• shalafi@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    All of the above but Trump votin’. My wife is happy to push the electric DeWalt around. First electric mower, scored it new for $199, bought a pair of batteries and a charger. Pretty happy.

    Neighbor chunked a very nice looking ICE mower. Going to take it down the street to the retired small-engine guy. He’ll probably charge $20 + parts, maybe $40 tops. But now I’m wondering if I can even sell it for a profit. I could haul it to camp for random chopping work, but then I got another gas engine to fuck with. Probably not worth it.

    At my job (Lowe’s) we sell almost all battery mowers. As cheap as ICE mowers are, not seeing them run out the door nearly as fast. Haven’t seen one sold yet, but I’m outside garden.

    Anyone got tips on a battery weed eater? Mine’s pretty well shot, eats full batteries in minutes. Thinking on trying EGO stuff from Lowe’s since I get a discount. Inside lawn and garden expert told me they’re the best on the market ATM. ?

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      They’re all functionally interchangeable as far as I can tell, but only conceptually and not in the sense that your batteries will fit all the different machines because the manufacturers have seen to it that it doesn’t work this way (because fuck you, that’s why).

      If your machine is dying in minutes the issue is probably that the battery is roached, not the machine. Lithium-whatever batteries do not last forever, and generally the ones in outdoor equipment are not charged or stored with much care, or in ideal temperature conditions, etc.

      The secret is to just buy Chinese knockoff off-brand batteries. “But,” all the oldheads will cry, “Those are Chinese garbage!”

      Yes, they are. But so are the “OEM” batteries. The only real difference is the audacity of the markup; you may as well pay what they’re actually worth rather than what your local big box store thinks people ought to believe they’re worth. Before you throw away your weedwhacker, get a knockoff battery pack from Aliexpress or Amazon or whatever and give it a shot. Worst case you’re out thirty bucks, but the gamble is probably better than buying a whole new weedwhacker.

      I have all Ryobi crap, for the most part, because that’s where I got roped in initially and that way I only have to stock one kind of battery. I have two genuine batteries that came with my stuff, but all the rest are knockoffs. The knockoffs are everything the genuine batteries are, but 1/6 of the cost. Actually, due to the perpetual slow march of battery tech improvements, one of my knockoffs is legitimately a noticeably higher capacity than my oldest genuine Ryobi batteries were even when they were brand new.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I have several batteries, different ages and usages, seems random how long one will last. I’m thinking there’s too much resistance on the spinning bits as it seems to get hot too fast. As always, I’ll do my best to fix before buying new, but it’s a drag constantly fixing shit to avoid feeding the beast.

    • OminousOrange@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      I’ve got a few ego tools and the only one I’m slightly disappointed with is the mower. The outlet design isn’t great and can clog up if you mow anything denser than grass.

      String trimmer, leaf blower and snow blowers (both single and dual stage) all work great.