Product Review: Enviromower (Solar Lawn Mowing)

The removable battery is the orange block with the handle under the raised cover.

I did a heap of research before committing our $500 AUD to the purchase. The hardware and lawncare store staff I spoke with said that battery mowers were becoming very popular, but generally the staff retained a degree of scepticism about their effectiveness, suggesting they were heavy and were best reserved for small yards or low grass. As Choice magazine found, when they tested various models, different brands do give varying results and some brands do appear suitable for only pocket-sized lawns.

However, from my perspective, the red coloured Enviromower Eco 500 can handle a standard suburb yard with aplomb. It cuts grass very well. It gives a clean, even cut, albeit a little narrower (35.5cm or 14”) than most petrol mowers. Three modes of mowing are possible: attaching the included grass catcher, using the included rear deflector to let the clippings fall behind the cut, or the included mulching plug. This latter attachment keeps the clippings next to the blades, so they’re sliced and diced fine enough to fall down as useful nutrient for improved lawn.

There is a also the yellow Enviro 500, which we were told had more powerful motor and better mulching blade for an extra $50 AUD. It's only available from specialist Victa stores.

Cutting height is easily adjustable, with a single lever raising/lowering all four wheels to one of six possible heights. I’ve found the Enviromower will easily cut very high grass, but this obviously drains extra juice from the battery and reduces the run time significantly.

And the convenience of the electronic stop-start is excellent. Just press the start button and depress the hand lever and you’re off. Release the levers and it stops. An added safety feature is the removable key, which breaks the circuit.

An optional edge trimmer is available, but we haven't gone down that route yet.

The build quality appears pretty good. The Enviromower is made in Taiwan. Time will tell how robust the mostly hardened polypropylene plastic chassis holds up longer term.

A shorter charge time coupled with a longer run time would be ideal -- the holy grail of any battery technology. In the meantime I’d have appreciated an indicator on the battery saying when it fully charged, and one that can show roughly how much charge remains. But, that aside, to date, I’m very happy with the mowers performance. :: Enviromower.

PS. look out for an related upcoming post on mower exchange programs.

NB: If you don’t have kids who want to frolic barefoot on the lawn then a greener option to even a reel, (or the new hybrid battery/reel mowers), or battery powered rotary mowers like the Enviromower, may be to replace that lawn with a home food garden. See the Food Not Lawn book and the Australian Fruit & Vegetable Garden book for more info on taking this step.