Eric is a huge Cubs fan and yes, he will talk about the 2016 World Series unprompted. When he's not explaining why he's the only person who should be allowed to drive, he's spending time with his wife and two children who tolerate his dad jokes with impressive patience.
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.