Lawn Mower - Re-New or Replace?

[Mike Goetzke]

My lawn with all the landscaping is probably little under 10,000 sq. ft.. I've had a Honda Harmony mower for 17 years. It's served me well. I've taken good care of and my only complaint has been needing to clean out the carburetor jets almost every year (even though I drain/burn out all the fuel at the end of the season). Now it's gotten to the point that it needs wheels, carburetor, gas line, blade, spark plug, and filter. These will cost me about $100. I also see several mowers of my vintage going for $225+ on CL. So I was encouraged to start looking at new mowers.

I'm very impressed with the reviews and design of the EGO LM2102SP battery powered mower. I'm almost ready to sell the Honda and purchase one. I know years ago the battery life wasn't good on these mowers but this one claims 1Hr run time with a 56V - 7.5AHr battery.

Does anyone have experience with this mower?


Thanks,

Mike

[Jerry Bruette]

No experience with any type of electric mower, but I'll give my $.02. In the last 2 years I put at least $150 in parts on a 23 year old Toro gas mower. The mower has served me well, it cuts about 22,000 sqft at home and probably that much at my cabin. It always starts with no more than two pulls and will run as long as I can pour gas into it.

I Googled EGO mowers cause I never heard of them and found some Consumer Report articles comparing gas to electric. The gas cost more to run, but the electric cost more up front to purchase. The costs came out equal over time.

If you like your Honda I don't think $100 is too much to spend to keep it running for another 10 years. If your concerned with polluting the air with exhaust then get the EGO. I'm sure either mower will do a great job of making lour lawn look great.

As for that carb problem you're having do you use non ethanol gas. I quit using it a number of years ago and never have gas problems with my snowblower, lawnmower, chainsaw, leaf blower....you get the idea. Get the ethanol out and I think your fuel system problems will go away.

[Mel Fulks]

I have a 20 year old Honda Harmony that now has slick tires that I'm gonna replace . Haven't had any issues with carborator but I use plenty of Stabil and use it a couple of times each winter. Have not tried the mower you ask about because I bought too many low quality mowers ,and not taking any chances with another brand.

[John C Cox]

Don't neglect that the average life span of those battery packs is 1-2 years...
Will the company exist in 2 years?
Will they still sell that battery pack?
Will the battery pack be cost competitive or will it basically force you to buy a new unit..

That's a serious problem with cordless tools now... I cant tell you how many drills and saws my dad and brother in law have thrown out because the batteries either weren't available anymore or were stupid expensive vs purchase of a whole new unit... Here I am running my dusty old corded tools... Yeah - dragging cords is aggravating, but they still work...

If the compression is still good and its not burning oil - I would consider fixing it up and running it for now...

[Robert Engel]

I would fix it and use non-ethanol gas.

[George Bokros]

Also, I was told by a tech at a lawn & garden power equipment dealer to us Seafoam mixed to the instructions on the can and it will clear out the carb, I did it and it worked. I also have a new Echo leaf blower / vac and it says to us at least 90 octane non ethanol gas in its fuel mix.

[Stan Calow]

I'd keep it and fix it. I get a new blade and plug for my Honda every year anyway. My local Quik Trip has one non-ethanol pump which I use for all gas-powered tools.

[Mike Goetzke]

Thanks for the replies. Probably should stick with the Honda - just got a little itch to try out the new technology. They claim the battery is good for 1000 charges but I doubt this. I also found out today that the current battery replacement cost is $395!

Last week I found a Honda mower forum and they mentioned the old gaskets in my old mower don't like ethanol and my carb jets are very small to meet emissions. I'm in the Chicago area so it may be hard to find non-ethanol gas.


Thanks

[Greg R Bradley]

I'm all in favor of moving to cordless tech instead of gas wherever it makes sense. I can't imagine even thinking of cordless with half that amount of lawn. I've switched my chainsaw to Makita 2x18v 12" and it makes sense for me. Hard to imagine an arborist making that switch. I've gone to 36v blowers at 2 businesses and home and just ordered the Makita 2x18v brushless blower for my 6,000 sq ft front yard use. I'm completely happy with my 10 year old Honda lawnmower and just take it in every 4 years or so for a complete overhaul at around $170. I'd consider a cordless lawnmower if I get the grass in my front yard down to 1,000 sq ft or so. The people in Europe raving about the cordless lawnmowers of a few years ago typically had a couple hundred square feet of lawn.

[Adam Herman]

I have the black and Decker mowers at both my rental and my home, have had them for several years, one was bought used. both batteries are working great, they are the old lead acid type and are fairly cheap to rebuild yourself if it ever comes to that. the Liion packs are also not too expensive if you buy the cells and rebuild them.

[George Bokros]

Thanks for the replies. Probably should stick with the Honda - just got a little itch to try out the new technology. They claim the battery is good for 1000 charges but I doubt this. I also found out today that the current battery replacement cost is $395!

Last week I found a Honda mower forum and they mentioned the old gaskets in my old mower don't like ethanol and my carb jets are very small to meet emissions. I'm in the Chicago area so it may be hard to find non-ethanol gas.

Thanks

Try searching for ethanol free gas. pure-gas.org

[Matt Meiser]

My brother bought an electric for his tiny yard and loved it at first but the battery life (overall, not per charge) was not as advertised and in the long run he was less than satisfied with his purchase. I'm not sure what he ended up doing.

I use Star-Tron and Seafoam in every can of gas I buy and drain gas off season. I've had really good luck with motors, even the allegedly "junk" Briggs and Stratton ones.

[John C Cox]

I also noticed this in the OP... Yard size is about 10k sq-ft.. Thats 1/4 acre of lawn - not total lot size Probably 2+ hours with your current self propelled mower...

Notice that these electric mowers are all you-push models... Their run capacity is around 45 minutes.... Its pretty funny how they claim 2 miles - you would have to be some sort of olympic sprinter to PUSH a mower through 2 miles of grass in under 45 minutes.. That's 17,600 sq-ft of grass (over 1/3 acre) cut in 45 minutes... Thats faster than most commercial mowers can cut residential propety..

Do you really enjoy pushing... Or have you gotten used to walk behind and steering?

These battery power units are really amazing when you are talking little teeny city lots or used as a clean up mower doing thr edging following a rider...

[Allan Speers]

Check the compression. If that's good, and the engine isn't blowing oil, why toss a solid machine?

It's cheap to rebuild a carb, (and use a cleaning agent first, as mentioned above) but it may be wiser to just replace it. You can get complete carbs CHEAP on Ebay, and in my small experience they are identical to the OEM carbs. - YMMV, but I've done this for 4 machines, with 3 different carburators.

[Matt Meiser]

Um...walking 2 miles in 45 minutes doesn't require walking fast at all. Its 2.66 mph, and this calculator says you you should be able to mow about 1/2 acre in an hour at that pace so about 3/8 of an acre in 45 minutes. Obviously they aren't figuring in time to go around obstacles and turn around so probably cutting it close.

The record for 2 miles is under 8 minutes. The cut probably wouldn't be too good at that pace though