I compared electric lawn mowers and gas ones for a full season. The winner was obvious by July.

I run a small landscaping side gig in Portland, about 12 lawns a week. Last spring I bought a $400 electric mower to try alongside my old gas Toro. By mid July the electric one had cut half the lawns without a single hiccup. The gas mower needed two carburetor cleanings and I spilled gas on my shoes three times. Electric startup is instant, no yanking a cord or mixing oil. My customers actually prefer it because it's quiet enough to talk over. The only downside is battery life on big lots, but I just keep a spare. Has anyone else made the switch and found a brand that handles wet grass better?

2 comments

2 Comments

grayb641mo ago

My first electric mower died on me halfway through my neighbor's lawn and I had to finish with a pair of kitchen scissors. That was a humbling Saturday morning. Learned my lesson about checking the battery charge before starting. Now I keep a spare battery on the charger and have a little system. Wet grass is still the enemy though, clogs up the deck something fierce.

stone.thomas1mo ago

Oh boy, @grayb64. Finishing someone else's lawn with kitchen scissors is a special kind of humiliation. That's the kind of story that haunts you at 3 AM. I respect the spare battery system, but I'd add a backup pair of gardening shears to the arsenal just in case. Wet grass is the real villain here though, it'll clog up any deck like toothpaste in a straw.