My old mower gave up the ghost. Need a rec for a replacement. Total area to mow is a little over 1/4 acre. St Augustine in front and Zoysia in the back. Looking at these three right now:

Toro Timemaster 30" deck - $1599 (hate the price, but love the deck size)
Toro 22" deck - $499
Honda HRX - $1099

I really want the 30" cutting deck to reduce the time it takes to mow, but not sure I can justify that price point. Biggest fear is it crapping out in 3 years and needing to be replaced. Old mower was a Honda and never thought it performed up to the hype or price, but maybe it was user error.

Anyone have experience with these or have other thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Never even thought about electric before. I'm a dinosaur. How do they perform vs gas?

Get an electric. They perform very well vs gas. I have a Dewalt since that is brand of tool I use

Electrics are torquey AF and I imagine they'd cut great so long as you have the battery capacity to cover the lawn. No experience here as I'm a TexAgs millionaire and pay Juan to cut my yard. Once my son is old enough he will be getting an electric mower.

Electric would be great for your yard size.

Brand / model?

BmtAg96 said:

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Get an electric. They perform very well vs gas. I have a Dewalt since that is brand of tool I use

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Have the Dewalt mowers improved? I've held off bc of the terrible reviews .

Sweet Kitten Feet said:

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Brand / model?

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Ego brand
21" power select XP cut self propelled
765 CFM blower
Power head unit
Edger attachment
Weed Wacker attachment
Hedge trimmer attachment
Pole saw attachment (just got it, so haven't tried it out yet)
18" misting fan (got for baseball tournament and is awesome)
Two 5 Ah batteries
One 10 Ah battery

~egon

I have had a dewalt for the last 4 years. I am plenty happy with it, but if I was starting starting over I would go Ego. I went dewalt because I have a bunch of their power tools. It is nice to share batteries between yard tools and power tools, but I do think the Ego yard tools are probably better.

Once you RIDE, you never look back ....
food for thought.

Hahaha
When I was 30s I used a push reel mower & leg power for that size
then I was 40s so a power wheel mower made sense
50s came along so riding began in-the-cheap and tons more fun re: http://rb.gy/0ig9g or http://rb.gy/81kl7
60s, etc. and 17hp 42" is the minimum
Spoiler - age changes choices but they don't have to be pricy

That said, still a hold-out to pay +$1000 for zero-turns ala all friends & neighbors have

Good point. I am in my late 60s and still pushing a mower around. However, my knees are starting to go and making me think about getting a ride mower even though my lot is only 1/3 of an acre.

Fair point. If you're willing to push or use a self-propelled then I think electric makes a ton of sense. Like someone else said they can fold up to store with a very small footprint if needed, too.

Went with this same model. On sale for $150 off. Added an extra 5Ah battery. When my gas trimmer, edger, and blower die, I'll grab another battery and get the interchangeable head for all that stuff.

Yeah I have all Dewalt tools and batteries as well. My gas mower is still fine so hoping Dewalt will catch up before I need a new one. That said if Dewalt had good reviews I'd ditch the gas today.

Honestly I don't have any real gripes with mine and I'm overall very happy with it. There is some kind of lawyer safety switch that keeps if from powering on when it's in the upright folded position. I've learned that it doesn't release itself all the time when I unfold the mower. Easy enough now that I know.

Mower is light but solid, has a good size deck, and plenty of good features.

Copy of my post from Outdoor board on same topic.

I have a 20+ year old Toro 2-cycle commercial with a Suzuki engine. The benefit is a) it runs on the same mixed fuel that my trimmer and blower runs on and b) provides a little extra torque for longer or wet grass. You can't kill that engine if you tried. Finding them in great shape (i.e. looks included) is impossible, but there are some parts still available and finding them in running shape that can be put into working condition to go another 10+ years shouldn't be much of an issue. No oil changes, just use decent gas and oil, tune it up every year, and go.

If you don't want to go that route, you should be able to find a 4-cycle Toro commercial with a Kawasaki engine for about $500-700. It will look a little beat up, but again, these things are easily reconditioned and once you start using them for residential work, they run forever. You might even be able to find one in really good shape that a commercial business is getting rid of because they aren't using any (or many) 21" mowers anymore.

I'd seriously consider going one of these routes over a new, consumer lawn mower that, even taken care of, will only last a few years. The engines on the mowers are fine, albeit they aren't designed to run more than a few hours a week; it is everything else that have a short shelf life, especially when driven hard. The commercial mowers are built to be run 30+ hours a week and all but trashed out. A word of caution: the push mowers (which I recommend for cost purposes) ARE a workout. The self-propelled ones will cost you a bundle. The all-steel decks are heavy compared to the composite decks of the consumer ones.

A 30" commercial would be another alternative but now you're probably talking 2 grand for a decent used one. Little chance of finding someone dumping a good one because those go through most back yard gates and the lawn guys are buying like 1 21" now instead of a bunch of 21" mowers like they used to. They get multiple 3x" mowers, riders (or stand ons) and go to town. Too many yards, not enough time (and workers).

Have not read the whole thread but saw timemaster on your list. I would remove it immediately. I have maybe 1/2 acre I mow and when my rider was dead I was looking at timemaster so decided to rent one from HD. Was about 10 minutes until I exploded it, and after swapping for another and that one lasted 30 minutes. When returned the rental guy was, this happens all the time, they should not rent these. There is a commercial version that in theory is better since it still has metal involved, but the timemaster has had everything that should be metal replaced with plastic. The issue is that it all has to be synchronized and what would be a normal clog on a regular mower becomes a jump time on the belt and run blades into other ones, strip and destroy. If you yard never gets above 4" deep, maybe, if not run.
Electric is the current popular option, but lots of the tool people recommend, and my experience ,is pick one system for tools and a dedicated system for outdoor power equipment. The top tier outdoor is Ego, and then probably greenworks. Even hear good things about the top tier gas vendors electric machines. But even their worst are better than the stuff 2 of some good tool 20V batteries on a mower, weed eater, blower.

My honda is still running after 20 years. resharpen blades yearly and checkup every 5 years. No problem.

Bought EGO weedeater. Like it, but still usually use my gas powered one. Battery is nice, but I do think they are limited to small yards, and you need multiple batteries.

Mowing should be fun not sweaty exercise near spinning sharp blades.
Excercise should be fun = golfing (walk or ride), dancing (indoors), fishing, bowling, et al.
Rewards for graduation of toil all those years past ... when we thought such things as mowing were "fun"

Recently made the switch to electric. First few cuts went great. Finished with 20% battery left. Advertised battery life was 65 minutes, I was probably cutting for 55.

My last cut battery lasted for maybe 30 minutes. Keep in mind mower is maybe two months old (EGO purchased from Lowes). I'm wondering how the summer heat impacts the battery performance. I will say my grass was extra tall and super thick this last time. I've been extremely impressed with the cutting power up until this last time; this round it bogged down the mower several times. Granted a gas engine likely would have done the same. I probably should have raised my deck.

I'll post back as summer continues, but I'm less optimistic about electric than I was a few months ago.

for 1/4 acre, I wouldnt hesitate going with an electric. I have one that I use to get the areas of my yard I cant get to with my zero turn (i have a huge 6 foot ditch with steep sides, so i mow the sides and bottom by walking it).

I bought a kobalt from lowes a couple of years ago. The battery crapped out towards the end of the second summer with it. I called Lowes, they couldn't replace just the battery, so i just walked into the store with the mower and traded it for a brand new upgraded newer model. They also processed it as a return and a buy, so I got a brand new 3 year warranty on it. I have been really happy with the performance. This coming from a guy that swore to never buy one, but I bought the weed eater first, and it worked well so i decided to try the mower.

Atlas Harbor Freight

Dr. Doctor said:

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Sweet Kitten Feet said:

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Brand / model?

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Ego brand
21" power select XP cut self propelled
765 CFM blower
Power head unit
Edger attachment
Weed Wacker attachment
Hedge trimmer attachment
Pole saw attachment (just got it, so haven't tried it out yet)
18" misting fan (got for baseball tournament and is awesome)
Two 5 Ah batteries
One 10 Ah battery

~egon

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Thoughts after first use:

- battery almost lasted for the entire yard. Had to swap in a spare with about 5 min left on the yard
- might need to work on finding the right height for my yard, but it left a lot of stray blades (I am assuming the blades don't need to be sharpened out of the box). I used the mulching blade
- mower is super light
- the top speed is almost too fast after I got a little tired
- it is much quieter than gas
- I felt it mowed the backyard zoysia better than the front yard st Augustine
- folding it up makes it a lot easier to store in the garage
- a little worried the plastic deck will be the first thing to crap out

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in the cutting. Everything else was pretty solid. But, if I can't get a consistent smooth cut with no missed blades, the thing will have to go back.

You mentioned the self-propelled speed being almost too fast. Maybe that's the cause of the missed blades on the St. Augustine? Blades should be sharp enough out of the box. Hopefully if you show it down it will get better results. Mine is not self-propelled and it does a pretty good job on my St. Augustine.

12th Man Ag said:

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Dr. Doctor said:

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Sweet Kitten Feet said:

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Brand / model?

---

Ego brand
21" power select XP cut self propelled
765 CFM blower
Power head unit
Edger attachment
Weed Wacker attachment
Hedge trimmer attachment
Pole saw attachment (just got it, so haven't tried it out yet)
18" misting fan (got for baseball tournament and is awesome)
Two 5 Ah batteries
One 10 Ah battery

~egon

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Thoughts after first use:

- battery almost lasted for the entire yard. Had to swap in a spare with about 5 min left on the yard
- might need to work on finding the right height for my yard, but it left a lot of stray blades (I am assuming the blades don't need to be sharpened out of the box). I used the mulching blade
- mower is super light
- the top speed is almost too fast after I got a little tired
- it is much quieter than gas
- I felt it mowed the backyard zoysia better than the front yard st Augustine
- folding it up makes it a lot easier to store in the garage
- a little worried the plastic deck will be the first thing to crap out

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in the cutting. Everything else was pretty solid. But, if I can't get a consistent smooth cut with no missed blades, the thing will have to go back.

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My mulching blade left a lot of "mohawks" in the yard too, even with a pretty significant overlap in my mowing path. It's extremely common, you can google and see all the people that have this issue.

I mowed with the mulching blade maybe ~3 times and the load was just too much for the mower. My mower would frequently shut off due to overload. On the third time the mower broke completely and it took about 2 months for them to repair it under warranty.

I've only mowed once with the bagging blade and setup but it seemed like it was a much easier load on the mower and went smoother overall, also seemed to improve the mohawks.

bam02 said:

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You mentioned the self-propelled speed being almost too fast. Maybe that's the cause of the missed blades on the St. Augustine? Blades should be sharp enough out of the box. Hopefully if you show it down it will get better results. Mine is not self-propelled and it does a pretty good job on my St. Augustine.

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Agreed. I'm going to slow it down and also adjust the height a bit to see if I can dial it in.

wcb said:

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Recently made the switch to electric. First few cuts went great. Finished with 20% battery left. Advertised battery life was 65 minutes, I was probably cutting for 55.

My last cut battery lasted for maybe 30 minutes. Keep in mind mower is maybe two months old (EGO purchased from Lowes). I'm wondering how the summer heat impacts the battery performance. I will say my grass was extra tall and super thick this last time. I've been extremely impressed with the cutting power up until this last time; this round it bogged down the mower several times. Granted a gas engine likely would have done the same. I probably should have raised my deck.

I'll post back as summer continues, but I'm less optimistic about electric than I was a few months ago.

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Raised the deck today and no issues. Happy with it all at this point. Curious to see how it holds up.

Got an EGO 56 volt 21" Friday from Lowe's. It's not self propelled. Grass is sparse at the moment, not enough use to rate, but it seems awesome on one use.

Used my ego mower for second time today bagging instead of mulching. Battery never lasted when mulching but now lasts while bagging.

Well I ain't bagging. I have ego blower and trimmer but I'll keep my honda mower till it dies. Hourly the electric mowers continue to improve.