Ultimate Guide to Battery Powered and Electric Lawn Tools

In the same way electric cars are becoming powerful and popular, so are electric lawn tools. Long gone are the days of corded leaf blowers and mowers that can barely move a leaf off the ground.

The new generation of battery-powered lawn tools by brands like EGO, Greenworks, Ryobi, and Makita are powerful machines. The top brands can often rival gas-powered tools in just about every way, but without the maintenance, noise, or smell. You can also save a ton of money by purchasing the tool-only version of lawn tools.

As a former lawn tool collector with a garage full of gas-powered tools, I can tell you that I have made some bad purchases in the electric lawn tool space. That is why we created this resource guide. You can also check out everything you would want over on our Amazon Storefront, where we’ve consolidated all of the best tools into one place.

Let’s get started.

• Battery powered lawn mowers
• Battery powered weed eaters
• Battery powered leaf blowers
• Electric Lawn Dethatchers
• Battery powered snow blowers
• Battery powered chainsaws
• Electric Pressure washers

Battery-powered Lawn Mowers

Let’s start with the big kahuna. You don’t have yard work or lawn care without a lawn mower. The absolute number one essential lawn tool is the mower. Let’s review exactly what you should look for in a mower, then I’ll make a couple of recommendations that can help you make the perfect purchase.

When looking to purchase an electric lawn mower, you need to make sure you understand what things matter. You will get hit with a lot of technical specifications and marketing tactics. Totally forget them and focus on the things that impact you. Below are my recommendations:

1. Go with a high quality brand with a trusted reputation
   • Quality is going to be super important here. If you are new to the electric lawn mower space, there are definitely some names you will recognize making electric lawn tools, but there are a few others that are top-of-the-line and electric-only.
   • Avoid anything from a weird brand on Amazon that takes 9 years to ship. It is probably being 3D printed in a Laotian bathroom. Go for brands that have consistent quality and focus on the details, not just flashy colors.
   • Some brands with a stellar reputation include Greenworks, EGO, and Makita.
2. Metal where it matters. 
   • Most electric mowers are plastic-y. Probably to reduce the weight of the mower so that the battery can get you further, but it feels cheap. Make sure to get metal where it matters – namely the deck. The deck is the part that covers the blades. Don’t get plastic here – a rock can rip through it.
   • Metal decks are only found on a couple of the brands. 
3. Battery interoperability.
   • A ten dollar word used here, but really just make sure to buy a mower with a battery that is compatible with trimmers, blowers, etc.. Ryobi has this, so does Dewalt, and so do some of the Greenworks products. This will save you garage clutter and plug space.
   • The last thing anyone wants is seven or eight different plugs on the wall trying to charge batteries. A single line of batteries goes a long way here.
4. Self-propelled or not. 
   • While I personally don’t use the self-propelled function, a lot of people love it. If you are older, have steep banks or hills, or otherwise just want to move more quickly, self-propelled mowers can be a huge help.
   • They can also significantly drain the battery of your mower, so be prepared to stop to charge the mower at some point.
5. Motor Type 
   • While electric motors have historically relied on wound coils of wire to create a magnetic field to utilize the energy in a battery to rotate the “rotor” which has positively and negatively charged ends that spin – creating torque. The coils act like a brush against the internal components of the motor  that will wear out over time  – the new kid on the block, brushless motors, are different. 
   • Brushless motors have removed the friction and replaced with magnetic force fields – thus removing the wear and tear on the coils.
   • This adjustment significantly improves motor performance and durability. Less friction makes for easier spinning of motor components. Faster spinning means higher performance – usually. Higher performance makes us happy.

Top Battery-Powered Lawn Mower Recommendations

We have tried, reviewed, and ranked close to 100 battery-powered mowers. A few really stick out to us. 

Greenworks 80V Pro Brushless Cordless Lawn Mower 21”

This mower from Greenworks is a masterpiece. Everything we recommend in a mower can be found in this one. A steel deck. A brushless motor. A battery line you can stick with for all of your Greenworks tools. A great brand. This one is top-of-the-line. It can be found on Amazon for a pretty good sale or at your local Costco.

EGO  Power+ 56V 21-inch Cordless Electric Select Cut XP Lawn Mower

A close runner-up, this thing has a killer self-propelled function, a long-lasting battery, a pretty sweet design, and a brushless motor. The only downside here is the plastic deck. Otherwise, this is a great mower and part of a great battery series. It can also be found on Amazon and on sale right now or at Lowe’s.

Pictured here is the EGO Select Cut, which I go into further detail here.

Battery powered weed eaters (string trimmers)

Again, let’s break down what you need to know when picking out a battery-powered weed eater. Then I’ll give some recommendations based on our research and trials.

What to look for in a cordless string trimmer

Cordless weed eaters come in all shapes and sizes. They aren’t highly complicated pieces of equipment, but they do have a few nuances. Here is how I see it:

1. Feel and usability
   • Obviously this is subjective, but feel is everything to me. I have had weed eaters in the past where the handle is off to the side, making me torque my shoulders and back. Bad. You are going to be using this often and for a long time, so make sure it is comfortable.
   • I recommend using trimmers with a molded grip that comes in the shape of a D. This way you can grab the handle at multiple angles for whenever you want to do some edging with it.
2. Motor type
   • Brushless motors are king here. They are longer lasting and more durable. Brushless motors also produce more torque and less heat.
   • This is the same benefit found across all battery-powered lawn tools.
3. Batteries
   • Not only do you want a lighter weight battery, but you also want to try to get a battery with your trimmer that also works with a blower. 
   • They sell trimmer and blower combo kits, which we have reviewed and written about here.
4. Curved vs Straight shaft
   • I always, always, always prefer straight shafts. They are so much easier to use and control. Curved shafts are better for smaller areas that require “mowing”  with a string trimmer, whereas straight shafts are better for precision and clean lines.
   • Longer straight shaft trimmers are also easier to balance and handle as they distribute weight better.

Top Battery-Powered Weed Eater Recommendations

I’ve used dozens of battery-powered weed eaters and review and rank them extensively. Here are some of my favorites.

Makita XRU15PT1 36V Brushless String Trimmer

Okay, this one is an absolute beast and can blow the socks off any commercial  gas trimmer. It has a massive cutting swath of 15 inches, a brushless motor, and comes with 4 batteries. Makita does a great job with their products, whether they be hand power tools or their full suite of different weed eaters.

The downside is that it is pricey. Check out the most recent price for the full kit, but much cheaper if you have a bunch of the batteries already.

Worx WG163 GT 3.0 PowerShare 12” Cordless String Trimmer and Edger

This one is much more affordable. It weighs about six pounds, is super easy to use, has a telescoping arm, and can be plopped on its side for proper edging. Worx makes some really cool products, just like this flexible and simple weed eater called the GT revolution.

It is also one of the highest rated lawn tools on Amazon, with over 22,000 reviews. 

Battery-powered Leaf Blowers

Leaf blowers have some of the largest variety in power, with most folks still thinking gas is the most powerful. You would be surprised to see how far some of these blowers have come. Let’s check it out. 

What to look for in an electric blower

Cordless blowers come in a bunch of shapes and sizes. There are smaller, lightweight handheld blowers, massive backpack blowers, and everything in between. Regardless of the type of blower, there are three basic things you need to understand before making a purchase.

• CFM 
  • Cubic feet per minute. This is a measure of air output on the blower. Higher CFM means more air output, but not necessarily more miles per hour. You may see a lot of blowers that have really high CFMs, but don’t always blow air at the highest miles per hour. This is due to the fact that some blowers have wide nozzles. They can push air out with great force, but since the area of the nozzle is large, the miles per hour isn’t as proportionally high. 
  • High CFM blowers with low MPH are great for moving big piles of leaves across the yard.
  • Blowers with high MPH might not have as high of CFMs, but have narrower nozzles. These are great for precision blowing or for things like wet grass or wet leaves. 
  • I prefer to have a high MPH blower so that I can get those wet leaves off of my back deck. Most commercial landscapers use backpack blowers with high CFMs so that they can remove leaves from parking lots and other surfaces. 
• Usability and “Feel”
  • Leaf blowers come in all shapes, sizes and weights. If you have a large yard, you will want to really pay attention to the weight distribution and handling of a blower, otherwise you may end up at a chiropractor.
  • For large yards, I generally recommend a backpack blower. It is the most comfortable blower for heavy use because it is wearable and powerful. 
  • For medium and small yards, there are some great lightweight handheld blowers that have just as much power as a backpack blower – see our recommendations.
  • Another feature you will want to watch out for is cruise control settings and variable speed control. You can quickly tire out your hands if you are holding onto the blower and also trying to keep the trigger on a very specific setting. 
• Motor Type
  • Brushless motors reign supreme. Cooler running motors with more torque, a longer run-time, and last many more years. Brushless is a no brainer when picking a blower, especially since these tend to start and stop so much during use. Keep this thing ticking for many years with a brushless motor.

Top Battery-Powered Blower Recommendations

We’ve reviewed and ranked a ton of battery powered blowers after hundreds of hours of testing and posting them all to our YouTube channel. Here are the best.

EGO Power+ LB7650 56V Blower

This blower is more powerful than most, if not all, handheld gas blowers. It has 765 CFMs and can blow air at up to 200 MPH. Holy cow.

It also has a variable speed trigger, cruise control, a few different nozzle tips you can attach, and a brushless motor. Basically, it has it all. It even comes with a five year warranty. If you already own EGO batteries, at the time of this writing  you can get the tool-only version for just over $200. Not bad. It is also available at Lowe’s.

Ryobi 40V Brushless Whisper Blower

A close competitor to the EGO blower, I recommend the Ryobi for anyone with an existing Ryobi battery. This thing is just slightly less powerful than the EGO blower but is MUCH quieter. The 40V series by Ryobi is pretty sweet as well, with a ton of different tools that can use the same exact battery. That’s a big money, space, and time saver.

At the time of this writing you can grab this blower from Home Depot with batteries and charger for a really good price.

Corded electric lawn dethatchers

Lawn dethatchers and aerators are harder to find in folks’ garages, but mostly because folks neglect this process in their lawn. Dethatchers and aerators are great for the overall health of the grass – those two tools are probably the best kept secret in lawncare – and they happen to be the most satisfying tools on the planet.

The Value of a Dethatcher

Dethatchers are a lesser-known lawn tool but that’s because most folks don’t care enough about their yard to use one. If you are reading this post, you are in the elite subgroup of yard enthusiasts who give a darn and are about to be the envy of all of your neighbors.

Dethatchers work by pulling up dead grass that is stuck to your lawn’s soil. 

“Wait a second, that stuff is bad?”

Well, maybe not BAD, but it limits the amount of nutrients your soil can take in. We go out and pull weeds in the garden bed because they can overtake our flowers and bushes. The same goes for our grass. The thatch is not going to take over your yard and is dead, but it is still taking up valuable real estate that could help grow more grass.

When to dethatch your lawn

Dethatching your lawn should take place just prior to aerating and overseeding – so generally in the fall. For those of us that live in the South, this is sometime around mid to early October. If it’s too hot, the seed will dry up and not thrive. If it’s too cold, well, it is too late.

You can also dethatch at the end of a brutal winter to allow your soil to open up and breathe again before it warms up. So many lawns continue to limp into the spring because they are mushy and have a ton of moist thatch just clogging up the yard. Get rid of that.

 Electric Dethatchers 101

Okay, let us make our way into the meat of this post. Old-school dethatchers are fine-toothed rakes that require you to physically make your way across the yard and pull up all the dead grass like a caveman. I do not recommend this to anybody that enjoys having a back. 

On the flip side, there is a reason that motorized dethatchers are not gas-powered. Dethatchers, even motorized ones, require a slower movement across the yard. And honestly, that is a good thing. There’s no way to go through the process quickly. If you had a gas-powered dethatcher, you would basically till your entire yard and you might as well plant something else if you do that. 

Electric dethatchers are perfect because they are super light, easy to use, and simply hover across your yard, pulling up all the dead thatch. We did a full comparison post of the two best dethatchers on the market.

Top Corded Electric Dethatcher Recommendations

The most satisfying tools on the planet, here are our recommendations for electric dethatchers based on personal use and testing.

Greenworks 10A Electric Dethatch

The Greenworks Dethatcher is a super affordable, easy-to-operate, and powerful lawn tool that can help your yard breath again. We’ve mentioned Greenworks a few times now, but they are a trusted brand that provides amazing products. At the time of this writing, you can grab their dethatcher for about $125 on Amazon.

I got this a few months ago to give a whirl after my lawn looked dead as dead can be. Needless to say, my jaw was on the floor.

Sun Joe AJ798E 12A Electric dethatcher

The Sun Joe is also a great option if you have any brand preference for them. The machines themselves are about neck and neck in all features, with the Sun Joe being slightly smaller and more expensive. I used this one in my YouTube video I made about dethatching my lawn. It was great – not super sturdy, but did the job over my half acre of land.

Right now, you can grab the Sun Joe on Amazon for around $130, where I got mine.

Battery-powered Snow Blowers

When it comes to clearing snow from your property, there are two main types of machines to choose from: the snow thrower and the snow blower. Both have their pros and cons, so how do you decide which is the right machine for you?

Snow blowers vs snow throwers

Many people ask what the difference is between a snow blower and a snow thrower. Let me tell you right now, both are far superior to a snow shovel. While snow blowers and snow throwers build significantly less character for young men, they are much easier to use and more effective for clearing out large amounts of snow. 

In short, snow throwers launch snow 10-15 feet away and are generally more narrow. Snow blowers launch snow 25-30 feet away and are wider. Snow blowers are heavier duty and can also handle many, many inches of snow. At the end of the day, it will be much more fun to launch the snow into the neighbor’s yard instead of just the edge of your own yard. 

1-stage vs 2-stage snow blowers

Snow throwers tend to be the name for one-stage blowers. One-stage means that the action of launching the snow happens in one step: it gets scooped up and shot through a tube in one motion. Two-stage blowers are more powerful. Blowers with two stages have one action that scoops up the snow and another that launches it. This allows for a much stronger “launching” capacity, sending snow to the moon.

Top Battery-Powered Snow Blower Recommendations

While I don’t use snow blowers often, when I do they are a TON of fun.

Greenworks Pro 80V 20-inch Brushless Snow Blower

This Greenworks snow blower thing is a dang beast. It’s 20 inches wide which means you get inside and out of the snow way quicker than with narrower snow blowers. If you’ve read anything from this article, you know that I’m obsessed with brushless motors, which this one has. Greenworks has a great reputation and the 80V battery here can be used with a ton of other great Greenworks tools.

EGO Power+ SNT2110 21-inch Blower

For a little bit more, you can get a little bit more. A nearly identical snow blower, but with an additional inch, this is a great option if you already have other EGO products and have the battery. 

This one is also available on Amazon, Lowe’s, and a couple other places.

Battery-Powered Chainsaws

A solid chainsaw is one of the most important tools a homeowner can have. Buying the right one is absolutely essential to your kids or neighbors thinking you’re a cool man or woman. Chainsaws come in a variety of different shapes, sizes, types and models. Most are either gas or electric powered. Depending on your application of course, most people can get away with a 14” bar and chain. Unless you’re cutting up massive trees you probably don’t need anything bigger than that. 

In addition to that, most people nowadays can probably get away with an electric model vs a more powerful, smoother cutting gas powered model. But it’s all personal preference. However, honestly I tend to always go with the bigger more powerful engines because I think they’ll last longer. So far that’s proven to be true, but I could just be wasting money. 

Must-have chainsaw features

Just make sure your chainsaw at least has a kickback reduction feature. This prevents you from losing one of your precious fingers! You only have 10 of them ya know! This also prevents you from cutting your head in half. Kickback reductions can be in the form of the chain or bar itself. Basically these just prevent you from cutting too aggressively which prevents your saw from bouncing back on you. Or a chain brake which causes the chain to stop when it hits something hard or moves too abruptly 

Other features that are nice to have are more comfort-centric. These include tool-less tensioners, mufflers, anti-vibration, automatic chain oilers, etc.

Top Battery-Powered Chainsaw Recommendations

Battery powered chainsaws are one of those tools we just didn’t expect to match up to our gas powered chainsaws. When we tested these – we were proven wrong.

Greenworks G-MAX 40V 16-inch chainsaw

The Greenworks G-MAX chainsaw can cut through 15 inches of wood, with the equivalent power of a 35cc gas chainsaw. Also featuring a brushless motor, anti-vibration, and no gas or fumes, this thing is pretty dang sweet and looks really cool as well.

It has a ton of positive reviews on Amazon, where it is listed for a great price with several options.

Dewalt 60V Flexvolt Chainsaw

A great option for the average homeowner that needs to break up fallen branches. It’s 16 inches, has a brushless motor, and is a great deal. Not the most powerful in the world, but pretty sweet especially if you already have the battery – which most people do.

There are a ton of buying options on Amazon, but you can also grab it at Home Depot.

What to look for in electric pressure washers

Here’s what I look for when picking out a new electric pressure washer.

Nozzles Matter

When choosing a pressure washer, you should pay attention to the nozzles included in the package. Two types of spray nozzles are available usually, adjustable spray nozzles that can be controlled and quick-connect nozzles with predefined spray patterns.  

The predefined spray patterns typically come in different angles, allowing for you to quickly switch between a broad, lower pressure spray or a narrow, higher pressure stream.

Soap tank

Additionally, you may want to consider a soap tank – equipped pressure washer. Some of these pressure washers have “foam cannons” where you can simply add some soap and it will mix it in with the water. Pretty cool.

I recommend a soap tank for cars and windows.

Wheels on pressure washers

Despite these seemingly minor features, they can have a big impact, especially with larger units. No sense in lugging around one of these in your yard and tripping all over the place.

Hose types

There’s a big difference between how easy or difficult it is to use a pressure washer based on the kind of hose that comes with it. Stiff, rigid hoses make it extremely difficult to have any maneuverability without messing up the job or knocking over the base.

Portability

Even if this has the drawback of making the unit less powerful, a portable, smaller pressure washer will be a better choice if you have to move around or carry the unit with you. Most of us do this, especially if you are doing the exterior of your house.

Totally depends on the job you are trying to do.

Pressure washers: Gas vs. Electric

Gas pressure washers have been around forever and probably aren’t going anywhere – but electric pressure washers are on the up and up like all the other lawn tools.

Electricity and water! What can go wrong?

The maintenance and cost of gas pressure washers are greater, including things like air filter changes, spark plugs, and more. Gas pressures are also insanely loud. However, electric washers simply have a power source and a button and are far quieter.

I like buttons.

Top Electric Pressure Washer Recommendations

Just like some of the others, we’ve tested a TON of electric pressure washers. Here are some of our favorites.

Sun Joe SPX3500 Pressure Washer

The SPX3500 is a souped-up version of the most popular pressure washer on the planet, the Sun Joe SPX3000. It basically fixed all the negative feedback on the SPX3000 and even looks cooler. It’s got a brushless motor, brass fittings, and is easy to store and  transport. It even has a tad more power. It is the best Sun Joe pressure washer on the market.

It is perpetually on sale on Amazon, where it does crazy numbers.

Greenworks PRO 3000 PSI TruBrushless Electric Pressure Washer

This thing is legit. All of its stats have been verified by the Pressure Washer Manufacturers of America, meaning the nerds who designed this really put some love behind it. Believe it or not, that’s rare.

I love how this Greenworks pressure washer boasts the PWMA certification and also distinguishes the Brushless motor as TruBrushless, throwing shade on competitors who exaggerate numbers or don’t actually use brushless motors through and through. This one is higher quality, but also slightly more expensive, right now this one is for sale on Amazon.

Final Wrap-up

Folks, thanks for reading our guide. The tools here are not exhaustive – this is not a static list, in fact the pros over at Greenworks, EGO, and all the other manufacturers are constantly coming out with new products that exceed expectations and advance the electric armory.

Check out our YouTube channel to see us using and testing all these tools – sometimes head-to-head!

Why we review lawn tools

The reason we started this website in the first place was because we had so much trouble trying to find reasonable, understandable, honest reviews for lawn equipment. And it’s not cheap! After hours and hours of research, trying products and returning them, and messing up our yards – we started this site. 

As people who had to learn the hard way, we want you to know exactly what you are signing up for before you purchase a piece of equipment. That’s why we are committed to providing honest, easy-to-understand reviews that mean something.