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Ready or not, it looks like battery-powered lawn mowers are here to stay. I just went to Home Depot the other day; out of about twenty push mowers in stock, only four were gas-powered. If you mow your own lawn, you’ll probably be looking at purchasing a battery-powered mower sooner or later. To follow is a review of two battery powered lawn mowers I recently purchased.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Review
In this article, I’ll be reviewing two battery-powered lawn mowers: the EGO Select Cut with Speed IQ and the Makita 40-volt max XGT.
Note that the purchase of these mowers was not sponsored; I bought them with my own money.
Both of these mowers have a cutting width of twenty-one inches and a ton of features. I’ll touch on what I think are the best features and also those that I feel aren’t so great. What I’ll be really focusing on is run time and whether the mower had enough torque to get the job done or not.
Rather watch than read? Check out this 11-minute video.
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.
Links to Mowers Tested (and Recommended Alternatives)
EGO 21″ Select Cut with Speed IQ (Tested)
EGO 21″ Select Cut 10Ah (Recommended)
Makita 21″ 40V XGT (Tested/Recommended)
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: The Test Scenarios
To evaluate the two mowers, I put them to the test in two different scenarios.
The first scenario is your typical weekly or biweekly mowing situation with grass of a normal height. The second scenario was a set of extreme conditions where the grass was completely overgrown. I wanted to test the mowers in a worst-case situation where the demand on torque was very high in order to get a second set of real run times to compare to the published battery durations.
In the second test scenario, the grass was nine inches tall! I set the mowers on a 4-inch height setting in mulching mode; a very high-torque, high-demand set of parameters.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Run Time as the Benchmark
I focused my trials on the amount of time the batteries lasted because I think it’s a more relevant benchmark than square footage. Generally speaking, we know how much time it takes to mow the lawn even though we might not be able to say how big the area is.
If you are curious to know how big your yard is (not your lot; the actual grassy area you have to mow), you can use Google Earth (not Google Maps). With the measurement tool found in the left-hand menu, draw a polygon by clicking around the perimeter of your yard. Once you close the polygon, Google Earth will show you the acreage in the upper right-hand corner.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Test Results
We’re going to compare the actual run times from my trials to the stated run times of these lawn mowers, so I’ll list the advertised run times first:
Stated Battery Duration:
- EGO Select Cut: Up to 1.5 hours
- Makita XGT: Up to one hour
Test Scenario One
Test Scenario One was a normal situation with grass of regular height, the height you’d find if you mow your lawn weekly or biweekly.
Battery Duration, Test Scenario One:
- EGO Select Cut: 59 min, 30 sec (66% of the quoted duration)
- Makita XGT: 24 min, 30 sec (41% of the quoted duration)
In this trial, the EGO performed better with regard to run time. It’s not surprising, seeing as this is the biggest battery you can get with this model — 56-volt with a 12-Ah (amp-hour) capacity.
Test Scenario Two
My second test scenario was a truly challenging situation for any lawn mower. The grass was nine inches tall and a little bit wet. There were also stumps and chunks of concrete scattered throughout the lawn. Both these mowers hit their torque limit and shut down a number of times, which is not surprising under the circumstances.
Battery Duration, Test Scenario Two:
- EGO Select Cut: 27 min, 30 sec (30% of the quoted duration)
- Makita XGT: 12 min (20% of the quoted duration)
These run times are pretty interesting. Granted, this was a worst-case scenario but it’s worth keeping in mind that a lawn mower that states the battery will last up to an hour might only go for twelve minutes in taxing conditions.
In this situation, the EGO Select Cut did a much better job. I felt it had significantly more torque, which resulted in a better cut. With the Makita, there was some striping due to the blade slowing down.
To relate time to surface area, the 27 minutes that the EGO Select Cut lasted was just a bit shy of the time needed to mow 1/8 of an acre under these severe conditions. Again, this is probably not something you’re going to face on a weekly basis, but depending on what your use case is, you now have two sets of real-life battery durations to factor into your evaluation of a new battery-powered lawn mower.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Maximum Yard Size
I took a poll of our YouTube viewers regarding the maximum yard size that they felt a battery-powered mower would be practical for. About half said a quarter of an acre would be the limit, and I would have to agree with that. The EGO, with its supersized battery, could handle a bit more than that.
Don’t forget that over time battery capacity will start to diminish, so it does make sense to get a mower that has a bit more capacity than you need.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Understanding the Batteries
To find out what the maximum energy storage capacity of a battery is, find the plate where the statistics are written. For example, this battery from the EGO Select Cut shows that my maximum energy storage for this lawn mower is 672 Wh (watt-hours).
When I look at the Makita XGT batteries, each has 144 Wh of capacity (36V, 4 Ah). There are two batteries, so my total capacity is 288 Wh.
The battery capacity of the EGO is almost 2.5 times that of the Makita. From our first trial, you can see how that drastic difference starts to play out in actual-use conditions.
One thing to note: You can get 8-amp batteries for the Makita. This will double your overall energy storage and should double your available run time but it does come with a serious price tag. At Home Depot, those two 8-amp batteries cost $780, more than I paid for the lawn mower itself with two 4-amp batteries.
Battery-Powered Lawn Mowers: Review of Features
EGO Select Cut with Speed IQ
- Features I liked: The dual-blade design. I think it makes for a nicer cut.
- Features I didn’t like: The Speed IQ. This automatic speed-control system really does not work the way it should. It’s extremely jerky and I found myself fighting it the whole time. If you decide to purchase an EGO Select Cut, I recommend getting it without this feature.
Makita 40-volt max XGT
- Features I liked: The controls. Having separate engagements for the blade and the drive system that you can easily adjust with your left hand is, in my opinion, a superior feature.
Related Articles: How Many Solar Panels Are Needed to Charge a Lawn Mower?
If you’re considering an off-grid garage or shed, it might be handy to know how to calculate the capacity you’ll need from solar panels to charge your lawn equipment. In this tutorial, I’ll go over the process using the EGO Select Cut battery-powered lawn mower as an example.
This article on how to evaluate whether you should hire a professional to install solar panels or do it yourself might also be helpful.
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