I had the opportunity to mow a neighbours yard with a top end Ryobi battery mower yesterday, using the mulch function. My experience of the Ryobi is only against a 20 year old Masport mulching mower. some observations and comment are based on using the mower as a mulcher:
- The battery mower cut at only a longer grass (>40mm) height. For some yards and grass types this might be okay, but with the lawn in question it didn’t look as neat as a traditional petrol mower.
- The mulching action of the battery mower was better than the petrol mower. The battery mower had a spreading plate attached to the back of the mower which helped push the clipping back into the lawn, making them less pronounced.
- The battery mower body was plastic, which might be okay where one doesn’t have garden or concrete edges to deal with. Regular knocks against hard surfaces may not serve the mover life well. Possibly look for a battery mower which is majority metal, rather than majority plastic which occurs in many brands.
- The battery mower didn’t handle sticks or leaves as well as the petrol mower. If you have a lawn which has a lot of sticks/leaves, it may be worth finding one which handles such materials better.
- The battery life (5Ah battery) was enough capacity to mow about 250m2 (estimated) of lawn. The battery did get quite hot. I also ran it out (over areas where the initial cut wasn’t perfect) to full discharge and it lasted another 5 minutes after finishing the lawn. I estimate that the 5Ah battery would do about 300m2 of lawn where the grass being cut is about 75mm (35mm cut off). I have included the height as the mower increases output under load and it is likely under harder cutting conditions, the battery life will be less.
- I don’t know the charge time as it wasn’t my mower (it is the neighbours). She indicated that it takes several hours to charge the battery after a mow. If you plan to buy a battery mower, it is suggested that the battery life greatly exceeds the stated mow area…for two reasons, the first as outlined above output increases under load/longer grass which would reduce battery life…and one doesn’t want to have to wait some time or have the expense of buying multiple batteries to finish off a mow in one session.
The battery mower also had push assistance/self propel. I didn’t use this which would have resulted in an reduced battery life.
Would I buy a battery mower, if I had a smaller lawn which was mowed regularly, mostly free of sticks etc, I would consider one. For larger areas, I would need more evidence that they are a better option.
