Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
Replies
Yep used one for years, nice power, never a sub for a commercial spec petrol mower, only issue and the dealer claims we are the first to bring it up is the battery pops out and we have to wedge it in...
I think Battery Kit is, in part, about compatibility of batteries. So you buy Brand X, get a charger and a couple/many batteries, and then it is costly / hassle to have other kit from a different brand that needs different batteries. So choosing Brand based on all the other kit that is available may be important ...
I went with Stihl for gardening gear (and Makita for workshop tools ... but could have been Dewalt for that choice)
Check battery charging time (with a fast charger). The Flymo kit I used to have had a run time for about 30 mins and a charge time of 2 - 3 hours ! The Stihl fast charger is very good, and batteries range from very light, but low capacity, right up to high capacity back-pack batteries.
The stihl mower takes two batteries ... but only one is wired, so have to swap over when first is flat. I suppose that is handy if it runs flat right at the furthest point from the van!
I don't get on very well with the Stihl mower. The wheels are on the four corners, so I frequently drop a wheel over the lawn edge and scalp the edge. I previously had a Bosch which had a roller at the back, and the front wheels are "inbound" so it didn't have that problem. I still have that (batteries were wrecked in a flood, and that caused me to decide to move to Stihl, but I am now thinking to go back to that mower).
From photos looks like the Ego also has front wheels in line with edge of blade
Re: Battery
Charge at home (or Customer's Leccy). Saves some time at forecourt, I reckon that overnight electricity tariff works out about 4x cheaper than petrol
Quieter (Dunno about Ego, but Stihl mower is still quite noisy, but less than petrol engine), minimal maintenance, can hang it on the wall as no fluids to leak out!
Mower is quite power hungry (less than a Blower perhaps, but more than a Hedge trimmer), so likely to need more / bigger batteries to get through the day (unless all jobs are domestic and Customers are home and will let you plug in)
Batteries are expensive.
Not as much grunt as a Petrol mower
Also I forgot to say that the dealer was going to throw in the battery free of charge
Make sure you get the biggest one, usually when it foc it's the smallest which won't last long... the big one we use lasts on average about an hour or two of we are lucky. We had a strimer chucked in FOC but it was only the bottom spec one...
Never tried an Ego mower per se but use battery mowers contantly and would advise whatever brand you go for, be prepared for harsh realities about battery run time if going out doing jobs with it
Thanks. I guess it's all down to the battery with these mowers and how realistically they last when out mowing.
The Ego batteries are very good, I use the 7.5Ah one in their most powerful hand held blower (650 c.f.m.) The pack is quite heavy and bulky due to the design and amount of cells in it, but manageable. You would not want to use a 7.5Ah on a hedge trimmer but in a lawnmower it would be no problem at all. As an indication of battery usage I cut lawns at one house yesterday which had grown quite a bit. There are different areas of grass that are cut at varying heights. In the space of 2 hours I used 3 of my battery mowers, as they all give different results. The Bosch Pro 53Cm for the main areas. Bosch 43Cm for edges and smaller areas. And Stihl RMA2RT (46Cm) Mulching mower for a rougher bit. Might sound a faff using 3 mowers but actually makes it easier and the results are top notch, 2 of the 3 are quite light in weight. Battery usage, the Bosch Pro takes 2 large 6Ah 36V packs at a time. I ran the first 2 packs down to 20% then swapped them out and ran a second pair down to about 50%. The 2 smaller mowers used one 4Ah 36 Volt battery each as well. That is over £1200 worth of batteries. This is on rougher country garden type grass not a manicured lawn
The little cordless mowers are a game changer when it comes to cutting those small lawns but i alternate on one job .
Use cordless on the front lawn and petrol on the back lawn .
Its a question of limitations . Is there a cordless mower out there which can cope with tall grass height and large areas . ?
Large areas not a problem with that Bosch Pro GRA53 of mine, I have 6 sets of 2 batteries for it now. It was marketed as a commercial mower but its Achilles heel is wet grass, even a light shower during mowing and it's ability to collect without blocking totally goes to pieces. On dry or a bit damp grass it's an absolute joy to use. I mow large areas with it in the same time as a petrol one used to. It would struggle to cut very long grass extremely short but it's a very nice machine, had it 5 years and all it has ever needed is a blade change
Hi Ive used the Ego mowers since the 52 came out. Batteries (7.5) last about 50 mins. I have two that size and a small battery (for strimmer) that only lasts about 15 mins but with the rapid charger it only takes just under an hr to charge the 7.5 so can easily do all day providing customers have an outside electric point.
The cut even in long grass is good and will leace a seni stripe finish (piece of rubber at the back pushes the grass down) not as good as a roller but better than a normal mower and quite acceptable. Not bad in the wet but gets a bit clogged when half full so more emptying required. It wont ever be an Etesia but its not meant to be. Best thing is Ive never used a faster mower! Way faster than a Hayter 56 and most smaller medium jobs can be fone in nearly half the time of my old Hayter 48.
Hope that helps-
1
-
2
of 2 Next