Tom, EGO batteries have a storage mode built in, so you don’t have to charge them to 50% for storage. After 30 days of inactivity, the BMS will automatically discharge them to around 50%.
It will discharge to 30% , then go into hibernation mode and stay at 30%. I believe your spouse to charge them back up to 100% every so often, I can't remember that time frame
That may explain why my parents' EGO batteries lasted so much longer than their Greenworx ones. I tried telling them about proper battery storage, but they came out the next season ruined. They switched to EGO about 5 years ago and haven't replaced a single battery yet. I'll call that a win for the built-in storage mode!
Tom, you mentioned on the Batteries Included Podcast you had gone fully electric property maintenance equipment. Does that include a riding mower for your large lawn? If so, what kind?
The trick to using EGO rechargeable yard equipment is to get multiple tools and thus have multiple batteries, then you can complete any project and simply use the batteries from the other tools to finish up the job while the first batteries are charging. I still have my EGO leaf blower from 16 years ago and have added a string trimmer, chain saw, and 21" mower to my collection.
We have the blower with the seven point five batteries. Bought it a year ago. We live in Minnesota and last year got slammed with snow all winter, we have about maybe forty feet of driveway straight up to garage double wide. Also a side walk frame there to front steps. The first time took my daughter 1 and 1/2 charges, but she’d never snow blowed before. I gave her some tips, and now does it on one charge. I was surprised at how small time to charge. Less than 45 minutes. I unplug the charger when not in use. And I only use a dedicated plug. The cool thing is the quiet and no exhaust, it only whine a little which is wonderful for those family members who work overnights.
Yeah they eventually sent me an entire 24" replacement machine after my transmission exploded after only 3 uses. I'm sorta not impressed with durability, but I have a lot of spare parts now!
I have Worx 20" single stage snow blower with two 4-amp batteries. It is good for a couple of inches of light powdery snow and at 40 lbs can lift up to do the steps. With it's lightweight compared to 2-stroke single stage i can zip down our sidewalk faster than most. But for large, wet snow the 7-hp MTD gasoline powered is backup!
Hey Tom, thanks again for a great thoughtful video. Love that you decided to move up to the bigger blower. I bought my ego just before your first video and was wondering why you went with the smaller version with such a big driveway. It still performed well. Like I said, I bought it a little over a year ago and at the time it only had the 7.5 amp batteries which is prefect for me in that same heavy snow. I will say my handles are more substantial. It does not have power steering but it turns on a dime without a trigger. I too have issues at the end of my driveway with slush and plow buildup. My old gas would choke all the time. The Ego has zero issue which surprised the heck out of me. It took me half the time. Wondering if it was less time for you as well? I LOVE mine and don’t have to deal with gas and oil anymore. Wish I could send you a pic of my handles.
This was a surprise. Nice seeing you do something other than vehicles. Really enjoyed it. (I think if you did the top part first it would have got it all)
I love it! I have their smaller snow thrower and it suits my small drive very well. My first EGO product was their lawn mower from 2013 and it is still going strong, other than changing blades.
First, thanks for the review. Second, it is possible that slowing down the walking speed a touch with the heavy snow would have resulted in more coverage, but also less piling up in front and falling to the side. Third, I read a recommendation to let the batteries set for half an hour after use before charging, and after charging, to let them cool off. Finally, I think there is a point where the larger sizes are a bit bigger and may eventually not fit the smallest devices. I am not aware of any there this is currently the case.
I have the charger plugged into a smart outlet. I can tell she-who-must-not-be-named (in a video anyway) to "turn on charger in 30 minutes" and it will.
Battery swap with Ego tools (and similar brands) is faster, easier, and cleaner than refilling with gas. With two batteries, or two sets in Tom's case, you can charge one (or one set) while using the other. This allows you to work all day long if needed, so no real need to finish the job in one charge, as Tom hoped to do. PS. I have the Ego "Fast Charger" which recharges one battery in 30-60 minutes. The dual charger that comes with Ego snowblowers and Tom was using is slower. To run continuously like I do, the fast charger is needed. Also, I never had a problem with the batteries not charging right away due to hot temperature, like Tom did. This is likely because I don't have an Ego snowblower. My lawn mower and backpack blower probably do not stress the batteries as much as snowblowers do.
Just got the 24” Ego blower with 2 10aH batteries. My driveway is a fraction of yours, but I love it. With my old Ariens 1 stage I couldn’t do the sidewalks but now I can do them with no effort. Only complaints are the speeds are crazy. Slowest is good, but 1 step up is slow run! I’m not brave enough to try the faster speeds, it’ll be dragging me down the street! Not a fan of the joystick chute control, previous model used to have 2 controls which was vastly superior. Minor stuff though, I love the thing.
I have an Ego self-propelled lawn mower and an edger. Both came with the earlier 7.5 ah batteries, and my lawn takes just over one battery worth to complete. I swap out the batteries and start charging the dead one (which starts charging right away, no cooling delay), which has enough juice by the time I’m done with the rest of mowing and edging if I need a bit more. The best part is that with solar panels, the sun is charging the batteries I need to cut the grass the sun makes grow!
Cool. An electric yard equipment review. That's an insanely long driveway to clear. I have an electric riding mower by Ryobi (rm480ex) that is reasonably decent, can mow the whole yard on one charge easy, but it could be better. I've also experimented with some electric push mowers and some other unusual equipment like an electric chainsaw. Could use more reviews of such equipment. Gas yard equipment is loud and emits a lot of pollutants, and it would be great if there was more high quality electric yard equipment out there.
Yeah, the battery powered snow blower is thr worst case scenario but Ego has improved each year. All the other battery powered equipment t works fine for light duty work.
If you ever have to use a snow blower for more than 30 minutes when it is 10 degrees Fahrenheit or below, then you appreciate the heated handles. They don't really make your fingers warm, but instead keep them from getting cold. I've used many types of heavy gloves before with snow blowers and my fingers kept getting cold - especially if you get snow on them and then they get a bit wet. And people who sometimes help me out have commented that they like the heated handles too. I wouldn't buy a new snow blower without that feature.
I have a similar driveway and just bought the 28”. I was debating picking up another pair of 12ah batteries but I think the 7.5s I have already will be enough. You saved me a grand. This video was helpful. Thank you.
Good review! I'm coming from a Cub Cadet 3 stage I have been looking at the electric snowblowers and this looks like the heavy duty that would be needed to replace mine. The showstopper for me is the plastic handles. When they fix that I would be onboard!
Nice review! I bought one of these last Fall as a replacement for my 28 year-old Troy-Built, which has never broken down, still starts on the first pull almost every time and is built like a tank. My driveway is not as large as yours, but is a bit more than 200 feet long with a significant upgrade and a smaller landing area at the bottom. I have extra batteries, but my experience so far is that it is highly unlikely that I'll need them to complete the job, even with heavy snow. One odd thing about the machine that caught me by surprise is the when going downhill, it wants to take off -- the wheels seem to disengage from the drive and it freewheels until it gets back on a flat surface. I called Ego about this and the person I spoke with had to consult with her "team leader" for an answer. According to that person, this is normal and the recommendation is that when going downhill, work side-to-side !! No thanks. So, this is one thing about it I don't like, although it is manageable. Overall, I'm pleased (no broken handles yet). Let's hope that the cost of batteries declines, as is happening with EV batteries. So nice to need no gas and oil.
I bought the 24" Ego last year in a package that included 4 - 10AH batteries and 2 fast chargers that can recharge them in 45 - 60 minutes which is about the runtime in ND. The 4 batteries outlast me and the first set is ready before . I used it multiple times last year, the extra set of batteries is the way to go. One thing that will really eat the batteries is to run the auger at the highest speed. Most of the time you don't need to throw the snow 50'. That wet snow would use definitely the most energy. The handle breaking is not good at all.
I've been loving my Toro 26" 2-stage EV snowblower so far. I also have a Toro EV push mower that uses the same battery type. The snowblower came with two 7.5Ah batteries but can take a third so I can toss in the one from the mower for more range. I only have a 75-100ft driveway so it's been great. Expensive but it's so nice not having to deal with the engine maintenance or keeping fuel around and being able to easily pull it out for use if we get a freak late april snowstorm.
OP, you had better luck with the Toro electrick snow blower than I did. My driveway is circa 500ft with a two caar park spot. The Toro did not half of that, before it quit. The plowed in aprons? forget it, it was worthless. I am back to a gas snow blower
Late to the party, but I have the 28" also. It really struggled up here for me in Utah with the slush, but on a dry day I can do approximately 4 driveways. When we got our 24" snowfall, I could only do 1 4 car driveway before the 12Ah batteries were dead. Still a great unit, and I prefer to use it over my 28" Arens.
Great test , hope you were easy on the turbo mode, this mode is very energy consuming Snow seems to be very wet, you will be able to do the complete driveway with more flofy snow
Actually, pretty impressive with how wet that snow was and the amount of area to clear. My neighbor has a toro electric snowblower and he can put up to 3 batteries in it at a time but i'm not sure how man amp hours the batteries are, he never runs out. Also, nice how you keep the Bolt garaged and leave the big boys outside! The Bolt is a great value!
I can see a lot of plastic with the Ego. We got the Toro V60 E26, which is mostly metal construction. We have three 7.5 Ah batteries and 3 chargers. Only the battery cover lids are plastic. To-date, over the past two winters, we have cleared about 2,600 SF of driveway and walkways about 40 times. No parts have broken. The batteries show no degradation. For "normal" snow clearing, we use about 50 - 75% of the batteries. On the very worst conditions, wet deep snow, we use about 90-100% of the batteries - this (100%) occurred about twice out of 40 times. Like you, I do not use the grip heater (which gets very warm, if I accidentally turn it on). BTW, no shear bolts are required for Toro - as it electronically senses torque demand and shuts down for overload. This has happened twice - usually a small rock wedged in the impeller. As far as battery temperature management, the Toro has air cooling fans for the batteries in the snowblower and on the chargers. I LOVE the electric snowblower and would not go back to gas.
If you would have used a ICE two-stage blower, you would have used at least 1 gallon of fuel. The energy in those 2 - 12 amp/hr packs equals .04 of a gallon of gas. Way more efficient.
I checked this machine out at Lowe's back in October. Was instantly turned off by the flimsy clutch handles. I even said to myself those aren't going to hold up.
Hey, thanks for the video. I hope you were able to get to handle fixed because it was a new snowblower you brought and did you register the tool maybe you can get it covered that way
Info: EGO’s 10 Ah batteries (I assume other capacities too), when left idle for 30d will start a discharge cycle using the battery SOC leds to slowly lower the SOC to somewhere between (edit) 30%. So the batteries are built to prevent long term hold at full SOC.
I believe most of their batteries do this. Have 5Ah and 2.5Ah from 5 years ago and they also discharge after 30 days of inactivity. Great feature that makes total sense for outdoor tools.
I was thinking about getting an EGO 2 stage snow blower. I found out the closest service center is about 50 miles away so transporting it that far would be an issue. It is for this reason that I'm going with a Toro 2 stage electric snow blower. There's a dealer and service center about 15 miles away so that solves the transport issue for me.
Lasting the full driveway really isn't necessary. I have a smaller Ego snowblower with the 6 AH batteries. With a big snow here in NH, they don't last the full driveway, but I have two fast chargers, so I can replenish them quickly. And I could easily buy a spare set of batteries if I wanted an immediate swap. For your broken handle, an option would be an pair of aluminum splints, with countersunk screws going through the handle from one splint to the other. That way you don't need to depend on glue. If you really want to do the tape solution, get some good gaffer tape, not electrical tape and preferably include a strip of aluminum under it. Or if you want to use materials your Qmerit friends can provide, electrical "friction tape" like 3M Temflex is sort of like gaffer tape.
I think the control handles are plastic for lower heat transfer and open frames to allow the heat from the heated grips to pass through. They probably need to use a more durable plastic.
It would be helpful to have a test with very cold batteries. It appeared that your weather was maybe 20 degrees F. What if it was -10 degrees? I like the power chute pivot. It would be nice to have a automatic pivot in which you touched a switch once to make the chute rotate the other way fully. Sometimes when you're picoting you're busy and that would be welcome. Also sometimes it's dark or snowy when you're using the equipment, and a headlight is welcome. Heated grips would be nice. The abundant plastic in the cockpit controls is not reassuring. The idea of not fussing with starting a snowblower would be nice. If the batteries were too hot to charge, why not toss them in a bucket of snow? Will the battery charge if it's too cold? If you need to churn through a tough section of snow from what the plow pushed up, how does it handle that? You'd need chains on the tires, I think.
Maybe a piece of metal from the hardware store could be taped onto the handle. Maybe flat aluminum bar, and beat on it over a piece of steel pipe as a form to give it some curve.
Very nice. What's the cost? Also, our town is thinking about getting a couple of x-charge car chargers with integrated 250kw battery. Do you know anything about these?
Yes, I think a 3D printer would do it. My local public non network J-1772 EV charger broke off and I found out later stuck in my Orange inlet. Would Miracle Glue work with the plastic? I thought using a hose clamp would also repair the connector. The location probably would not replace it, since it is an old 2017 installation and FREE! The unit isn't used often. It is at a hotel and I was not a paying customer, but the PlugShare App never said it was only for their customers.
My driveway is about twice the size of this so I haven't gone to an electric blower yet. Honestly the couple times it filled in this year I just hand shovelled it out, though I know that's a luxury.
lol I wouldn't say better, but thanks. It was also closer in consistency to your second test rather than wet saturated snow. Great channel, thanks for what you do here and over at Batteries Included.
Most people have to keep their blower in a cold garage. Run a test where you leave it outside in the cold overnight and start with a cold machine and cold batteries
Huge driveway? Hold my beer! My "snowblower" is a 60hp tractor with a 7' wide blower on the back. And no, I'm not out in the sticks. I'm only about 30 miles west of Boston.
And yet there are people out there who would view even your driveway as "small". I have a relative whose inlaws have a 12-mile-long driveway that leads to their 80-acre land in Montana
@@StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney Yep, seen those out there. I was just giggling every time you stressed "Big Driveway". Love the reviews Tom - keep 'em coming.
Is it OK for battery longevity to routinely fully charge and then run EGO batteries down to zero? If it’s important to stay between 20 and 80% SOC on your electric vehicle, why doesn’t the same apply to EGO lithium ion batteries?
Tom, the design engineer put the opening in the Lever Handle to allow for physical contact of the Heated Grips. Yes, these should be metal or at the very least redesigned. As far as the broken handle goes, it is covered under Warrantee. They will simply swap out the Upper handlebar assemble module. Poor thinking on their part. The downside is you have to take it back to LOWES to get warrantee work done. Do it in the OFF season because it will take a few weeks since they have to ship it to a repair facility. No Cost to you other than time and inconvenience. I have one of their Push mowers which I to had to have Warranty work done for a failed safety switch, A small component. They replaced the Entire Handle assembly down to the deck attachment. Very wasteful IMO.
I actually don't want a replacement. This one broke the 2nd time I used it so I'm sure I'll break the replacement one also. I want to fix it myself so it's better than before.
@@StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney yep but you still recommend a product that the control for the main function fails, and are ok with having to redesign it yourself? I thought your recap would conclude that it can do your driveway, has enough power to throw snow a good distance but could not recommend a product that has a failure of the main function after it's second use - until they fix that failure point.
One thing I've complained about on power tool battery chargers is that they don't have a storage mode that only charges up to 50%. For most users, 50% battery is enough to complete whatever task anyway. EDIT - I was just looking at dewalts li-ion battery literature and it says to store them at full charge. They probably are worried about self-discharge, but it's so low. I've had charged ones sitting for over a year and still had "full" charge based on the indicator. Or they don't really care about a bit extra degradation and want you to buy more... if I'm putting on my tin foil hat. Well at least they're only charging to 4.0V per cell instead of 4.2V. That does help a bit.
When in comes to snow blowers and deep snow.. I would think a ice engine would have more power my snow blower sits 99 Percent of the time and does stabilizing gas or keep charging charging battery which is better I don’t know My old saying was. “If it don’t burn gas it ain,t worth doing I am not sure anymore
