And that’s for good reason. Our tests confirm that battery (or cordless) lawn tools often match or beat the performance of gas models. They also start instantly, run quietly, and have zero emissions at the source.
Emissions from gas-powered outdoor tools are often worse than those from cars, and as a group, gas tools tend to be much louder, so you need to use them with hearing protection.
The catch: Battery-powered lawn tools sometimes cost more than gas models, so they require a bigger initial investment, particularly for items like battery riding mowers and battery snow blowers. But making the switch to electric can pay off over time. How long that could take, however, depends on your lawn and the price of gas.
That said, there are some ways you can save money when buying electric tools. If you get all of your battery lawn tools from the same brand, for instance, you might be able to use a standardized battery and charger across the brand’s suite of tools. We found that skipping the battery and charger will save you about 30 percent per tool.
We recommend that you buy at least two items with the battery. That way, you’ll have one battery in the tool you’re using and one in the charger, so you never need to quit mid-chore if the first battery runs out of juice.
The trick is buying into the right brand and making sure that the batteries are interchangeable. Some brands, like Greenworks, make outdoor power tools in different lines with batteries of different voltages. So you won’t be able to use, say, the 80-volt battery from its lawn mower for its 60-volt hedge trimmer.
Next, you should make sure that the brand makes tools for every task you need and that the tools actually perform well.
Below, we’ve highlighted three battery-powered tool suites worth considering. Each suite has a lawn mower, string trimmer, leaf blower, and chainsaw that scores well in our tests. Each tool also uses batteries that are interchangeable with the other tools in the set.
To learn more about these different tools, check out our buying guides for lawn mowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws.
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