What is best electric mower
Best Cordless Lawn Mower 2020
[Music]
guys who has the best cordless lawnmower
cordless lawn mowers have taken over the
lawn and garden sections in many retail
stores so in this head-to-head test
we're gonna answer the question whether
cordless mower performance can cut it
when compared to gas powered mowers and
we're going to crown the best cordless
mower for you guys so for this
head-to-head we reached out to 10 of the
top cordless lawn mower manufacturers
and we received 12 mowers two different
mowers came from Green Works and cobalt
the models that we looked at and we
tested included Black & Decker
Dewalt ego Greenworks heart cobalt
makida
Rio B and steel oh and also skill I
almost forgot that one so before I jump
into this I want to ask you guys to just
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do this I'll give you five seconds five
four three two one
that's it see that was easy all right so
why cordless mowers well operate it
correctly gas-powered motors they
require a lot of service and that
includes things like oil changes fuel
filters spark plugs and air filters you
do that stuff right course you do
oftentimes people don't and they wait
until the mower won't start to get it
serviced anyone who has had a small
engine repaired
this can be a hassle and a huge time
sink cordless mowers eliminate that all
of it and they eliminate the fuel
purchase and they're quieter and do not
emit fumes so while this head-to-head is
not a scientific research project we did
take some measurements and I want to
talk about that we evaluated each mower
in several categories and we rank them
against each other we always try to
figure out how to make our tests
consistent repeatable and fair often we
even try to figure out how to take out
the human variable out of some of our
tests we couldn't do that here with
mowers we look at the following
categories in order to give you the best
cordless mower those categories were
quality of cut that's super-important
noise another important category runtime
gergan aa mcc's
we also looked at handle height comfort
and adjustments adjustability and
maneuverability of the mower we looked
at deck height adjustability and how
easy it was to adjust the height of the
deck and we also compared it to cutting
roughs to heavy tall grass and lastly we
looked at storage we collected so much
data that I cannot possibly do justice
here in the video if you're one of those
people that you need all the information
to make a good decision on these mowers
such as the model numbers the deck
heights the sizes of the decks the
weight of the mowers even the miles
traveled go to the toolbox buzz website
and check it out we have a section in
the right hand column on the main page
it's called head to heads
head to head tests all of our head to
heads live there
let's move forward so all the twelve
mowers that we looked at have fairly
similar features and I'll show that in a
table but one of the things that was
interesting to me is how many batteries
are powering the mower that's a really
good question and I think one that
you're going to want the answer to there
are some mowers with extra inoperable
battery storage base for example heart
and steel others have onboard batteries
that either swap over automatically like
Greenworks or you manually switch over
when the
realizing you switch to the next battery
and lastly there are others that run
batteries in parallel like Dewalt and
Makita now Makita stores four batteries
two of them run parallel and then you
have to switch over with a switch
alright let's talk about cut quality
that's a big one the winner of that was
ego now to evaluate the cut quality we
mode adjacent areas with each mower
side-by-side after cutting the grass we
evaluated how well the grass was cut now
the cut quality of the grass areas was
excellent and I'm pretty sure this is
probably due to the fact that all the
mowers were brand new and they all had
extremely sharp and new blades there was
no big discernible difference in the cut
quality of the Mo's and again we weren't
cutting sod so the grass that we were
cutting was a field quality it was a big
lawn and as a result the grass plant
type was probably not particularly
uniform right it wasn't sod so we didn't
test on that kind of grass this made it
the cut quality harder that determined
for us as if it were some sort of
perfect lawn now since we were a valiant
cut quality we ended we wanted to note
that one mower had a different blade
configuration the ego mower comes with
three blades the mower itself runs on
two blades a two blade combination the
top blade is consistent it just stays on
and and then you can do a combination of
the bottom blades so the bottom blade is
designed to be switched out with either
what they call their premium mulching
blade or their premium bagging blade
they're a little bit different the
blades so the premium mulching blade is
ideal when you're mowing giving you a
cut quality and run time expected on
high and like a high end gas lawnmower
would give you the premium bagging blade
is a heavy duty blade a little bit
beefier and turns grass and to find
fragments and that's ideal for bagging
impulsion we wanted to see if there was
a difference in the cut quality between
all the single blade mowers compared to
the two mowers that had unique blades
now the the ego like I said had those
two blades and then the gree
which actually had two single blades we
attached grass backs to the mowers and
we mowed consistent sections of grass we
looked for good sections of grass to do
that we closely examine the clippings
and sorry substantial difference in the
size of the grass pieces mulching and
fine fine clippings the ego clippings
were much smaller than the second-best
sample and that belonged to the 25 inch
Green Works mower now both of these
mowers cut graphs into finer pieces than
the single blade mowers they they both
did better we rank the ego in the top
spot followed by the 25 inch Green Works
mower the 10 single blade mowers that
followed all received a third-place rank
for quality alright let's talk about
noise the winner of the noise was Makena
one of the biggest reader questions that
we often get is they asked about how
much noise does the cordless mower
produce we did a basic decibel test to
measure the noise of the motors and we
did it in a controlled situation to get
a relative comparison to the noise the
test consisted of running each mower
with its deck raised to the midpoint
sitting on a concrete slab in a barn
we placed each mower in the exact same
spot designated spot that was taped off
with a decibel meter at the same height
and relative position to the mower we
ran them the test long enough to let
them always reach their maximum and
stable rpm speed many of these mowers
start high at rpm and then they cycle
down they slow the slower speed and they
do that to save energy our time interval
took the readings before those speed
algorithm step them down because because
it's a no load condition
Makeda one that with eighty and a half
decibels and was notably quieter even
without a decibel meter we noticed it
hot came in second place with eighty two
point four decimals and then ego was
third with eighty four point one
decibels guys for reference the average
gas mower produces somewhere between 95
and 100 decibels the average of our test
cordless mowers was
86 compared to the hundred decibel gas
mower noise levels these these noise
levels of the mowers the sound energy
you hear is just over 20 times now
decibels are in a logarithmic scale 14
decibel difference is 20 times louder
you know in fact many communities have
adopted noise restrictions that limit
the time that you can actually mow the
grass because they're so darn loud a lot
of condominiums and such I also want to
point out that these mowers were
measured running on top of a concrete
slab in practice or in reality these
mowers are much quieter when they're
used on the lawn okay let's talk about
run time because it's a big question on
the minds of people considering
purchasing of battery power mower is
it's gonna run long enough to do my lawn
runtimes affected by many different
variables that makes sense we get that
things like the height of the grass that
you're cutting the thickness of the
grass and the type of grass or
conditions of the environment in order
to get a relative comparison of runtime
we test the our mowers in a pretty large
open area a large field under load
conditions the field grass type and
height was very consistent now we set up
the deck Heights on on the mowers to two
and a half inches they're all at the
same height and it's important to note
that all 12 of the mowers have different
battery amp-hours capacities and
voltages this what it is it's hard to do
apples to apples so how do you make any
sense of that in order to determine the
best run time well you just didn't go by
how many hours at ran or you could look
at other things so we took performance
of the mowers out of the box and we
normalize that performance and what you
did on the basis of energy available we
used watt hours what hours calculated is
calculated by multiplying the voltage
that's the actual voltage not the max
that you know companies advertise by the
amp hours voltage times amp hours this
calculation allows us to compare the
total energy available to do work based
on both the voltage and the size of that
battery pack which is amp hours all
right so our
runtime procedure so like I said for
this runtime test we measured and we
marked out mulling lanes for each lower
and we measured everything out
everything was very consistent we kept
track of our time and the total distance
that each MOA traveled we counted the
laps we set each mower to its maximum
speed if it was self-propelled and for
the non self-propelled or the push
mowers there was the DeWalt and the
Black & Decker we asked those operators
to move at a comfortable pace not to go
for a race but just go to pump some pace
it was very interesting to note that a
40 year old man in good shape pushing a
mower non self propelled is faster than
the self-propelled mowers that we tested
you may also want to consider that if
you're thinking of if you know maybe you
have a large area lawn and you mow when
you like to move quick right we require
the operators also to make sure they
place the wheel on the furthest extent
of the previous lap so that we stay
consistent on our coverage our overlap
coverage in the event that any mower
completed its entire lane we lowered the
the mower deck by one additional inch
and recut the entire lane so the cobalt
80 Volt took first place
it ran eighty five point five minutes
and at mode 38 thousand six hundred
square feet and that's four point two
miles in second place was the makita now
that mower ran eighty three minutes it
mowed 35,000 square feet and that is
33.8 miles third place went to the Green
Works 21 inch mower that bad boy ran for
65 minutes at mode twenty-seven thousand
seven hundred square feet and that's
three miles the heart mow were in the
least for 22 minutes and it mowed eighty
four hundred square feet
okay let's talk about ergonomics the
winner of that was the 25 inch Green
Works now organ honest I ensign and
producing tools that improve worker
efficiency make sense reduce comfort
fatigue risk of injury for the
ergonomics we evaluated seven different
areas on these mowers and they included
things like the adjustability of the
handle the comfort or I should say the F
from maneuverability of the mower the
ease of foldability for storage deck
height adjustment the controls in organ
of the ergonomics on the controls now
the Green Works mower were identical
both of modes are identical and the
ergonomics were off the charts they
scored extremely well these mowers
handle adjustments factors the edge of
the the ease of folding and unfolding
and the design of the mowers in general
their controls everything about them
they just shined in close close second
was the ego mower now the Eagle mower
also is just easy to operate and really
nice we also looked at handle
adjustments and controls and Greenworks
one that as well when it comes to
comfort with respect to push mowers the
handle is a big deal you don't want that
spring thing digging in your hands
both Greenworks mowers were superior in
the group in terms of comfort handle
height and adjustments adjustment is
easily done with two slides on either
side of the handle you simply just pull
on them and they disengage and then to
set them back the adjustment you just
move the handle up and down to your
height and then you can release those
slides and once you do that these pins
these spring pins just lock back into
place and you're ready to go now the ego
also has a simple very simple and
intuitive adjustment it's a lever on
either side and it's a clip so clamps
onto the bar handle we also liked the
large over molded rubber handles and
found find it just really comfortable
the controls were easy to use and
everything that was intuitive most
buttons and levers on the ego are green
and we noticed that and so if there's
anything needs adjustment it's green and
that's on the ego now the skill has a
wide paddle switch for self-propelled
mode along with an easily adjusted or
easy handle adjustments and runner up in
this category ok we looked at
maneuverability in the winter that was
Black & Decker we evaluated how easily
the mowers were to push into cut around
trees and other obstacles this category
is largely based on the mower weight the
the self-propulsion and the wheelbase
design black & decker in the DeWalt were
the more more maneuverable mowers in
this category and I we believe that it's
because they were not self-propelled the
self-propelled units require the user to
disengage the propulsion in order to
maneuver tightly you have to turn off
that gear now the user must then push
against the propulsion if you don't a
mechanism to turn the mower tightly so
it's it's difficult times the 25 inch
green works was the best manoeuvrability
in the self-propulsion mowers and this
was probably due to the fact it has a
very short wheelbase front to back the
mowers that had the longer wheelbase
they rank towards the bottom of this
test for scoring the maneuverability of
push mowers is especially important if
you think about it because oftentimes
you're gonna trim around Gardens trees
and other landscaping features so it's
it's a factor the ease in which them
always turn largely as a result of the
wheels the wheel basin and the weight of
the mower okay moving on we looked at
deck height adjustment and the winner of
that was Rio B all of the boers we
tested included a single lever height
adjustment feature this sure beats
adjusting each individual wheel like the
old style modes that I grew up with the
Rio be actually the mower has a dramatic
stand out and it has this like grab
handle that allows you use it to just
lift or drop the mower while adjusting
the weights like a counterbalance spring
rather than the rather than the other
adjustments which all relied on a short
lever and a lift to lift the mower ego
took second place here and they have a
deck height adjustment on the deck it's
clear and there's no obstructions third
place on this went to skill the large
handle and reinforced plastic detent
plate worked smoothly and easily other
mowers some of the other modes had
knuckle-busting setups that we're
basically you would cut you move the
lever and you knuckles would hit the
handle as you were doing it when you're
adjusting for taller cutting
speaking of taller cutting we looked at
rough stuff cutting what I mean by that
is we took the mowers to a
field that had 18 inch tall grass and
weeds to see which mower could handle
this condition now we recognize that
this is the wrong application for a lawn
mower and we did not use it in the
results of our rankings almost all of
the mowers pushed the larger weeds down
the big stuff and just simply cut the
leaves off them
the lighter mowers with plastic decks
tended to floor it up over the top of
the weeds the skill and the heart mowers
were especially prone to this amazingly
only one mower failed this test that was
the 40 volt Cobalt it stalled out three
times in quick succession and was the
only mower that we felt did not finish
some of them all were stalled out but
quickly started back up or were simply
clogged up with leaves and grown weeds
in the bag and once cleared again
started back up the Black & Decker both
of the Green Works mowers skill skilled
cobalt 80 volt mowers completed the test
without stalling or needing their bags
emptied which was impressive and the ego
and 25 inch green works cut well which
we attribute to both having dual blades
all in all the 25 inch green works the
21 inch green works the cobalt 80 volt
Louis perform the best in this test no
stalling and they do a really decent job
at knocking down really tall rough weeds
and grass okay we moved on from there to
compact design and storage and the
winner of that was ego users know that
folding up and storing mowers is an
important consideration in purchasing we
don't always have the space we need to
be able to store things tight so we
examined what it took to fold these up
and how much volume it takes to store
them additionally cordless mowers can be
stored vertically without the fear of
spilling the gas onto the floor or
filling a cylinder with engine oil the
ego really just blew everybody away blew
away the competition with very easy
storage design in just 15 seconds you
can quickly fold the unit and store it
vertically in a space the size of a
suitcase offering a better solution in
tight storage spaces no doubt and it can
be vertically stored both the Greenworks
and the heart mowers also fold up
relatively small and easily the makita
model does not fold and that is due to
its durability and pro grade
construction it's important to note that
this mower is designed to be a
professional-grade lawn mower piece it's
a piece of equipment and it's gonna live
in a landscape trailer the handle was
specifically specifically designed not
to fold and that's to eliminate a weak
point or a hinge point it was smart
all right this moves us in the fit and
finish winter and Makeda crushed it
Makena stands out in this category it's
because this mower was built for daily
use by professional landscapers it is a
designed beast it features large
diameter rubber over molded wheels a
steel deck and everything about it is
tight and made to stand up to hard use
screws and bolts hold everything
together including the handle which is
non adjustable foldable you need a
wrench just want to remove it almost all
of the parts on this machine are metal
so in short this is a high quality pro
tool that is made for the long haul
now the ego and the Green Works mowers
also stood up with regard to fit and
finish the ego has pretty heavy-duty
parts lots of plastic simple to operate
levers and clamps and very polished
appearance it was designed to be a
cordless mower as was the Green Works
this mower also has heavy duty parts and
smooth operating features ok one of the
things we often do is we talk about the
best value in the test and the best
value foot for us was the Green Works 21
inch mower at the time of publication
the 21 inch Green Works was priced
around 349 bucks with a 4 amp hour
battery given the performance and
overall quality this is a solid pick for
the value this mower came in second
place overall in this test and is the
second least expensive in the group
there's no doubt this is the best bang
for your buck mower my opinion
all right you've been waiting for this
who has the best cordless lawnmower
these test guys and evaluations that we
do they're very difficult and take a lot
of time and ultimately eliminate they're
limited in scope in the fact that we're
not a professional testing company ul
Laboratories Consumer Reports whatever
we also cannot do long-term testing that
might shed light on long-term durability
longevity so in order to choose the best
cordless lawnmower all ten evaluated
categories were scored in ranked one
through twelve we had 12 mowers to
define the winner we then talked or
tallied the those numbers to come up
with a total number the lower the number
the better ego took first place as the
best cordless lawnmower with the 21 inch
Green Works one point behind it really
close these two motors guys third place
went to the 25 inch green work so Green
Works took the show really second and
third place the fourth place was Black &
Decker and that had a really really
solid showing nice mower all right the
ego the ego has excellent portable
design it performed well in every single
category especially in the quality of
cut the fit and finish the handle
comfort adjustments controls and
ergonomics ego also offers just a
platform of outdoor power equipment with
blower a trimmer and edger they have a
hedge trimmer a snow blower chainsaw a
multi head system with all these
different parts on it
and a power station which is really cool
it's important to note that ego is also
the above average and cost compared to
the rest of the Loess was one of the
higher priced mowers now Green Works
came in one point behind it also offers
a solid outdoor power equipment platform
with chainsaw blower trimmer edger hedge
trimmer pressure washer which is cool
and a powerful portable power station
both eco and green work tools work off
the same battery platform so this
complete solution for your lawn and
garden they just all work off the same
batteries which is awesome
my overall thoughts on this while
gasoline mowers have been around since
1914 the advances in battery technology
have created battery powered lawnmowers
a market of them that can a cut up
basically accomplished and complete what
many users need and it can replace the
gas powered mower today's cordless
mowers the owners are no longer have to
sub be subject to the noise the smell
the maintenance issues and all the
hallmarks of the gas motor ownership
guys thank you for watching if you
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below I'm Rob Robillard and we'll see
you next time here at toolbox buzz
