I’ve a core childhood reminiscence of standing within the expansive yard of a household buddy who lived out in farm nation, making an attempt to get their previous fuel mower to begin. I tugged the pull wire in useless for what appeared like hours, the engine rolling over lazily with out ever spinning to life.
So there was no query I used to be going to be an early and enthusiastic adopter of electrical lawnmowers, making the change proper across the identical time I changed my VHS tapes with Blu-ray.
I’ve had no less than six electrical mowers since—some plug-ins, some battery-powered. At one level I even hacked a Homelite mower I preferred aside from its underpowered proprietary battery, by soldering its connectors to a greater lithium battery (I most likely did my math improper; the battery melted). Each a type of electrical mowers felt prefer it sacrificed one thing you possibly can get from a standard inside combustion engine mower, buying and selling an annoying extension wire or underpowered battery for fast begin, much less noise, and no smoke.
That’s, till the Greenworks 60V 21-inch self-propelled garden mower, which I’ve been testing on my garden this summer time. After 4 months of testing I’ve discovered this mannequin from Greenworks does every part I would like a mower to do to my Midwestern garden, and does it with grace. If you happen to’re a garden fanatic I am positive there are mowers with extra choices and options to contemplate. However I do not need to suppose an excessive amount of about my mower—I simply need to push a button, stroll round my yard, chop just a few inches off the highest of my grass, then roll it again into the storage. This Greenworks mower is the primary electrical mower I’ve owned that does that.
Sixty Beats Forty
The very first thing I need to find out about an electrical mower is how straightforward it’s to deal with the battery. I’m positive I’m not alone in being previous corded electrical mowers that, till just a few years in the past, nonetheless provided the very best mixture of energy and worth. The Greenworks has twin battery ports that may every maintain a 60V battery, although I’ve solely used one. That 5-Ah battery supplies sufficient energy to chop my small garden two instances with turbo on or three and a half instances on customary. My garden solely has about 3,000 sq. ft of grass, although, and in the USA, residential lawns common about 10,000 sq. ft, according to Home Advisor. (If you happen to dwell in Vermont or Montana you’ll most likely need that second battery.) The marketed vary is as much as an acre, which is 43,560 sq. ft, however even with each batteries totally and freshly charged I might not count on to get there primarily based on my vary in testing.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
As a result of it’s a 60V system, it has extra energy than the extra widespread 40V methods, which makes a giant distinction with regards to coping with leaves. With a peak energy output of 3200 RPMs (towards the highest of the usual vary for a fuel mower) utilizing the turbo mode, I’ve discovered the Greenworks has sufficient energy to mulch leaves, although lengthy moist grass drained the battery a lot quicker than I might have anticipated—a leftover half-charge on a single battery wasn’t sufficient to complete my small yard.
