Electric Lawn Mowers or Gas Powered Lawn Mowers?

I'm a first time home owner that's going to be cutting grass for the first time in my life and I've got to get a lawn mower, pronto. I've asked a few home-owner friends about electric vs gas powered lawn mowers and it's as controversial as the un recommend post thing here on DU, so I'm getting wildly polarized opinions.

I'd like to use a cordless electric mower for our lot, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't be enough power for what I'd have to cut (about 4000 square feet); does anybody have any experiences using one?

I'm not sure which type you should have, but one thing I do know: You might want to consider getting one you can ride.

That's a lot of grass to be cutting...

We don't have any lawn on our little lot, so I can't help otherwise...

Congrats on your new home!

:hi:

The one I have (but don't use anymore) would crap out if the grass was more than an inch too high or remotely damp.

If I could fit a supercharger on my gas mower, I would.

I've got a rechargable shaver that does the same thing half-way through shaving my stubble evety morning and I'm scared it's going to be the same fruitless excercise..

manual push mower would work fine, you would get exercise and you wouldn't harm the environment. Someone still makes them (probably China), I see them at the hardware stores in Amish country .


here you go:http://www.ecomowers.com/Buy_s/56.htm?gclid=CNSppbjo0ZsCFQRM5QodZT-1Lg

And they are cheap, too..

but I just put a couple of horses in when it gets too long. Other than that I would still vote electric - don't need to mess with gas and oil and starting (maybe they have electric ignition now? I have no clue)

Push mower'd keep you in great shape :P

My grandpa had an electric mower for his average size suburban lot and I used to mow the lawn for him sometimes. I hated that mower. I used to own a little house that had a similar size lot and I had a gas push mower and I liked that a lot better. Also, you can get a decent gas mower pretty cheap. I was looking at them at Lowe's the other day and it looks like you can get a decent one for about $200 U.S. I don't know what the electrics are going for.

I really want to use gas as my last option but I've got a fairly nice-sized lot and I'm paranoid if I go electric that it's going to crap out half way through..

Knowing my luck it would happen when I turn the damn thing on..

I suspect that a cordless electric mower would have about as much torque as an electric toothbrush. On the plus side, your lawn will be protected against gingivitis!



Maybe you should just go with AstroTurf.

But I don't think my wife or the city would let me:D

Of course, your wife is another matter. It's one thing to upset City Hall...

to the environment.
http://www.ecomowers.com/Buy_s/56.htm?gclid=CNSppbjo0ZsCFQRM5QodZT-1Lg

At the risk of sounding cheap, some of those manual mowers cost about $100 more than I paid for my gas-powered one!

around $130 at Sears.

Both with cords and battery powered. My lots have been about 5000-7000 square feet.

The battery powered one was nice, but the battery wore out in about six years, and a new battery cost as much as a new gas mower. I had to replace the blade every year, to keep it efficient, but that was a minor cost.

The electric mower with a cord was fine, and lasted forever. The only limitation was the need to flip the cord frequently, while mowing.

My personal choice, if I was doing the mowing, would be the electric mower with a cord, but because I do not do the mowing now, my spouse prefers a gas mower. (I find that inconvenient on account of the need to keep buying gasoline.)

If my spouse were not around, I would get a corded electric again.

I've got a few days to decide so I'm going to think a bit more..

cord is pretty cheap.

http://www.neutonpower.com/

I've been using one of these for about three years and love it. They have a newer more powerful model, now. You should at least look into it.

It's great.

But the one we had before was electric with a cord about 10 miles long that I ran over with the mower every time I cut the grass. It's a wonder I didn't electrocute myself. :scared:

and about a mile of heavy duty loud neon yellow cord.

I love the thing
Black and Decker, the biggest one they make that is NOT self propelled.

We just supplemented our reel mower, which just doesn't cut everything it should, with a corded electric.

And I can run it at seven a.m. without receiving death threats.

Inevitably they run on gas. However you will have your grass cut in record time! You could even offer to cut your neighbours grass and you'd do it all quite quickly!

Now how many flowers you have left in the flower bed afterwards is not addressed.

Ok seriously now: for that small a lot, an electric is fine, as is a small push gas, or if you feel up to it a proper push mower (i.e. human power). But the 4000 is pretty much the limit for electric IMO. Our front yard is about twice this - and we got some weeds out back. So it's gas for us.

Mark.

I will be moving into our new house at the end of the month. One saving grace of 16 years of urban apartment living has been no lawn care. Fuck lawns. I will tolerate a modest amount of grass for kids to play on, but no way am I going to cultivate a big green sterile carpet. Where would my new enormous population of dragonflies find bugs to eat if I had lots of grass and insecticide/fertilizer sprayed everywhere?

I have a mower the prev. owner left me. He swore it works. Does it start? No. I think I can probably get away with a reel mower for now since the unkept yard doesn't have much grass. I think the best size of a yard is: the size you can cut with a reel mower in 35 minutes of brisk walking speed. Everything else gets turned to garden, mulched, or reverts to meadow.

If you get one, make sure you get a spare battery. The mower works decently if you mow your grass religously and only mow in the afternoon after the grass has had plenty of time to dry out under the sun. If your grass has any height, or is even a little wet, the added resistance saps the battery quickly. She has about 3000 square feet of thick green grass, and the mower will only do about 3/4 of it if the conditions aren't just right.

When I go over to help her out with her yard now and then, I usually toss my old TroyBilt in the back of the Subie and just use it. I've been using the TB for 11 years now with only three blade sharpenings and two oil changes, and the thing runs as well as the day I bought it. While I can appreciate the thinking behind the electrics, they're much higher maintenance than gas burners.

Oh, and consider your own fitness when deciding. My grandmother traded an ancient but reliable self propelled mower that she'd been using since the early 1980's, and which she could easily use by herself (she's in her mid 70's). My son or I mow her lawn now because she learned the hard way that electric mowers are heavy (lead acid battery) and they aren't available in self-propelled models. My uncle talked her into the trade because she couldn't lug gas canisters around anymore (gave up her license), but she's pretty unhappy with the trade-off's now. She can't use the thing.