EGO 52" Electric Zero Turn Mower - An Ongoing Review

[MegaVan]

Good morning all.

A couple months back I worked through the long hard process of replacing my mower - to cut to the end a bit - I had a Kubota - I now have an EGO.



I spent a fair amount of time and effort choosing what I did and I'd like to document my thought process and ... how things ended up this way. I also would like to give my longer term impressions and answer any questions that folks might have about it.

This will hopefully be broken down into sections as follows:

• Why a new mower?
• What am I mowing?
• New mower spec
• Cost analysis
• Purchase & performance
• Actual Performance vs Expectation vs EGO Claims
• Ongoing

Feel free to come along for the ride.

 

[White Shadow]

I considered getting one myself (and the Ryobi zero turn too), but in the end I chose a Toro Timecutter 50" and it's awesome.

I do have an Ego 21" mower, backpack blower, and string trimmer and they are all great.

 

[billconner]

Following this....

 

[MegaVan]

Why a new mower?

My existing mower is/was a Kubota G5200. Heralding from the mid 1980's - this is a very nice garden tractor that has honestly not had a very good life.



I bought it 6 years ago because I had just purchased a house and this mower came for sale down the road. The fellow was asking $1,000, we settled at $750 or so.

This turned out to be very fortunate because that property PUNISHED mowers. Our neighbor went through 3 used riders in the time we were there and often resorted to push mowing his 5+ acres.

The land was so bumpy that at one point it broke the front axle on the Kubota. I welded it back together with some reinforcement and it soldiered on.

Now it's a 30-40 year old tractor, there have been ongoing maintenance issues that I have addressed over the years - I'll call those out later. Even today this tractor runs well - but it was time to consider something newer.

Here's why:

Overheating
A bit of research on the older G-series and you'll quickly find that folks have trouble with overheating.

The good news is my tractor doesn't overheat if I stay under 4mph and if the temperature is under 80.

The bad news is that this is Ohio and my property is an acre - so the combination of those items is somewhat rare. A few minutes at idle and it settles back down to a normal temperature but this is an ongoing struggle that coolant flushes and radiator cleanings have not been able to address.

There are some inherent design flaws on the tractor that lead to this. I won't get into it here.

Electrical
The electrical system was rebuilt by the fellow I bought it from as he was in college and it was a good project for him to practice on and make some money.

Not all my electrical issues flow back to him but there have been various issues with charging, batteries, melting wires, glow plugs, etc.

Lately the charging has not been working correctly but the dynamo works. There is some issue in the original circuit that is not allowing the battery to charge and it allows the battery to drain down while mowing. Now it's a diesel - this isn't a HUGE issue as it keeps running - but it is an annoyance. Even with a battery tender the electric tends to run out in an average mow which is hard on batteries.

Deck
The deck is in need of some work again. I accidentally ripped off an anti scalp wheel while mowing not long ago so it does mow a bit lop sided. This isn't a huge deal alone - just another consideration.

Repairs
This is where things are finally getting too much. Every spring we go through a new list of repairs to run for the season. This spring it was some springs had worn out, a couple belts and filters. Some parts are only really available through Kubota and the lead for old Japanese parts isn't great with COVID.

I have often found my first mow delayed a few weeks due to the repairs - and in Ohio that can mean a VERY long lawn.

Bottom Line
The mower was taking time away from my kids and other projects I have going on and that was unacceptable.

It's a good little tractor - I've put on 600 hours (it has 2,400) and it runs great. For the amount I've put into it over 6 years (~$2,000 including purchase) I don't think it could really be beaten in terms of value. It's just time for it to become someone else's fire hazard mouse nest project.



Basically, it was just time to not have to think about whether or not the mower will run today.

 

[JradM]

I'm curious to hear about how electric works out for you. I recently bought a 56" 24hp Husqvarna Zero Turn. I looked at Ego and Ryobi electric mowers, but I wasn't convinced they were competitive. Anything approaching the same power and cut width was more than 2x the price of the Husqvarna - but I'm in Canada, maybe things are different stateside.

However, I do appreciate that electric has benefits over gas. For one, there's no gas. Plus no oil to change and it should be considerably quieter. I can totally see choosing an electric mower for those reasons (so I'm not second-guessing your choice).

 

[MegaVan]

What am I mowing?

I live on a property with an older home. The property is 1.2 ish acres and the mowable area is almost right on 1 acre.

This means I could use nearly anything, including a push mower.

I do not want to use a push mower.

Another complication with the property is that we have about 33 mature trees on the property.



Previous situation with the Kubota which has a 44" deck - this takes about 1.5 hours to complete.

There is no major grade change, no ditches, no ponds to slide into.

To summarize:
1 acre of flat land with a ton of trim mowing around trees.

I also use a mower for:

• Toting around stuff
• Pulling a Handozer
• Not much else

I found this information to be critical when considering what I would purchase.

 

[Packard V8]

FWIW,, I've mowed this nearly-acre of hilly, treed lawn for almost fifty years now. I just priced a 52" EGO ZTR here at $7630. If and when my Toro Timecutter 42" has to be replaced, an alternative is to hire a lawn service to mow my lawn for the next 6-8 years. That is certainly a viable alternative. No more oil changes, belts, spindles, pulleys, batteries, tires, spark plugs, filters, blades. Factoring in the cost of the EGO, less the annual maintenance of an ICE, six years, no sweat, no more risking my 77-year-old body on hills no one should try to mow with a ZTR.

jack vines

 

[MegaVan]

It's been a while since I've been able to get back to this. Next step for me was determining what I wanted from a new mower.

New Mower Specification

I have no small gasoline equipment at my home. All OPE and mowers run on electrons or diesel. My strong preference if continuing with combustion was to stay with Diesel.

First step was to price out the EXACT same mower I have now (Kubota does still make it). I mean this one has worked for 40 years - what could be wrong with another? Anyone who has priced a diesel mower lately knows how this went.



As I dug into things I found they've changed the frame a bit (stamped steel instead of solid Channel frame)- flipped the engine around so the PTO exits the rear of the mower, and a few other minor tweaks.

Next I tried to look around and see if there were any used mower options in decent shape (minimum 20 years newer) - preferably with 4 wheel steer (lots of trees to mow around).



So here was another option at about half of retail... 15 years old and half of retail. My wife didn't go for it. "If you're spending that much go new".

So what would I want in a new mower? I want to spend less than $10k - I know that from the Kubota, but the Home Depot specials are rarely a long term solution either. So I sat down and put together a criteria sheet of what I actually wanted from a mower starting from scratch:

Cost: <$8k
Drive Type: Any
Steering Type: Zero Turn or 4 Wheel Steer (glide steer etc due to trees)
Fuel Type: Any
Deck Size: 42" - 54" (beyond 54" there are many trees I cannot fit between it also fits in the shed)
Blade Quantity: 3 (I have no tangible evidence it is better than 2. It's just what I'm used to)
Wife Approval: Wife must be willing to start and use it when I travel for work (current mower is a bit... "wiggle this then turn that then pray then it might start if there's not water in the fuel... and don't let it overheat if the temperature gauge is working")
Service: Local only - no sending off for repair through Lowes or HD
Storage: Shed un-conditioned storage only.
Batteries: MUST be removable for winter time storage. Must be 2x the estimated amount of charge required for the lawn to account for battery degradation.

I'm going to throw in here that I never had a concept of vertical shaft mowers before this - only having the Kubota and all. When I saw how a vertical shaft mower works it freaked me out for a few days. Couldn't think straight at all. What a weird concept.

Basically on an electric side this eliminated Greenworks, Ryobi, Cub Cadet, and the more expensive options as they either have to be sent out for work or the batteries are not removable.

The local Ace has a large outdoor power equipment service shop - and I do like supporting local shops. From a gas side they carry Husqvarna and Bobcat - from an electric EGO. At the initial time of searching only the 42" existed.

Ace was willing to service all their equipment including the EGO in house for all warranty and service needs. I checked out their selection and the Bobcats called a lot louder than the Husqvarna. Quality hydros and solid decks. And maybe most importantly the chair was comfortable.

Photos have stopped loading so we're going to go with a link to the manufacturer:

https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/equipment/mowers/zero-turn-mowers/zt2000

I talked with them and they agreed to put an Ego 52" on order with no commitment from me because they wanted one in stock anyway so I could check out the 3 blade set and the 12 AH batteries. And the seat.

Basically, I went home knowing it would be one of these two mowers that would reside in the shed. Good thing I put blocking in the floor.

 

[captain14]

What’s the delivery time for the mower on order? I think buying from the local dealer is the right decision if they are responsive.

I emailed the local Honda dealer about a push mower and they replied quickly and then when I asked a question about the in stock mower they told me about - no reply after 2-3 emails from me.

I am a little surprised from the lack of responses.

 

[MegaVan]

What’s the delivery time for the mower on order? I think buying from the local dealer is the right decision if they are responsive.

I emailed the local Honda dealer about a push mower and they replied quickly and then when I asked a question about the in stock mower they told me about - no reply after 2-3 emails from me.

I am a little surprised from the lack of responses.

At the time they were able to confirm with me that they warehouse had them in stock and the mower arrived in less than 2 weeks.

These folks are a long term family owned business who maintain relationships with several very large companies. They are extremely professional.

Unfortunately not all local dealers are that way. That said - I only interacted over the phone or in person. Sometimes that can change the perceived seriousness of the buyer.

 

[MegaVan]

Cost Analysis

This was a bit tricky. On paper it's easy to say "The electric mower is less robust and more expensive". And that's totally true. The frame is less beefy. The deck is 12 gauge fabricated instead of 10 gauge fabricated, etc. But one factor that's really difficult with electric things is you're buying half fuel for it up front.

We're used to buying an empty tank and filling it with stuff. Not buying a half full tank and filling it with electrons.

I broke costs down into 4 categories. Initial cost, standard maintenance cost, running cost, and repair costs.

Initial Cost

Bobcat: $5,400
EGO: $7,000

Now I'll be clear here that I was looking at the higher cost EGO because it has a higher capacity (6 x 12Ah batteries) and cutting width (52") and a thicker deck. I estimated that my yard would take 2,000 watts to mow and therefore the smaller mower would just barely graze by on a single charge and that is not appropriate for me. Also a larger battery tends to have lower heat and heat kills batteries.

All that to say it's clear which one is cheaper. I do not consider depreciation in my calculations as I intend to own anything until it is dead or has little value if I do sell it.

Standard Maintenance Cost

Bobcat: $120 / year (Oil, Hydro, blade sharpening, belts etc)
EGO: $30 / year (assumes a new set of blades every other year ... and that's about it)

Running Cost

Base assumptions at the time of study:

Mows: 35 per year (~1 / week for half the year - but the reality is often we mow every 4-5 days due to too much rain)
Gas: $5 / gallon & 1.2 gallon / mow - difficult to estimate with fluctuating prices and never mowing our lawn with a gas powered mower
Electric: $0.15 / kilowatt hour & 2,000 watts / mow - again - difficult to estimate

Bobcat: $210 / year
EGO: $10.50 / year

Repair Costs

To check this in more detail I really got into the exploded views to figure out how the EGO works. Basically there are 5 pancake electric motors, a brain, and some batteries. There's not a lot else going on, but the critical components that I see could fail over the long term are the blade motors (which also house the spindles) and the "Hydro" replacement gearbox.

Starting with the blade drive (with integrated spindle) - this DC motor (marked "1") is ~$170. Shown is the 2 blade, however the parts are common from the 42" to the 52". A Bobcat branded replacement spindle for a Bobcat ZT2000 is $135 (no pulley).


Moving to the drive unit, it can be seen on the lower right here as a full assembly with both motors, gear boxes, brake, etc. This is available around $1,000 total. The Hydrogear ZT2800 used in the Bobcat is ~$1,000 / side.


Supposing one of the motors kicked the bucket you can also order individual replacement motors at ~$200 each.


The whole system is very modular and intuitive. Basically I consider repair costs equivalent between the two.

Total Costs

I decided to do my analysis based on a 5 year time period which is the warranty period which eliminates the repair component.

Bobcat 5 year cost to own: $7050.00
EGO 5 year cost to own: $7,202.50

Basically a wash. This in mind I decided it was worth the risk to spring for the EGO and see how things went. Have to dip your toes in sometime right?

 

[VolvoRyan]

Thanks for the write-up so far. Really curious to hear how it works long term.

We moved from southern Ohio to southern Indiana at the height of the pandemic. We had a postage stamp of a property before, but now have an acre easy. To mow, I had to buy an entry-level Husqvarna at the wrong time of the year. It's OK... but there are niggles.

-Ryan

 

[MegaVan]

Purchase was simple. I paid my money and Ace delivered it to my yard within a couple hours (they wanted to charge it fully and ensure that all the batteries took a full charge before delivery).

Driving
I lurched around the yard before supper and got a very slow mow in after supper.



I used the "comfort" setting on the controller and it turns out this was a mistake because in "comfort" it behaves nothing like a standard zero turn.

During subsequent mows I tried out different settings and found out that I prefer "sport" setting with full speed available. I'm at about 16 hours now (24+ mows).

In sport each handle supposedly controls each drive wheel. This is not actually true. It can be confirmed by pushing just one lever and watching both wheels turn. I guess they must have programmed some "features" in to try to make it smoother.

Driving the Thing
The seat comfort is excellent. There are a few spots more jarring than on the Kubota but with smaller tires with high pressure and less weight that is expected. It has cup holders. Open containers not really recommended because it doesn't ride like a Caddy. I'm not totally sure what I'd use it for. I tried a drink. I just ended up spilling a bunch and getting grass in my drink.

There is a nice pocket for my phone and the block I use to prop up the chute.

Biggest gripe is that I can feel the frame flex. Now I don't know what material they used, maybe it will handle the usage ... but I don't like flex. If there is an issue I can always weld it back together but this one leaves me curious about durability. I will not be pulling any punches with it though and it will be used flat out for a lot of it's mowing time.

Cut Time
I've gotten my mow time down to about a half hour. It is a huge time savings for me (this would have been the case with any zero turn).

Traction
If it had enough traction you could probably pop a wheelie? That's my biggest gripe with it though - the traction is awful. Even on dry grass it will sit and spin a wheel while trying to turn or lock a wheel in a larger radius turn. Backing into the shed if I don't slide the seat back so my weight is on the wheels it will spin when it hits the PVC. I'm severely tempted to try and find some AG tires because there is really no excuse for traction this bad.

Battery Life
Battery life is very dependent on the blades being on or off and has very little to do with distance or speed travelled. Various mows I've had 50%-70% remaining after mowing one acre. In ideal conditions I believe it could meet their 4 acre claim. My conditions are not ideal so that has met my expectation. I have mowed twice on the same charge a few times.

Slicing Grass
Cut performance is OK. There are 5 blade speeds. On the lowest if I'm working around our grove of shaggy hickories it works well, but bogs in heavy grass. Some reviews claim "no bogging like my diesel" - I guess these people have easier grass to mow? Even in "turbo" blade speed the blades will slow down and then you can hear them ramp up as they pull more watts out of the batteries. I find the power to be equivalent to my Kubota. If you drive to fast in grass that's too thick - you get missed blades. That's just how mowing works.

Here is a fresh mow at 6-8 mph on wet grass:


Two passes, to the left of the mower: low speed, lowest blade speed. Directly behind the mower highest speed (7-8mph) and 4th highest blade speed (I forgot to use "turbo"):


Either way the grass gets mowed.

The deck doesn't collect a ton of grass, if it does I generally just let it dry out and remove before the next mow. Maybe not best practice but it's the way it is.

Here are the six batteries removed from the egg sack like area of the mower. Power density has come a long way and I was surprised how little room they take up given that they replace a diesel can. Really not that much more space, especially when you consider they are mostly air on the inside to allow for cooling. Of course these charge in the mower - I can't remember why they were out at the time. I think the mower was left outside overnight while I made room in the shed for it.


Mower in the shed:



Charging
It charges fine on the power that I have in the shed. A 15A circuit is required. I have more detail on the charge behavior I'll describe another time. Total charge time is 2-4 hours depending on state of charge. My grass doesn't grow THAT fast so it works for me.

Other Stuff
As stated initially I use my mower for other stuff and within a week I had the Handozer hooked up to see if it could drag it around the driveway. Honestly, it pulled better than the Kubota. There was no cooling to worry about and running around the driveway for an hour took about 2% of the charge.


Lack of traction did make it difficult to turn but otherwise there were no issues.

I mentioned I use it for toting stuff around, here it is with the mini trailer on my small porch restoration project:


Bringing in the new material for the porch I did a bit of extra loading:


No issues hauling the weight. I have no doubt this could haul my cars around as long as you didn't need to exceed 8mph. I had a more comical photo of this thing hauling a 22' 2x10" but I can't seem to find it right now.

Summary

Bottom line. The Ego has done exactly as I expected it to. There have been no errors, no faults, no charging issues and I've never come remotely close to running out of juice, even when mowing, letting it set for 4 days, then mowing again. Big gripes are traction and Reverse.

Oooh I forgot to mention reverse. The brushless motors cog in reverse. I'm not sure if the motors are not sensored or if they are only sensored in one direction or what. The cogging is REAL bad. With a little bit of load or going up hill it's not as bad so it may be able to be programmed out. I should really do a firmware update and see if that solves the problem but I'm not a big one on hooking my things up to the internet for updates. It has a tendency to break more things than it fixes.

I'll give another update on the charging/electrical usage, and if anything goes right or wrong with it over time.

 

[Odd-job]

Nice write up. Despite living in CA and giving up my dream of a big green lawn... was wondering if you can comment on the level of sound. Also curious when modding with higher traction tires, will that create more stress on the motors and void warranty potentially?

 

[VolvoRyan]

Thanks for the honest write up!

Are the mower batteries the same as what's used for their other tools? Just curious, I suppose.

I've been shifting to cordless for my homeowner stuff. My cheapo 18V Ryobi trimmer is much more pleasant than the gas trimmer. I'm hopeful the options for electric yard tools get better in the coming years when I'm ready to commit on a "platform".

-Ryan

 

[mike93lx]

Are the mower batteries the same as what's used for their other tools? Just curious, I suppose.

Yes, just larger. The ztr's come with 10-12ah batteries, the other tools come with 2.5-7.5ah batteries. They are all interchangeable, although I am not certain the 12's will fit in the walk behind mowers. My mower would definitely take a 10 though.

 

[Bubba Fett]

This is Gold Medal Award-winning material, here. Thanks for all of your efforts.

 

[MegaVan]

Nice write up. Despite living in CA and giving up my dream of a big green lawn... was wondering if you can comment on the level of sound. Also curious when modding with higher traction tires, will that create more stress on the motors and void warranty potentially?

I forgot about the sound! That was one of my main points I wanted to include. The range basically goes like this:

Level 1: You're driving a box fan on low
Level 2: You're driving a box fan on medium
Level 3: Honestly I've never used it
Level 4: You're driving a 5 gallon shop vac (sounds like a joke but I literally tell people it's like driving a shop vac around the lawn. It's exactly what it sounds like)
TURBO: Industrial vacuum level, but no hearing protection required so a bit quieter.

Basically the electric motors emit the normal whine noises you'd be used to, so just running about it sounds like an electric RC car. The majority of noise comes from the blades moving air. One consequence is you hear every deck rattle and branch you run over (it decimates branches) which makes them seem disproportionately loud - but from my view point no louder than the Kubota deck was.

I often mow after the kids are in bed on low and it is no bother to them at all.

 

[MegaVan]

Yes, just larger. The ztr's come with 10-12ah batteries, the other tools come with 2.5-7.5ah batteries. They are all interchangeable, although I am not certain the 12's will fit in the walk behind mowers. My mower would definitely take a 10 though.

They claim every tool every battery is compatible but I think it's known that a few of the push mowers cannot accept the 12Ah batteries, but some can.

For the most part if you check their designs they leave space for much larger battery packs.

 

[MegaVan]

This is Gold Medal Award-winning material, here. Thanks for all of your efforts.

In one sense it's way too much but the folks here tend to go overboard and I felt a 2 paragraph "I bought it and it mows great and it's the best thing ever EGO FTW" isn't really helpful to people. As stated here if you have ditches or hills or whatnot it may not be for you. So why not be detailed about it? If someone doesn't need to know my thought process there are plenty of other reviews or Youtubers who will gush over their free mower for you (with an affiliate link)

 

[mike93lx]

They claim every tool every battery is compatible but I think it's known that a few of the push mowers cannot accept the 12Ah batteries, but some can.

For the most part if you check their designs they leave space for much larger battery packs.

Let's see that 12 on the hedge trimmer!

 

[paulsomlo]

Very nice review

 

[MegaVan]

Let's see that 12 on the hedge trimmer!

Long ago (6 or so years now?) I switched to the M18 line for my OPE - specifically the weed trimmer followed by the chainsaw, and hedge trimmer.

As long as those run I don't anticipate replacing them with Ego equivalents.

However, I'm curious to see long term from Ego what kind of power hungry items they release (shop vac, compressor, tiller, etc) as that's where the high voltage high capacity batteries shine.

For my little hedges the M18 with a 4 or 5Ah battery is lightweight and pretty well perfect.

 

[mike93lx]

Long ago (6 or so years now?) I switched to the M18 line for my OPE - specifically the weed trimmer followed by the chainsaw, and hedge trimmer.

As long as those run I don't anticipate replacing them with Ego equivalents.

However, I'm curious to see long term from Ego what kind of power hungry items they release (shop vac, compressor, tiller, etc) as that's where the high voltage high capacity batteries shine.

For my little hedges the M18 with a 4 or 5Ah battery is lightweight and pretty well perfect.

I have the hedge trimmer, carbon shaft string trimmer and a couple blowers. All are quite good.

Chainsaw will be added when the need arises. For now, that is handled by a corded homelite.

I just decided to hire out my mowing and leaves as I was in the same boat as you needing a ZTR. Even with our long mowing season, break even is over 2 years (3 for the nicer ZTR), plus I don't have to deal with leaves and I get back all the time.

 

[MegaVan]

I have the hedge trimmer, carbon shaft string trimmer and a couple blowers. All are quite good.

Chainsaw will be added when the need arises. For now, that is handled by a corded homelite.

I just decided to hire out my mowing and leaves as I was in the same boat as you needing a ZTR. Even with our long mowing season, break even is over 2 years (3 for the nicer ZTR), plus I don't have to deal with leaves and I get back all the time.

I think that makes sense for a lot of people.

I was unable to find any rates that made it worthwhile for me.

 

[billconner]

I'd love the Ego mower but it only costs me $300-400 a year to have my lawn mowed and string trimmed. I don't think it would ever pay back.

 

[mike93lx]

I'd love the Ego mower but it only costs me $300-400 a year to have my lawn mowed and string trimmed. I don't think it would ever pay back.

Wow, that is wildly cheap. My current yard is 70 a week, around 40+ weeks a year. Last house (in MA) was $50 a week, probably 30 weeks a year, ish. Both lots are 1 acre.

 

[VolvoRyan]

In one sense it's way too much but the folks here tend to go overboard and I felt a 2 paragraph "I bought it and it mows great and it's the best thing ever EGO FTW" isn't really helpful to people. As stated here if you have ditches or hills or whatnot it may not be for you. So why not be detailed about it? If someone doesn't need to know my thought process there are plenty of other reviews or Youtubers who will gush over their free mower for you (with an affiliate link)

No such thing as too much good info. The thought process arriving at the decision is well worth the read. I'm a new homeowner, so just *thinking* about yard equipment is new to me. Small house on a big yard has been a big learning experience.

Thanks!

-Ryan

 

[MegaVan]

I'd love the Ego mower but it only costs me $300-400 a year to have my lawn mowed and string trimmed. I don't think it would ever pay back.

You're absolutely right on that. That's a good deal. That's barely more than I used to spend on fuel.

 

[MegaVan]

No such thing as too much good info. The thought process arriving at the decision is well worth the read. I'm a new homeowner, so just *thinking* about yard equipment is new to me. Small house on a big yard has been a big learning experience.

Thanks!

-Ryan

I guess one of the biggest advantages I forgot to mention is I've never had to run to town for fuel.

When I take the mega van into town it takes about a gallon of gas ($3-5) and a half hour of my day. This whole time I've never had to push off the lawn for a day because I didn't have enough fuel. I haven't had to ask my wife to get fuel while in town, and I haven't had a fuel tank fall over and spill in the back of my car.

This isn't something you realize on a consistent basis but it really is nice to not worry about it at all.

 

[billconner]

You're absolutely right on that. That's a good deal. That's barely more than I used to spend on fuel.

Well, a neighbor retiree, not a professional service, who does a 10 or so lawns in the area. Like I say probably every two weeks in a northern climate - 12 to 14 mowings a year.

He use to plow our driveway - equally inexpensive - $25 maybe 1o times a winter - but the cold got to him (tractor with a loader, no cab).

 

[goblue1998]

Excellent write up! I see you have a lot of trees. What is your plan for leaf cleanup? Are you getting the mulch kit and gator blades?

I have a cyclone rake and switched from an old Cub Cadet 1811 to a used gravely pro turn 148 a few years ago. The gravely is a great mower but it struggles with the weight of the cyclone rake when turning. The Cub never cared. I have the mulch kit for the gravely and had good luck last year with that and gator blades. I’m considering selling the cyclone rake and mulching going forward.

I’m also considering moving to an electric zero turn because my wife hates the smell but my biggest concern is managing the leaf clean up. I get a lot of leaves so either pulling the cyclone rake or excellent leaf mulching is a requirement. I really doubt a residential electric zero turn will hold up with the weight of my cyclone rake.

In the end, I am really curious how your EGO handles leaves.

 

[RickyPetite]

Thank you for an outstanding and detailed review. I cut my 1.5 acres (lots of trees, small hills) with a Ferris. It's 17 years old and running strong. Having said that, it's a pain to run out of gas and an even bigger pain to get ethanol-free gas for winter storage. Gas ain't cheap and the Kawi V-twin is a thirsty beast. When electric zero-turns came out, I was extremely skeptical since running 3 blades on a 50" deck must take a huge amount of energy. I found your review very enlightening and will consider an electric when "big red" kicks the bucket. My only residual concern is battery longevity since a single new battery in that pack of 6 is $549 (Ace hardware).

 

[JeepYJ]

Have you thought about adding windshield washer fluid or rv antifreeze to your tires to help with traction? Or maybe just lowering the psi down as low as you can without losing the bead seal?

 

[MegaVan]

Excellent write up! I see you have a lot of trees. What is your plan for leaf cleanup? Are you getting the mulch kit and gator blades?

I have a cyclone rake and switched from an old Cub Cadet 1811 to a used gravely pro turn 148 a few years ago. The gravely is a great mower but it struggles with the weight of the cyclone rake when turning. The Cub never cared. I have the mulch kit for the gravely and had good luck last year with that and gator blades. I’m considering selling the cyclone rake and mulching going forward.

I’m also considering moving to an electric zero turn because my wife hates the smell but my biggest concern is managing the leaf clean up. I get a lot of leaves so either pulling the cyclone rake or excellent leaf mulching is a requirement. I really doubt a residential electric zero turn will hold up with the weight of my cyclone rake.

In the end, I am really curious how your EGO handles leaves.

Ah leaves. I joke with people that God cleans up my leaves for me because we get very strong winds from the west across the corn field and the majority of my leaves usually just ... disappear.

However, what I've been doing with the Kubota is driving in circles around the individual trees to shoot the leaves to the base and then doing a light mulch around each tree. One of the reasons I decided to go with the larger mower (larger battery packs) was that I wanted to have the overhead for mulching as it will consume more battery. I'm going to see how things go this season to see if I'll need the mulch kit.

I haven't seen any EGO specific mulch or gator blades - I haven't looked into whether or not EGO has some proprietary mounting on the blades either.

I'm confident the EGO would pull the cyclone rake without any issue - but it's hard to say how the frame would handle the weight. If you were closer I'd say we should just give it a try. It does well with the Handozer which is semi-ground engaging but it really has the force concentrated horizontally with very little weight on the frame.

 

[MegaVan]

Have you thought about adding windshield washer fluid or rv antifreeze to your tires to help with traction? Or maybe just lowering the psi down as low as you can without losing the bead seal?

I've lowered the PSI once already - I'm planning to do it again. There was a marginal improvement - not enough. The antifreeze is a good idea though.

 

[mike93lx]

Ah leaves. I joke with people that God cleans up my leaves for me because we get very strong winds from the west across the corn field and the majority of my leaves usually just ... disappear.

However, what I've been doing with the Kubota is driving in circles around the individual trees to shoot the leaves to the base and then doing a light mulch around each tree. One of the reasons I decided to go with the larger mower (larger battery packs) was that I wanted to have the overhead for mulching as it will consume more battery. I'm going to see how things go this season to see if I'll need the mulch kit.

I haven't seen any EGO specific mulch or gator blades - I haven't looked into whether or not EGO has some proprietary mounting on the blades either.

I'm confident the EGO would pull the cyclone rake without any issue - but it's hard to say how the frame would handle the weight. If you were closer I'd say we should just give it a try. It does well with the Handozer which is semi-ground engaging but it really has the force concentrated horizontally with very little weight on the frame.

My ego walk behind came with three blades. A mulcher, a hi lift bagger and an "eco". The eco blade *****. I have tended to use the bagger blade all the time as it seems to lift more leaves into the blades. It also uses more power

It also uses a two blade system, but the second blade is the same for all three primary blades.

They mount with a little diamond knock out and have two bolts to hold on the second. It's been so long since I have owned another mower that I have no idea what is standard today

 

[MegaVan]

@RickyPetite - I'll try to cover battery stuff at some point. I'm curious to see how that goes long term.

@goblue1998 @mike93lx - the leaves came down and the results are in.

I think it's fine. Certainly better than the Kubota was and considering that I do not have a mulch kit for this thing - that's not bad.

Here's about 1/4 acre of heavy leaf fall and debris mulched up on one of my shaggy hickories. A mulch kit would have helped - the neighbor sweeps his leaves and you can see his results in the background (it's a losing battle for everyone).



I think I didn't post earlier - the small tool kit that came with the Ego fit perfectly in between a couple studs on my shed.




It's nothing special - but a decent gesture and a nice way to store some fittings and spare bolts.

 

[mike93lx]

@RickyPetite - I'll try to cover battery stuff at some point. I'm curious to see how that goes long term.

@goblue1998 @mike93lx - the leaves came down and the results are in.

I think it's fine. Certainly better than the Kubota was and considering that I do not have a mulch kit for this thing - that's not bad.

Here's about 1/4 acre of heavy leaf fall and debris mulched up on one of my shaggy hickories. A mulch kit would have helped - the neighbor sweeps his leaves and you can see his results in the background (it's a losing battle for everyone).



I think I didn't post earlier - the small tool kit that came with the Ego fit perfectly in between a couple studs on my shed.




It's nothing special - but a decent gesture and a nice way to store some fittings and spare bolts.

Nice, glad it's working well.

I ended up taking the easy way out and hired a lawn crew instead of buying a ZTR. Not dealing with the leaves is really nice

 

[TK21]

I bought the Ego 52" ZTR in June 2022. So it's been almost a year. I was the first person to buy one from my local Ace Hardware. So I knew I'd be a local guinea pig.

My property is 16+ acres. Of that, I mow about 3 acres including the lawn around the house, paths, and a woodlot. For about 15 years, I mowed with a 1949 Ford 8n tractor pulling a 3-blade mowing deck. Then I bought a New Holland 33HP compact utility tractor and 60" flail mower, which I've had for another 15 years or so. The flail mower has 40 pairs of cutting knives; maintaining them was an ordeal even when I was 10 years younger. I wanted something more compact and maneuverable, with less smell, noise, and pollution. The Ego machine checks all those boxes. It has nearly replaced the flail mower except for brush cutting and very tall weeds.

The Ego is a fun little machine, very easy to operate, and surprisingly powerful. The biggest drawback for me (aside from the upfront cost) is that it has no real suspension system (other than what's in the seat). This makes it less than ideal for my bumpy terrain, but if it lasts more than 5 years or so, I don't think I'll regret the purchase. 5 years is a pretty low bar compared to a small farm tractor, which I'd expect to last for decades if properly maintained and operated. With the Ego, about half the cost seems to be ******* in the batteries and controls. So you're not really getting a $6500 lawn mower, you're getting more like a $3500 lawn mower and paying another $3000 or so up front for the fuel. So I don't expect much more service life than I'd get from a box store lawnmower. Then again, for a commercial grade ZTR (which is really what a property like mine needs), I'd probably pay double to triple the Ego price (or more, for one of the few available commercial grade rechargeable machines).

By the way, the Ego batteries can be used to power a range of household electricity back-up devices. Very handy when we lose power in a thunderstorm. Ego even makes a small battery-powered generator, which can be used *indoors* to power a TV, appliances, etc. So far I've only purchased a small, relatively inexpensive device that holds a single battery. Good for charging a laptop or smart phone, or maybe for powering a lamp.