The Ego Power Mower is quiet, powerful, and it has a headlight
If you mow grass, the Ego goes. It dishes out grass-snipping power in gobs. It’s gloriously quiet and ruggedly designed.
112-volts of lawn mowing goodness.
As I’m thinking of ways to describe the easily-equivalent-to-6-horses-of-internal-combustion-power of the Ego power 21-inch self-propelled mower, it occurs to me that were I prone to hyperbole. Nahhhh, not me. If I were, then I’d say that the jet turbines that haul me through the sky might be powered by a couple of them. But I’m not ever in any way ever at all ever prone to hyperbole. Ever.
And even after mowing my lawn 50 times or so with this 112-volt two-battery Ego monster, I still can’t believe that there is this much power coming out of a lawnmower. I mean, severe-ious go-go from an ostensibly DIY-level tool.
Out of the Box
Out of the box, set-up was a snap. What I also noticed was a stout, serviceable design.
We occupy a society and supply chain of such amazing and unbelievable complexity that I’m sometimes gobsmacked by just how incredibly incredible we can make things; this puppy was pretty much un-fold-and-go.
After a couple of months and some multi-hour mows, it holds up. There’s a little flex between the mower handle and mower body—which is a hinge point and adjustable to accommodate different height people, like my son Jack who needs it a little lower to get optimum angle. Awesome.
Power
I’m the bad seed in my neighborhood. For reasons as complex as the supply chain praised above, I sometimes let the lawn go.
For, like, a while. And for some really off-the-wall reason, my wife likes seeing the grass grow extra wild.
And that’s what the Ego and it’s 112-volts and two—2!–56-volt batteries had waiting for it. Easily 8-inches of spilled-over, matted, uncared-for lawn. Taller in some extra special weed growth areas.
Note: In my extra-mature Infinity War with This Old House’s @kevinoconnortoh about the grandeur of our respective lawns, I lost this battle a few times this summer.
3-in-1—Side Discharge, Mulch, Bag
This is a must for me because, well, see above.
But also because you need it, mainly for your soul in case you didn’t know: There is little other autumn activity so satisfying as side discharging leaves from a lawn mower. Convince me otherwise. Similarly, bagging and mulching them is fun, too. Mowing and leaving crisp green stripes in your wake.
Anyway, with the cool side discharge—mounted on the rear so it doesn’t change the overall footprint of the mower, sweeeeeeeet detail—it mainly chugged this unreasonable amount of grass and weeds (Kevin will say grubs) out through the chute. It clogged a few times, but under normal circumstances, it chooched.
With the chute removed and the mulch plug installed, the Ego Power produces a super-fine mulch. They are also so nicely designed so that you can’t accidentally have them both installed; ask me how I know. Again, impressive.
Headlights and Peak Power
So this mower has two features that are pleasant surprises: Headlights that I never thought I’d use—totally used them—and Peak Power.
The headlights are fantastic. I’m nothing if not overworked these days and I try to squeeze as much out of every day as I can, which means mowing late. After the end of summer and the loss of days that ended at 9pm, I ran out of day, but not out of light.
“Peak Power” is what tool engineers call electronic feedback control. The motor senses stress—tall grass—and it hits another gear for a sec or two to power through. Overall the unit runs just below this peak threshold and it is awesome.
Quiet
It is gloriously quiet.
Batteries & Charger
The charger has a sweet 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent indicator and the 56-honkin’-volt batteries charge fast.
The battery exchange in the mower is outstanding. One of the best I’ve seen. Press a button and the batteries spring free.
I wish the “hood” over the batteries opened and stayed at a full 90-degrees, but that’s a small thing.
Adjustments and Storage
The height adjustment is a single lever for all four wheels.
The handle is customizable to different height users as I mentioned above and it folds down for compact storage. And the mower is light. I see no reason why this couldn’t be hung on the wall when not in use.
Self-Propelled
While I appreciate a self-propelled feature on a mower for particularly lumpy lawns, I really don’t use it on principal. I’m sure I will change the world with my stance that a push mower should be pushed. So while I have the ability to push a lawnmower I should push it.
But, for various reasons, it’s a cool feature. I like it for getting out of a corner. Just tap the little green handle and it goes. If you need an assist for whatever reason, it is there.
With power to spare.
Maintenance
Sharpen the blade. Bring the batteries inside in the winter. No gas, oil, stabilizer.
Boom. Done.
Rating
I’ve looked for how the Ego Power Mower could fall short and haven’t found it. It’s self-propelled and even has a head light. A headlight!
5 out of 5: Full chooch.
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