I think something like this Ryobi battery powered riding mower will be the replacement whenever my old Sears gives up the ghost. I’m going to keep an eye on this product line but hoping to hear feedback from actual owners.
The online reviews seem very positive. One thing I read is that the cutting deck simply hangs from the brackets which allows it to move. I saw a picture that seems to confirm that. I can fix it myself, wondering what other perceived shortcomings folks have encountered.
I'd never buy an EV for property maintenance. My GT runs at least 3 hours per cutting in the fall, most of that under pretty good load. Damp, long grass, plenty of leaves, pulling a Cyclone Rake.
Be sure of what you are getting. Look at the various battery drills/impact wrenches. Some are just for very light duty while others more robust. Gotta think these are more light than heavy duty. Extra battery? Cost? Repairs?
My bottom line is that whatever it is, it has to WORK, RELIABLY.
Added thought: Keep in mind that to extend battery range, everything in the construction has to be as light weight as possible. That means thinnest possible gauge metals, and plastics where ever possible.
Not bashing EVs here, just be sure you know what you are getting and that it will meet your needs. Otherwise it quickly becomes just more land fill or something for the kids to play on.
I'd never buy an EV for property maintenance. My GT runs at least 3 hours per cutting in the fall, most of that under pretty good load. Damp, long grass, plenty of leaves, pulling a Cyclone Rake.
Be sure of what you are getting. Look at the various battery drills/impact wrenches. Some are just for very light duty while others more robust. Gotta think these are more light than heavy duty. Extra battery? Cost? Repairs?
My bottom line is that whatever it is, it has to WORK, RELIABLY.
Added thought: Keep in mind that to extend battery range, everything in the construction has to be as light weight as possible. That means thinnest possible gauge metals, and plastics where ever possible.
Not bashing EVs here, just be sure you know what you are getting and that it will meet your needs. Otherwise it quickly becomes just more land fill or something for the kids to play on.
Very good response on items to look for and possible shortcomings. I would also wonder on reliability of electrical contacts/brushes/etc in a harsh environment.
Battery and electronics technologies have been evolving exponentially over the past several years, and even though one might not have experience on this particular machine it seems to me that observations based on experience with related electrical systems could offer useful insight.
Let's not forget that we're here to help each other; just because that help doesn't come in your favorite color or shape doesn't mean it's not valuable or well-intentioned.
This may be something of a tangent, but might help:
Something like three years ago, I was on Church Council and we needed yet another lawn mower. The lawns would periodically kill the mowers, and I figured out why with the help of the members here - the side hills were killing the gas engines. There were several of them where you'd have to mow on a tilt, and we figured out that the engines were getting starved for oil.
It cost plenty, but we had a Stihl dealer two blocks away who gave us a break on the pricing of a Stihl battery mower. It has a kind of 'brain' so that it knows when to work the motor harder, jumping to high output instantly. Everyone reports that it does a great job, actually outworks the volunteers pushing it. Everybody says it really doesn't care about wet grass, although like any mower, it does a better job on dry grass. Best thing is that it's lasting - we were having to buy a 'new' mower every year and a half or so. And some of the 'donations' were, well, real beaters: "So-and-so donated a mower!" "That's great!" (Figure on replacing it in a few months.)
Thing is, that battery mower has paid us back well in maintenance not required, ease-of-use, and durability. All the arguments about it costing one and a half times a hardware-store mower have been completely shut down because it's still going, where we would be on the third hardware-store mower by now.
I've had it for about two years now and it has worked pretty great so far.
I have about two acre of uneven sloping weeds/grass I use it on. Rocks and sticks in the mix.
My first use of it everything was at about 4 foot
Goes faster than a mower should and only gets stuck if it's high sided or in deep mud. The seat doesn't have much shock absorption, but that's not an issue at regular mower speeds.
I have a tow behind scraper/ scarifier that I put 75 pounds on and it digs in and pulls no problem
It does start to get bogged down when it gets over 16" or so, if it's real tall I'll usually blast through fast and then come back at a regular pace. it'll shut off if it gets too bogged down, but fires back up by cycling the switch. I only use it with the mulching plug on and the blades are in a pretty sorry state now, but with new blades and side discharging it'll handle more than most people would attempt with an electric mower.
It's pretty quite, Great turning radius, makes it though all of my small gates. The quite is especially nice for carting around materials and tools.
And when I'm done (I've outlasted it only once) I just park it and plug it in.
I Definitely recommend if you'll be using it for a maintained area.
If your taking care of high weeds then you probably want to stick with fumes for now.
I purchased the Ryobi 480e in October of 2018. Mainly good things to say about it, especially the dramatic reduction in carbon footprint compared to the John Deere I was using. It is essential we start reducing the amount of carbon in our atmosphere.
I use it more to haul carts of materials (branches, wood chips, compost) around my 1.5 acre partially treed property, with many native Madrone, Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar trees, fruit trees, and shrubbery. Several negatives are 1) rough ride (you feel all the bumps). 2) it's free wheeling nature when traveling downhill, requiring regular use of the brake pedal. 3) The batteries are warrantied for only one year. 4) Lack of information on repair of this EV lawn tractor.
On the positive side, the batteries (4-75ah 12v lead acid batteries) provide enough power to easily cut ~1 acre of grass, or several days of hauling loaded tractor carts.
I tried to mow some tall grass a couple of days ago and found the battery power indicator showing low power, so I returned to the charging station for an overnight charge. The next day the battery led indicator still showed low charge. I measured the voltage at the battery connector under the seat and found 36v, not the 48v I expected. Perhaps one of the 4-12v batteries had prematurely failed (this Ryobi 480e is only 1-1/2 years old). I followed the change battery procedure in the Owners Manual to gain access to the batteries...all 4 measured 13+ volts. So where to go from here?
If anyone has experienced this and/or figured out what the problem may be, please reply.
Thanks for the review. My Craftsman doesn’t have any suspension to speak of so have to think it would be equally as rough. Maybe you can go a little low in tire pressure to soften the jounce?
Did you isolate each battery from the others before taking each measurement?
I purchased the Ryobi 480e in October of 2018. Mainly good things to say about it, especially the dramatic reduction in carbon footprint compared to the John Deere I was using. It is essential we start reducing the amount of carbon in our atmosphere.
I use it more to haul carts of materials (branches, wood chips, compost) around my 1.5 acre partially treed property, with many native Madrone, Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar trees, fruit trees, and shrubbery. Several negatives are 1) rough ride (you feel all the bumps). 2) it's free wheeling nature when traveling downhill, requiring regular use of the brake pedal. 3) The batteries are warrantied for only one year. 4) Lack of information on repair of this EV lawn tractor.
On the positive side, the batteries (4-75ah 12v lead acid batteries) provide enough power to easily cut ~1 acre of grass, or several days of hauling loaded tractor carts.
I tried to mow some tall grass a couple of days ago and found the battery power indicator showing low power, so I returned to the charging station for an overnight charge. The next day the battery led indicator still showed low charge. I measured the voltage at the battery connector under the seat and found 36v, not the 48v I expected. Perhaps one of the 4-12v batteries had prematurely failed (this Ryobi 480e is only 1-1/2 years old). I followed the change battery procedure in the Owners Manual to gain access to the batteries...all 4 measured 13+ volts. So where to go from here?
If anyone has experienced this and/or figured out what the problem may be, please reply.
if you disconnected all the batteries before taking voltage they should add up properly. If each battery has 12 when connected in series they will have 48. You can with everything connected check voltage across the first in line, leave black probe in place and check to red of next battery (should be 24vdc), then the next (36) then the next (48). If the voltage doesn't jump up ~12vdc then you have a bad battery (or connection)
Agm batteries are usually good for 5 to 10 years depending on use. Usually when they go bad voltage will look good until you put a load on it then it drops severely.
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