Pulling this away from the “buying this and reasons” thread.
I would like some advice.
A little backstory: We once owned a corner lot with a shit-ton of edging – curb and two sides of the sidewalk – and that took too much time out of family duties and studying. So we farmed out that work.
Now, no family at home except wife, no corner lot, but we still farm out.
At $105/month, that’s $1260 per year I’m shelling out to some extremely efficient maintenance guys (until ICE takes them away).
So, I’m thinking about doing it myself, though I am not a young man (though I do not study for exams, either).
I’d need some space in my garage, or buy a he-shed to keep it all in. Probably only need to do the work twice a month. Lots of blowing to do, under furniture and such. Then, cleaning the furniture of dust afterward, which I already have to do.
Electro Lawn Mowers state that they are “push”? Or is there a mechanism that “drives” them? I normally wouldn’t mind, but I have a slope in the front yard.
Ryobi OK? I have way more concrete than lawn. And the lawn might get even smaller with some “natural” (low-water) planting on that aforementioned slope.
What about blowers/suckers? I’ve got a bunch of little berries that need blown and then picked up. And 30 minutes of battery is not likely enough time.
After a few months, I will have broken even, though my back will not appreciate it.
Thank you in advance for any advice.
if you enjoy the work, do it. if you don’t enjoy it, keep paying. it’s not a big enough bill that you likely need to be saving.
if you are going to do it, pick an ecosystem and stick with it. I’m all DeWalt.
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The rear wheels on mine drive the mower forward, they engage with a lever on the handle. “self propelled is the option” and if you have a small flat yard, its unnecessary.
Appears my mower weighs about 60#. Probably more than you would want to lift to hook on on a wall, but given it is electric, you have a few options other than flat on the ground in front of your car. It’s one of the few things I do have on the garage floor - most of the other things up up on my saferacks.
Besy Buy has a Greenworks mower/trimmer/blower combo 50% off right now. I am happy with mine, but it’s only on mow #4 so far.
I’ve seen some Ego mowers that are not self propelled, but it’s easy to find ones that are.
I think Ryobi, Ego, and DeWalt are all cromulent. As others suggested pick one brand so you have one type of battery.
I’ve found the electric leaf blower to be quite sufficient, it’s the ‘sucking’ you mention that’s a problem. I’ve seen some gas blowers that can also suck and put things into a sort of cloth bag, but maybe blowing them to one end of the property and getting a big-ass dustpan is easier.
Battery run times are likely not an issue for you based on what you’re saying and the pics you’ve shared. Most mowers will easily run for 30-45 minutes.
If you need to use the leaf blower a lot, go with a backpack style blower rather than handheld. I haven’t ever owned an electric blower, but for gas it’s orders of magnitude better so I imagine it’s the same.
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Echo what @SpaceLobster said.
I do not enjoy it. Farmed it all out. I dont look at the price. The time it could take is way too much and i dont enjoy it like that.
I get that, but my grass area is small, the blowing and sweeping shouldn’t take long. I’d do it every other week or so.
Since I WFH, I’m more flexible timewise.
For years I did it all myself, then I started paying a guy who hasn’t been deported yet, but his English isn’t very good.
I frequently stop and think it’s some of the best dollars spent every month.
Same, although it’s a family crew. One neighbor next door and one across the street use the same crew, so it’s also convenient that all the blowing takes place for all of us at the same time.
I’m going for 10k steps a day. The lawn gets me 6-8k depending on if it’s a trimming week.
Since the new electric mower is no louder than some of the ac units in the neighborhood, I’m not going to worry hitting it before 9am on the weekends…and quiet hours end at 7.
The trimmer on the fence makes a bit of noise, so I’ll save that for the end.
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FWIW, I have an Ego “push” mower. When loaded with a battery, it’s heavy enough that I wouldn’t want to do the whole yard without the self-propelled mechanism. It’s quiet enough that I can run it at odd hours without running afoul of the town’s noise ordinance, and I can comfortably listen to podcasts or an audiobook while mowing.
I also concur with Mathman’s recommendation of staying within the same battery-powered ecosystem. The Ego batteries are not cheap, so being able to use them for multiple things is good. (I also have an Ego snowblower and an Ego chainsaw…although the chainsaw prefers a physically smaller battery)
Ego does have a power station that can hold/recharge four batteries, and act as a big, heavy power bank for conventional gadgets. It’s a bit spendy, but by the time you’ve invested in four batteries…it is more convenient than having multiple chargers.
100% on staying in the same ecosystem. I picked Greenworks primarily based on it being at Costco and on sale at the right time.
A basic 40V 16" electric mower is 35-40 lbs vs 60+ lbs for a 21" 56-80V self propelled, but agree you wouldnt want to be pushing the larger mower very much. For my sloped yard, I am mostly “pushing” going downhill rather than engaging the self propelled mechanism…saves on the battery and I can walk faster with minimal additional effort.
I used the 80v blower briefly earlier to blow a few leaves out of the garage. Holy crap, that thing has some serious power.
I bet, my DeWalt 20v is about 75% as powerful as my Echo gas blower was.
The 40v one that i had was 150cfm. The new 80V one is 730cfm. So right, that’s way more that the 2x i was expecting.