Hands-on with the EGO 56-Volt Lithium-ion Self Propelled Mower
By Timothy Tibbetts |
Today we're taking out the EGO 56-Volt Lithium-ion 21" Self Propelled Mower. This mower has been rated 5-stars on most websites, but we disagree. Read on to see what we love and the one thing we hated about this lawnmower.
The EGO line of mowers catches the eye. With their gray and fluorescent green colors, they're hard for anyone to ignore in a sea of otherwise similarly styled lawnmowers. The price tag also stands out with the top-of-the-line, self-propelled mower costing near $500.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn a commission if you purchase an item using our affiliate links, including the photos below. Click on any photo or check out the entire line of Ego products.
While $500 may seem like a lot, imagine no longer needing gas or oil. If you use a few 5-gallon cans of gasoline a year, you're saving $30 or more a year just in gasoline. There's also no air or oil filter nor spark plugs to clean or replace, and the mower is virtually maintenance-free.
The EGO mower comes with an all-in-one blade and everything you need to mulch, discharge, or bag your clippings. The large 56v batteries are easy to put into and take out of the mower. Charge time is also fast at about one hour to charge a drained battery. Other EGO products (chain saws, weed eater, blower) come with smaller 56v batteries. You can swap those batteries between any EGO product, although the smaller batteries don't last as long as the included larger batteries. Expect an hour of run time unless you have tall or wet grass, which can hurt battery life.
The EGO mower impresses with a smart design, simplicity, and ease of use out of the box. We popped in the battery and were mowing within minutes. You have to hold down the green button while pulling back (and holding) the handle to start the mower. Then, you hold down the drive handle to activate the self-propelled. The self-propelled, unlike a gas mower, has a second of lag before the drive kicks in. The drive speed is also adjustable.
While you're mowing, you can see some of the smart design ideas we mentioned. There's a button to activate the front LED lights and a battery indicator that warns you when your battery is low. Similar to other mowers, there are five easy adjust the mower height. The handle can be adjusted in or out for your height, and a lever folds the handle in half to save space so the lawnmower can be stood up against a wall.
The plastic housing might concern, but the mower is solid, and it won't rust. You can hear some noises because there's no loud gas engine covering sounds up. Using the EGO mower isn't any different than the gas competition; however, there is one noticeable difference. When you mow an area with tall grass, your gas mower will start to stall. The EGO mower does the opposite and speeds up to tackle the taller grass, then settles back to the average speed. We still get a kick out of that every time it happens.
We cut some wet grass, and the battery lasted about half of its regular charge, so we swapped out one of the smaller 56v batteries we received with our blower and weedeater while we waited for the larger battery to charge. Overall, our lawn is the typical suburban yard, maybe a 14 acre, and in ordinary situations, the batteries have always been able to mow the entire yard without depleting the batteries.
By the time we mowed half our yard, we were sold. However, you might recall we mentioned that there was one thing we disliked.
We didn't like two things, and both are related to the most critical part of any lawn mower - the cut. The EGO mower leaves clippings along the edge of the mower even though we're not cutting tall grass. Of course, we prefer to have a job-specific mowing blade, so we purchased an Arnold blade. Some people call these blades Gator blades. They mulch grass to a finer cut and have a cool whistling sound.
Here is where we found our second problem. The blade on the EGO mower is 20 and 1\4 inches, not 21", so the 21" blade is bigger than the housing.
Unless someone makes a blade specific to the EGO's incorrect size, we're currently stuck with the included three-in-one blade or the optional bagging blade. We purchased the bagging blade, and the cut was identical to the included three-in-one blade.
That said, even knowing about the blade, we still would have bought the EGO mower. There's a lot here to like. Buying a self-propelled electric mower seemed like a risk at the time, and we're glad we took a chance. The EGO mower is currently the most powerful electric mower available and is as good, or better, than many gas mowers.
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The EGO line of mowers catches the eye. With their gray and fluorescent green colors, they're hard for anyone to ignore in a sea of otherwise similarly styled lawnmowers. The price tag also stands out with the top-of-the-line, self-propelled mower costing near $500.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn a commission if you purchase an item using our affiliate links, including the photos below. Click on any photo or check out the entire line of Ego products.
While $500 may seem like a lot, imagine no longer needing gas or oil. If you use a few 5-gallon cans of gasoline a year, you're saving $30 or more a year just in gasoline. There's also no air or oil filter nor spark plugs to clean or replace, and the mower is virtually maintenance-free.
The EGO mower comes with an all-in-one blade and everything you need to mulch, discharge, or bag your clippings. The large 56v batteries are easy to put into and take out of the mower. Charge time is also fast at about one hour to charge a drained battery. Other EGO products (chain saws, weed eater, blower) come with smaller 56v batteries. You can swap those batteries between any EGO product, although the smaller batteries don't last as long as the included larger batteries. Expect an hour of run time unless you have tall or wet grass, which can hurt battery life.
The EGO mower impresses with a smart design, simplicity, and ease of use out of the box. We popped in the battery and were mowing within minutes. You have to hold down the green button while pulling back (and holding) the handle to start the mower. Then, you hold down the drive handle to activate the self-propelled. The self-propelled, unlike a gas mower, has a second of lag before the drive kicks in. The drive speed is also adjustable.
While you're mowing, you can see some of the smart design ideas we mentioned. There's a button to activate the front LED lights and a battery indicator that warns you when your battery is low. Similar to other mowers, there are five easy adjust the mower height. The handle can be adjusted in or out for your height, and a lever folds the handle in half to save space so the lawnmower can be stood up against a wall.
The plastic housing might concern, but the mower is solid, and it won't rust. You can hear some noises because there's no loud gas engine covering sounds up. Using the EGO mower isn't any different than the gas competition; however, there is one noticeable difference. When you mow an area with tall grass, your gas mower will start to stall. The EGO mower does the opposite and speeds up to tackle the taller grass, then settles back to the average speed. We still get a kick out of that every time it happens.
We cut some wet grass, and the battery lasted about half of its regular charge, so we swapped out one of the smaller 56v batteries we received with our blower and weedeater while we waited for the larger battery to charge. Overall, our lawn is the typical suburban yard, maybe a 14 acre, and in ordinary situations, the batteries have always been able to mow the entire yard without depleting the batteries.
By the time we mowed half our yard, we were sold. However, you might recall we mentioned that there was one thing we disliked.
We didn't like two things, and both are related to the most critical part of any lawn mower - the cut. The EGO mower leaves clippings along the edge of the mower even though we're not cutting tall grass. Of course, we prefer to have a job-specific mowing blade, so we purchased an Arnold blade. Some people call these blades Gator blades. They mulch grass to a finer cut and have a cool whistling sound.
Here is where we found our second problem. The blade on the EGO mower is 20 and 1\4 inches, not 21", so the 21" blade is bigger than the housing.
Unless someone makes a blade specific to the EGO's incorrect size, we're currently stuck with the included three-in-one blade or the optional bagging blade. We purchased the bagging blade, and the cut was identical to the included three-in-one blade.
That said, even knowing about the blade, we still would have bought the EGO mower. There's a lot here to like. Buying a self-propelled electric mower seemed like a risk at the time, and we're glad we took a chance. The EGO mower is currently the most powerful electric mower available and is as good, or better, than many gas mowers.
Similar:
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