Battery, Gasoline and Dirty Little Secrets

I have a dirty little secret. I own a nearly 50-year-old power equipment company, and I don’t mow my own lawn.

Now, despite being liberating to admit, that’s not entirely fair. I own a Stihl iMow robotic mower, and it does the heavy lifting. I handle the edge mowing & trimming and blowing the hardscapes.

Why a robot, you ask? Well, a robotic mower is right about the same cost outlay as a good residential-grade riding mower, requires very little maintenance, costs far less to charge than I would pay to fuel a rider, and I don’t have to do it. There’s something mesmerizing about standing on the deck with a cold drink in hand, watching the lawn mow itself.

My real point here is balance. I absolutely still run gas-powered equipment. My walk-behind mower and leaf blower are both gas. However, everything else is battery-powered, and my primary mower is autonomous. That combination works well for me.

Take chainsaws as another example. I own a small pruning saw for occasional property maintenance. I chose battery power because I don’t use it often, and constantly winterizing a gas saw only to wake it back up later became inconvenient and expensive.

However, the property we recently moved to has a wood-burning stove, and that same saw simply isn’t large enough for bucking firewood. For that application, I’ll likely go back to gas. Larger battery chainsaws are still expensive and generally lack the bar length needed for heavier work.

In my opinion, larger tools like riding lawn mowers are still fairly expensive for the average consumer and generally don’t have the service longevity necessary to ‘pencil out’ economically.

As far as what works for you, many factors come into play. The market has shifted dramatically from gasoline toward battery, especially in the small tools arena. With rising fuel costs, it isn’t hard to justify a move to battery.

That doesn’t mean you need to convert your entire fleet. The right answer is usually a blend of gas, battery, and even autonomous equipment tailored to your property, budget, and comfort level. At Canby Rental & Equipment, we can help you build the combination that works best for you.

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