TLDR: For those of you with a Milwaukee M18 or Ryobi Whisper Series mower, would you recommend it or not?
My father's older push mower gave out this spring, and in lieu of buying a new model, he's been borrowing my 22" gas Toro Recycler. And by borrow, I mean that it's been staying at his house and I pick it up and bring it back when I need it haha! He insists that he doesn't want anything else, and when I offered to buy him a new one, he responded with "you keep the new one, I'll keep this one." Gotta love him!
I've been pondering whether or not to replace it with a new battery mower, since the technology continues to quickly advance. My first battery mower experience with a Kobalt 40v wasn't good, but that was years ago and with a $249 mower. Aside from my mower and pressure washer, every other OPE tool I use is battery operated (as an aside, I reel mow when I can).
That brings me to my current dilemma. I love Toro and would consider their most powerful 22" battery mower, but I'm in the Milwaukee and Ryobi battery ecosystem. I'm intrigued by the M18 and Whisper Series mowers, and would appreciate any input from those who use them. Search here didn't turn up anything recent or sufficient, and the Google/Youtube reviewers arent reliable because they are usually gifted the mowers in exchange for glowing remarks. My primary concern is reliability and having comparable power to my Toro (150cc gas). If I make the jump back to a battery mower, I'd like to avoid buying into a third ecosystem.
My father's older push mower gave out this spring, and in lieu of buying a new model, he's been borrowing my 22" gas Toro Recycler. And by borrow, I mean that it's been staying at his house and I pick it up and bring it back when I need it haha! He insists that he doesn't want anything else, and when I offered to buy him a new one, he responded with "you keep the new one, I'll keep this one." Gotta love him!
I've been pondering whether or not to replace it with a new battery mower, since the technology continues to quickly advance. My first battery mower experience with a Kobalt 40v wasn't good, but that was years ago and with a $249 mower. Aside from my mower and pressure washer, every other OPE tool I use is battery operated (as an aside, I reel mow when I can).
That brings me to my current dilemma. I love Toro and would consider their most powerful 22" battery mower, but I'm in the Milwaukee and Ryobi battery ecosystem. I'm intrigued by the M18 and Whisper Series mowers, and would appreciate any input from those who use them. Search here didn't turn up anything recent or sufficient, and the Google/Youtube reviewers arent reliable because they are usually gifted the mowers in exchange for glowing remarks. My primary concern is reliability and having comparable power to my Toro (150cc gas). If I make the jump back to a battery mower, I'd like to avoid buying into a third ecosystem.