The Home Ownership Thread

[Milksteakboiledhard]

My winter snow blower purchase locked me into the Ego lawn equipment ecosystem. I purchased their lawnmower over the weekend and am impressed after the first mow. It was able to cut through my overgrown backyard with ease and never got bogged down. I think the two top features are no trips to the gas station and no ICE that is louder than **** and leaves my body rattled. Please ignore the auxiliary patio equipment that is dire need of replacement.

Details for the self-mowers:

21" inch cutting width
Shipped with a 7.5 AH 50v battery (my snowblower came with 2 5AH batteries)
Included 3 blades - mulching (reduced battery life for a finer chop, comes installed), high lift bagging (supposedly is the baseline for battery life), and extended battery life (I will likely not use this due to having 3 batteries)
Self propelled with wide range of speeds
Several cutting heights

I swapped batteries with ~25% life remaining in the 7.5 AH because my beer was empty and needed to head to the garage. I likely would have been able to finish the whole lawn on the single charge. Ego claims 60 minute run time on a full 7.5 charge, I estimate I mowed for about 75 minutes in total before changing batteries. We'll see how the battery life ages.

I bagged the clippings to help the lawn recover - I let it over grow towards the end of last year due to a a combination of laziness, excessive heat followed by excessive rain, and a piece of crap gas mower. I estimate I generated about 3.25 bushels of clippings which I have no idea what to do with... pay the city to take them?

Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase and recommend it to anyone with a standard to plus sized suburban lawn. Now I need to decide if I go with an Ego trimmer/edger or go with Ryobi (my hand tool brand).

 

[Gibonius]

Did you purchase in person or do you have a recommendation for a good online source? I need to do some work on mine.

I asked my dad, who has built more than a few ponds and orders all the pond supplies for his company. From places that sell to the public, he recommended the EasyPro pumps on Amazon, which are supposed to be solid and competitively priced.

 

[Van Veen]

My winter snow blower purchase locked me into the Ego lawn equipment ecosystem. I purchased their lawnmower over the weekend and am impressed after the first mow. It was able to cut through my overgrown backyard with ease and never got bogged down. I think the two top features are no trips to the gas station and no ICE that is louder than **** and leaves my body rattled. Please ignore the auxiliary patio equipment that is dire need of replacement.

Details for the self-mowers:

21" inch cutting width
Shipped with a 7.5 AH 50v battery (my snowblower came with 2 5AH batteries)
Included 3 blades - mulching (reduced battery life for a finer chop, comes installed), high lift bagging (supposedly is the baseline for battery life), and extended battery life (I will likely not use this due to having 3 batteries)
Self propelled with wide range of speeds
Several cutting heights

I swapped batteries with ~25% life remaining in the 7.5 AH because my beer was empty and needed to head to the garage. I likely would have been able to finish the whole lawn on the single charge. Ego claims 60 minute run time on a full 7.5 charge, I estimate I mowed for about 75 minutes in total before changing batteries. We'll see how the battery life ages.

I bagged the clippings to help the lawn recover - I let it over grow towards the end of last year due to a a combination of laziness, excessive heat followed by excessive rain, and a piece of crap gas mower. I estimate I generated about 3.25 bushels of clippings which I have no idea what to do with... pay the city to take them?

Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase and recommend it to anyone with a standard to plus sized suburban lawn. Now I need to decide if I go with an Ego trimmer/edger or go with Ryobi (my hand tool brand).

View attachment 1588531

I'd just stick with Ego if you're going to use it a lot. Seems pretty unanimous that the ~$220 trimmer w/ the auto reload feature is the best on the market and is worth getting even if you have the multi-head system. (I am an obsessive pre-purchase researcher.)

I'd have already bought one but I'm on a forced pre-birthday purchasing hiatus. (Inherited my dad's frustrating tendency to buy himself whatever my mom was planning as a gift.)

By the end of summer I will have a trimmer, multi-head system w/ edger and pole saw, and possibly a chain saw depending on whether I want to attempt to take some tree-sized privet down myself.

 

[RedLantern]

I got the ego multi-head system and I currently have the string trimmer and hedge trimmer attachment. I have used the hedge trimmer attachment and it's awesome for large hedges but pretty unwieldly for small things. I have yet to use the string trimmer, but I'm also interested in the pole saw someday.

 

[RedLantern]

Patio project got bogged down a bit - seems like they took a 4 day weekend for Easter, but it looks like we will be ready to compact the base and put down rebar tomorrow. Hopefully pour Thursday or/& Friday.

 

[jbarwick]

I have to Ego hedge trimmer and like it's ease of use. The guy at ACE said to buy another tool vs. additional battery as the price for a spare battery is high. Don't really need anything else though.

The pond water is now clear which is awesome except it now shows how dirty the damned thing is. Damnit.

Also, got a date for the landscape lighting install. Now if only the weather would stay cool for another month so I can enjoy a drinks or two outside before it becomes too unbearable...

 

[Piobaire]

LOL @ self-landscapers. My guys just pulled up as they're doing a couple of plantings for me this morning.

 

[SirGrotius]

haha, we're getting a bevy of fruit trees delivered tomorrow. I've planted a couple of moderate sized cherry trees and a couple others here and there, and almost always end up with low-back pain. Tomorrow 7 trees, one of them a large evergreen. I need to pay someone to do this.

 

[brokencycle]

I can't find anyone willing to take my money for landscaping. We called a 6 places, and only one called back. Then he never got us a quote.

 

[vdubiv]

I have to Ego hedge trimmer and like it's ease of use. The guy at ACE said to buy another tool vs. additional battery as the price for a spare battery is high. Don't really need anything else though.

The pond water is now clear which is awesome except it now shows how dirty the damned thing is. Damnit.

Also, got a date for the landscape lighting install. Now if only the weather would stay cool for another month so I can enjoy a drinks or two outside before it becomes too unbearable...

leaf blower?

 

[double00]

the other thing is finding gardeners who can deal with the material that you happen to have. maybe a mow n blow outfit can do, maybe not. my MIL has a strawberry tree that has been shrubbed, pretty silly.

 

[SirGrotius]

do you all have landscapers in your area who are insistent on making those mulch mounds (like volcanos) around your trees? am I the only who finds it a bit unseemly and cuts down on the aesthetic of the tree, in addition, I believe I read that it is deleterious to arbor health too.

 

[jbarwick]

leaf blower?

I have a Stihl leaf blower and while loud, not worth selling then buying new just for the battery.

 

[Michigan Planner]

I can't find anyone willing to take my money for landscaping. We called a 6 places, and only one called back. Then he never got us a quote.

I had this problem last week trying to get somebody out to give me a quote to rebuild our front porch. I called and messaged 8 different places, got two call backs and neither ever showed up to look at the job and put together a quote.

 

[Piobaire]

Yeah, finding a reliable and good landscaping company can be tough. About nine years ago we found our current crew and I hope to never lose them. Not the cheapest but you definitely get what you pay for.