Oh yes please.. please, please do it. I have some choice words about leaf blowing in general but this will be a marked improvement all else being equal.
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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I really find anybody using even a gas lawnmower pretty obnoxious. If you are cutting an acre of land it is fine. If you are an old person I get the not changing.
What if you're a contractor?
Then you use a set of battery-powered tools that all run off of the same battery.
Making the switch makes the job much easier. Not needing to worry about needing access to power or venting CO2 when working in enclosed space in winter is game-changing.
With a system like Dewalt, you can basically do anything you want using only batteries. You can run lawnmowers, table saws, drills, air nailers, leaf blowers, chain saws, vacuums, mitre saws, hammer drills, hedge trimmers, grinders, and basically anything you need for most jobs off of the same battery.
Similar to people cutting an acre i guess. A contractor has to have their tools working all day with no wait for charging.
Bring more batteries?
Thats why you invest in multiple batteries and swap them like when you refill the gasoline. And have the others back on charge and standby
I think a lot of people are resistant to moving away from gas mowers because the extension cord is annoying as hell and battery powered ones are still too expensive.
Gas power is also way more powerful. Electric ones hang up on deep grass. More expensive, less power and I already have a gas one.
Battery powered ones are about the same price as gas powered ones at this point. And they are cheaper to run overall
Brand new sure. But you can't find used battery powered mowers on Kijiji for $30 like you can gas mowers.
Gas mowers are less desirable these days, it makes sense that the the used market is flooded with them.
I did do a quick search because I was curious, and used gas mowers seem to be closer to 80$ in general, some cheaper, some more pricy. Used battery mowers seemed to be closer to 120$. There are things to be concerned about when buying used for both had and electric, but the spread isn't as bad as you make it seem
Wow where did you find a used battery mower for $120? The cheapest on my local Kijiji is $450 for a 4 year old one. All the others upwards of $800.
Also need to consider that the battery is probably close to end of life on used mowers.
In comparison there's 14 gas mowers between $0-$50 in my locale. Most of the free ones appear to be in working condition too.
I mean I'll never buy a lawnmower (fuck grass lawns) but a quick look shows they are as low as 70 bucks. Here's an example.
I bought a new Greenworks battery mower (40V) for $200 when it went on sale at the local Lowes. For a normal-sized city lot with grass, it's WAY more than enough. Plus, it's light to move around... does just as good of a job mowing as the gas one my neighbor uses, and it makes hardly any noise at all when I use it.
I had a Greenworks too. A 20v for one summer but the battery was shot after the winter. I brought the battery in before it got cold out too. Luckily Costco is awesome about returns. Has yours lasted longer?
I bought mine in 2020. It's still going strong. I take the battery out and store it in the garage between mows. I'm on the same battery since 2020... been really happy with it. My brother has one too and he's had no issues either.
Nice! If they go on sale at Costco again I'll probably give it another shot. I might've just got a lemon.
Isn’t the point of a ban to drive down costs for battery power?
How many people are there that can afford to own property that has a lawn in within the city limits of Toronto but can't afford an electric mower?
Have you never heard of renting a house with roommates? Someone has to mow the lawn and it's rarely the landlord.
So you entered a rental agreement where you're responsible for mowing the yard, and you're also required to purchase the lawnmower to fulfill that responsibility?
Sorry you got a shit landlord.
I've only ever been in 4 rentals in my life but, yeah, that was pretty much the standard. One of the landlords left their lawnmower that we could use but it broke so we had to get a new one.
About time really. Makes sense for a city. And if in the country and you’re worried about leaves, well, really…
Edit: This is my first post. 🏆
Congratulations on your first post ! Here is a medal :🥇
I’m rich!
Took awhile to figure out how to reply! Swipe left… (?) I’m using the Memmy app.
Haha, I'm using Jerboa and so far so good!
We recently outlawed them in my city. Didn't do anything. Everyone still uses them and no one enforces the ban. City next to us banned them years ago and I had no idea, same thing happened there. Continued use and no enforcement.
It is still worth outlawing their use and their sale. As sales are outlawed in enough places, people will gradually phase them out.
Yes I'd like them gone. My city didn't ban sales unfortunately.
Enforcement is hard and expensive. I'd bet it's a question of weighing the cost-benefit of pouring resources into enforcement vs letting them peter-out and diminish over time.
Assuming a small city, it's hard to accomplish. But Toronto has the ability to influence major retailers. So it could be the start of the gas powered ones disappearing from shelves nationally.
I really hope this goes through. Electric ones are much easier to deal with..
Please do. They’re so fucking loud
Just ban blowers outright, makes no sense when leafs get blown from one property to another, and then back again.
You know whats really fucking incredible is that this was ever considered a reasonable option
You mean... bend over and... pick up the leaves like I did when I was a kid???? Who has time for that. Blow that shit into the neighbor's yard.. Done.
As the guy in the article mentioned, If this were the case I would hope to see and exception for contractors/business. Electric has come a long way, but still pales in comparison to a gas blower/trimmer.
As for pollution, while it's important to tackle all angles of a problem. There are definitely bigger fish to fry. Two stroke emissions might be "more harmful pound per pound" but there is a million times less of those pounds.
I don't live in Toronto, but is the sound pollution from two stroke engines really that bad? How does it compare to construction noise or traffic noise? There is no logical reason a two stroke engines should be running for longer than 20-30 mins at a time and that's stretching it.
I live in Toronto. They are loud. Traffic is usually isn't noticeable in my 22nd floor condo (unless it's those stupid tuned exhaust systems - which should be banned as well). But when the city or contractors pull out the gas leaf blowers, I hear them pretty clearly. I'm happy to have them gone to reduce the noise.
I agree from a pollution point of view there are bigger fish to fry (like ocean shipping and cruise ships).
A bowl full of fried shrimp is still quite filling. It's really easy to go Electric leaf blowers (and lawn mowers etc). All these small emissions can add up substantially and is quite important when ever year counts.
Thanks for the information! I would never have guessed that tbh.
Electric has come a long way, but still pales in comparison to a gas blower/trimmer.
I dunno man, my 82v battery-powered leaf blower does a damn good job.
I'm in Vancouver area. Our Condo maintenance is contracted out. they use gas weed trimmer and blowers, the commercial ones (maybe modified) are as loud as straight pipe harley. it is deafening when they are here all day, and the smoke comes in to the unit smelling like raw gas. it's bad. And apparently running one of those for an hour is more emissions than 10s of cars doing lots of commutes; because they don't have emissions systems like vehicles.
If they are smoking there is definitely something wrong. I've run gas blowers / trimmers in an enclosed space and they shouldn't smell for a decent while.
I sould have said fumes not smoke. It choles us out, but its not visible like when burning oil
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