We got off the gas mower bandwagon and bought a 13amp, 21" Kobalt CORDED electric mower. Yes, it is a push mower and corded. Why? We have had 5 gas mowers in the past 13 years. 2 self propelled, 3 riders. No More. My neighbors thought I was nuts because we have a fairly large lot, almost 1/2 acre, with a number of trees, gardens, pond, waterfall, and junk.
Engines blown (3), flat tires constantly, clogged carbs (3), dead batteries, spark plugs, yada yada yada. No matter what brand you buy, unless maybe you go up into the multiple thousands of dollars, they are all junk. I did not want battery power, as they are expensive and seem to have a lot of problems. This Kobalt corded has a 5 year warranty. Anything goes wrong, I take it back to Lowes and they replace it. We paid $200 for it, from the proceeds from our yard sale. The electric cord was another $50.
I did my full yard test cut over the past 2 days. I wanted to do an objective comparison. Back yard yesterday, front yard today. I got up just before 8. Total time to cut the back yard - less than 30 minutes. Front yard - 40 minutes. I would cut 1/2 of each yard area, take a break, then cut the other half. The yard portion of my lot is 1/3 acre and very steep. So, I just cut side to side. The mower is really light and I barely broke a sweat. The temps and humidity are essentially the same as they would be on any summer morning, 75-79 with high humidity at the start. This is more like walking than mowing. The riding mower would take me about 45 minutes to cut the two sections, but then I would have to come back with a weed whacker to get to all the places the rider couldn't get to. No problem with the push mower.
In the past it has always taken about 1 gallon of gas to cut the yard. I would go through 2 sets of blades each year (2 blades per set). The avg. annual cost to cut the grass with gas was $160 per year. Now it should be $35. 20 cents per kwh for electricity vs $2.50 per gal for gas. $12 per blade instead of $35 per pair. This does not include the frustration of dead batteries, riding mower just stopping and me having to push it the 100' uphill, the flat tires. I would change the oil and filter every year, using only synthetic.
And finally, the cut ability. There is absolutely no comparison. None of my riding mowers could come close to the quality of this little electric. I honestly tried to think of a single reason why the riding mower was better than the electric, and I could not come up with one.
Maybe a year from now I'll feel different, but for now, never another gas job.
dave