Independent LawnMowing Contractors Of Australia Forum
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16

Thread: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

  1. #1
    Member of forum Woodchip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    187

    Default EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    I always thought Ego battery gear was pretty good, being one of the first companies to the market, and I thought it was quite expensive in the early days.
    Looking at YouTube videos, mainly American ones, seems to be mostly home-owners with the gear, any contractors here having good luck and getting good performance out of it?, what's the vibration of it like?, it seems pretty well priced in comparison, but if it doesn't perform well with good operator ergonomics I won't be interested.
    Cheers
    Cert' II & Cert' III Arboriculture
    Carpenter & Property Maintenance
    www.bluewatermaintenance.com.au

  2. #2
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    bayside melb
    Posts
    3,223

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Been using it COMMERCIALLY for 3 yrs now, wouldn't go back to 2 stroke for anything but big chainsaws or big backpack blowers.
    Their mowers are LAWN mowers, probably not as robust as petrol in the feral stuff but, I use them as lawn mowers.

    Cheers Fred.
    ps, virtually no vibes.

  3. #3
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    South Australia
    Posts
    1,813

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by Woodchip View Post
    I always thought Ego battery gear was pretty good, being one of the first companies to the market, and I thought it was quite expensive in the early days.
    Looking at YouTube videos, mainly American ones, seems to be mostly home-owners with the gear, any contractors here having good luck and getting good performance out of it?, what's the vibration of it like?, it seems pretty well priced in comparison, but if it doesn't perform well with good operator ergonomics I won't be interested.
    Cheers
    After watching Pittwater mowing youtube channel over the years i see some months back he gets a Stihl battery line trimmer and blower,a few episodes on he's back on petrol.That's when i slammed the door on thinking about getting battery powered.

  4. #4
    Member Redeye's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Shoalhaven ,NSW
    Posts
    5,548

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    After watching Pittwater mowing youtube channel over the years i see some months back he gets a Stihl battery line trimmer and blower,a few episodes on he's back on petrol.That's when i slammed the door on thinking about getting battery powered.
    yep, atm l think Pellenc seems to be the only brand l'd consider....but for the price




    http://curraronggardening.com/

    "All sin is washed away in the Holy goodness of Beer"
    Book of Redeye, Psalm 69

  5. #5
    Member of forum Woodchip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    187

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Thanks Fred & BJ, I read in another thread you have some Ego gear Fred, any problems.... loose screws, rattles, poor battery performance etc, etc?
    I also read read Ray's comment (Pittwater Mowing), I really value his experience and evaluation on the battery gear, my use will probably be slightly different to his, I'm not doing lawn maintenance non-stop, I'm more tree, hedge, garden and handyman work, I've got only a handful of regular lawns, but do also feral clean-ups with lawns that are mainly once off real estate rentals.
    Today I dipped my toe into it and bought the Ego pole hedger combi, and the line trimmer attachment to see how it goes, have just unboxed it and charged the battery, trying it in the lounge room....it has very little vibration with the line trimmer attachment, seems well built, looking forward to seeing how it goes , breaks down small so will easily fit in the tool box.
    Pellenc way out of the budget, unfortunately.
    Cheers
    Cert' II & Cert' III Arboriculture
    Carpenter & Property Maintenance
    www.bluewatermaintenance.com.au

  6. #6
    Very Helpful Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    melb.sth. east
    Posts
    4,908

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    trying the whippy in the lounge you may want to consider vacuuming more often
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  7. #7
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Can Bearer
    Posts
    1,700

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by Redeye View Post
    yep, atm l think Pellenc seems to be the only brand l'd consider....but for the price
    I'm looking forward to the day you convert Redeye. I thought it would be here by now.

  8. #8
    Member of forum Woodchip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    187

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    First impressions of the Ego multi tool head with the line trimmer attachment, looks like 2.4mm line and 2.5ah battery...I'm not blown away, but I'm not really disappointed either.
    First thing I did before using it was remove the lower half of the guard (which the line cut-off is attached to), 380mm is no where near wide enough for me, and I extended the line on the bump feed to about 500mm. On the slowest speed (number 1) and full throttle it cut out after 3 seconds (while using it with a load ) and then again and I thought here we go!, I reduced the cutting diameter to 400mm then it didn't cut out again, I gradually increased the line length to 520mm and it didn't cut out, switched it to speed setting 2 for vertical edges, number 1 was too slow.
    Main problem is the battery life, only did 5 minutes of fairly hard going kikuyu that hasn't been done for a couple of months, and used 3/5 of the battery according to the display on the battery, I'll run it until the battery runs out to get a better idea.
    First impression is I wouldn't call it commercial, as Ego doesn't anyway, but it certainly has lots of torque, eats into overgrown edges, not much worse than my 33cc Pope Brushy 2.7mm, but it seems you need to keep the line shorter to do so and that's not very user friendly, ....more testing needed
    Cheers
    Cheers
    Cert' II & Cert' III Arboriculture
    Carpenter & Property Maintenance
    www.bluewatermaintenance.com.au

  9. #9
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Can Bearer
    Posts
    1,700

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by Woodchip View Post
    First impressions of the Ego multi tool head with the line trimmer attachment, looks like 2.4mm line and 2.5ah battery...I'm not blown away, but I'm not really disappointed either.
    First thing I did before using it was remove the lower half of the guard (which the line cut-off is attached to), 380mm is no where near wide enough for me, and I extended the line on the bump feed to about 500mm. On the slowest speed (number 1) and full throttle it cut out after 3 seconds (while using it with a load ) and then again and I thought here we go!, I reduced the cutting diameter to 400mm then it didn't cut out again, I gradually increased the line length to 520mm and it didn't cut out, switched it to speed setting 2 for vertical edges, number 1 was too slow.
    Main problem is the battery life, only did 5 minutes of fairly hard going kikuyu that hasn't been done for a couple of months, and used 3/5 of the battery according to the display on the battery, I'll run it until the battery runs out to get a better idea.
    First impression is I wouldn't call it commercial, as Ego doesn't anyway, but it certainly has lots of torque, eats into overgrown edges, not much worse than my 33cc Pope Brushy 2.7mm, but it seems you need to keep the line shorter to do so and that's not very user friendly, ....more testing needed
    Cheers
    Cheers
    Thanks for your review woodchip. I suspect they aren't designed for overgrown Kikuyu and comparing it to the Pope 33cc is no way near a fair comparison. ( I have one of those pope 33's, I was using it with a blade one day and it cut through a corrugated steel fence).

  10. #10
    Member of forum Woodchip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    187

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Yeah Steveo probably not really a fair comparison, however I don't want to carry more than one line trimmer on-board. Being regional lawns are a little larger, and majority of lawns I do are once off, slightly overgrown, I don't think the Ego is going to be viable for me to replace my brush cutter, I'm still hoping it'll be a good extended hedge trimmer though, and look forward to getting into onto my next hedging job.
    The Ego ran for a further 6 minutes on power level 1 (low power), with me being a bit kinder to it, no vertical edges, it got through the overgrown stuff, but not as nice having to have the line short, otherwise it cuts out.
    Cheers
    Cert' II & Cert' III Arboriculture
    Carpenter & Property Maintenance
    www.bluewatermaintenance.com.au

  11. #11
    Member Redeye's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Shoalhaven ,NSW
    Posts
    5,548

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by steveo View Post
    I'm looking forward to the day you convert Redeye. I thought it would be here by now.
    Me too - it's largely to do with the weight, my shoulders & back are getting pretty sore these days, so would need to be lighter than my current gear which none of it seems to be with large capacity batteries. Also, like woodchip, a lot of my properties are a bit woolly so need proper oomph to get through (nearly all holiday houses)




    http://curraronggardening.com/

    "All sin is washed away in the Holy goodness of Beer"
    Book of Redeye, Psalm 69

  12. #12
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Newcastle NSW
    Posts
    1,760

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Mate have a look at the Makita stuff , they are going all out with their garden tools and a lot of guys like it. Also husky have a new split shaft whipper that is more powerful than the older one that I have. Which is good, but as you say you just need that extra oomph to get through the thicker stuff.

  13. #13
    Member Redeye's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Shoalhaven ,NSW
    Posts
    5,548

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    makita would be my choice, l already have a heap of batteries for power tools....




    http://curraronggardening.com/

    "All sin is washed away in the Holy goodness of Beer"
    Book of Redeye, Psalm 69

  14. #14
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    bayside melb
    Posts
    3,223

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Quote Originally Posted by Woodchip View Post
    Thanks Fred & BJ, I read in another thread you have some Ego gear Fred, any problems.... loose screws, rattles, poor battery performance etc, etc?
    I also read read Ray's comment (Pittwater Mowing), I really value his experience and evaluation on the battery gear, my use will probably be slightly different to his, I'm not doing lawn maintenance non-stop, I'm more tree, hedge, garden and handyman work, I've got only a handful of regular lawns, but do also feral clean-ups with lawns that are mainly once off real estate rentals.
    Today I dipped my toe into it and bought the Ego pole hedger combi, and the line trimmer attachment to see how it goes, have just unboxed it and charged the battery, trying it in the lounge room....it has very little vibration with the line trimmer attachment, seems well built, looking forward to seeing how it goes , breaks down small so will easily fit in the tool box.
    Pellenc way out of the budget, unfortunately.
    Cheers
    Hi Woodchip, we have had a couple of batts replaced under warranty (we have 15) but apart from that no probs.
    The 2.5 amp batts are quite low on run time, do you have a 5amp/hr also ?
    If you run a 5amp/hr batt, reduce the cord to 2mm & keep the cord length to 480mm or less (thats a huge cord length anyway) you should get far better results.
    The diff between 2 & 2.4 should really give it some extra zing.
    Swinging 2.4 mm cord with a 500mm+ length is very taxing & the motor is designed to cut out as a precaution.
    If you're doing longer thicker grass you're going to need the 5amp/hr.

    I think you'll really like the hedger attachment, its one of my favourites & Ive really worked it hard.

    ps, my work is mainly inner to middle suburbia in Melb.

  15. #15
    Member of forum Woodchip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    187

    Default Re: EGO, home-owner or commercial grade?

    Just an update, that I'll do from to time on this Ego gear....
    The more I use it(line trimmer attachment on the combi), the more I like it!, I'm now leaving the petrol brushy and H/held blower at home, on my regulars, am getting around two resi lawns per 2.5ah battery with the line trimmer(about 20 minutes or so)and 4 or 5 resi properties with the blower(LB5804e) using a 5ah battery, I'd say this Ego blower is comparable to my BG56, and a bit more powerful again if using the "turbo" thumb button.
    Thanks Fred, I'm finding that it doesn't cut out nearly as much now as it did on the first use, it might cut out for a qtr of a second every four minutes of trigger time. I've got a 2.5ah and a 5ah, with 2x free 2.5ah on the way via a promo offer.
    Pole saw is handy, works nicely with a sharp chain, but chain speed feels slow, but thought after the fact it was on slow speed number 1. Might be much better on speed 2.
    My only current gripe with it currently is user ergonomics while doing vertical edges with the trimmer, coordinating the trigger and safety trigger at the same time, needs a bit if finesse, but could just be still in the stage of getting used to a new brushy/line trimmer phase.
    The more I use it, the more I think it will suit my needs for what I do.
    Cheers
    Cert' II & Cert' III Arboriculture
    Carpenter & Property Maintenance
    www.bluewatermaintenance.com.au

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •