ECHO Does Battery Operated?
If you are an ECHO fan, don’t be surprised that the salesman you are talking with will know very little about the battery operated 58 volt line. ECHO’s 58 volt line is a licensing agreement and the tools are only available at the Home Depot. None of this is a bad thing, but if you are looking for information on the Battery operated 58 volt line, it will not be on ECHO’s main site. These tool are marketed to professionals and consumers through Home Depot and through our testing, this mower is a high end home owner grade mower. The mowers power and runtime are what place it solidly in this category.
When we first unboxed this mower it felt incredibly light. The 21″ composite deck did not feel like any of the other mowers we have tested. After initially pushing it around the yard without it mowing, it pushed easy and felt like it rattled a lot. The light composite deck did not give the feeling of quality. But quickly after using it to mow, we found the benefit of the light mower and what was thought was a lack of quality was really a really light mower easily sliding over the lawn. It did not take long to look at the mower and see how its deck really helps to make this mower easy to push.
Out of all the lawn mower we have reviewed, this one has its looks as close to what an older lawn mower would look like. The deck adjustment is done independently at each wheel. This is not a big deal to us because we normally set it and forget it, but to anyone who changes the height a lot, this is cumbersome compared to the single handle adjustment most gas and battery operated mowers have these days. The brushless motor is fairly powerful, but will bog in thick grass. This mower is best fit for someone who likes to mow often because if your grass becomes over grown, it will take two cuts to get it back in shape. With that said, even the most powerful battery operated mower we have tested would have been running at a slow pace to cut seven to eight inches of grass down to four inches.
CLM-58V Features
Brushless motor powered by a 58 volt 4 amp hour battery
21 in. composite deck with lifetime guarantee
dual battery storage with key to change batteries
Quick-release handle for compact vertical or horizontal storage
3 position handle height adjustment for user comfort
4 point, 7 position cutting height adjustment from 3/4″ to 4″
Capable of Mulching, Bagging & Side Discharge
Warranty: 5 years consumer, 2 years commercial
Use & Testing
In our use we found that while this mower might not be the most powerful, it is one of the easier ones to use. The simple operation consisted of pushing a button, pulling back on either handle and pushing the mower. Runtimes were consistently close to a half hour, but we were never able to run for more than 30 minutes. Since this mower has a place for a second battery, we opted to place one in and use the key to change the battery to the other side when needed. While this added an extra expense of a second battery and also more weight, the mower really came together in this use. Runtimes with two batteries would be able to mow a normal sized city lot in the spring with a fair amount of growth and trimming included.
When we pushed the unit in a cut test by cutting very thick and tall grass, we could easily stall the motor out. This is not surprising because most of the gas mowers would have done the same thing. The main difference we found with this mower was it was slightly later than the other battery operated models in adding more power to the motor to increase rpm’s to deal with the thicker grass. By the time the rpm’s increased, the mower was stuck trying to cut through the tall grass and it was too late. In normal cutting situations, this would not be an issue, but if you have a septic field like we do, this was an issue in those areas. Not many smaller city lots would have this issue.
Overall
We feel the best place this mower will be at a home with less than 3/4 of an acre and with a person who loves to keep their lawn manicured. We found that this mower will not collect dirt on the mower deck and cleans up awesome. You can store this model standing upright, so a small garage can gain some room with this unit. Pushing this unit is a breeze due its weight and many fill find it comfortable and easy to use. The five year warranty is a great peace of mind for the long term, but battery life could be an issue. Right now, ECHO only has a max of 4.0Ah batteries. If they had a larger battery, the runtime would be better and the heat in the cells would be lower. How ever you look at it, the price on this unit seems to be falling and it is getting closer to the bargain area for a battery operated lawn mower.
ECHO 21″ 58-Volt Brushless Mower Review – CLM-58V4AH ECHO Does Battery Operated? If you are an ECHO fan, don't be surprised that the salesman you are talking with will know very little about the battery operated 58 volt line.