Electric Lawn Tools

FancyG said:
Stihl is the way.
Couldn't keep a gas weedeater going due to ethanol, off season, etc and was not going to wear my shoulders out trying to keep it running.
Got a battery blower soon after.
One battery bricked, but was replaced free under warranty by the local dealer.
Stihl may cost more, but the local support is worth it for sure.
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I've had good luck with Stihl, Echo, and Husqvarna stuff in commercial applications. It's why I run Echo for most all of my stuff. They're all more robust than the generic brands in my experience.
 
The thing that bugs me about battery-operated tools is that eventually the battery will need to be replaced, and it may not be possible to get one.
 
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Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs be about battery-operated tools is that eventually the battery will need to be replaced, and it may not be possible to get one.
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Which is a great argument for going with an established brand. Makita or Dewalt will still sell you a NiCd battery for a 30 year old tool. My oldest makita lithium tools were bought in 2005 when they first came out. It came with three batteries. One died in about year 15, another one just a year ago, and one still works, although it's about half capacity. I have had one newer battery fall just outside of the warranty period, but other than that I've been amazed by their longevity, especially compared to the old NiCds that would only last for a couple years.

I would expect stihl, ego, ryobi, makita, Dewalt, and Milwaukee to be around and selling batteries for as long as any of us are.
 
Jim K said:
Which is a great argument for going with an established brand. Makita or Dewalt will still sell you a NiCd battery for a 30 year old tool. My oldest makita lithium tools were bought in 2005 when they first came out. It came with three batteries. One died in about year 15, another one just a year ago, and one still works, although it's about half capacity. I have had one newer battery fall just outside of the warranty period, but other than that I've been amazed by their longevity, especially compared to the old NiCds that would only last for a couple years.

I would expect stihl, ego, ryobi, makita, Dewalt, and Milwaukee to be around and selling batteries for as long as any of us are.
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After that Greenworks fiasco, this is the exact reason I went with Toro for the replacement mower.

Tim
 
Jim K said:
Which is a great argument for going with an established brand. Makita or Dewalt will still sell you a NiCd battery for a 30 year old tool. My oldest makita lithium tools were bought in 2005 when they first came out. It came with three batteries. One died in about year 15, another one just a year ago, and one still works, although it's about half capacity. I have had one newer battery fall just outside of the warranty period, but other than that I've been amazed by their longevity, especially compared to the old NiCds that would only last for a couple years.

I would expect stihl, ego, ryobi, makita, Dewalt, and Milwaukee to be around and selling batteries for as long as any of us are.
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Yup, that's why I went with EGO as well. Established brand and has been around for a decade, sold in big box stores like Lowes as a "premium" brand compared to their Kobalt stuff. I felt less concerned about finding a battery later on, even if it was a refurbished unit.
 
Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs be about battery-operated tools is that eventually the battery will need to be replaced, and it may not be possible to get one.
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Battery packs are very often rebuildable. Crack open an old NiCd or NiMH pack and you'll often find standard size (AA/C/D) cells with solder tabs. These days it'll probably be 18650 lithium cells.
 
Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs be about battery-operated tools is that eventually the battery will need to be replaced, and it may not be possible to get one.
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I've had Ryobi 18+ tools since 2003 and they still use the same battery form factor. Battery chemistry has changed, but the tools don't care.
 
I have used Ryobi power tools for 20+ years and have at least a dozen batteries, so I stuck with them. I have abused those tools brutally. Worst was a recip saw that I accidentally buried in a muddy hole and left overnight. Still works.

My Ryobi yard stuff is a mix of 40v and 18v. Mower, hedge trimmer, blower, and chain saw are 40v. Edger and pole saw are 18V. Never had a problem with any of it.

I went with a non-propelled mower. Felt silly going to the gym and then buying a mower that pushes itself. But it is ridiculously light, so I move faster than SP would. The 6V battery that came with the mower is sufficient for my yard, which is about 5000 SF.

IMO electrical stuff is way better than gas. Zero point zero maintenance. I have a 4 stroke pressure washer and was forever tinkering with the carb, though switching to ethanol-free gas seems to have ended that.
 
Ed Haywood said:
....Felt silly going to the gym and then buying a mower that pushes itself...
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That's kind of like why I ride my bike to group ride starting points. It felt strange getting in the car to drive to start my bike riding.

This thread has convinced me to dip into the electric yard equipment space at my next need. Three years ago I was all set to buy electric mower and a guy at Home Depot talked me out of it. He said he's seen way too many electric mowers returned b/c they're not cutting it.
 
Bought DeWalt leaf blower for sidewalks and their chainsaw for going out west in case a branch fell in the trail. At home im on 5 acres with 3 acres heavily wooded and the other 2 acres some pretty steep hills. Stihl ms391 with a 20" bar. And exmark 52" zero turn with a kawasaki. I doubt electric would work for me.
 
Mahneuvers said:
That's kind of like why I ride my bike to group ride starting points. It felt strange getting in the car to drive to start my bike riding.

This thread has convinced me to dip into the electric yard equipment space at my next need. Three years ago I was all set to buy electric mower and a guy at Home Depot talked me out of it. He said he's seen way too many electric mowers returned b/c they're not cutting it.
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I think there remains a significant difference between the success rate of battery operated blowers, trimmers, hedge clippers and the like vs battery powered mowers. I had a buddy who went through 2 battery powered mowers that simply didn't have the capacity to cut his small yard on the provided battery. Nor could they (effectively) scalp his lawn like a gas powered mower could. He returned both of them. I think one was a 40V and the other one had higher voltage, but I don't remember the specifics.
 
I've had mixed experiences with Greenworks. Their electric powerwasher I got was a complete piece of crap and blew up early on. Margy had a two battery push lawnmower that wasn't too bad for the years it lasted. We've had better luck with the WORX line of electric lawn/garden stuff.
 
We've had Kobalt (Lowes) 80v mower, whacker, blower units for 5 seasons and no issues. The 80v mower shrugs off damp grass that a gas mower would choke on. Batteries still perfect, but I'm careful to store them at ~50% charge level if they're going to sit, the secret to lithium battery longevity.
 
I stopped at HD on the way home from the airport so I could pick up a couple of things. I ended up looking at the Ryobi 40V trimmer/blower/batter combo. While was there, one of the guys mentioned he had two Ryobi hedge trimmer attachments that can be added to the trimmer - $10 clearance. Apparently the new SKU is different from the two he had, and they were trying to get rid of them. For $10, I seriously considered buying one, then keeping it until later assuming I'm going to get the Ryobi trimmer anyway. But I already have a corded hedge trimmer that I haven't used in many years, so other than loaning a new one out, I'd probably never use it.

But that 40V kit looked like it would do the job on my yard with plenty of surplus power. And a quick and easy blower would sure be nice for getting grass clippings and leaves out of my garage and off the driveway. I have a pretty good blower/vac but it's corded and I use that one in the fall.
 
Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs be about battery-operated tools is that eventually the battery will need to be replaced, and it may not be possible to get one.
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That is one of the reasons I invested in all Makita for my cordless tools. The batteries have maintained the same interface for many years and have committed to do so for many more years.
 
robin ardoin said:
That is one of the reasons I invested in all Makita for my cordless tools. The batteries have maintained the same interface for many years and have committed to do so for many more years.
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Same. They have recently introduced a bigger 40V battery, but also make (AFAIK) all the same tools in a version that uses 2x 18V batteries. My blower and chainsaw are that way, as is my dad's mower I mentioned above. They even make a couple interesting things like a power wheelbarrow that can be had in a 4x 18V configuration or a 2x 40V.

I don't think yellow and red offer that choice.
 
My string trimmer, after 20 years, was acting up. So I replaced the fuel filter and hoses, still cranky. I looked at a carb rebuild kit, a new carb and an electric replacement. At $20 the new carb won out.

I'm on team yellow and their 60V batteries can also be used on their 20V tools should you want a giant battery for some reason.
 
chartbundle said:
My string trimmer, after 20 years, was acting up. So I replaced the fuel filter and hoses, still cranky. I looked at a carb rebuild kit, a new carb and an electric replacement. At $20 the new carb won out.

I'm on team yellow and their 60V batteries can also be used on their 20V tools should you want a giant battery for some reason.
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I’ve rebuilt a trimmer carb once. For all the trouble, simply buying a replacement is so much easier.
 
Matthew said:
I’ve rebuilt a trimmer carb once. For all the trouble, simply buying a replacement is so much easier.
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Yup, and the cost difference between rebuild kit vs new carb is usually $20 or so. It's worth $20 not to spend time jacking with a cheap Chinese carburetor.
 
chartbundle said:
My string trimmer, after 20 years, was acting up. So I replaced the fuel filter and hoses, still cranky. I looked at a carb rebuild kit, a new carb and an electric replacement. At $20 the new carb won out.

I'm on team yellow and their 60V batteries can also be used on their 20V tools should you want a giant battery for some reason.
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Yep. Team yellow here, too. I fought hard against electric yard tools but after wrenching on two different models of gas trimmers over the years, I finally relented and got the battery string trimmer. I upsized the string by half a step (I think I read that tip on here somewhere) and it does everything I need it to do on our whopping .75 acre piece of dirt - usually on less than one 5Ah battery.
 
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I'm not much of a yard work guy. The wife handles most of the tiny lawn, large fruit/veg garden, and landscaping. I do all the house upkeep and remodel. I have an old EGO gas chainsaw and I think it's red. My Milwaukee sawzall is red. Some OLD Makita stuff is blue. Some Ryobi's are red some a kind of yellow-green.
In this thread's context, teams red and yellow refer to?
 
Domenick said:
I'm not much of a yard work guy. The wife handles most of the tiny lawn, large fruit/veg garden, and landscaping. I do all the house upkeep and remodel. I have an old EGO gas chainsaw and I think it's red. My Milwaukee sawzall is red. Some OLD Makita stuff is blue. Some Ryobi's are red some a kind of yellow-green.
In this thread's context, teams red and yellow refer to?
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Milwaukee and Dewalt, if I'm not mistaken.
 
GaryM said:
Milwaukee and Dewalt, if I'm not mistaken.
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Yup. The red Milwaukee "Fuel" line of cordless tools has built up quite a following over the past few years. I have 3 of the DeWalt Max XR items simply because I bought into that ecosystem a long while before with the 18V stuff. Really can't go wrong with either one.
 
Milwaukee (team red) dominated the corded tool market, but was late to get serious about battery tools, and dewalt (team yellow) ate their lunch. They have made an impressive comeback with their lithium line to the point where it's kind of a Ford vs Chevy thing. Meanwhile Makita (team...teal... I guess?) invented both NiMh power tools and lithium ion, but have never had anywhere near the market penetration. They got a good pop when they introduced the first lithium drill & driver. That's what got me started in their ecosystem. I still use the drill and used the driver right up until it fell off the forklift and I ran over it last year.
 
Jim K said:
Milwaukee (team red) dominated the corded tool market, but was late to get serious about battery tools, and dewalt (team yellow) ate their lunch. They have made an impressive comeback with their lithium line to the point where it's kind of a Ford vs Chevy thing. Meanwhile Makita (team...teal... I guess?) invented both NiMh power tools and lithium ion, but have never had anywhere near the market penetration. They got a good pop when they introduced the first lithium drill & driver. That's what got me started in their ecosystem. I still use the drill and used the driver right up until it fell off the forklift and I ran over it last year.
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That's exactly why Milwaukee and Dewalt dominate the market. Bright colors. Easy to spot when they fall off the forklift, so they don't be getting run over.

:)
 
I am mixed on electric and gas for small yard tools. For the lawn there really isn't an electric option that will work tell that to the states that want to ban all gas equipment. We have 2 acres and it is pretty hilly so zero turn is not an option. It takes about 3 hours on the riding lawn mower. I recently picked up and older rider from a friend so we have two. The wife and I have been tag teaming the lawn to cut the time down recently since it needs to be cut pretty much every week. Once the summer heat comes and the lawn stops growing so fast she will probably cut it every two to three weeks.
 
GaryM said:
That's exactly why Milwaukee and Dewalt dominate the market. Bright colors. Easy to spot when they fall off the forklift, so they don't be getting run over.

:)
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Dewalt has one huge advantage: they are retailer agnostic. 50% of power tools are sold by Home Depot or Lowes. HD sells Dewalt, Rigid, Ryobi, Makita, and Milwaukee. Lowes sells Dewalt, Craftsman, Kobalt, and Bosch. Only Dewalt has the market power to demand shelf space in both.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Dewalt has one huge advantage: they are retailer agnostic. 50% of power tools are sold by Home Depot or Lowes. HD sells Dewalt, Rigid, Ryobi, Makita, and Milwaukee. Lowes sells Dewalt, Craftsman, Kobalt, and Bosch. Only Dewalt has the market power to demand shelf space in both.
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Fwiw
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Ryobi is the more homeowner (as opposed to "professional") line of TTI.
 
Ed Haywood said:
The Ryobi 40v stuff is good, but dang those batteries are pricey.
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Yes if you pay full retail for just the battery but there are always deals, bundles, and clearance sales where you can get a tool and battery included for almost the cost of just a battery alone

I have been supper happy with the Ryobi 40v line for home use...not sure I would invest if I was day to day use but for the weekend warrior they are the best option IMO due to the massive product line on both the 18v and 40v systems.

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Shawn said:
Yes if you pay full retail for just the battery but there are always deals, bundles, and clearance sales where you can get a tool and battery included for almost the cost of just a battery alone

I have been supper happy with the Ryobi 40v line for home use...not sure I would invest if I was day to day use but for the weekend warrior they are the best option IMO due to the massive product line on both the 18v and 40v systems.

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Yeah, I'm not putting them down by any means. They have some really cool and innovative stuff, and I agree that they might have the broadest lineup. I've been real tempted to buy a couple of their things that makita doesn't make.

@Ventucky Red .... did you ever get a lawn mower? :)
 
You all know I love my electric stuff... So I have to jump in.

I have 2 acres, with a bunch of trees along 2 of the sides, and a 170-foot driveway, FWIW.

When I bought this place, I started in mostly electric as I didn't want to bother maintaining a million little engines. The exception is my lawn tractor - Even now, there's not a lot that's up to the job. There is a Ryobi 54" zero turn that would take care of the mowing (and my neighbor uses the 42" successfully, also 2 acres) but I also have a snowblower and a bagger, and there's no bagger for the Ryobi. Mean Green and some others make electric zero turns that are more than up to the task of mowing, but to my knowledge there aren't really any tractors that are large enough but still affordable to tackle the lawn & snow tasks.

Toro: I did buy a Toro walk-behind snowblower, and it was really nice - I could adjust chute direction and height from behind, it can take three batteries, it had all the bells and whistles like heated grips, it was tougher (ie metal) than a lot of the electric ones, and I figured that since it was mostly identical to one of their higher end gas models it'd be easy to get parts for. It could do my driveway at least twice without recharging. It was a little weird in that it was clearly just a converted gas model, so the motor would start turning as soon as you turned it on, and it just used one motor with transmissions for self propelling and auger, but it worked pretty well for what it was. However, I returned it because it turns out that I just don't like walk-behind snowblowers. This was the first I'd ever had, and my driveway isn't in the best of shape so I found that I was having to wrestle this thing around enough that my back would ache just as much as if I'd simply shoveled it. If you're in a walk-behind snowblower situation, Toro is good.

Ryobi: I had one of their mowers briefly after we bought a play set for the kids a few years ago. It worked once, but quit the second time I used it - Just refused to do anything, and it was clearly not geared towards user maintenance. Back to the store. I also do have a small handheld trimmer that works.

Ego: I don't have any, but my dad has several of their tools and likes them. I also know a LOT of other people who have them, and I've not heard of any Ego users being dissatisfied.

And for most of my stuff, I have Black & Decker 20V Max. Uncharacteristically, I did not research the living hell out of it before I started buying tools - I just grabbed a weed whacker/edger combo on a whim at the store. I've since added pole saw, chainsaw, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, flashlight, circular saw, tire inflator, vacuum, and the Matrix driver which is quite cool - It lets you swap attachments to a drill-ish body and reuse one motor for multiple tools. For that, I have the drill, impact driver, jigsaw, and oscillating tool. I also have 7 total batteries now, which is definitely more than I need, and I never buy anything but a bare tool any more. The oldest tools and batteries are 10 years old. None of the tools has ever failed in any way. I have one battery that seemed like it failed, but after I marked it and charged it and used it a few times, so far it's holding up OK again.

While B&D is good, I do feel like Ryobi has more tools available. If I were to start over, I'd look hard at Ryobi just because they seem to have more tools than anyone else. Milwaukee has a ton of tools and their quality is excellent, but $$$$.

2-Bit Speed said:
I will never understand the move away from user-replaceable batteries in consumer electronics.
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Uh... I've never come across a battery powered tool that didn't use detachable batteries. It wouldn't make any sense not to be able to swap batteries from tool to tool, nor swapping batteries to keep working on one tool.

DaleB said:
On the other hand, I do need to wear earplugs when I use all of those. I can understand the appeal of the electrics, but they’re not cheaper to buy and probably not cheaper to operate… so I’m not seeing a compelling case for them.
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The cost difference wouldn't be compelling as it is with an EV. To me, it's the difference in maintenance that's compelling. It's literally zero maintenance other than the stuff that's true for any tool (sharpening blades/chains, replacing string on the trimmer, oiling chainsaw chains, etc). No carbs, no gas, no oil, no spark plugs, no muss, no fuss.

Mahneuvers said:
This thread has convinced me to dip into the electric yard equipment space at my next need. Three years ago I was all set to buy electric mower and a guy at Home Depot talked me out of it. He said he's seen way too many electric mowers returned b/c they're not cutting it.
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Home Depot pushes Ryobi pretty hard, and like I said above, I had to return my Ryobi mower and I did not pick up another. When I googled the issue I was having, it sounded like maybe the electric push mowers Ryobi made at the time (2020) had poor quality control. Hopefully it's better now.
 
I recently picked up a Ryobi 40V combo: trimmer and blower. The trimmer is heavy, even before snapping on the battery. The blower is great. I’ve been leaving the battery attached to the blower and I just grab it as needed to blow out my garage and clean off the deck. I’ve only used the trimmer a couple times so far. Looks like I can get 2 and maybe 3 lawn mowing uses per charge.
 
Here in 1 or 2 acre minimum lot size town, everyone (in my neighborhood) who bought an electric lawn mower regretted it almost immediately. Having 3 or 4 batteries constantly charging/changing became expensive and onerous.
Same with electric blowers.
My wife and I still push lawnmowers, sucking in that carbon monoxide like Gawd intended.
I've got a DR Trimmer for weed whacking in the not lawn areas. I also have a large 3 wheeled commercial blower.
I'd like to upgrade it to a PT6 so I can also use it to get rid of snow and ice.
And maybe the neighbor next door.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
The cost difference wouldn't be compelling as it is with an EV. To me, it's the difference in maintenance that's compelling. It's literally zero maintenance other than the stuff that's true for any tool (sharpening blades/chains, replacing string on the trimmer, oiling chainsaw chains, etc). No carbs, no gas, no oil, no spark plugs, no muss, no fuss.
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Maybe I'm just lucky or something. I have yet to have to do anything to a carburetor or spark plug on any gas powered implement I own. My old Toro mower went 17 seasons, I think, with nothing more than an annual oil change (all ten minutes of it) before I gave it to my son who got a few more years out of it. I might have replaced the plug once, I guess, but it would have been toward the end. Pretty sure it was still running when he gave it away. My 7 or 8 year old Honda mower still starts on the first pull every Spring - it's never had a new plug and gets its pint or so of new oil annually.

Oh, I guess the primer bulb on the weed whacker did just crack after 10+ years of use. Still works, I just have to hold my thumb over it when I press it. It'll take me longer to order the part than it will to install it. I think I spend a grand total of maybe an hour a year dealing with oil changes, 2-stroke gas mixing, and all the other stuff my small gas engines require. Maybe an hour and a half. So not zero maintenance, but close enough that it's not burdensome.
 
My gas mower and trimmer were also low maintenance…on the engines.

My previous mower, a Yardman, had a Briggs engine. When that mower finally died after 20+ years it was because of everything around the engine. The engine was fine. I finally got to the point the repair parts for things like drive mechanisms were harder to find and more expensive than I wanted. My new Toro, also Briggs, only has to last long enough to outlive me.

Similar story with my 15-20 yr old Ryobi gas trimmer. It started getting to the point where I had the feeling it was about to finally self destruct. But the engine still runs. That one I replaced with a Ryobi battery version.

I’m liking the convenience of the battery powered trimmer over the gas, though. But for mowing the lawn I’m still leaning towards gas. My neighbor went electric so I pay close attention. Her yard is within the battery charge capacity, but just barely. If the mower struggles at all with heavy grass, like in the spring, it does need a recharge to finish.
 
GaryM said:
That's exactly why Milwaukee and Dewalt dominate the market. Bright colors. Easy to spot when they fall off the forklift, so they don't be getting run over.

:)
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My dewalt drill was lost for about a week. I knew it was in the back yard somewhere. I found it down inside the engine in my yellow cub cadet mower. Both are yellow and my wife cut grass with it down in there at least twice. Blended in good. lol
 
I recently had to take the plastic carburetor off of a newer craftsman pressure washer because it would not start.
Found one blocked passageway and that is all it takes.
It has a Briggs engine and I noticed it had stickers on it guarantee it will start in One to two pulls. And it said no oil changes needed, just add oil. And no choke on it.

They are definitely trying to compete against battery powered equipment.

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