and the metamorphosis continues…into the lawn! **UPDATED**

As my regular readers know, I’ve been fundamentally changed by leasing our two Chevy Volts. We’ve been actively researching solar panels and (hopefully) plan on adding them to our home. We’ve gone non-chemical in fertilizing our lawn and treating it for weeds. I’ve written articles on our neighborhood website about rainwater collection, sprinkler system use, mulching, renewable energy electricity providers, recycling and (of course) electric vehicles.

This weekend, we did it again. We recently built a much more efficient and smaller home than we had in Colleyville. It has a much smaller yard than the last house, so we’ve been debating having a lawn service mow and edge our lawn or doing it ourselves. I wanted to opt for the service, especially since I haven’t mowed a lawn in at least 22 years. A yard the size of ours costs between $20 and $25 to have it mowed and edged. Texas has about a nine month grass growing season, so the cost, per year, of having our lawn mowed and edged would be between $780 and $975. Not a tiny amount by any means, but we spent twice as much at the last house (1/2 acre lawn, lots of tree and shrub trimming as well). The convenience of having someone else do it as well as the problem of storing the lawnmower (and fuel) in a small, two-car garage where two gas water heaters are located, had me leaning toward a lawn service.

My wife, Bonnie, found manual “reel” lawn mowers at Home Depot and wanted us to go check them out. They ranged in price from $80 to $199. I had always wondered about these, but had never had a lawn small enough to make one practical. The store staff was very helpful and the first person to help us used a reel mower to mow her lawn, so she had lots of good advice and recommendations. We were very close to making the purchase, when I noticed how far the blades were from the outside edge of the wheels. We would have to use a trimmer along the entire fence line and around all trees if we bought a reel mower. This was not a deal breaker, but it had me pondering…

I cannot remember how it came up, but the saleswoman mentioned that Home Depot had just gotten in a lithium-ion battery-powered lawn mower by Ego. I had thought about an electric mower, but the idea of fighting a cord while mowing was not a pleasant thought. This might be a way to not have explosive fuel stored in my garage near two open flames! Being battery-powered, there would be no cord to manhandle. The saleswoman wasn’t as well-versed on the electrics, but she knew that the morning after they came in, a man came in to specifically check it out and bought one. They think this is going to be really big. She found another salesperson to help with the battery-powered mower. He was quite helpful as well and mentioned the manufacturer had leaf blowers and “weed eaters” that were powered by the same system (although different battery sizes). He mentioned the leaf blowers were so powerful, they were blowing around sections of 2X4’s with one!

Gasoline-powered, self-propelled lawn mowers ranged in price from $249 to $3,699 (way more mower than we’d need), so I didn’t think the price for the Ego was out of line. There were 22 gas-powered mowers that were less expensive than the Ego, but not a big enough difference in price that I’d opt for gas. I pulled out my iPhone and checked Consumer Reports for mower ratings. The Ego was rated highest among battery-powered mowers and only a few gas-powered mowers scored higher. We checked online pricing and it was the same as Home Depot’s price.

I had to ask the “range anxiety” question: “How long could it cut grass before recharging?” The answer was 30-45 minutes, which should be more than enough to mow our small yard. The price for the mower was $500 and that had me stumped. The reel mower was MUCH less expensive, but would require a lot more extra work, due to the additional trimming that would be required.

Then he said the four things that clenched the deal:

• The mower folds up “like a stroller,” meaning we’d be able to fit it in our garage without having to hang it on a wall,
• The mower has headlights so you can mow when it’s a little cooler,
• The mower is self-propelled, (it actually isn’t self-propelled and I prefer that it isn’t)
• He is empowered to discount it $50.

Done deal.

We loaded our new electric mower in the back of our electric vehicle and took our new toy home. I’ll let you know my thoughts, once I’ve mowed with it a few times.

**UPDATE** Okay, I’ve been through the first mow and here are my thoughts:

• I read the manuals (mower, charger and battery), since this is such a different animal.
• It is not self-propelled. See why I prefer it that way in the video review.
• It’s not as quiet as I thought it would be but is MUCH quieter than a gas mower. I don’t think I’ll be doing any 7:00AM mowing…
• I absolutely LOVE not smelling exhaust fumes as I mow.
• Like most mowers, the handle is too wide. When I’m trying to mow up against the wooden fence, the handle rubs the fence before I can get all the grass at the fence line cut.
• The battery mounts for the charger and the mower were very robust.
• The battery life is fine for us, total mow time was about 25 minutes. The grass was not overgrown, so the load was not very heavy. At the end of the mow, when I plugged the battery into the charger, it showed 25% battery power remaining. Even if I had depleted the battery, it recharges so quickly, I could do something else between mowing the front and back yards, if I had to.
• It is designed to fold up and stand on end, taking up an amazingly small amount of room on our garage.

It did NOT make mowing “fun.”**UPDATED AGAIN 10 APR 14**

I went back to Home Depot and bought the Ego Wireless String Trimmer. As I mentioned in the review of the mower, I cannot easily mow right up to the edge of the fence, so I needed to get a string trimmer, commonly known as a “weed whacker.” I noticed that there were many battery-powered string trimmers at Home Depot, starting at just $49.99. The Ego was not the most expensive, but it was near the top. I read reviews, using my iPhone, and honestly based my decision on the experience I had with Ego’s lawn mower. It was in a box almost too long to fit in my car (you know, my Chevy Volt) even with the back seats folded down.

One question I wanted an answer to was, “If all Ego’s tools use the same battery pack, why do I have to buy that (and a charger) with every tool?” Surfing the Ego website, I found the answer in their “Support” section. It appears I wasn’t the only one asking this. The answer from Ego was that later this month, Home Depot would begin stocking “tool only” boxes that did not have the battery or charger. Since mowing the lawn used the majority of the battery, I didn’t have a problem getting the string trimmer with another battery and charger. If I end up getting the leaf blower, I will opt for the “tool only” option.

Once I got the trimmer home, I did have one disappointment: The included charger was a different design than the charger that came with the mower. I’m a stickler for symmetry and this bugged me. A lot. Why make another charger? Why make them look different? Stand differently? Oh well…

Assembly was easy, but one critique I had read while at Home Depot rang true: Why make the handle adjustable only by employing a screwdriver? If I’m out in the yard, trimming the grass along the fence and want to switch to edging the sidewalk, I don’t want to have to walk back into the garage for a screwdriver. My next trip to Home Depot will be for finger screws of the same thread type so I can make the adjustment without tools.

One of the features a Black & Decker trimmer has, that I wish the Ego had, is a flip down wheel for edging. Instead of having to support the weight of the trimmer when edging along the sidewalk or driveway, the user just flips down the wheel and rolls the trimmer along, much like a traditional edger, with the exception that it has only the one wheel.

There was one very impressive thing about the Ego’s packaging. All the packaging was recyclable! This was true of the lawn mower too, but I failed to mention it in my earlier review. There was no styrofoam protecting padding. It was all pulped cardboard, molded to the desired shape. It was (somewhat) easily shredded to fit in our recycling bin. Even the plastic bags had a recycling symbol on them. I have to admit, to me that shows battery power, for Ego, is not just a fad or buzzword. It seems to be a real commitment to making the world a bit cleaner.

I’m still a bit bummed that the chargers are different, but c’est la vie. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but when I do, you can bet I’ll update this post to let you know what I think!