Last year the mower world was turned upside down with the arrival of the RAVEN MPV 710. It was a first to market hybrid mower, generator and ATV. Well it is not really an ATV but it does go 17 MPH in high gear and has ATV like styling The MPV 710 was plagued with problems. You can read about that here in our Raven MPV 710 Article. An entirely new management team has taken over and they have produced the MPV-7100. With over 200 improvements over the 710 the 7100 is an all new beast. When we first got it, I have to admit I was very skeptical. After meeting with the new team and seeing the 7100 my skepticism has disappeared. We actually had 2 test units, one red and black and a camp S version which we still have. Personally the Camo looks the best with the Real Timber skins. It is a real head turner.
Since the grass isn’t growing we have not used the mowing deck yet. We have been using it to aerate and I must say the low-end torque is great. Those big electric motors give the RAVEN a lot of torque. The unit is comfortable and easy to steer. It has a surprisingly tight turn radius. 3 pins and a connector is all it takes to remove the deck, this gives you a lot more ground clearance. Even though the RAVEN is touted as an ATV, it’s not. It is only 2wd and has turf tires, wherever your garden tractor can go the Raven can go. The unit also does not articulate, meaning it is pretty rigid and not the greatest at tackling obstacles, ditches or ruts. That being said, treat it like a garden tractor that hauls ass and you will be fine. Second gear will get you up to roughly 17mph at the expense of torque. If you are on a steep incline, you will need to get off the unit and change to low gear before you proceed. Sometimes you need to rock the unit a little while changing gears to get it to lock in.
While in generator mode we were able to power our Rolair JC-10 Air compressor but not our Homelite electric log splitter which kept popping the circuit breaker. The generator produces a maximum of 7100 starting watts. They are not available for sale yet but when they do are we will let you know with a complete list of the final specs. The Raven has a 3 year warranty on the unit, 2 years on the engine and 1 year on the 48V lead acid battery. According to RAVEN you get about 40 minutes of runtime on a fully charged battery depending on the terrain and how much of a lead foot you are. It has a small area in the back that can hold 75lbs of cargo. I would have liked to have seen this a bit bigger so I can load mulch and rocks for my yard into it. The RAVEN comes in red and black, camp which is the S version and an all black version is in the works.
Maintenance looks easy and everything is easily accessible on the unit. The unit started easily every time and we did not experience any issues apart from a few sputters on the first tank of gas. Denver Global has really done a 180 and the RAVEN has a real good chance of succeeding this second time around. Most of the parts are still made in China by RATO and are assembled in North Carolina. I have personally met the management team and can say that their top concern is reliability. They have a few Ravens out in the field being tested right now and as soon as the dealers are in place and they feel the unit is ready, it will go on sale. From my experience with the RAVEN, I believe it is ready. That being said the maintenance costs are going to be higher than a conventional garden/lawn tractor just because of all the extra electronics, batteries and motors on the unit. Long term viability is unknown and unless you are an electrical genius doing anything other than regular maintenance is out of the question. If you want to be the coolest cat on the block get a Raven! Being to coolest always comes at a price though. Stay tuned for our mowing write up and we will see how it mows.
$3.999 MSRP – Red and Black Version
Check out RAVENS Website here
I am glad this is making a return, but I am still hesitant to be an early adopter of it… I’d rather let more kinks get found out by others 🙂
Is the idle or rpm on the engine set high or fast? Any backfire on shut down of the gas engine? Did you drain the 48 volt battery of all its power and recharge it ? The extra grand on the MSRP must be for the new improvements. This should sell well if no major flaws come with its new product roll out this time.
Hi Bubba, Yes high idle, one speed. No backfires, although it did when I got off the unit and forgot to set the parking brake the safety cut it off. Didn’t drain the battery yet. But I will and report back.
Thanks, for the info
A throttle control would seem to be a better idea, but I am no engineer.
This seems like a great idea, but it also opens the door to multiple problems. There is way too much going on here, a mover, ATV, generator, airplane, bread slicer, & everything else. After a few hours of cutting grass, then you decide to do yard work. Will the generator run lights, plus yard power tools after cutting grass for several hours? Again, this seems like a great concept, but like John S mentioned. I would rather have this be in the market for several months or over a year to have all the kinks worked out. Laters TIA
I bought one last week. On the day of delivery I was able to mow the front yard of my 1 acre lot before it started to rain. This week I was able to get out and mow the back yard of my 1 acre lot. Though the ground was still a bit squishy I was pleased that the comparatively heavy Raven 7100 didn’t dig in on corners or cause any ruts. I do wish the mower deck would mow HIGHER though. I live in an arid, drought-stricken area in west central Texas near Abilene. I don’t irrigate my “lawn” (really a collection of wild weeks over-sewn with grass seed but never irrigated). While some neighbors scalp their lawn then have to irrigate to keep them green I mow tall to allow the “lawn” to shade the dirt and keep the clippings onsite. Mowing on the highest setting the Raven left a clean, even cut, but in a couple months I’m going to wish I could mow another 1/2″-1″ taller.
Haven’t had any real problems with it other than user/operator error. I did get a bit frustrated because I couldn’t get the mower blades to engage at first the day I went to mow the back yard but then remembered to check the transmission gear lever. I’d put it in High speed mode while showing it off to a friend. They had a blast zipping up and down the road and I’d forgotten and left the setting on high-speed. The mower blade safety interlock worked as designed, but I think it would behoove the manufacturer to add a warning light to the dash. I’m guessing they already have a sensor which knows when the transmission is in high and clearly some electronic brain somewhere that refuses to engage the blades. It should be a small, inexpensive addition to trigger a dash board “high-gear” warning light when a user tries to engage blades and the logic faults. I read on another website where someone returned a Raven because they couldn’t get the blades to engage and just have to wonder if they too had their Raven in high gear.
So far so good, I haven’t had occasion to use the generator but plan to try it out running a string trimmer on the far corners of my 1 acre. Yes, I could drag extension cords that far but we plan to build and move to a 14 acre lot in the next year or two so having a self-portable generator and a way to zip to the mailbox was a definite consideration in my purchase.
In short the Raven 7100 is a great product idea with great execution, and I hope to keep and use this for many years to come.
Just checkng on how you feel about the Raven after 2+ years
Will have to find out. Dan has it at his brother-in-laws. Will see if I can get an update.
I just bought a house with 1.5 acres. I need a good mower, but don’t want to shell out 5K for one. How is the raven doing as of 2018? Any more issues? I was warned that it would be better to just buy a zero turn as the raven doesn’t have the punch like a zero one does. Any thoughts?
I am not sure the Raven is being backed anymore. A Zero turn might be a better option.
Bought a 2016 Raven 7100, only 9 hours on machine. Got it home, it started up, rode it for about 10 minutes then the machine stopped moving. Engine worked, blades engaged, but would not go forward or backwards. What could be the problem. Checked fuses, all were good. Could it be the controller? Manual doesn’t really help.
Purchased at Lowe’s 2015. 1 st thing to go wrong batteries had to be replaced 2016. Then it would move a few feet then just stop. I’d wait a few minutes then it would move again. 2017. Had to buy batteries again. 2018 mower deck quit working. 2019 took mower deck off. It moved about 30 ft and stopped. Now it will not move . What makes the raven not move. It has done this many times. But now it’s not going to move.
Trying to find a starter for raven bmp 7100
This machine is riddled with problems, check the fuses on the right hand side, beside the right rear wheel. You must remove cover plate beside the right rear wheel to expose the contacters. You will see 3 Buss Battery in line fuses, one 75 amp & two 100 amp. Unfortunately some people on eBay & even Amazon are way over charging for these fuses, upwards of $15 to $20 by calling them Raven Power fuses. They are actually Buss CBBF battery inline fuses sold by Rock Auto for $2.50 each. I’ve had two blow on my machine due to multiple mower motor controller failures, three of them so far since my purchase of this money pit from Lowe’s in late 2016. It’s a decent generator that one can ride on but a very poor mowing machine that is terribly un reliable. I can see why they folded, very poor quality. If you don’t mind working on the machine more than you can use it then it’s ok I suppose. Also there is zero tech support for it so you need to be very handy with a wrench & volt/ohm meter or you will have a useless machine! I regret ever buying it.
Just bought a mpv7100 Raven with only 9 hrs on it. After replacing the starting battery, it cranked AFTER I found the choke. Had also removed the 48V battery pack which checked as completely dead. Separated the pack and attempted to charge the individual 12Vs to no avail. After a few minutes with only the starting battery in the machine, it backed up and went forward a distance of about 1000 feet, got jerky and stopped … now won’t move. Studying alot of videos and comments, I believe the 48V has to be in machine and at useful amps to activate the fwd & rev (rear wheels). But if that’s the case, I don’t understand how it went the 1000 ft. Hate to spend another $300 for a new 48V pack. It’s just 4 12V bike batteries wired in series. Think I’ll try that. Any suggestions or better information?
I have had my raven 7100 for about 6 years from new. Very pleased with the units. Yes I have 2 and have had to replace the battery pack on them both about a year ago. This season my wife took hers out to begin this years mowing season. It has shown signs of problems such as a jerkey forward movement. Now no forward or reverse. Doing investigation i have found the throttle position sensor gives me no reading at all when depressed. I’m trying to find replacement parts and having a difficult time doing so. Is the raven product making a comeback?? Where can I get replacement parts?
I’m working on a raven right now it will not move forward runs good but no forward or reverse where do I start?