weldtoride
Well-known member
Overall, I am very satisfied so far with this mower and my local Ace store, but very dissatisfied with the way the purchase was handled by Ace.com
After reading as much as I could anywhere and everywhere about battery riders in general, and also the review here by MegaVan https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...ric-zero-turn-mower-an-ongoing-review.501513/ I pulled the trigger and purchased one myself.
I am replacing a Cub Cadet 1864 tractor. It’s from the '90s; the tractor itself is all hydrostatic: hydro drive, hydro steering, (not power assist) and hydro deck lift. There is an electric clutch on the front PTO for the drive belt for the 54" deck, and a second belt on the deck powering the 3 blades. 18 Hp Kohler.
I bought it used over 20 years ago, and it’s been a real workhorse, but with the share of repairs one would expect over this much use. The last few seasons it’s been asking for more and more of my time than I want to spend with it. Nearest IH dealer is now 35 minutes away, an added time robber.
We’ve been transitioning to battery tools, got a Ryobi battery push mower 3 seasons ago for trimming what the tractor can’t get followed by a Ryobi post-hole digger (works surprisingly well), then a small EGO chainsaw and a string trimmer. Still use a couple of larger Stihl gas saws, and an Echo gas string trimmer.
My 1864 Cub is an orphan; so far most key mechanical parts are available when I look hard enough, and a local hose shop has made hydraulic lines for me. However, while I wait for parts to come, the grass doesn’t, and then gets too long to mow easily. We mow maybe 2 acres, the rest is natural or heavily wooded.
My hunt started for a battery rider started last year. I started with the IH dealer inquiring about the battery Cubs, he unequivocally said “too early” and steered me to his gas units. After, I called a local to me independent Cub repair shop I found on the IH site, and he said he had only one experience with the battery cub, and it had 4 warrantee trailer rides so far…
I started reading about all the competitors, and after reading good things about EGO, stopped by an Ace hardware that is one of three under same owner. It’s also the one that does service work for all three stores. I asked a tech there about EGO riders. He gave a thumbs up. Happened to mention I was nursing a really old Cub, he gave a thumbs down, and said we sell Cub new, but still gave Cub a thumbs down.
I talked to a store employee about ordering one, he said easier for all to order online, which turned out to be a cluster, due to corporate, not the local.
Through the whole process, Ace corporate was terrible about communication with me, the store didn’t know where/when my mower would turn up. I finally I started calling the store periodically and asking. Finally I was told by the store was told “it’s here”. So I grabbed a rental trailer and went to the store, but then they couldn’t find my mower; turns out Ace corporate shipped the wrong mower.
Weeks later it showed up and at least the local store had agreed to deliver it gratis it and the local store also gave me a $100 Ace certificate for my trouble.
I’ve got about 15 hours on it now, and so far I really like it.
I’m new to zero-turn mowers, so there’s a learning curve there. Partly because this thing is fast! It’s got 3 operating modes: control, standard, and sport. My son was visiting, had it in sport mode cutting donuts, throwing driveway gravel all over.
Tank steering isn’t new to us, we own a Case skid-steer, but this thing reacts so fast and differently there’s very little to compare.
Additionally, and this is a big difference: unlike the skid-steer, this mower is tank steer with the back wheels only, front wheels are free-turning casters. The front wheels of a traditional garden tractor usually are on the ends of a center-pivoting solid front axle, and always react to steering wheel input. Completely different: the EGO front casters are fixed at the front corners of the frame and do not articulate up/down to follow the terrain, and react to the terrain only. Consequently, on slopes near ditches if the EGO happens to lift one front corner caster or the other, it behaves like it has a mind of its own. That happens until you learn to sort of “read its mind” and even then, this sort of suspension has limits on uneven ground.
We mow maybe 2 acres of our property. Hard to tell as it’s not an open rectangular field of a yard. We mow around dozens of trees, 3 outbuildings, multiple flower and vegetable gardens, a couple parked vehicles and trailers, a tiny house on a trailer, a solar kiln on a trailer, etc, etc.
With all that stuff to mow around, the zero turn is a game–changer in terms of time.
Not meaning this to be about zero-turn mowers, but hard to separate it out.
So you probably want to hear about battery life, cost to operate, etc.
I haven’t downloaded the phone app, which is supposed to give me all this and more:
"Connected ride-on mowers have additional functionality through the EGO Connect app including:
• Mow with your phone as a map-based dashboard; see where you’ve mowed, how long, how fast, blade speed, and more.
• Use your phone as a remote key.
• View overall and per mowing session usage history in a variety of categories.
• View blade life remaining and replacement reminders."
Depending on blade speed (there are 4) and grass length, I average 2 hours run time from my batteries. How much terrain that covers depends on grass length, and how much stuff I have to maneuver around in that part of the property. Then it averages 3 hours on the charger to charge back up.
I do not have the optional catcher, nor the optional mulching blade set-up.
When grass gets long, as it did last month when we had loads of sun and rain, and life prevented me from mowing for 3 weeks, it had a tough time mowing it down. Wouldn’t mow it all down it one pass, so I made several over several days.
I am learning how much mowing power this has. It’s definitely no match for the Cub in really long grass, but then I didn’t expect it to be after all the reviews I read.
With this EGO, when a blade or blades sense an obstacle like a stick, or grass clogs under the deck and the motor loads too hard, all three blade motors shut down and a dash indicator comes on. With my too-long grass, I discovered the exit chute is often clogged. With the blades stopped, I can easily stay seated, reach over and down to lift the flap to clear the chute exit area, and very often that lets me mow until it happens again.
Setting the deck higher, or mowing less than a full pass obviously helps as well.
Normally I don’t let the grass grow unreasonably long, and I have no trouble taking full passes with less than full blade speed at a 2” high deck setting.
It’s way quieter than the gas Cub. However, the 3 deck motors have a “buzzing” noise that unfortunately our bees react to. We have a couple dozen bee hives on our property and I know how/when to mow near them with the Cub, but I have to change my strategy now with this mower. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely cause for changing up my game plan.
I definitely want to start using the phone app, but just haven’t had the time to mess with it yet.
After reading as much as I could anywhere and everywhere about battery riders in general, and also the review here by MegaVan https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...ric-zero-turn-mower-an-ongoing-review.501513/ I pulled the trigger and purchased one myself.
I am replacing a Cub Cadet 1864 tractor. It’s from the '90s; the tractor itself is all hydrostatic: hydro drive, hydro steering, (not power assist) and hydro deck lift. There is an electric clutch on the front PTO for the drive belt for the 54" deck, and a second belt on the deck powering the 3 blades. 18 Hp Kohler.
I bought it used over 20 years ago, and it’s been a real workhorse, but with the share of repairs one would expect over this much use. The last few seasons it’s been asking for more and more of my time than I want to spend with it. Nearest IH dealer is now 35 minutes away, an added time robber.
We’ve been transitioning to battery tools, got a Ryobi battery push mower 3 seasons ago for trimming what the tractor can’t get followed by a Ryobi post-hole digger (works surprisingly well), then a small EGO chainsaw and a string trimmer. Still use a couple of larger Stihl gas saws, and an Echo gas string trimmer.
My 1864 Cub is an orphan; so far most key mechanical parts are available when I look hard enough, and a local hose shop has made hydraulic lines for me. However, while I wait for parts to come, the grass doesn’t, and then gets too long to mow easily. We mow maybe 2 acres, the rest is natural or heavily wooded.
My hunt started for a battery rider started last year. I started with the IH dealer inquiring about the battery Cubs, he unequivocally said “too early” and steered me to his gas units. After, I called a local to me independent Cub repair shop I found on the IH site, and he said he had only one experience with the battery cub, and it had 4 warrantee trailer rides so far…
I started reading about all the competitors, and after reading good things about EGO, stopped by an Ace hardware that is one of three under same owner. It’s also the one that does service work for all three stores. I asked a tech there about EGO riders. He gave a thumbs up. Happened to mention I was nursing a really old Cub, he gave a thumbs down, and said we sell Cub new, but still gave Cub a thumbs down.
I talked to a store employee about ordering one, he said easier for all to order online, which turned out to be a cluster, due to corporate, not the local.
Through the whole process, Ace corporate was terrible about communication with me, the store didn’t know where/when my mower would turn up. I finally I started calling the store periodically and asking. Finally I was told by the store was told “it’s here”. So I grabbed a rental trailer and went to the store, but then they couldn’t find my mower; turns out Ace corporate shipped the wrong mower.
Weeks later it showed up and at least the local store had agreed to deliver it gratis it and the local store also gave me a $100 Ace certificate for my trouble.
I’ve got about 15 hours on it now, and so far I really like it.
I’m new to zero-turn mowers, so there’s a learning curve there. Partly because this thing is fast! It’s got 3 operating modes: control, standard, and sport. My son was visiting, had it in sport mode cutting donuts, throwing driveway gravel all over.
Tank steering isn’t new to us, we own a Case skid-steer, but this thing reacts so fast and differently there’s very little to compare.
Additionally, and this is a big difference: unlike the skid-steer, this mower is tank steer with the back wheels only, front wheels are free-turning casters. The front wheels of a traditional garden tractor usually are on the ends of a center-pivoting solid front axle, and always react to steering wheel input. Completely different: the EGO front casters are fixed at the front corners of the frame and do not articulate up/down to follow the terrain, and react to the terrain only. Consequently, on slopes near ditches if the EGO happens to lift one front corner caster or the other, it behaves like it has a mind of its own. That happens until you learn to sort of “read its mind” and even then, this sort of suspension has limits on uneven ground.
We mow maybe 2 acres of our property. Hard to tell as it’s not an open rectangular field of a yard. We mow around dozens of trees, 3 outbuildings, multiple flower and vegetable gardens, a couple parked vehicles and trailers, a tiny house on a trailer, a solar kiln on a trailer, etc, etc.
With all that stuff to mow around, the zero turn is a game–changer in terms of time.
Not meaning this to be about zero-turn mowers, but hard to separate it out.
So you probably want to hear about battery life, cost to operate, etc.
I haven’t downloaded the phone app, which is supposed to give me all this and more:
"Connected ride-on mowers have additional functionality through the EGO Connect app including:
• Mow with your phone as a map-based dashboard; see where you’ve mowed, how long, how fast, blade speed, and more.
• Use your phone as a remote key.
• View overall and per mowing session usage history in a variety of categories.
• View blade life remaining and replacement reminders."
Depending on blade speed (there are 4) and grass length, I average 2 hours run time from my batteries. How much terrain that covers depends on grass length, and how much stuff I have to maneuver around in that part of the property. Then it averages 3 hours on the charger to charge back up.
I do not have the optional catcher, nor the optional mulching blade set-up.
When grass gets long, as it did last month when we had loads of sun and rain, and life prevented me from mowing for 3 weeks, it had a tough time mowing it down. Wouldn’t mow it all down it one pass, so I made several over several days.
I am learning how much mowing power this has. It’s definitely no match for the Cub in really long grass, but then I didn’t expect it to be after all the reviews I read.
With this EGO, when a blade or blades sense an obstacle like a stick, or grass clogs under the deck and the motor loads too hard, all three blade motors shut down and a dash indicator comes on. With my too-long grass, I discovered the exit chute is often clogged. With the blades stopped, I can easily stay seated, reach over and down to lift the flap to clear the chute exit area, and very often that lets me mow until it happens again.
Setting the deck higher, or mowing less than a full pass obviously helps as well.
Normally I don’t let the grass grow unreasonably long, and I have no trouble taking full passes with less than full blade speed at a 2” high deck setting.
It’s way quieter than the gas Cub. However, the 3 deck motors have a “buzzing” noise that unfortunately our bees react to. We have a couple dozen bee hives on our property and I know how/when to mow near them with the Cub, but I have to change my strategy now with this mower. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely cause for changing up my game plan.
I definitely want to start using the phone app, but just haven’t had the time to mess with it yet.
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