Καθημερινές άκρες εγχώριας ανακαίνισης

In Part 1 and Part 2 of our series on the new electric battery powered solar charged lawn mower from Linamar Consumer Products, we have reviewed the reasons from an environmental, cost, usage perspective why such a lawn mower makes sense.

We examined in Part 3 and Part 4 the many features of the lawn mower, including the brushless motor, as well as the assembly of the solar charging station. Today we are ready to review our test run of the lawn mower on our own lawn.

Remember, this solar charged lawn mower is sold under the Epic, Solaris and Utopia brand names at currently 3 different national retail chains in North America.

Now, once the batteries were fully charged we removed them from the solar charging station and placed them onto the battery station on the mower.

The was followed by loading or placing them at the 90 degree angle into the power receptacle followed by locking them into position by moving the handle of each battery so it was also at a 90 degree angle.

Sure enough, just like the the sales person told me, within about 10 seconds I started to hear the sharp ‘beeps’ coming from the mower. You see, the batteries are to either be in the solar charging station, optional plug in charging station or in the battery station in the mower. So, every 10 seconds or so if the mower is not ‘on’ and the batteries are in the mower’s battery station, 7 sharp ‘beeps’ will occur to remind you that they are still in the mower. I really like this. I can be forgetful from time to time.

This being the first time using the mower, I then proceeded to use the buttons on the inside of the main handle to position the handle in the most comfortable position for me. This was very easy. What a great idea, an ergonomically designed handle for the lawn mower. And one that my wife and daughter can easily adjust when they use the mower too!

Now, just as the instructions indicated I first pulled the thin black handle bar on the inside of the main handle towards me. This provides the power from the battery station to the motor. But, the motor is not on yet.

To ’start’ the mower I simply pushed down the Start button and released. Yes! It started the first time! Of course, I tried this several times just to see and yes, it started every time.

Next, I pushed the thin silver drive handle bar on the outside towards the main handle to engage the self propelled rear wheels and off we go! I was expecting it to be a bit of a chore to hold the handle, the thin silver drive handle bar and the thin black handle bar all at the same time. However, I was again pleasantly surprised how easy it was. And, when I came to the end of the property I simply released the thin silver handle bar and the mower stopped moving forward immediately. Very nice.

The self propelled feature really took much of the effort out of mowing the lawn. We had never had a self propelled mower previously and the difference was significant. Once I finished the front lawn I would usually be huffing and puffing and sweating (OK, OK….I am not in the same physical shape I was during my high school football playing days, OK? ) but not with this lawn mower. The self propelled feature is very nice. It does not propel the mower too slow or two fast but at a very comfortable speed.

What about the grass? Well, here are some pictures for you to see for your self. It cut very nicely and I never had to re-mow any portions.

What about noise? Well, no question it is much quieter than any gas powered mower. I find the brushless motor on this mower also quieter compared to other electric mowers I have used or used by my neighbours . With our prior electric lawn mower I would have to turn it off in order to hear my wife or neighbour say something to me. I don’t think I will have to do this with this lawn mower to hear them or for them to hear me.

Lastly, the vibration was much less than our previous lawn mower, likely  a result again of the brushless motor which also caused less noise.

When I was finished, I simply removed the batteries from the battery station on the mower and placed them back into the solar charging station.

None of this was as complicated as I thought. Why didn’t I purchase one sooner? Well, because this is the first year they are available!

We will continue to write more articles about our new solar charged electric lawn mower in the coming weeks.

To continue with the next article in this series on how the new solar charged lawn mower performed in long and thick spring time grass, simply select this link to Part 6.