Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Outdoor Power Equipment). This thread is read-only.
Well, I have a strong feeling that my relationship with Ego, and cordless OPE in general, is about to come to an end. When I first bought into the Ego ecosystem, it was all I needed. The string trimmer was, and is, as powerful as I need it to be, and the 21″ push mower was barely sufficient for the lawn at the house I rented. I knew I’d need another rider when I moved back to my house, but the Ego was still great for the little patch of fenced in yard for the dogs. The backpack blower was nice, and the hedge trimmer had a little extra bar length over my DeWalt 20v Max (not to mention better safety features, which I appreciated after my best friend nearly lost his fingers to the DeWalt 10 years ago).
Flash forward eight years after buying them. I have two 5Ah, two or three 2.5Ah, and two 2Ah batteries… somewhere. I can find one of the 5Ah, incidentally the same one I marked after I noticed it dying a lot faster than its brother within a year of buying it. My fault, I should have contacted Ego back then, as it was probably still under warranty. I had at least three of the smaller batteries handy but can only find one of the 2.5Ah now. A year or two ago, I mounted my three Ego chargers on the wall and had some semblance of organization.
Anyway, I figured I’d do some trimming during the heat of the day. The 19-year-old says she’s going to cut the grass later today, and I have to open the branch at 0500 tomorrow, so I’m not trying to do but so much today. Well, the trimmer needed string. No problem, it’s got that nifty auto-feed feature, but the 5Ah battery died within a few seconds. Red light on the trimmer, take it off and it’s got a green light. Put it on the charger and it shows fully charged in a minute or two. I think I can write that battery off. The 2.5Ah battery was on the trimmer, and probably needed a charge regardless, but it lasted only a few minutes before dying. It’s currently charging; maybe I’ll try to find one or two more batteries later today, maybe I’ll just break out the tried-and-true DeWalt 20v Max. Granted, that’s 10 years old now, but the last time I used it, it was noticeably less powerful than the Ego. To be expected, I suppose, but I don’t remember it struggling so much when it was newer.
That got me to thinking, yay or nay on keeping the Ego stuff running? A quick look on Home Depot website shows that I can buy a new 2.5Ah battery for “only” $200, a 5Ah for $330, or step up to a 7.5Ah or 12Ah for $440 or $660, respectively. Or I could go with gas and buy a basic Craftsman for as low as $160 or the most expensive Husqvarna for $400. Decisions, decisions…
Perhaps not so much of a decision. I forgot to mention my third string trimmer, a curved-shaft homeowner grade Echo I got as part of an estate sale. The priming button was busted, so I spent $15 on a new carburetor, put some year-old 50:1 premix in it (I stopped mixing my own and just pay the premium for premixed for the rare occasion I use my chainsaw), primed and choked it, and it fired right up. The thing’s probably 20+ years old and only has one string end on the head, but it works well. The only reason I don’t use it today is because my 17-year-old had the head fly off and the spring got lost. I ordered some replacements a couple of weeks ago, but they don’t fit, so I may just replace the head altogether. As for the aforementioned chainsaw, it’s a Ryobi 20″ I got on clearance for $79 over 12 years ago, and it starts right up and runs fine despite years of sitting around, often with the same fuel in it for years at a time.
Anyway, yeah, if you live in an area that mandates electric tools, go for it. Personally, I love the ability to simply press the trigger and go with the Ego tools, over pulling a string and sweating all over a stubborn piece of equipment. But now that I’m faced with buying a single battery that might last a few years at best or investing in one last string trimmer to last me the rest of my life, at basically the same price, I’m thinking that my battery-operated OPE days are nearly behind me. Even at today’s prices, the cost of gas is negligible when compared to a battery, plus you can run all day with a gallon or two of mix handy, versus having to constantly swap batteries from the charger. I can definitely say that I’m glad I took that deal on the Bad Boy ZTR for $3k, instead of paying nearly twice that amount for the Ego ZTR a few years ago. The pain of replacing those batteries would have been almost unbearable. My mower sits outside uncovered much of the time, and in the past four years I’ve done one tune-up and replaced the choke cable.
I have lost faith in Ego a while back. When they first came out, they were awesome and really think they had the best OPE tool on the market and they forced everyone to play catch up. I know some of the guys who helped bring this company to where it is. They left a couple of years ago, so I am sure they saw the writing on the wall. I have batteries that have also died and the new batteries are so expensive. We get people who reach out to us all the time and the two biggest complaints are batteries dying and bad customer service. It’s a shame because they could have controlled the market and done so well but they lost their way. I remember when they got their new marketing company, the post they would show was not as much as the Ego family, but it was more woke. Not sure what that has to do with OPE, but again, the writing is on the wall and looking back to see how this company has changed, it stinks.
Eric – TIA wrote:
On 6/1/2026 at 8:43 AM, Eric – TIA said:I have lost faith in Ego a while back. When they first came out, they were awesome and really think they had the best OPE tool on the market and they forced everyone to play catch up. I know some of the guys who helped bring this company to where it is. They left a couple of years ago, so I am sure they saw the writing on the wall. I have batteries that have also died and the new batteries are so expensive. We get people who reach out to us all the time and the two biggest complaints are batteries dying and bad customer service. It’s a shame because they could have controlled the market and done so well but they lost their way. I remember when they got their new marketing company, the post they would show was not as much as the Ego family, but it was more woke. Not sure what that has to do with OPE, but again, the writing is on the wall and looking back to see how this company has changed, it stinks.
I found some videos on YouTube claiming to show how to reset the batteries: push the button three times, then hold it for seven seconds. It seemed promising; I got an amber light, and the battery actually seemed to be charging for at least 30 minutes. I took a nap, woke up, and put the 5Ah battery on the trimmer. Nothing but a red flashing light. I put it back on the charger and it showed a full charge right away. This morning, I used the trimmer with the 2.5Ah battery. Despite being eight years old, it still has a lot of power, unlike the DeWalt that seems like it’s stuck on low power mode.
For a brief instant, I thought about how nice that Ego trimmer still is and considered getting a new battery at some point. Then I started thinking about adapters and looked for a Ryobi 40v to Ego 56v version but couldn’t find anything (I did find Ryobi 40v to M18 converters). I also saw generic 5Ah batteries for as little as $60 that have 4.4 star or better reviews. Maybe worth a try. All of my stuff is well outside of the warranty window, and I rarely contact companies as it is (my M12 Gen2 Fuel impact didn’t retain bits from the moment I bought it and I never got around to getting that warrantied), so I highly doubt I’ll pay the asking price for Ego branded batteries or tools again.
As for that moment of being impressed by the string trimmer, I need only remind myself that Ego claims to have the power of gas. I’m sure I can look it up, but I wouldn’t doubt that the gas trimmer I eventually get will run circles around my Ego. I haven’t made a decision yet, but I’m thinking Echo, Stihl, or Husqvarna, and will either go to an outdoor equipment dealer or buy the top-of-the-line big box tool. Heck, there’s a lawn equipment shop only a few miles away I guess I should check out.
Pretty sure there’s a reason all the lawn care companies use Echo.
My Greenworks 80V trimmer is barely getting a workout to make my property look the way I want. I have a Chinese backpack 2 stroke blower that always takes six pulls to start and won’t restart warm, but it does what I need. If I had greater needs then I would have also selected Echo gasoline, probably w/ the largest engine.
My Toro 21386 21″ Personal Pace Smart Stow Super Recycler Mower is hands-down THE BEST lawn mower I’ve ever owned. The engine is amazing. It is running before the first cord pull is completed. It takes almost two tanks of gas to cut my grass. The front yard is completed w/ fumes remaining. It is always used w/ recycling, not the side discharge shown in the image.
My Craftsman CMCMW220 20″ 2xV20 Mower was selected for the low weight, to NOT sink into the ground at the edge of the backyard canal. The two 20V batteries have NO issue handling the trimming on the soft Earth near the water w/ plenty of charge remaining. This was the lightest mower I could find. My first mower was a 1956 Lawn Boy that would have been perfect, but I sold it for $700 after I completed the restoration.
All of my Lithium-Ion yard tool batteries are stored fully charged (NOT the best for battery lifetime) in the refrigerator. This has been working well for me.
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fm2176 wrote:
On 5/31/2026 at 2:55 PM, fm2176 said:… and the 21″ push mower was barely sufficient for the lawn at the house I rented. I knew I’d need another rider when I moved back to my house, but the Ego was still great for the little patch of fenced in yard for the dogs…
All of my neighbors have professional lawn care companies taking care of their properties, as was mine when I purchased this house.
IMO, the appearance of grass when cut using a good 21″ walk behind is better than that cut by a tractor or by a professional zero turn machine. The only exception I’ve noticed was at one point my yard at a different property was cut by a guy using a large deck walk behind. It was 36″ or 42″ and that also provided a great result, like attained w/ the 21″ walk behind.
Yes, the operational time for those larger machines is significantly less than a walk behind, but I prefer the superior end result.
I love the Toro personal pace. I had that and was my favorite mower. I switch to Ego because my lawn takes about 15 minutes to cut so thought battery was the way to go for my situation. Yes, my old Ego batteries still work. The new ones are aweful.
wingless wrote:
On 6/7/2026 at 12:17 AM, wingless said:All of my neighbors have professional lawn care companies taking care of their properties, as was mine when I purchased this house.
IMO, the appearance of grass when cut using a good 21″ walk behind is better than that cut by a tractor or by a professional zero turn machine. The only exception I’ve noticed was at one point my yard at a different property was cut by a guy using a large deck walk behind. It was 36″ or 42″ and that also provided a great result, like attained w/ the 21″ walk behind.
Yes, the operational time for those larger machines is significantly less than a walk behind, but I prefer the superior end result.
I wish I had the time, patience, and endurance to use a walk behind. Or maybe not… When I first bought this house, I got a 21″ cut Craftsman self-propelled with electric start. That thing was nice for the first couple of weeks. Then it got hot. My neighbor had a little Murray rider at the time that he’d patched up over 15 years. It was missing the hood and didn’t look the best, but it cut. I was halfway done with my front yard one morning, having already sweated through my clothes a few times, when he rolled over with a beer and offered to help. By the time I was done cutting the rest of the front, he’d done both sides and the backyard. I got a deal on a Craftsman 42″ cut and never looked back.
Having an immaculate lawn is nice, but I just want it to get cut and over with. If I still had a little yard, I’d probably be dedicated to making it as perfect as possible, but unfortunately, I have neither the time nor money to spend doing so.
fm2176 wrote:
8 minutes ago, fm2176 said:
I wish I had the time, patience, and endurance to use a walk behind. Or maybe not…
Having an immaculate lawn is nice, but I just want it to get cut and over with. If I still had a little yard, I’d probably be dedicated to making it as perfect as possible, but unfortunately, I have neither the time nor money to spend doing so.
Mine takes about 5 hours for everything: cutting; trimming; blowing; raking and cleaning the equipment. With the warmer weather I’m now wearing a hat.
For me, I don’t mind the yard work, but the BIG aggravation is fixing equipment, even bigger aggravation is waiting for repair parts.
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Your yard looks amazing. The grass and house look great and love the American Flag.
Eric – TIA wrote:
57 minutes ago, Eric – TIA said:Your yard looks amazing. The grass and house look great and love the American Flag.
Thanks very much.
This topic shows one of my first projects, where I added landscape lighting so I could automatically illuminate my American flag to be compliant w/ the US Flag Code, but more importantly show appropriate respect.
There is additionally a historic flag below, not showing great because of the flutter orientation, the Pine Tree Flag, from 1775.
For some REALLY STRANGE reason, my house is the ONLY one on the street w/ a flag. Good for me, I use that to ID it to others, “mine’s the one w/ the flag”.
Yes, I remember following that post and how detailed you were with showing everything, very cool. I have a small yard and can not have flag pole in my yard. But we can put them on our house. There are about 40 houses on my street and only 2 with an American flag. However there are about 5 houses with their college flag hanging.
wingless wrote:
On 6/28/2026 at 9:26 AM, wingless said:Mine takes about 5 hours for everything: cutting; trimming; blowing; raking and cleaning the equipment. With the warmer weather I’m now wearing a hat.
Now that the cruise w/ my daughter is coming soon, I’m cutting shirtless, wearing shorts and my daily steel toed work boots, to change my dark Florida tan, from head and arms to whole body. Fortunately for me, my Italian heritage has olive oil coursing through my veins, so I don’t burn and tan very darkly.
The neighbors hold large 1-10 score cards in the windows, w/ me of course shooting for high scores.
I’d like to get a flagpole, if/when I ever get the driveway paved. My house is the only one on the street with a curved driveway in front, so I think a properly installed flagpole would look great centered on it, complete with a concrete pad and proper lighting for periods of darkness. Ideally, I’d take a page from the military and raise/lower the flag daily. I do have a flag mount at the front of my house, on the left as seen from the road per flag protocol. I may get another flag for the right side (state or something like the Republic of West Florida, aka Bonnie Blue).
When it comes to yard work, I guess the biggest thing is that I’m still in the rat race for now. Despite the military retirement and 100% disability, I still work 50-60+ hours weekly, mostly in the heat wearing body armor, so the last thing I want to do is spend even more time in the sun during my time off. One thing’s for certain, your yard and property as a whole shows the amount of pride you have in it as well as the meticulous care you take of it. I’ll be spending maybe an hour later today mowing and doing a half-hearted attempt at weed eating. Then I’ll probably spend a couple of hours in the aboveground pool my wife insisted that we get a few years, which sees 95% of its use being me skimming it and just soaking while listening to YouTube. My wife hasn’t been able to use it for health reasons, one of my daughters refuses to get in it, and the other two might get in it a couple of times a season). Oh, and there’s the nine gallons of diesel fuel I bought last week to burn some brush and continue burning out some stumps in the backyard (I got a quote for nearly $2k to grind the stumps, and passed for now, which is good considering that two weeks later I needed $6k worth of plumbing/septic work done). Maybe one day I’ll be at .05% of your game, but for now I’m just trying to keep the front yard looking adequate. 🫡
Can TOTALLY relate!
My first home was adjacent to a retired guy. He was out there daily making EVERYTHING more and more beautiful, while it was all I could do w/ work, home upgrades / repairs, car work and family time to keep the lawn from being a jungle. So, don’t feel bad about struggling to have enough time just to keep the grass cut!
Now that I’m retired I have sufficient time for the exterior property, along w/ my other projects (currently wet sanding 33 year old synthetic marble in my hallway bathroom remodeling project).
My 16′ telescoping flagpole doesn’t have a rope, so collapse / extend for flag stuff, but they offer a rope kit option. Being in Florida, I really like that it is easy to remove / store indoors the flagpole, should a hurricane ever decide to aim at me.
My house has a beautiful inground pool that I maintain and continue to upgrade, but I never use it, except when others visit. I would have preferred no pool, but I like many things about this setup. I like the 12′ house roof overhang on the pool patio and I really like the total screen enclosure. This is the first pool I’ve owned w/ a vinyl liner. My others all were plaster Diamond Bright lined. I like the soft liner sooo much better.
I got the grass [mostly] cut yesterday but didn’t trim anything. Due to the typical South Louisiana weather, with afternoon thunderstorms, I didn’t get in the pool either. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a water sample to my pool supply store for the first time this year. I figured I’d need some stabilizer as the chlorine float was empty again yesterday morning. The pool water was nearly perfect, though, needing only a pound of stabilizer. I’m glad I haven’t had the struggle with my pool that my neighbor did. Mine’s a relatively cheap 12’x24′ Bestway that I put up three years ago. I didn’t really do any prep work outside of putting a ground liner down, so the bottom has a few uneven spots that cause the Aiper robot vacuum to stall out, and after the first year I made the mistake of leaving chlorine in the water, which settled to the bottom and caused the liner to bubble up. It’s not leaking, though, and despite it getting pretty nasty during the off-season (I had to clean tadpoles out before opening it this year), it’s been easy to maintain, though the first year required a little more attention. Last year, I bought a Jacuzzi brand sand filter and pump that’s about twice as big as the cartridge filter and pump that came with the pool; it was on clearance for about 75% off and it’s been great so far.
I thought I might have the experience my neighbor had. Shortly after I bought my house in 2009, he installed a nice semi-permanent aboveground pool. Probably a 30′ circular one. He played hell trying to keep it clean and algae-free and had to replace the liner after the second year, and again probably around 2017 or so. He replaced the pump a couple of times, and it seemed like he’d be fighting algae each year near the end of pool season. When I moved back here four years ago, he asked me to check the skimmer basket while he was at Talladega (he has NASCAR infield passes for his RV at both Talladega and Daytona). The water was already kind of green, and by the time he got back, it was beyond salvaging. His pump went out soon after, and he decided to give in to his wife and just have an inground pool installed. It’s nice, and has both cooling and heating, so he can open in in March and keep using it through October but counting the other things he’s done around the pool area, he’s spent at least $150k so far.
I think that the important things for all of us are to appreciate what we have and not worry about trying to keep up with–or outdo–other people. As for being retired, it’s best to stay busy. I watched both my father and father-in-law waste away after retiring. My dad was still pretty active and did some gardening and retiring from the chicken feed plant he’s driven for, but when he was let go from his part-time job delivering for a local feed and seed store, he was heartbroken. He’d been a trucker for over 50 years and was suddenly just not needed. He only made it a couple of years after that. My father-in-law was a chain smoker who got injured at work and received a settlement, with the understanding that he’d be retired from the company regardless of whether or not he recovered. I guess he didn’t fully understand that clause, and he was shocked when they wouldn’t let him return to work after a year or so. I’d hoped that he’d pick up some kind of hobby in the garage or something, but he just sat around and smoked until he was on oxygen and unable to walk more than a few feet at a time.
As for the removeable flagpole, that’s probably best given the fact that a hurricane could turn it into a spear. Fortunately, I’m far enough inland (Baton Rouge) to where hurricanes aren’t the absolute worst. We have to worry about collateral things like flooding and tornados but aren’t usually in anywhere near the amount of danger that Louisianans further south have to put up with.