Bought a Kobalt 80V self-powered mower today. Charged the battery for an hour and then mowed my whole lawn. Super easy to use, and cuts like a champ.

They're not cheap, but if I never have to deal with a small engine again I'll be very happy.

Pretty much the same way I feel about RC vehicles and nitro. I'm glad that phase of my life is over.

When I'm done, it folds up and I can set it in the shed vertically No spills. No oil. No gas fumes on my hands.

I mowed my lawn at 7:30 at night, and nobody cared. This thing is very quiet.

I'll give it a rating of four rounds out of a five round mag. -1 for expense, but the convenience more than makes up for it in my case.

Yup. I bought a 56 volt eGo last year.

I would give it the same 4 out of 5 rating, for the same reasons that you did.

Super easy to use, does a great job.

Almost makes mowing a pleasure. (Not really.)

How big of a yard are you mowing and what type of grass? Being back home in Texas I’m mowing less than a 1/4 acre of Zoysia grass at 1.5”, I’ve often wondered how an electric would do in this situation.

That said, when we were in Missouri I was mowing substantially more grass, and it was bluegrass, which with even the slightest amount of moisture would bog down an electric.

Is it lighter weight? Heavier or the same weight as your old gas mower? Is it self propelled?

I bought the exact same mower, blower and weed eater 1 year ago as fwbulldog and love them. I only had 2 gripes: price and the blower only lasts about 15 minutes but thats more than enough to blow the clippings after I'm done mowing. Using the blower for leaves is a little more challenging but having 3 batteries makes it no problem.

I like the Kobalt 80V equipment so much that I sold my gas powered snow blower and bought the matching snow blower in the fall as well. I only got to use the snow blower 3 times this winter but it worked great and is way quieter with no gas smell The only thing I don't like about the snowblower is it isn't self propelled like my gas blower but thats not the end of the world.

I've had the 40v for 3 years now and it's been good enough. Space was a concern, that was one reason why I went with the electric. The heavy spring/summer grass does tend to bog it down if I let it grow 7+ days between mowing. It is quiet. Batteries take quite a while to charge, I have a couple of 5AH batteries and each takes about 3-4 hours to charge. Also have the trimmer which came with a charger and 2.5AH battery.

Downside is the price. The mower with 1 battery and charger was $300. Spare 5AH battery was $100.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Is it lighter weight? Heavier or the same weight as your old gas mower? Is it self propelled?

It weighs less than my old gas mower and is self propelled. I went with the Kobal partially because it has a steel deck. So it’s heavier than some of the other electrics. But I think it’ll last longer.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
How big of a yard are you mowing and what type of grass? Being back home in Texas I’m mowing less than a 1/4 acre of Zoysia grass at 1.5”, I’ve often wondered how an electric would do in this situation.

That said, when we were in Missouri I was mowing substantially more grass, and it was bluegrass, which with even the slightest amount of moisture would bog down an electric.

About an acre of St Augustine, which I’m mulching. The mower has a feature where it senses bog down, and automatically ramps up the power.

I’d say it’s equivalent or better power than my old gas mower. And since I can adjust the height with one lever it’s super easy to make a really tall pass, adjust the deck, and go again.

Year 2 of my Ryobi, still dig it. What I’ve really dug, though, is the 40v powerhesd (common battery). Add in the pole saw and I can cut as long as I feel like cutting.

The regular chainsaw may be a future option. 2 batteries now (4ah and 5ah) seem to last as long as I do.

I used a 56v EGO Blower and I was damn surprised at how good it worked. I'd use it to blow off 4,000 sq foot of pavers, and even if they were wet and I took extra time, never ran out of battery. It had 90% as much power as my Gas Hitachi, was lighter and quieter...… for a normal house, I see no reason not to go electric battery. It's lighter and quieter.....could use the blower at 9pm and not piss off the neigher who's house is 30' away.

As for a mower, I've even had gas ones bog down with thick grass. In that situation I just cut 2/3 of a strip instead of the full mower width.

When I was a kid my Dad bought an electric mower. Used it for years. No battery. You just had to make sure you didn't run over the extension cord.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
When I was a kid my Dad bought an electric mower. Used it for years. No battery. You just had to make sure you didn't run over the extension cord.

Fun fact, some high end cordless power tools now are actually MORE powerful than their plug-in power tool counterparts because their batteries can put out more power than a residential 120V AC circuit. (Not to mention DC into a brushless motor is much more efficient at turning electrical power into mechanical power than AC into a traditional AC motor or AC to DC to brushless.)

I've had a Kobalt 80V mower for a couple of years now. It isn't the self-powered version. I debated the choice and figured the mower would be so lightweight I wouldn't need self-power. I was right. It's a breeze to use as is. MAYBE if I had a half acre or more to mow or maybe if I had some kind of mobility issue, it would make a difference though.

I cut a third of an acre and still have 2 of the 3 charging lights lit. But I never let the grass get so tall and thick it makes the mower go into higher rev mode.

Charging takes much less time than I though it would. No issues, problems or broken parts yet, so I'm well pleased with it.

Oh, I still have my old Craftsman gas mower. It works much better for mulching up leaves in season and is of course more powerful than the Kobalt electric. When using the Kobalt, I always use with bagger attached. Without the bagger, I think the key is to cut much more often rather than counting on Kobalt to mulch as well as I'd like for it to.

Each neighbor all around me has at some point commented on how quiet the Kobalt mower is. Honestly it sounds more like a vacuum than a mower running. It's very quiet for what it is.

I was considering an electric mower last year after seeing a new neighbor mow with one. When my current gas mower expires, I'll go electric.

I have had the Stihl 510? For Almost 2 years. Love not smelling like gas when done. I have the Ap300 contractor grade batteries and charger.
I also have the String trimmer, blower and chainsaw that all use the same battery system.

I was just looking at the Makita version. The trouble is that three years ago, I bought a Honda Commercial lawn mower. By the time it dies in 20-30 years, I will not be mowing and my grandkids or a neighbor kid will be doing it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BB61,

I've got a Honda gas thats at least 15 years old. Still works great. I wonder what the life of electric mowers and cars is going to be. All of these electric whatevers are very expensive up front and my guess would be not worth much on the top end. No way I'd buy a 15 year old EV. Even with lower mileage the age of the battery is going to be a factor.

This year was going to be the year of the electrics for me.
I bought a 56v EGO blower in the fall to do the leaves, actually just ordered the EGO 56V string trimmer yesterday as they are $100 off at Home Depot.
I was going to do the mower too. My current Honda is 12 years old and while she starts on the first tug no matter what she runs rough and lots of black smoke.
My buddy asked if I knew anyone needing a mower. He had a 2 year old Honda he was selling. Cost $100 could not pass that up.
Our grass is thick and can stay wet so feel a little better with gas. I’ll just use the money I saved on a 16” Ego chainsaw.

Seriously considering an electric mower. I’ve got a Honda that is about 5 years old. It needs a tune up and new throttle control. About $150 dollars.

My gas-engine Honda has entered its 23rd season. It has issues but still starts, runs, and cuts. I helped our daughter pick out a Ryobi electric mower last month and was fairly impressed with it and its operation and the length of run on one battery (additional batteries are ridiculously expensive). Like someone mentioned above, I’m interested to see how well it holds up over time. If you add up the initial cost, the gas, and everything that’s been replaced or used for maintenance on the Honda over the years, I believe it would take the equivalent Ryobi model (with the self propelled system) lasting at least 10 years to be as cost effective as the Honda, though the that might be a somewhat shorter period if using the initial cost of current gas models. The period is even higher if one has to buy an additional battery for the mower.

Here’s the model my daughter got:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RY..._M1_CA-_-Product_URL

The self propelled model is about $100 more and cuts run time per battery by about 15-20%.