Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

Yeah, the HONDA small engines are good. But it also costs a lot more than CHONDA engines. For a small gas-powered tool I use very infrequently, it is very hard to justify the higher cost of Honda engines.

Over the years, I have owned many different gas-powered yard tools, but have never bothered to empty the gas tanks during storage. Yeah, the manual says something about emptying the tank and ONLY using fresh fuel. But for a tool that gets used only a few times a year, it is too much work.

I don't spend tons of money on yard tools. The most expensive machine I have owned is probably the Sportsman portable generator which we use for the whole house backup power during power outages. It was close to $900. The engine on this unit is made in China for sure, but a genuine Honda generator of similar output would cost 5 times which I could not afford. The next expensive tool is the Toro snow blower which was ~$700. I think it has Briggs & Stratton engine on it, but likely to be made in China as well. Then all the rest, mower (Husq), power washer (RIDGID), tiller (Honda), auger (HF Predator), brush cutter (Stihl), and chainsaw (Husq) are all $300 or less each. Except for the tiller which is made by Honda, the rest are likely made in china engines. All of them are more than 6 years old, and all start up fine, except the RIDGID power washer, despite neglecting to care for them.

The notable exception, the RIDGID powerwasher came with a Subaru engine supposed to be made in Japan, but this engine did not run very well from the beginning. It was always hard to start, and now it does not start at all. I bought a smaller less powerful electric power washer to get by, but less than 2 years old $99 cheap HF electric power washer is leaking from the nozzle handle already. So, cheap tools can be both a bargain or a headache.

 

I am probably going to go ahead and buy a greenworks chainsaw as well. I was messing about with a fallen tree in the yard from last winter and the 10" pole saw is cutting circles around my 30cc 16" Echo gas saw. The echo is a pain to start first thing in the spring and leaves a puddle of chain oil anywhere you set it down, and it bogs down on anything thicker than 5". The little blade on the greenworks pole saw was cutting through thicker, denser branches at odder angles with no trouble.

 

... and the degree of cost paring demanded by the customer.

They can make excellent quality when they need to, want to, and are allowed to do so. But I have seen some very aggressive price negotiations from our side. Meet this cost target or we'll go down the street, where they are already building some other stuff for us. With that view, some quality loss is inevitable. And the engineers get more headaches to deal with.

 

well, our toro rotary mower was $700., and it's a piece of carp

 

BY "Rotary Mower" do you mean a riding mower like shown on this Toro web page?
https://www.toro.com/en/sports-fields-municipalities/rotary-mowers

If you got one of those for $700, then you must have bought a used unit in "as is" condition or something really bad. A decent push mower from Toro cost $700 new. But if your $700 rotary mower turned out to be a piece of carp. Well, then I understand why it did not help you cut grass. LOL

 

my $99 Walmart special from 1999 still works great, still has the original oil too and no drain plug

 

Oh I do not know....carp eat some grasses and weeds.

 

I've worn out one electric robotic mower on my yard. It was great, but I asked an awful lot of it and eventually it didn't want to go anymore. I'd love another but I've decided to let the technology mature just a little further before I try it again. Until then I'll keep using my carpy secondhand $50 1980s bolens tractor.

 

There's a Neal Young song about that...

We got a $20 made-in-China (I presume) floor-standing fan, close to 30 years back, some assembly required, and I recall at the time being impressed by the fit and finish. Everything on it was just strong enough, but meh

Still going strong. I took a close look at it about a year back, fixed a few things, and it lives on. See similar fans for sale in hardware store, and now the price is....: $20. Canadian...

 

In the neighborhood 2 streets over a homeowner has a robotic mower. On the side of the house you can see what looks like a docking port and a solar panel. The lawn always looks fine and I often wondered how well those work. My assumption is the solar panel charges the station up all day and the mower docks at night and when it needs a charge. I guess it has an ac back up also for charging. Pretty nice concept I wonder how much it cost with the mower and the yard boundary wire install. The owner also has a Prius that is often parked in the driveway.

 

With all the tree roots on our lawn, I'd need an all-terrain, robotic weed eater.

 

Our lawn has no roots but a 4-6ft region around each tree has soil bulging up to 2ft above the surrounding lawn.

Makes the rider unhappy going around digging a trench as the deck castors get knocked kitty whumpus

 

I built circular walls around each tree and planted ground cover (Yellow Arch Angel - very invasive) inside the walls. Now cutting the lawn is easier.

JeffD

 

Our trees aren’t really house trained…

 

something like this, but ours is a few years old:

ProductDetails.aspx

 

I got a heck of an education by doing DIY installation on mine. Lots of little unanticipated problems that could stop the works. Once I got it dialed in the lawn looked incredible and I went for weeks at a time without having to lift a finger. We used the machine through 5 seasons and this little robot now has well over 4,000 miles on it. I'm tempted to put more money into it and get it back into service, but the company sold to another and more or less orphaned this one for software upgrades so I think I'll let the industry mature a bit more before I go back.

Most of them work about the same way mine did- they mow a completely random pattern, using the logic that for x square feet, randomly mowed for y time, will achieve 100% coverage. When the battery gets low, they just find the perimeter wire and upon interception they straddle the wire and cruise back to the charging dock. So it just keeps going out until the "y" timer says it is done, then it waits for the next cycle to start. If it takes multiple charges and dispatches to finish the lawn, so be it. It just keeps chipping away until it is done.

 

That one looks very similar to the self-propelled push mower that died on us after less than 5 years. We had a Toro push mower before that was similar but much older. That one lasted over 15 years, and I was very happy with it. That's why we bought the second similar Toro mower to replace it, but the result was utterly disappointing. So, there may be some years of bad crops. Needless to say, I have not purchased another Toro lawn mower since the last bad one, so I don't know how they are now. However, as I said, I am very happy with our current Toro snowblower. But it is only ~6 years old, and it is our very first snow blower, so I have nothing to compare its durability or performance to.

 

we have a toro snowblower too. it was their largest model in 2004. it's not bad, but a little weak in heavy wet stuff, and the chute can freeze up.
i think i'd try an ariens next time

 

I thought the whole point of the Toro brand was local Toro dealers who would spring into action to answer questions and solve problems and keep the gear running better, but I've never owned a Toro.

Are the dealers no longer helpful?

Yeah! I love mine. I got the 24" deluxe with the differential and it's fantastic equipment.

It has a total no-name chinese engine which always starts and gives loads of power. I think maybe 30 years ago it was worth being suspicious of foreign small engines. The last few I've owned have proven to me that the secret is out: lots of factories around the world now know how to make truly good small engines.

I can toss slush clear across the 40' width of my driveway.

I modded mine with heated handgrips because the driveway is so big, full clearing is a 2-hour session.

That's about 5 seasons in now and has only required one $30 clutch disk in repairs though I think it'll need belts for next winter.

 

my dealer is fine. but when the mower starts falling apart after warranty, there's nothing they can do but charge for repairs.
one of my concerns buying the ryobi is not having that dealer service available.