Anyone have an electric lawn mower?

[mt6forlife]

I'm getting a house and for the first time will have a lawn to mow. Electric looks a lot easier than gas since there's no maintenance or gas to buy. Do they work OK? The lawn is pretty small and all flat. Corded or cordless?

[fsttyms1]

nope just a honda

[Water-S]

Originally Posted by mt6forlife

I'm getting a house and for the first time will have a lawn to mow. Electric looks a lot easier than gas since there's no maintenance or gas to buy. Do they work OK? The lawn is pretty small and all flat. Corded or cordless?

I own a lawn matience company. we run all John Deere equiptment except(small power units)(like blowers and weed trimmers)(those are Stihls) now about the electric. it depends on how big your yard is? if it's charged one (with a battery) you'll have to plug it in after every use. If it's corded it's a pain in the ass because the cord gets in the way when your mowing plus you gotta coil the cord once your done.
IMO: Electric mowers are bad.
if i had my way we'd have everything diesel. I have diesel tractors. you guys wouldn't believe the how much more torque and efficent they are vs gas tractors. I still got 2 gassers but if i have a customer with tall weeds I'd have to rev up my John Deere 420(which is a gas 5 ft rider) in order so it doesn't bog down. Now if I was mowing the same thing with my 755 John Deere (5 foot diesel rider diesel) I bearly have to rev it. Plus I can mow about seriously 15-17 acres with my 755(same side mowing deck as the gas) diesel as long as it's not real thick grass. the gas 420 I'm lucky if I get 10 acres out of the tank and their both same size tank.I gotta go to the John Deere dealer sometime and talk to them about trading the gas 420 on a new 4120(which is like 43 hp PTO diesel) put a 6 ft mow on that. only thing is the one i want they quoted me at 30 or 32 grand. It's 4x4, front end loader, 4 cylinder turbo, 3 hyd remotes, mid mount PTO, rear PTO, 3 pt hitch, 6 ft deck,quick attach loader, all the goodies.

[Blazin_TL]

i have a corded electic mower.. its a pain in the ass, im always afraid im gona run over the wire and kill myself.. get gas powered and mod the engine like fstty and u will have clean cut grass in notime... i hear they get good MPG also

[Water-S]

BTW: It depends on your budget what brand you can get. you can get a "cheap-o" from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, almost any home improvement store.
or you can get a well built one from John Deere(deere uses 7 iron on all their newer decks)(can you tell i'm on their perferred mailing list. ), Honda(They have exception motors, I don't think their deck is as strong as Deere's),
then you gotta determine if you want self propelled or push type. personally i'm old school and i use push type. plus push type are cheaper. but the areas i usely mow is pretty flat and if it's hilly unless it's in a tight spot i can get it with a tractor.
plus you gotta determine if you want a bagger. personally i don't bag.(even on my own yard) it acts as a good "food" for the lawn to eat the clippings. plus in the city often they don't let you burn your clippings. only thing I'd get is a "mulching blades" I put on aftermarket blades on all my tractors and even push mowers. I got what called "gator blades" their REAL AGGRESSIVELY cut. the reason I don't run genuine deere blades is I had OEM deere blades on my tractors and push mowers, my customers were complaining about grass "globbing" (even at any speed) so i went and bought all new Deere mulching blades(which was like 500 bucks )(I had to buy 15 blades) . it still globbed. so i went online and found this guy in i think Nebraska or Kansas he sells "Gator blades" their real unique blades. they bolt up pretty easy. he just needs measurements of OEM blades. ever since I went to the "gator blades" yards look great and customers have been thrilled.

[Blazin_TL]

Originally Posted by Water-S

BTW: It depends on your budget what brand you can get. you can get a "cheap-o" from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, almost any home improvement store.
or you can get a well built one from John Deere(deere uses 7 iron on all their newer decks)(can you tell i'm on their perferred mailing list. ), Honda(They have exception motors, I don't think their deck is as strong as Deere's),
then you gotta determine if you want self propelled or push type. personally i'm old school and i use push type. plus push type are cheaper. but the areas i usely mow is pretty flat and if it's hilly unless it's in a tight spot i can get it with a tractor.
plus you gotta determine if you want a bagger. personally i don't bag.(even on my own yard) it acts as a good "food" for the lawn to eat the clippings. plus in the city often they don't let you burn your clippings. only thing I'd get is a "mulching blades" I put on aftermarket blades on all my tractors and even push mowers. I got what called "gator blades" their REAL AGGRESSIVELY cut. the reason I don't run genuine deere blades is I had OEM deere blades on my tractors and push mowers, my customers were complaining about grass "globbing" (even at any speed) so i went and bought all new Deere mulching blades(which was like 500 bucks )(I had to buy 15 blades) . it still globbed. so i went online and found this guy in i think Nebraska or Kansas he sells "Gator blades" their real unique blades. they bolt up pretty easy. he just needs measurements of OEM blades. ever since I went to the "gator blades" yards look great and customers have been thrilled.

you are REALLY into your job.. thats the most landscaping knowledge ive gotten in my entire life

[fsttyms1]

im really happy with the honda. it does an Awsome job with multching. very powerfull too

[mt6forlife]

Well I don't own a landscaping business and the yard's pretty small. The whole lot is only about 7500 sq ft - 1200 sq ft house - 2 car garage - driveway - concrete patio out back - walkways.

[Water-S]

Originally Posted by mt6forlife

Well I don't own a landscaping business and the yard's pretty small. The whole lot is only about 7500 sq ft - 1200 sq ft house - 2 car garage - driveway - concrete patio out back - walkways.

okay this must be a east coast thing because around here we measure lots in acres. like 1/4 of an acre, 1/2 acre or my lot is 3 acres.

another thing to concider is aluminum vs steel decks on the walk behind mowers.
Deere sells both. I personally have steel.(it was cheaper) but if you move it a lot lot from place to place in a pickup or SUV where you gotta pick it up i'd suggest the aluminum. also aluminum won't rust.
however i'd suggest the steel because it's 13 gauge(personally on my riders i run 7 gauge(7 gauge is close to 1/4 inch i think) )( but i mow some rough areas)
as far as motor I'd suggest a 4 or 5 hp.
now for a Deere self propelled JS63(which is 21 inch cut ,adjustable cut, 3 speed, the steel 13 gauge deck,mulching blade,180 cc Briggs motor(which I think it's like 5 hp ), 2 year warrenty. it runs you 500 retail with dealer setup. but if you go into a Deere dealer(at least mine because he loves me because i buy so much ) and drop 450 tell him to set it up and him to pay tax he'll do it if he's worth anything. this appears to be the cheapest Deere push mower they make.
Now remember when you go to Lowes,Home Depot and Wal-Mart. they might have 200-300 buck mowers. but John Deere and Honda are like the Mercedes of mowers. the ones are Home Depot and those kind of places are like the Ford Focus or at the most a Civic. everything on the Deere is heavier. plus the parts network at Deere is INSANE. the longest i've ever had to wait on parts is 2 days(and in the 8 years i've ran my business i go through a lot of parts)(clip pins, oil filters,blades, deck shims, wheel castners, the list goes on and on) it's not because Deeres are shitty made its just me and my guys are tough on mowers.
here's a little story: I one year just for giggles bought a home depot push mower. gave it to my guys to try it out.(i bought about this time of year) so I put it with my crew that does some cemetary mowing.(which if you know cemetary mowing it BEATS THE HELL OUT OF MOWER ) with all the headstones. our cemetary trailer had the cheap-o mower(which i think it was a Yard Machine) and a Deere on it's trailer(each guy has a push mower and each has a rider on the trailer. keep in mind the Deere was like 3-4 years older(i got it when i started the business). the yard machine at the end of the mowing season I had to junk it cause the deck was bent to hell. (the deck if it's bent or sprung pretty bad you can't use it because this cause an uneven cut in the grass.) I had to trash the "cheap-o" the Deere I'm still gonna use they use this year. cheap-os I think they just used poured mold steel (to form their the decks on the "cheap-os" on the Deeres i went to Horicon(sp),Wisconsin when I bought my one tractor to watch it be made. I watched them make my deck. they use this GIANT 3 man metal stamping machine.(it's so big that when they built the building they had to build the building around it) meaning they put up 3 walls moved in the stamping maching for mowing decks then put on the roof and last side. it stamps is SO heavy that concrete floor shakes when it comes down.
Deere uses this on most of their decks. I've yet to bend a Deere deck and if you mow cementarys very long you can really test the strength of decks

[Water-S]

Originally Posted by Blazin_TL

you are REALLY into your job.. thats the most landscaping knowledge ive gotten in my entire life

you think that's bad. often my company(D and D lawn service)(which stands for Don and Derek) get called to people who are building new houses or looking to reseed. one of my first questions is what type of soil do you have. because you have 3 basic kind Sand(which is a gritty soil) it doesn't hold a lot of water,drains fast, and the particles of sand is the largest of the 3 believe or not(so you you want to use a grass that doesn't require a lot of water) silt(this is middle of the road) it's kind of gritty it holds water more than sand plus these particles are smaller aren't as uniformed(usually) as sand so drainage is slower. then last you got clay. Clay is the smallest particles often layered a lot of times. usually takes the longest to drain.

then after taking soil samples and doing that analysis
i make suggestions(of like 2-3 grass types they wanna plant) the 2 main types i carry is bermuda(which a wide blade, it's a thicker grass so it works the mower more)
and my personal favorite bluegrass. this is a narrower grass,softer grass(if you walk outside in your bare feet. but it takes awhile before it's as thick as bermuda. (like a good 2-3 years)
then i ask if they want to do a fertilizer application
if they say yes
i ask them if they want to do dry or pellet
dry is nice because you can do with your chemical spray(which i'll get to later)
pellet i like better because it's a slower release. my personally formula is 1500 lbs which happens to equal a skid of 50 lbs bags. per 1.5 acres 2 times a year. (once in the fall and once in the spring).
then once it's coming on lets say they have problems with weeds or dandalions.
i ask them if they want to use 2-4-D or WeedMaxx(but i got 100s of other chemicals to pick from)(i'm an agromist)
2-4-D is a little more harsh it's actually a farm chemical (i've used it 100's of times on yards including my own and their fine),
WeedMaxx is a "yard friendly "(it's a marketing pitch because the chemical doesn't know if it's going on a farm field or a yard).
just my company gives the customer a lot of choices. I always liked having choices. so that's why I believe that D and D lawn matience is the best around. plus my agromy background.(which i took extensive college classes for)

[Cruz_msl]

My next-door neighbor has an electric that his wife made him buy- she's big into the environment- and he absolutely HATES it. He can't navigate around the landscaping without getting the cord hung, it's WAY under-powered and it just plain SUCKS.

[1killercls]

I have a TORO. (GAS) Electric sucks.

[MADCAT]

I have Electric. Black and Decker. Only draw back is moving the power cable all the time. Requires very little maintenance. And doesn't pollute.

[EdgarFanCLS]

Electric mowers suck ass. Get a decent gas mower.

[GreenMonster]

I had an electric black and decker when I grew up, but I was always fixing the cord 'cause I'd cut it...

I've got a couple of tractors, but I'm probably going to to buy a cheap lawnmower this year to take care of the parts of the yard that the tractors can't get at.

I'm probably going to go with a Craftsman, but Honda, Toro, Lawnboy and a few others will be a better machine (at a higher cost). Stay away from the walmart type mowers. You probably should expect to spend at least around $300-400 for a decent mower. A top of the line honda will probably run twice that ($800??).

Check out the lawn mower forum at gardenweb. There's a lot of great info there.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/lmower/

[EdgarFanCLS]

^^
Good mower in that price range GM mentioned above:


Toro Recycler 20041 - 6.75hp, and it's RWD

[Chief F1 Fan]

Nope, say hello to my leeetle friend:

[03SSMTL-S]

dont get an electric, i never had a elec. mower but had a elec. weed eater, and tuging on the damn cord sucks. just check out the sales ads this weedend im sure home depot, sears,or lowes will have a decent deal on a decent mower.

[03SSMTL-S]

Originally Posted by fsttyms1

nope just a honda

where is the v-tec, or powered by honda decals, and what no big wing n:

[joeshmoe]

Originally Posted by mt6forlife

Well I don't own a landscaping business and the yard's pretty small. The whole lot is only about 7500 sq ft - 1200 sq ft house - 2 car garage - driveway - concrete patio out back - walkways.

Your talking less than a .25 acre lot total. Really, if you think your yard is small enough, why not just get a reel mower

[SiGGy]

Originally Posted by 03SSMTL-S

where is the v-tec, or powered by honda decals, and what no big wing n:

You obviously missed the big bottle of N20 (nitrous) on it

[03SSMTL-S]

Originally Posted by SiGGy

You obviously missed the big bottle of N20 (nitrous) on it

shouldn't the bottle be chrome.

[Always Dirty]

My grandmother had an electric mower. 20 years ago.

[HQuakers]

I agree on the reel mower...those work well on small areas. We have an electric that was given to us and I tell you, I love it besides the cord part. No pull starts/choke, no filling with gas...and it's quiet too. I can be sleeping inside and have someone go right outside my window with the mower and I won't wake u