsaw a workout this weekend cutting down a long row of Lilacs. They are overdue (dirty bushes)

The one tool to avoid, is the DeWalt power washer. At 20v, it flat out is gutless. I do see they dropped another version. I don't know the details but 40v or 60v is needed. I even did a youtube video on my channel as a walkaround as I wanted to use it to wash my boat on the lift. As it could suck water out of the lake or bucket. It got returned.

 

[Scottintexas]

I've got about .5 acre yard and bunch of field/creek area,

about 5 years ago I bought lowes kobalt 80v weed eater, hedge trimmer, pole saw, blower,

I've got 6 batteries and they have been great, very scared to take the leap but just putting a battery in and you've got power has been great,

I wanted a mower but just haven't been able to commit to it,

One thing I don't like is how all the batteries are proprietary and even the lowe's 80v has changed so I can't use the old battery in new equipment,

If i needed emergency equipment like a chainsaw, I'd probably still opt for gas but for general home use I would buy an electric one,

 

[BlkGS]

I've got about .5 acre yard and bunch of field/creek area,

about 5 years ago I bought lowes kobalt 80v weed eater, hedge trimmer, pole saw, blower,

I've got 6 batteries and they have been great, very scared to take the leap but just putting a battery in and you've got power has been great,

I wanted a mower but just haven't been able to commit to it,

One thing I don't like is how all the batteries are proprietary and even the lowe's 80v has changed so I can't use the old battery in new equipment,

If i needed emergency equipment like a chainsaw, I'd probably still opt for gas but for general home use I would buy an electric one,

The Kobalt 80V is apparently substantially the same as the green works stuff. You can modify the batteries to work between the two.

I had PLANNED to put a new carb on my gas mower and kick the can down the road a bit. As it turns out, that's not gonna be happening. Swapped the carb and a new spark plug, still no worky. It could be whatever kind of coil pack type thing it has, it could be spontaneous head failure, I dunno, but it will sputter on starting fluid, and nothing else.

So I guess my timeframe for a decision is moving up. The Costco green works seems like the best option, but it seems like it goes on sale for another $100 off in May. I suppose that's within 90 days so I could return the old one if they won't give me the new price.

On the other hand, it seems like everyone prefers the eGo. It's $750 vs $600, but comes with a 10aH battery with a 5 year warranty, and a free 5aH 3 year battery. Their big bad blower is $300 vs $200, but rated slightly lower CFM. The only place you can buy the gen3 green works blower is Costco, and it claims the highest cfm on the market, for honestly kinda cheap money... Feels a bit too good to be true.