My lawn mower just died. Small lawn, so I was using an old Black & Decker electric mower that I bought used fifteen years ago for $20. Nice and light. Just sharpened the dual blades and it kept goin’. I got used to dragging the cord around and it didn’t bother me. Well now my 12 year old son wants to mow the lawn (for $ of course) and he informed me that we’re not getting another one with a cord. Anyone have any experience with one of the cordless rechargable ones? They seem like they would fit my situation.
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dont have a cordless myself(my fiance has over half an acre), but i always liked electric mowers; quiet, easy to start etc etc, she has a small tractor!!!
like any other cordless tool, stick to a good brand name, dont overload it and keep the batteries in good order
caulking is not a piece of trim
I too want one.. I'll use it to mainly trim what my rider doesn't mow, but still I'm tired of having gas go stale on me and all the maintinance of the gasolene ones.
My old man had one (back in the 70's). They should be much better now (should). Just be careful not to let the grass get away from you, or you'll be hiring someone with a gas mower.
About the only cordless made any more is the B&D. It's not as well built as the old Snapper units, but it works.
Battery power is the problem, of course. Our lot is 80x150 with 2000-2500 sq ft taken by building footprint and driveway. On a good day the mower can just make it, but usually there's a need to recharge (at least 4 hours, preferably overnight) to finish.
Also, the batteries wear out after 3-4 seasons and need to be replaced at a cost of about $150. The battery life is best preserved by NOT putting the thing on continuous charge but only charging as needed. In the winter I put it on a timer that only gives it about an hour a day.
Weight-wise, the unit is about as heavy as a small gas mower (due to the batteries), but since it hardly vibrates at all it's much less tiring to use.
I like it. But then I have a bicycle, sailboat, cross-country skis, and use a rake for grass and leaves, while my next door neighbor has a big gas ride-on, motorcycles, jetskis, snowmobiles, and uses a leaf blower.
When I was 12, I had a cordless mower - called a reel type. Great exercise and if you wear spiked shoes, the lawn gets aerated as well. Used reel types are cheap these days and some of them even work fairly well. Don't work too well if the grass gets too high, however. Still, I recommend them...
Casey: Great reply!
Did lawns when 10 YO for a quarter with bare feet and still got all my toes even! Remember how to put your heel on the roller and curl your toes around the reel to get it unstuck? Also learned how to use a file early.
I want to put in another vote for reel mowers. When I lived in a town house with postage stamp yard I picked up an old reel mower from a yard sale (there should be some humor in that) heavy, heavy, heavy tough to keep the blades sharp but it worked fine for the amount of lawn I had. A couple of years ago I moved to a bigger yard ~ 0.25 lot (of course not all of it is lawn, but pretty good sized), and we bought a new reel mover and WOW have those things changed. Pros: (1) new ones weight almost nothing, when stored it hangs on 2 nails from the shop wall. (2) use no gas, no e-, no cords just pick it up and go. don't just count only the time behind the mower when you figure how long lawn care takes. (3) quiet, you can have a conversation with wife tendingthe foller bed WHILE you are mowing (or you can put on your walkman and not have a coversation with your wife while mowing -- depends on you plans later that evening) (4) safety a twelve year old has never lopped off all his toes/fingers in a reel mower - at worse - if bare foot and stupid, he will heal in a few days with some H2O2 and a couple of bandaids (I now put on shoes, can't do much about the stupid part). (5) I really have to stess the ease of no gas, no e-, no nothing, just grab and go. (6) sharpening the new one is a more of an adjustment than sharping piece of cake.
Cons: (A) you have to mow regularly - if the grass gets long it is a pain. You can't keep a even walking pace, and you have to stop and push, stop and push. (B) if you have lots of sticks (like a willow that is always droping twigs) if the blades pick it up they stop and you stop, you remove said twig and go agian, you hit another twig you stop, you remove said twig and you go again, repeat until you give up and go get the leaf rake and remove twigs and then finsh without a problem.
My 2 cents
edited for stupid mistakes from typing/thinking too fast
Edited 4/27/2004 12:43 pm ET by 1coolcall
reel type mowers are not the answer in my case.. the reason is the trees and the wall. you need to be able to push one of those from behind.. well there isn't room..
I suppose I could use a string trimmer but I find those things to be a royal pain in the butt.. no a small simple battery powered lawn mower would be just the ticket.. Too bad De Walt doesn't make one then I could use some of the seven batteries that I have for those tools..
I was just doing some research on this today.
What I was looking for was how do you sharpen a reel mower? I took mine in once to have it sharpened and they wanted $75. You can almost buy a new one for that.
Here's what I found about cordless electrics:
There is a 14 inch cordless mower by Neuton that weighs about 48 lbs. Here's a link to more info.
http://www.countryhomeproducts.com//twostepInquiry.aspx?name=NeutonMower2Step
Black and Decker's cordless electric got mixed reviews on the Amazon.com site. There are some interesting comments by users on that site.
Both are pretty pricey...$350 to $400.
I also saw a battery powered reel mower by Brill. It is German made and is supposed to go for over 5 years before it needs sharpening. That is about $300 too.
http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/brill_accu.htm
Anyone know how to sharpen a reel mower?
>> Anyone know how to sharpen a reel mower?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&q=sharpen+%22reel+mower%22
Several descriptions of how to do it by hand. Many warnings that you can't do it by hand. Many vendors of sharpening kits of varying complexity. I have a vague memory of seeing articles in Countryside magazine or Home Shop Machinist magazine, maybe both. Both magazines have online article indexes, but do not have the articles on line. If the magazine you need is not too old, they may still have it in stock.
Thank you. I just checked the Scotts reel mower ad and they had an illustrated step by step "how-to-do-it". That's exactly what I was looking for.
Now I know why they charged $75 to do this in the shop. : )
The Neuton and one or two others like it (that may in fact all be made by the same company) are obviously (at 14") designed for just trim mowing, not full lawn mowing. AFAIK, the B&D is the only full-sized unit being made currently.
What brand/model do you have?An ex-boat builder treading water!
I was about to give you my high recommendation for the Toro cordless, but went to their website to find (based on someone else's post that B&D was about the only manu left) that they don't make them anymore. I've never had any problem with mine, other than sharpening the blade after a couple of seasons, and replacing the batteries after three. The batteries are two 12-volt in series for 24 total, and replacements are easy to find as they're not proprietary. Here's the model for sale used on eBay for under $100:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50376&item=2397660584&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
An earlier post about its ineffectiveness on long grass is right, but I don't find it a problem if I keep it under 2 weeks between mowings during the fastest growing times. Worst case is, set it at the highest setting for the first pass, then two or three down on a second. I've only got about 500 sq feet of grass, so it's not too much trouble to hit twice. I can't say enough good about the mower--plugs in to charge, no muss/fuss with gas, and no tune-ups necessary. Works great with or without the bag.
Edited 5/2/2004 3:21 am ET by PlumbandTrue
My Dad bought the BD cordless when it first came out several years ago.
Does a fair sized lawn without needing to be recharged.
When I moved into my new house he gave it to me as the battery was dying and would not finish his larger lawn on a single charge. BD wanted big $$$ for a new battery but I found out that it uses a common electric wheel chair cell. Once I replaced the battery ( $70 CDN) he reclaimed it. Still my favorite lawnmower.
I picked up a used one at a gargage sale 2 years ago for $10 thinking I would have to replace the battery. Still going strong on the original battery.
My brother had a cordless mower. He didn't like it. The batteries would last about two seasons and were expensive. The second season he would have to recharge 3-4 times to finish the yard. Might take two or three days to mow. My neighbors have one and do the same routine. I think there's a reason all those companies stopped making them.
I have three reel mowers. All old Scotts I found at yard sales. I like them a lot. Often mow the grass barefoot. I never sharpen them, just tighten the blade up till it drags a little and let it wear in. Only problem I had was I never could get my kid to use them.
There's a trick to getting the batteries to last longer: Don't overcharge them. The standard chargers built into such devices aren't really well designed for continuous charge, so once the battery is charged you should unplug the charger, then give it a "boost" the night before the next use.
During winter, don't follow the mfgr's instructions to leave plugged in all the time, but put on a timer so they're only on for an hour or so a day.