This is the Spoiler’s newest toy. We’ve been mowing with battery operated mowers for decades–no mean feat when your yard is just about an acre and probably half of that is devoted to grass. Our neighbors to the north and south use lawn tractors, the one behind us uses a stand on commercial mower, and the one in front of us has gone to using a lawn service–so more tractors and gas blowers.
As I am fond of saying, our neighborhood sounds like an industrial zone from spring until December, when the last of the leaf blowers get put away. There’s no such thing as peace and quiet. The commercial guys are there every day of the week from 7 am until dusk and on the weekends, the homeowners start up. Many of them don’t even have the decency to stop at dusk.
So the only little place where there’s less noise–I won’t say no noise because I am startled still by how much noise these things still make–is on our property. We use nothing powered by gas except a commercial grade leaf blower on occasion in the fall to move leaves from the back to the curb (when you have a heavily wooded property, you can’t use all the leaves you create, no matter how hard you try) and of course our snow blower with the tractor treads for our ski slope of a driveway.
But the lawn mower, hedge trimmer and “weed whacker,” as well as the light use leaf blower for most jobs are all battery powered.
The new lawn mower is a Black and Decker. It’s probably our fourth. We trade in the old ones so the batteries get properly recycled. This one is 40 volts. All the others were 24 volts. That means it will run longer so that ideally the Spoiler will only need two charges to cut the grass instead of three.
It also comes with two batteries so that when he runs through the first one he can pop in the second and keep on mowing. Now knowing that it took at least three charges from the old lawn mower to get through our lawn, we’ll see how well this works. But because this mower is more powerful, perhaps it will have a longer running time and he’ll be able to get the lawn done with just the two batteries.
He was so excited when he got the mower that he called me out to try it. I was still in my work clothes. He made me push it, then made me push it with one hand. I told him that it was very nice but since I never mowed much with the other one, I really didn’t know what to say.
“But you can push it with one hand,” he said.
“Oh, I see,” I replied. “It’s so light, I can mow in my work clothes. Hold on, I’ll go put on my pearls and then you can get a photo.”
So that was part of the attraction too–that the new mower is lighter than the old. As for me mowing–in my pearls or not–that’s not happening any time soon. I have too much work elsewhere in the yard!
Gardendaze 
More voltage, one hand operation, extra battery – sounds great. I think that man spoils you. 😉
Actually he spoils himself. He’s the one doing the mowing. I do everything else–weeding, pruning, planting, growing from seed, etc. But I am not sure I would want to mow 1/2 an acre with a battery operated mower so God bless him!
I didn’t know that anyone made a 40V battery mower. 🙂 Have you ever used the Neuton mower(s) which are 24 volt? I’ve had those but with an extra battery in reserve. How wide is the deck (cutting width) on the Black & Decker? My main beef with the battery mowers is that the deck is usually so narrow that it takes twice as many passes to cover any given area. I have a Neuton CE6 which is a 19″ cutting width but still not suitable for my current 1/2 acre with too damn many oaks dropping acorns and branches all over the place, LOL Also the Neuton just could not handle thicker grass, or any “dips” in the grade.
No, we haven’t used the Neuton but our old Black & Decker was pretty much identical except that the battery wasn’t removable. When it went dead, it had to be plugged in until it recharged.
The width on this is 20 inches.
And you haven’t really mowed over anything until you hit all our exposed tree roots and large pine cones. The acorns we have are nothing compared to those. I just shudder when I hear the noises all the mowers around me make (because we’re all mowing over the same stuff ). Now maybe my ” industrial zone” comment makes a little more sense.
The Black & Decker does hills really well. You can see that the rear wheels are larger. That probably helps. We have quite a nice incline
in the front of the house & its no problem at all.
In addition, because of the rock ledge all over the place, the back is hilly and bumpy. It has no issue with that either. It’s much harder on the on doing the mowing than on the mower itself.
Have a great weekend!
Karla
This is honestly something I never would have thought about. Thanks! After you do your eco-friendly gardening, why not try an eco-friendly recipe. Either way, we are all fighting the fight which makes me smile!
https://honestfoodmomblog.wordpress.com/
I had to smile when I read your comments. I don’t do too much cooking–“real” cooking as most people who love food would call it. In fact, at one point, the Spoiler (aka my husband) even said that he knew that he had married a gardener and not a cook and that was fine.
All of that being said, I do try to be eco-friendly every where: cooking, cleaning, walking the dog–because it’s not just about growing beautiful things.
Thanks for writing. I will check out your blog!
Karla