Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

Thanks @bisco @cyberpriusII @iplug

I hadn’t seen these new models from Toro & Stihl.

I think I want to see one of these Stihl units up close. The photo I found of their AK series push-mower was very interesting. That mower shares quite a few design features with my Chinese Greenworks mower. Right down to the spoke pattern on the wheels, the interlock switch and the fasteners on the folding handle. Curious.

 

Interesting find. Ego has a commercial product grouping.
EGO POWER+ Commercial Series

I don’t believe it is solely an American company. But they have become a very large seller worldwide.

 

Ah! found the answer. Stihl acquired a stake in Greenworks’ parent company, so the similarities I see between the Stihl RMA460 and the Greenworks 25223 aren’t coincidental.

I wonder if this means I can maintain my Greenworks with parts from the Stihl dealer?

One of the downsides of the Greenworks (in my mind) is that parts and service are hard to get. I decided to tolerate that when I bought mine, but maybe now I don’t have to?

On the other hand, I’m sort of back to “wish there was more engagement from USA brands” since we’re now talking about a USA subsidiary of a German company that did a deal to market equipment sourced in China. Maybe time to look harder at those Toros bisco found...

 

Had a Toro weed wacker and leaf blower a while back with a common battery. Granted, that was several years ago, and several-year-ago tech.

I was fairly happy with them, and when the battery wore out, I ordered a replacement, and when it arrived, I found out that with no change to the order number, they were now shipping a considerably lower-capacity battery as a replacement.

That's the kind of game that loses me as a customer pretty much permanently. I returned the new battery for a refund, gave the weed wacker and leaf blower to the re*store (labeled needs battery), and bought Egos. Those have been great. (Still have to see what battery games they might play when it wears out; it hasn't yet.)

 

We had a Toro electric snow broom decades ago. Perhaps when it first came out.

There is also Snow Joe. Cordless Snow Blowers | Electric Lawn Mowers | Battery-Powered Outdoor Tools | Snow Joe | Sun Joe
The power tools are made China, but the company is based in New Jersey. They have an outlet store in Lodi.

I have been happy with the plug snow blower, and I was going to get one of their plugged chainsaws until I came across a Worx on clearance.

 

Do you think the US corner-cutting isn't forced on the engineers by management?

 

And VW's poor reliability reputation wasn't because we all got together and decided not to like them. Much of it was because of engineering.

 

i had a stihl gas string trimmer in the early 80's. that thing was a beast. beautifully made, and started on one pull every time.

 

My father-in-law heated with wood and used Stihl chainsaws almost exclusively. They really seemed to hold up well.

 

My old man uses a Husqvarna chain saw as his go to for the last 35 years.

It was in the same spark plug up until a couple of years ago.

Very light and agile compared to the competitors .

 

I could see that going a few ways…

Maybe they are discouraging it because they are of a certain age and it just seems like too big of a change? (mildly disappointing, but innocent anyway)

Maybe because they know you probably won’t need much in the way of service?

Maybe it’s because they know the product was sourced in finished condition from a contract factory in China and isn’t or might not be up to the same quality standard as earlier products?

I don’t get why big companies do this. I might be risking a little money on a given product. They’re risking their entire brand name.

 

Husky chainsaw and lawnmower user here. The Husqvarna chainsaw is now over 10 years old. It's a powerhouse. I have no problem using it to fell a tree over 2 feet in diameter. I had a cheap McCulloch chainsaw before that, but it died after only a few years. The husky chainsaw is getting little too big for small jobs around the house for me. I recently bought a corded electric chainsaw by Oregon. Have not used it yet, but it looks solid enough. Made mostly of plastic, no comparison to an all-metal housing of the Husky for durability arena, but it is much lighter. I also have a Stihl brush cutter and clearing saw. It is so powerful, I can cut a small tree up to 2 inches, but a bit too powerful for around house choirs. I bought 18V One+ Ryobi cordless trimmer, but it was too wimpy and the battery range is just too short for our needs. I had an old corded electric Toro trimmer that worked better than Ryobi cordless trimmer, but it recently died. I may have to give a try for EGO or Greenworks trimmers.

 

The Husky equipment today is not the Husqvarna of a decade ago.

 

I have the Craftsman-branded version of that same saw. I bought it an hour after a tree fell into my garden two years ago. It’s very good, tree gone, fingers still here.

 

IIRC, a fire fighter friend told me that they have Stihl saws on the trucks. The Husqvarnas were better in that they ran in smoke that the Stihls needed to come out of periodically to catch their 'breath'. Probably not a requirement for a homeowner.

Honda has a swappable battery system that I think are now test marketing in Asia. The packs are under 20lbs, and are mainly intended for motorcycles and the like. They also made portable power supplies that used them. I could make a three foot extension cord and throw it in a back pack for my corded trimmer if Honda didn't get the idea themselves.

From the reviews I've read, and if you have the budget, Makita chainsaws the ones that will last. They are one of the few using metal drive gears. Their only downside is that some models might have odd chain sizes, so no generic replacements.

True of most things. Of course, some got better.

 

my dad bought a homesite XL12 in the 60's, still starts on one pull today.
the thing is a beast, but very light. we cleared our lot in new hampshire with it to build our first home, and cut full logs into firewood every year for 5 years.
then i cleared a lot in mass to build our second home. it has seen a lot of non commercial use in over 50 years, and never had anything major done to it.

 

Remember Stihl (and Husquvarna used to -- maybe still does) makes both "homeowner" equipment and professional equipment.

The pro grade is not just marketing (or it WASN'T, don't know now).

IT is much better made and much more $$$ All my Stihl equipment -- except for one bottom of the line string trimmer --is pro grade and all is about 20 years old and still great. The low end trimmer -- to be honest, it is O.K., but I hardly use it and I have had to replace the carb and adjust the setting numerous times -- as well as replace some part, which escapes me at the moment.

 

i had a husky lawn tractor, it was middle of the road.

did they buy jonsered?

 

I used it today for the first time. It is very capable saw at least for the job I had to do today. No problem cutting through 3-4 inch limbs in 18-inch pieces. I did not need to use it today, but I really like the PowerSharp chain feature that allows to sharpen the chain right on the saw in 3 seconds. I really hate sharpening the chain. It's tedious and requires a skill. Hand filing is difficult to adjust for the angle and depth. I even purchased an electric chain sharpener but didn't help much, since I had to take off the chain to sharpen on the sharpener. If this built-in chain sharpener works as advertised, I am not going back to any chainsaw without this feature.