Battery powered gadgets

genareddog

Is this the future? Honda has a new line of battery lawnmowers out here in the states. I know individually this does nothing for me but I can see where someone getting  bit older or just physically unable to mow it would be nice. Even for those who travel. What do you think?
http://newatlas.com/honda-miimo-robot-lawn-mower-us/48994/

silvermouse

my wife uses and loves her battery-powered mower, 16" cut, quiet, light, and with her asthma the battery lasts about as long as she does, lol. It would be useful for trimming around I guess. Haven't seen the new Honda one, hers is a Neuton.

webmost

I for one find the constant constant racket all over the neighborhood every stinking weekend obnoxious as hell. Electric mowers are much quieter. That's advantage #1. Then too, you don't have to pull a string to start one, you don't have to fool round with a can of gas, & you don't have to recondition the damn thing every Spring.

The flip side is, dragging 100' of cord round the yard at every pass is a pain in the neck.

So the battery powered type combines the quieter electric but makes it cordless.

Best of both worlds? Perhaps. But the very best comes from the third world: goats. If the self important Powers that Be would let me buy a couple goats each Spring to chow down my grass & then butcher in Fall, now that would be practical, self-contained, solar energized, and tho not quiet, a pleasant noise. Goats are full of personality, are easy to kill, and are tasty. Plus what they mow down they poop out in manageable manure.

I vote goat.

jgibv

You talking about battery powered?  Or do you mean robotic gadgets? 

We LOVE our Roomba vacuum --- it's such a time-saver & was worth every single penny.
Clean your floors with the push of a button??? Man oh man, hell yes.
We plan on getting the Roomba "Mop" model by the end of this year. 


And as far as robotic lawnmowers, I would love to have one but they are pricy (yes I've been looking into them now that it's lawn mowing season LOL)

$3k+ ... and most require low voltage guide wires to be installed at the perimeter of your property

Husqvarna just came out with a new model this spring.  Worx & Robomow are the other 2 big mfgs.  If I had the spare change, I would get one.  But it'd be cheaper to hire a lawnmowing service. 

peter4jc

Not entirely on topic, but I'm somewhat surprised that our wonderfully overreaching gummint hasn't already put the kabosh on gas-powered lawnmowers with all the pollution they spew.  Not saying they should ban them, but just surprised they haven't.

jgibv

webmost said:

I for one find the constant constant racket all over the neighborhood every stinking weekend obnoxious as hell. 

YES!!! I couldn't agree more.

unfortunaely the local gubbnamint says no goats within city limits..... or else I'd be all over that like white on rice.  fresh goat milk & cheese?? Yes, please.


instead, got me 1 of these mowers & an electric weedwacker to get the around edges.  

silvermouse

Oh, that brings back memories of my childhood, jgibv. Looks like it is better engineered than the cast iron and oak one I used to have to struggle with as an 8-year-old. Every pass it would jamb on a stick.

jgibv

silvermouse said:

Oh, that brings back memories of my childhood, jgibv. Looks like it is better engineered than the cast iron and oak one I used to have to struggle with as an 8-year-old. Every pass it would jamb on a stick.

it works pretty good @silvermouse ; 

but yes it can be a struggle at times!! 
especially if the grass gets too long, or if the grass is wet....then it's a freakin' workout trying to push that thing!!!

but the one nice thing about the design, is the grass shoots forward out of the top, so your shoes and ankles don't get completely covered in grass clippings.

jlmarta

I've had a battery-powered lawnmower for years. Im not into dragging cords around that can be eaten by a mower, either. 

With mine, when you're done using it and have hosed off the undercarriage, you just plug it in and forget it until you need it next. 

Of course, I haven't used it in a few years (since my surgery) but I still have it and loved using it. It even mulches the clippings and feeds them back to the lawn so there's no bag to empty, either. 

Nowadays, my yard crew does the mowing, etc. Dat's mo bettah...
  

Grawls

Mine has a battery, does that count?

Amos_Umwhat

Grawls said:

Mine has a battery, does that count?

I've got that one, too, and the wife uses the John Deere.  Of course, we mow about 7 of our 25 acres.  Electric wouldn't do.

silvermouse

nice, wish I had 25 acres, but I live in the land of McMansions, all the quaint summer cottages on my street have been torn down and replaced with over-sized monuments to the ego of their owners. Our 0.95 acre and the conservation land behind it is the last refuge for wildlife.

genareddog

jgibv said:

You talking about battery powered?  Or do you mean robotic gadgets? 

We LOVE our Roomba vacuum --- it's such a time-saver & was worth every single penny.
Clean your floors with the push of a button??? Man oh man, hell yes.
We plan on getting the Roomba "Mop" model by the end of this year. 


And as far as robotic lawnmowers, I would love to have one but they are pricy (yes I've been looking into them now that it's lawn mowing season LOL)

$3k+ ... and most require low voltage guide wires to be installed at the perimeter of your property

Husqvarna just came out with a new model this spring.  Worx & Robomow are the other 2 big mfgs.  If I had the spare change, I would get one.  But it'd be cheaper to hire a lawnmowing service. 

Robotic that runs on battery. Just seems like a lot of money to me.