Review */2
I bought a new 2100SP mower a few days ago from HD. It does cut most easy to cut grass and it does move itself forward. I haven't tried mulching yet. The problems this mower has makes me wonder if anyone at the factory ever used one. The slowest forward speed is at a very fast walk speed. Fast speed is so fast I could hardly run to keep up with it. What happens if you have thick, tall, or wet, grass? On tall sparse dry grass (about 8" tall) it won't cut it at all. I suspect it goes so fast over the grass the blades don't have time to cut it. What to do? Don't use wheel power and push it by hand? Uphill? Why no reverse option? Sometimes you need to back the thing up and pulling it back manually is really hard to do for a small person. High cost and not very useful. I give it about 1/2 star rating.
I bought a new 2100SP mower a few days ago from HD. It does cut most easy to cut grass and it does move itself forward. I haven't tried mulching yet. The problems this mower has makes me wonder if anyone at the factory ever used one. The slowest forward speed is at a very fast walk speed. Fast speed is so fast I could hardly run to keep up with it. What happens if you have thick, tall, or wet, grass? On tall sparse dry grass (about 8" tall) it won't cut it at all. I suspect it goes so fast over the grass the blades don't have time to cut it. What to do? Don't use wheel power and push it by hand? Uphill? Why no reverse option? Sometimes you need to back the thing up and pulling it back manually is really hard to do for a small person. High cost and not very useful. I give it about 1/2 star rating.
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90 Points
Posted 4 years ago
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754 Points
SCDC, Champion
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54,658 Points
SCDC, Champion
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54,658 Points
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754 Points
Blue Angel, Champion
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180,008 Points
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6,194 Points
When cutting grass that is 8" I hope you are starting at the highest cut height setting which is 4" then re-cutting to 3". I haven't tried cutting grass at 8" yet with the new 21"SP model but I expect will do well with it's added power capability. Sure the battery will drain quicker but those are extreme circumstances at that height. Don't expect your grass to look great after the initial shearing because it is too hard on the grass plant. The grass blades might even be yellow as you cut that low I hope your grass recovers over time. Try to keep it cut before it grows more than 4" and cut down to 2.5-3"; so that you are not cutting off more than 1/3rd of the grass blade at a time.
Blue Angel, Champion
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180,008 Points
Great advice, Steve!
Jennifer VandeWater, Community Manager
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81,048 Points
Louis and Bob, we appreciate you expressing your opinions about the self-propel speed and we are taking those comments into consideration for future models of the machine. While no changes are planned at this time, know that your voice is being heard. As Blue mentioned, we did benchmark our speeds to match other manufacturers and we are sorry that they are not up to your satisfaction.
SCDC, Champion
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54,658 Points
Hi Jennifer,
I think it would be good for EGO to expand upon the findings of other mowers. It really isn't a hard thing to change on the mower for the next revision. It's great that the engineers compared SP speeds, but we both know that EGO wants to beat those specs. I like the suggestions to bump the slowest speeds down. Guess that is all we can ask for, right? :-)
2 things that can be fixed or enhanced.
Slowest Speed.
Brake
Jennifer VandeWater, Community Manager
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81,048 Points
These are fair requests, SCDC. I am passing all of this information along, as I've said in the past, and will keep everyone posted if we make any changes in the future.
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6,194 Points
I see the Consumer Reports says that it "Mulches impressively, producing fine clippings without leaving clumps"...this is B.S. as far as my experience with both our new 21" SP mowers goes. I am constantly disappointed with seeing coarse clippings left behind when cutting more than 1" off of the blades of grass. Even if cutting only 1/2" (like on a second cut with the cut height setting one level lower) it will still leave a trail of clippings to the left side of the cutting path. Again, I will say that the old 20" did a great job mulching from our extensive experience. So WTF happened?
Any response from the 'powers that be' would be appreciated.
Any response from the 'powers that be' would be appreciated.
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3,612 Points
I really want to check out this on my mower next time.
Have you seen David Cline's comment about various small(?) changes in blade design? He even had a picture.
Ego does have a secondary /supplemental design in order countries. Too bad they don't sell them here. Maybe there's a US regulation preventing it?
Please Ego let us try your other products... at least online if not in the stores.
Have you seen David Cline's comment about various small(?) changes in blade design? He even had a picture.
Ego does have a secondary /supplemental design in order countries. Too bad they don't sell them here. Maybe there's a US regulation preventing it?
Please Ego let us try your other products... at least online if not in the stores.
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3,612 Points
SCDC, maybe the brake is due to a valid safety concern . As if a person is going uphill and they trip or something happens, then you wouldn't want it rolling back down on to you. Or if you stop for some reason and the mower rolls back onto your foot if you're standing slightly to the side. I suppose this would happen more steep Hills?
Jennifer VandeWater, Community Manager
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81,048 Points
Kid, that's right. The different designs available in other countries are not manufactured to the same safety codes in North America thus we can't just bring everything over here right away. We have another thread discussing this and promise if we have anything from Europe coming to North America, we'll keep you all posted.
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754 Points
Jennifer, what part of "variable" does not apply here? Most self propelled mowers I have ever owned were one single speed - the Ego is in fact the first mower I have ever owned that had a variable speed. There is little satisfaction in knowing that Ego may take this into consideration in future models - as I would plan on having this model for a long time after spending $600 for it. My question is what if it were too fast for YOU or you were receiving hundreds or perhaps thousands of complaints about the speed controller - would Ego fix it then? As Ego continues to sell these SP models you will continue to hear these complaints - at some point Ego should address a level of customer satisfaction with their customers that are unsatisfied. While this mower may be satisfactory for younger and perhaps well fit persons, it does not work for the masses - so why bother with a variable speed - this mower will never see the light of day of any speed other than it's lowest possible SP speed - and that is too fast for many of us.
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37,182 Points
I think you are mistaking a very small niche market segment for the masses.
Here is what impartial reviewers say for the masses:
Take note of the perfect 5/5 scores specifically for "handling" and "ease of use" and its overall score being the highest in the entire product category.
Here is what impartial reviewers say for the masses:
Take note of the perfect 5/5 scores specifically for "handling" and "ease of use" and its overall score being the highest in the entire product category.
(Edited)
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754 Points
So you believe that the Baby Boomer generation and disabled consumers are a niche market? Wow. I subscribe to CR and while I respect their reviews, they are not always relevant to every person who purchases - and this is a case in point. I wont' be sucked into another debate with you David but you really do need to seek sensitivity training.
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37,182 Points
And here is a snapshot of what Home Depot customers are saying:
I don't think Ego is unsympathetic that the speed may be too fast for some, but the reality is that it isn't too fast for most or the reviews would look very different.
And keep in mind that the extra $100 you spent on the self propelled kit over the push version got you a more powerful blade motor and a 7.5Ah battery that retails for $130 more than the 5.0Ah battery included with the push mower kit. Even if you aren't able to make use of the self propel feature, this mower is still a very good value.
I don't think Ego is unsympathetic that the speed may be too fast for some, but the reality is that it isn't too fast for most or the reviews would look very different.
And keep in mind that the extra $100 you spent on the self propelled kit over the push version got you a more powerful blade motor and a 7.5Ah battery that retails for $130 more than the 5.0Ah battery included with the push mower kit. Even if you aren't able to make use of the self propel feature, this mower is still a very good value.
SCDC, Champion
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54,658 Points
Hi Bob,
I've read a lot of reviews about the mower, and I don't think the "Masses" complain about the speed, but enough people would like the speed reduced that I think it will happen in the future.
I've been watching EGO for 3 years, and it seems like with every revision, I can track the changes to recommendations on the forums.
Thank you for your insight and voicing your opinion and recommendation.
In good Health!
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6,194 Points
I see the Consumer Reports says that it "Mulches impressively, producing fine clippings without leaving clumps"...this is B.S. as far as my experience with both our new 21" SP mowers goes. I am constantly disappointed with seeing coarse clippings left behind when cutting more than 1" off of the blades of grass. Even if cutting only 1/2" (like on a second cut with the cut height setting one level lower) it will still leave a trail of clippings to the left side of the cutting path. Again, I will say that the old 20" did a great job mulching from our extensive experience. So WTF happened?
Any response from the 'powers that be' would be appreciated.
Any response from the 'powers that be' would be appreciated.
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3,612 Points
Steve, like I mentioned in another comment on this thread I will want to check this out...
But maybe, just maybe when CR said clumps they ment clumps as opposed to a line of grass. While this seems trivial it may be that the higher than average score and being impressed could be taken as just better than average for the reviewers experience.... Not that it's great and flawless?
I don't know. I am a perfectionist when it comes to the tech side but I try to see the best in people too. I do believe you are experiencing a problem (and sure others do too) and hope that Ego changes it so that it's at least as good as their previous 20 inch product.
Still I'm very happy with my 21-inch self-propelled mower and do believe that it is worthy of the high marks that Consumer Reports gives it.
But maybe, just maybe when CR said clumps they ment clumps as opposed to a line of grass. While this seems trivial it may be that the higher than average score and being impressed could be taken as just better than average for the reviewers experience.... Not that it's great and flawless?
I don't know. I am a perfectionist when it comes to the tech side but I try to see the best in people too. I do believe you are experiencing a problem (and sure others do too) and hope that Ego changes it so that it's at least as good as their previous 20 inch product.
Still I'm very happy with my 21-inch self-propelled mower and do believe that it is worthy of the high marks that Consumer Reports gives it.
Kid Rock
Speeds for myself (49 year old), my short 12 year old and my 14 year old is fine. But there are some situations where a slower speed would be nice. Not for us though.
Not sure where I saw it (a review on YouTube?) but they suggested lower speeds for mowing and higher speeds for transporting on larger properties. For most.
The thickest /tallest grass I've mowed was 6-7" and it was a 10' diameter patch. The mower just cruised thru it. It was likely at the lower end of the range of speeds.
Bob
Ridiculous. But we still love the mower, just hating the SP which I wasted $100 on.
Steve Valdes