Many of the most prolific auto executives, journalists, technicians, and salespeople throughout the decades have built their passion the same way: As a child, they tinkered with the carburetor on their parents’ gas lawnmower. It is the classic car-enthusiast tale that you’ll read about in all sorts of autobiographies and company-history pages and the like, but it will not be the tale for my son, because there will be no gas lawnmower carburetor for him to tinker with. And I feel a bit bad about that.
Before folks hop into the comments and tell me about California and all of its various restrictions, yes, I know new gasoline mowers are banned from California. Back in 2021, Assembly Bill 1346 — Air Pollution: Small Off-Road Engines — decreed that “by July 1, 2022, the state board shall, consistent with federal law, adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines, as defined by the state board. Those regulations shall apply to engines produced on or after January 1, 2024…”
Lawnmowers are among those “off-road engines,” and California features quite a few substantial rebate programs, with LA’s being run by the regional pollution agency called the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Look at these massive rebates, which require buying new electric mowers and having an old gas mower dismantled:
It’s basically Cash 4 Clunkers, but for mowers.
I myself did not take advantage of this because I don’t have an old gas mower, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t trash it unless it were truly junk. No, I just found a cheap Ryobi mower on Facebook Marketplace for $150 with battery and charger. There were plenty of gas mowers out there for under $50, but I wanted to try an electric mower, primarily because my yard is small.
And let me just say: This thing cranks.
It is better than a gas mower in every conceivable way. It’s lighter, it’s mower powerful, and it’s quieter. (But not that much quieter, to be honest; I never realized just how much of a lawnmower’s noise comes from that spinning blade — it’s substantial). Listen to how loud this thing is:
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Anyway, this mower is fantastic, it requires no maintenance, and I can charge it up overnight and mow my entire modestly-sized lawn easily, even if the grass is far too tall because I haven’t gotten around to it in a few weeks. (All of my neighbors have gardeners and keep telling me to get one, too, but on principle I just can’t).
But there’s still part of me that feels some guilt, because the gasoline lawnmower has since the dawn of time been a gateway into car culture. You’d often hear stories like this Reddit thread titled “My 10yo decided he wanted to start fixing small engines for cash. Snagged this mower free. Two hours later, he (by himself) has it starting on the first pull. I’m no mechanic – he just has the touch.”
The carburetor in a gas mower is just simple enough to be rebuild by a child, and yet it’s mechanically complex enough to demonstrate some important automotive principles, while offering a satisfying payoff when the job is done: The mower works like a dream, cutting grass with ease. This experience — and just the overall maintenance required like oil changes and spark plug swaps, as well as just the mechanical nature of wielding such a machine — is often a kid’s introduction to semi-complex mechanical systems.
Obviously, I’ve got plenty of old cars that my son Delmar (not his real name) could tinker with later should he choose to go that route, but the classic American car enthusiast-training wheels — the gasoline lawnmower — will not be an option. And I feel a bit weird about that.
He’ll probably appreciate it, though, when he’s pushing this smooth-revving Ryobi up and down our lawn with ease. I’ll just have to find another way to brainwa — err, inspire — him.
EA car and mower!?!? Whats happening to you man! Kidding
Makes sense for a smallish yard and they dont get all gunked up from sitting. Embrace the mower David.
It’s nice that the electric ones always work after sitting around for the winter, too. After rebuilding the carb on my 2-cycle string trimmer twice in three years (and yes, I ran fuel with stabilizer through it before storing and only use ethanol-free fuel) I chucked that hunk of shit on the ground and got an electric one. My electric leaf blower is about 1000x less annoying than gas ones, too. I’ll never go back.
Don’t feel weird about it, gas mowers are a pain in the ass. The more time you save on yardwork, the more you can spend on wrenching.
About 2 years ago we got the Milwaukee M18 mower because the reviews were good, and I wanted an extra mower that my oldest kids could easily use.
It has been the best mower I’ve ever owned – not that I’ve had many mind you – but it just WORKS. No tinkering with the carb, no overwinter prep, no oil changes or belts or plugs, no bogging down or shutting off in wet or tall grass, no nonsense.
I’ve treated it about as bad as I treated any other mower and it eats it’s share of errant rocks, sticks and other debris.
The only downside is the cost and having to charge. The TCO will even out overall as I use it more and am not paying fuel and maintenance, and on a full charge it runs about an hour, but that’s long enough to cover half of our roughly half acre yard.
Surely I am aware that it is running on borrowed time, something is bound to break – but so far, so good.
Best of luck with yours
Don’t worry about it a bit. The Old Man had (still has actually) a small-engine repair business on the side since the 70’s. For whatever reason, he didn’t seem too excited about teaching me anything about those when I was a kid and I found my gateway to cars via wrenching on bicycles. I wanted to learn, but tended to get yelled at when I tore into some of the various junk that wasn’t actually junk and messed it up trying to “rebuild” it.
Anyway, he luckily didn’t care about me tearing into his derelict ’53 Chevy pickup sitting at a place owned by a friend of his when I was 14. I actually got that heap running, bought several shit-box cars that I cut my teeth on and basically ended up as The Old Man’s mechanic by the time I was 17. Turns out he never really went past lawnmowers in his own journey of mechanical-knowledge.
As for yard tools, I’ve got at least seven old mowers out in the shed, along with several gas-powered weed-whackers, chainsaws, leaf blowers, snow-blowers, garden tractors, and a roto-tiller. I’ve even got an old “FlyMo” lawn-mower hovercraft hiding back there. Generally I can keep about half of the collection running at any given time. I haven’t paid for any of them as they all make their way to my house via The Old Man. When he comes across something that still runs, but isn’t good enough to resell, he doesn’t want to trash it and instead gives it to me. This is actually pretty handy as I have a 3/4 acre home lot and 3 rental properties to mow.
My favorite tools? The electric leaf-blower and electric hedge-trimmer I purchased on my own. I’ve had both of them for years – they always work, they aren’t as heavy, they don’t need periodic tinkering and I don’t have to bother with gas cans and assorted additives. I figure within the next five years, I’ll be converting over a good chunk of the rest of my lawn arsenal to electric and will be just fine with it.
As to Delmar, just make sure he has access to plenty of tools, even if that ends being a soldering iron and a DMM. He’ll eventually find his own projects and all will be well.
I really like my EGO outdoor tools. The trimmer is so much better than termpermental gas ones.
However, I will never give up my Honda HRX217 mower. It’s an absolute beast of a workhorse. In four years I’ve never had it get bogged down. My yard is too large for the electric mowers, but luckily this Honda will probably run another 20 years.
I’m a car enthusiast because both my parents my parents were car enthusiasts, so I spent a lot of time at car shows. My first engine repair wasn’t the family lawnmower; it was a big block Oldsmobile. I still have that Olds, as well as one of my parent’s cars.
Delmar has you. Your automotive enthusiasm needs no introduction. Elise, I can’t tell if she’s an enthusiast too, but she at least encourages yours, and that’s something.
That said, I made the switch to an electric lawnmower last year, and it’s fantastic. Yours does seem unusually loud though.
Literally all of my lawncare and landscaping tools are rechargeable electric–even my chainsaw. The only reason that my lawn tractor is still gasoline is simply that I have an acre to mow, and there aren’t really any other practical options that can mow an entire acre on a single charge (yet). Electric tools are SO much easier to maintain. My weed whacker, for instance, has no oil, no gasoline, no carburetor to clean, no trouble starting up. The only “maintenance” my chainsaw needs is dumping a couple ounces of bar lube in the thing once a year.
About the same situation here. Electric tools are just so much better than small gas ones.
I’ve been useing the battery stuff for anything that would need an engine 5hp or less. Sometimes a delivery person walks up when I’m using a battery mower and they can’t believe how quiet it is. The ethanol fuel has been carb headache for years. Plus if you are bagging with a push mower it makes life so much easier. I have some electric and battery chain saws that are ok still need a 2 stoke from time to time but I suspect that will change as things get better. The battery string trimmers that turn to edgers work so well plus the electric blowers so much better. I have battery back pack sprayer that is so much nicer and cheaper then those old 2 stroke ones. Having multiple tools with the same battery and battery stockpile with easy swaps is really easier then dealing with fuel.
I’ve got a 40-V Kobalt chainsaw, and it is absolutely amazing.
I have some TTI 12″ and 14″ I got deals on that work ok. They are great for small stuff. For bigger stuff I end up having to pull out the farm boss or the Chinese 52cc red clones. I’ve been tempted by the Lowes stuff maybe I’ll grab a 16″ to try.
I found a deeply discounted electric Toro Recycler display model and it is great. Its about as loud as a box fan and the electric version is built on the same steel deck as the gas model, no plastic.
I’ve asked myself a few times whether I switched to electric to be greener or more frugal. If you have a small yard and find a good deal it just makes too much sense.
I have the exact same one. Ryobe 40V system is nice. I only have a small front yard and a battery lasts about as much doing triming. Glad I went Cordless.
The benefit it ALSO has living in Florida, is that the charger DOES do USB Charging. I do have a power generator, but its nice knowing my lawn-care battery can charge my phone 4-times before it quits.
I bought that same mower years ago so my 9 year old son could start cutting the grass. He had used the gas mower the previous summer, but he wasn’t able to start it on his own. I went out and bought an electric one (they were heavily discounted at the time for some reason) and ended up loving it for all the reasons you said. I have since changed all of my other lawn equipment to electric and haven’t looked back. I do still have my old Toro weedeater and my gas lawnmower in storage, but haven’t touched them in years.
If you had a large yard where you needed a rider, restore an old GE Elec-Trak. I did at our last place, and it was a lot of fun. Had to sell when we moved, unfortunately.
I electrify all my lawn equipment when the gas one dies and I’m down to just the mower. It’s been 15 years of 0 maintenance (no oil changes, not sparkplugs, nothing) and that SOB won’t die.
The progression should be… ymmv
Wooden blocks, duplo, Lego, Technic Lego / meccano, Airfix, Hornby or equivalent trains, RC cars etc, with some sports and other outdoor activities – delay anything hand held with batteries a screen for as long as humanly possible
Back in the 1970s in the UK my Dad had a corded electric FlyMo (IIRC, no wheels – the blades form a hovercraft propeller. In theory…) that came with the house. I recall him cursing that thing viciously. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flymo
It’s a lot less bovver with a hover… or so they said with a Qualcast Concorde
Yes! I literally just typed that I have one of those, although it’s gas-powered and has never ran quite right. I only ever finished half a lawn with it, but keep it around because it’s such a conversation piece.
As somebody who tuned his Briggs mower engine’s 1-barrel updraft carburetor completely out of existence (somehow)… I was real glad I picked up my electric yard tool set. The 80V Kobalt (nee Greenworks) 21 inch mower will do my entire front yard on one battery and the entire back yard with the other battery. The weed eater is very light and nimble, and I bought a second leaf blower because they’re light enough that I walk around dual wielding them and can “steer” clibbins and leaves very effectively.
No regrets going to electric lawn doodads here. The technology and batteries will only improve too. I’ve been heavily contemplating selling my Yazoo “crab” rider because the yard is too broken up/hilly to use it effectively.
Regardless of how people feelings towards electrification, etc..
There is one thing that we all can agree on.
Everyone has been annoyed by the sound of someone else’s gas powered lawn equipment. And for this reason alone I wish that all outdoor equipment gets electrified ASAP, as long as it can still do the job.
I hear ya. The condo building behind us still uses gas powered leaf blowers and uggghhhh. We’ve had great experiences with electric mowers. So easy to use and no gross fumes.
EXACTLY
I’m of an age where the smell of two stroke brings back a lot of memories. Just like the smell of kerosene/JetA instantly makes me think of vacations.
Oh I get that too. There is always something nostalgic about both of those smells.
Smelling two stroke reminds me of the bumper boats at Action Park
Smelling Kerosene/JetA (weirdly) reminds me of flying on Continental Airlines, back when they had the gold livery with the red circle on the tail.
It is very weird how scent is tied to memory.
One time I cut the back yard using only the house floodlights and a headlamp as a guide, at 11pm. Just some electric whooshing sounds. Imagine firing up gas equipment that late… you’d start a neighborhood tar-and-feather mob.
(Never doing that again, it was terrifyingly fugly the next morning because nothing was lined up or even straight… I got home late, the place was already put off too long and overgrowing, and decided why not)
The only thing I miss about living in an apartment complex is that the grass was only cut once a week. Out here in suburbia, I have to hear at least one lawn near me being cut every. Single. Day. And of course it’s the lawn care companies, with mowers louder than God himself. And somehow they manage to take just as long as I do using a push mower, on a lot the same size.
But we are getting pre approved for a loan and with any luck, we’ll be living on a few acres of our own by this time next year!
^This, exactly. My neighborhood doesn’t have big lawns, or properties. But I swear all I hear is leaf blowers and weed wackers from now until, i dunno, November? (I’m probably exaggerating, but still)
When he’s 5 and you’re ready to replace this mower, you can always work on motorizing a bike / build a go kart with the parts from this one, so it’s not that kids in the future won’t wrench, they’ll just be wrenching on 3d printers and electric motors and anti-gravity generators. They may think of a carburetor the same way we think of a steam engine.
(Also, today I learned it’s carburetor and not carburator like I’ve always thought)
I recommend a manual reel-style mower. They are quiet and do a great job if kept sharp. They are also mechanically simple, allowing you to understand how they work. They also encourage paying attention to the most efficient mowing path. They require enough work that you don’t want to push further than needed.
Nice in theory, but not always practical.
As if my .75 acre lot wasn’t big enough (gas rider with a 48″ deck), we’re planning to build on a 5 acre lot (diesel subcompact tractor with 5′ rotary cutter, as the place has been basically abandoned for over a decade and is full of gigantic thistles, volunteer trees, etc…).
Pretty sure a reel mower would exhaust and kill me before I could get even the smaller lot done.
We also have a battery self propelled Ryobi very similar to David’s, for the dog’s fenced in area, under trees, etc. That could maybe be a reel style mower, but frankly I wouldn’t have the energy to deal with it.
It is for sure lot size dependent. But a small city lot like DTs should be manageable.
No, this is absolutely a great application of battery powered tools. As long as your large isn’t large, electric is by far the way to go. My dad has one after swearing for a few years he would never, and is 100% converted. I ended up with his old gas powered Husqvarna. Whenever this thing dies (has a decent amount of life left for sure) I’ll convert to electric as well.
I use 40V battery string trimmer and leaf blower weekly, my occasional use snow blower is corded. I bought an new walk behind 2 summers ago and went gas. The self-propelled function and ability to mow the full property on under 1 tank outweighed the cost of electric for me. The gas mower has a wider cut too. I use about 2 gallons of gas in a full season.
So far, battery-electric mowers are perfect for smaller-to-average-size lawns. I have one, it’s as good as any recent nice gas mower; it’s even self-propelled. Definitely quieter and less vibration, and not too heavy. However — I have a half-acre yard with plenty of edging to do and several trees to trim around. The mower is just for trimming and tight areas — I have a garden tractor to do most of the work, but there’s enough to trim that the batteries hold out just long enough to get it all done in one go. If the grass is too long and/or not completely dry, it can sometimes run out of charge prematurely.
If there’s been a week of rain and the grass is getting too tall, I still haul out my 30-year old 2-cycle Lawn-Boy gas mower. That thing will chew through a jungle; it puts most modern gas mowers to shame.
And I agree with other comments that gas leaf blowers are quite possibly the worst thing ever invented. If I really need a blower, I have an ancient Black & Decker corded electric one that doubles as a vacuum/shredder… so it’s useful for more than just one thing. Yes, dragging a cord around can be a pain, but there’s just no sense in burning fuel and smoking up the place just to blow stuff around. Most of the time you can blow grass off the edges of the driveway by pushing the lawn mower along with the chute pointed at the edge. And there’s always the broom. I live half the country away from CA and I was happy to see them ban gas leaf blowers.
Yes my corded B/D shredder/blower is a godsend in the fall.
And it already makes a ton of dust. No need to add a bunch of smoke and other pollution as well…
You think you like the lawnmower, wait till you get a battery powered weed wacker. I actually ENJOY using it. So much lighter and quieter than the gas ones. I can pop in ear buds and listen to music with the electric stuff.
Pro-Tip: if the grass is too thick for the mower, use the weed wacker to knock it down a bit first.
Oh, and I never once tinkered with my dad’s gas mower, I went right to an SBC in a squarebody I bought when I turned 14.
I got one, and it is ABSURD. It’s the Ryobi 40V expand-it. Snagged it for $70, and it is a monster.
I’ll be curious if you end up dealing with the Random Battery Death syndrome that the Ryobi 40v stuff seems to be haunted with. I ran my 40v battery out the first time, and it threw a trouble light and refused to charge. I even did the ‘disassemble to get at the reset button’ thing, and that didn’t work. Had to get a shady replacement battery from Amazon. Needless to say I’m not pleased with my experience. I hope yours is better!
Most of my Ryobi 40V batteries are 5+ year old and show no signs of decline. Didn’t even know people had problems with them.
Maybe I was just unlucky, but when I searched around there were plenty of posts and videos about the issue and what to do (replace under warranty, or try to do the reset thing). Glad yours work well! Hopefully mine will from here on out, too.
I guess I’mma have to say this here: You need an accessory you don’t have? Its a drive to the local Walmart. Its Universal, got my lawn edger works great with my Ryobi.
Gotta agree on the electric trimmer. I actually miss the smell of the 2-stroke, but after that thing stalled on me for the 100th time in 100° heat, I sent it helicoptering into a tree. The 40V is much better for my mental health.
I went out and bought my electric trimmer after spending 30 minutes covered in gas from rebuilding the fuel system on the gas trimmer for the 3rd time. I went to HD for fuel lines and came back with an electric trimmer. Has run perfectly ever since. I don’t even keep a gas can in the garage anymore.
I don’t have my own house; I just do yardwork for my mom. I’m so glad my dad had the foresight to switch over to electric a few years before he passed. The last thing is the snowblower, my mom wants an electric one but fuck those are expensive. Her driveway is just big enough that I think an extra battery will be needed.
I remember struggling with those stupid things when I was a kid doing yard work for the neighbors. I always dreaded using it. There were times I’d use the hand trimmers just to not deal with it.
It’s about the quality of tinkering, not the quantity of tinkering. I’d rather tinker on a car that gives me joy than tinker on a mower that gives me a chore to complete. I like mowing, but there are things I enjoy much more than mowing. So, get whatever mower needs the least maintenance and makes the task as effortless as possible. I also, on principle, can’t get down paying for gardening or mowing service either. I’m able-bodied and not a highly paid executive, so I’m gonna cut my own grass thankyouverymuch.
You hate a quiet, maintenance free experience. OK. This gives you more free time to wrench on the 100 cars you neglect.