As part of mower week, today we are talking about the Echo Lawn Mower. This is really our first experience with a cordless Echo product. Now to give you a heads up, we had some mixed feelings about this mower. From a completely emotional stand point, we were hoping this was going to beat all the mowers on our head to head competition. The reason being is Echo is a local company for us. They are located just the next town over and who doesn’t want a home town company to be at the top of the game? So let’s jump in and see what this mower has to offer.
Echo Lawn Mower Overview
Echo designed this mower to run off a 58v platform. Now just to be fair, you might see other OPE products running on 56V such as the EGO. 56v and 58v are the exact same things, it comes down to how they want to market it. It’s the same as Dewalt having a 20V and Bosch having an 18V. They both have the same amount of battery cells. Echo uses a brushless motor which gives it longer run time. The deck is a 21″ deck compared to some of the 20″ decks we tested. While some manufacturers went with a steel deck, I am happy to say Echo uses a composite or plastic deck which means less weight. Just as a side note, the deck has a lifetime guarantee and the mower has a 5 year warranty. Starting the mower really couldn’t be easier. Just push a button and press the levers, yes it’s that easy. No pulling cords or any of the other hassles you get with a gas mower. The handle doesn’t seem too bad, better than others we have tested, but not the best. For storage, the operation is easy. Just pull a lever on each side of the handle and it will fold over the mower to make storage quick and easy. A user can set the handle to 3 different positions to get the comfort that suits them best.
Now I am not sure why Echo decided to do this, but they decided to go with a 4 point wheel adjustment. While most manufacturers built their system with a single lever to adjust heights, Echo makes you adjust all four wheels independently. Great for some applications, but a pain for most. There are 7 different height adjustments you can pick from. As far as other options, you can bag, mulch or use the side discharge.
Echo Lawnmower Thoughts
Again, we really wish this mower was the top of the pack, but there were things that kept it from taking the top spot. While the power and run time were great, the handle does seem pretty cheap. But again, do you really care when this had a great cutting report and the bagging was exceptional? One thing that we had a hard time over coming was the fact that you have to raise and lower each wheel. Yes, most mowers require the user to do this, but in the cordless world, it is usually just a single lever that will do all four wheels at once. The motor and deck seem to be solid, but I am not that familiar with their battery technology. I am not sure who makes it for them and how they perform over the long haul. Is this a bad buy? No, not by a far shot. Again the cut quality is awesome, do I really need more in a mower? For $399 and a 5 year warranty, it doesn’t seem like a bad buy.
Looks like a decent mower for 399 and the warranty is pretty good at 5 years
It’s not easy to find, but the cordless line is part of TTI who also owns Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc.
Bought this 2 months ago as I already had the Echo 58V chainsaw, hedge trimmer, blower, string trimmer, edger, pole saw, 2 chargers and 3 batteries. Loved it at first – plenty of power, light weight, smooth, and quiet. I was worried about it not being self-propelled, but it’s so light that’s not an issue. Weighs 57lbs, my gas mower weighed well over 100 lbs. In fact I think it’s less physical effort than it was wrangling my gas self-propelled mower around trees, corners, curbs, etc. I live in the Houston area, with thick St. Augustine grass. This mower has no issues cutting it, even when I miss a couple weeks and it gets really tall. I have a sprinkler system so my grass grows fast. Mulching, I can do the entire yard with one 4.0 battery. Bagging, which it does very well, takes a battery and a half.
But here’s the problem. I knicked a tree root, and the mower started shaking and rattling like crazy, like it was out of balance. I checked the blade, no knicks, rotated freely. I measured the blade distance from the deck and it was consistent all around so it didn’t think it was bent. So despite the noise and shaking I went back to mowing, and after a couple minutes it completely smoothed out! I was amazed. This happened again a couple weeks later. Very impressive – like it has self-balancing bearings or something. Then last week I didn’t see a stake in the grass and hit it. Started the shaking/rattling thing again, but this time it didn’t ever smooth out. Checked the blade, looks square and flat, doesn’t appear to be bent or anything. But something’s obviously way out of balance or bent. Not sure if it’s the blade, or bearings, or motor shaft or something else. Took it back to Home Depot rental counter (they are the Echo 58V service centers which is super handy). But they suggested I just return it and order a new one. Said it would take 4-8 weeks for service, but if I returned/re-ordered it would only take a few days. So I returned it but now the bare tool model is out of stock, and neither Home Depot nor Echo (I’ve called both) can tell me if/when it’ll be in stock.
Great mower in use, but I’m wondering about ordering another (if/when they are in stock), if it’s that fragile. At least for me, the occasional blade hit is unavoidable, and it was never a problem with my gas mower. I know it has a 5 year warranty, but will this mower need a 4-8 week warranty service every time I accidentally hit a tree root or landscape edging? Or did I maybe get a unit with bad or weak bearings?
I don’t know and had a call with Echo Technical support that did not help answer the question. All they kept saying is that the battery mowers are not as powerful as gas. Yea, kinda knew that…
Anyone else have this issue? Is this an issue with other battery powered mowers?
Hey Sawdust. I haven’t heard of such a thing with the balancing, pretty cool. I haven’t heard much about Echo equipment. I will look around and talk with some people to see what I can find out.
Thanks! Will appreciate any info. if you find anything. Meantime I was told by my local Echo dealer that the bare tool mower may not be back in stock until spring! That puts me in a bind since I’m invested in Echo batteries. I’m kinda hoping they are out of stock because they are preparing for a new or upgraded version 2. Guess we’ll see.