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Ego is not perfect - My 5 year (mostly commercial) user experience


Jronman

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@Eric - TIA and @Dan - TIA got word that my Ego experience wasn't always smooth sailing and they expressed interest in investigating the matter further. I hope this will help them in their investigation. I wanted to be real with you guys regarding my Ego experience of about 5 years. 3 of those years being commercial lawn care and snow removal. My use of Ego products is more than the average person.

My first Ego anything: In May of 2017 I picked up my first Ego products. I got the brushed hedge trimmer and the 530 cfm blower. My corded hedge trimmer was on its last leg and I had never owned a blower. Both items were fantastic for their time. The hedge trimmer was a bit underpowered but the runtime was unreal. I could go multiple hours on the small battery that came with it. The blower is about as bullet proof as anything. It has been covered in thick mud, sprayed with water, and fallen off my trailer twice while moving. It still works.

Going into Lawn mowing Business: When I got into the Lawn mowing business in 2019 I decided to pick up the Power-head motor unit with string trimmer attachment to use as my daily trimmer. It worked fine and eventually I picked up the hedge trimmer and pruning saw attachments. A bit underpowered for some applications. I can get it to stall when using the edger attachment sometimes. 2019 was also the year Ego left Home Depot for Lowes and was introduced to Ace Hardware. It was also the year the commercial line came to the United States. I decided to give the commercial line a try so I bought everything needed to run the commercial string trimmer. It was a fantastic trimmer or so it seemed. The carbon fiber shaft, all metal trigger, and all metal motor housing were amazing and still to this day not common on other brands trimmers if at all. The string trimmer had incredible runtime with the backpack battery. One day I counted 18 properties on one charge which amounted to about 2-3 days of work. Runtime varied depending on how heavy you used the trimmer.


My first customer support experience: After close to one year in the lawn business 3 products of mine either died or went faulty. On the commercial string stimmer the trigger started to throw a fit. Vaiable speed was spotty at best and there was even a short time where if the battery was plugged in the head would start spinning even when the trigger was not pressed. Also my Power Head Motor unit fully died. Finally I had a battery with the new 5 led display go bad. At the time they had just come out. I called customer service and was surprised to get someone who sounded like they were from the states. He sent out a replacement for the commercial trimmer and I sent the old one back in the box the new one came in no questions asked. The power head had to go to my local service center to get "worked on". The battery was not put on the warrently list. An honest mistake by the support person. In regasrds to the power head, my service center and I knew it would eventually have to be sent to Ego. We were right nothing Ego had them do worked. It was taking forever it seemed like to get progress on the string trimmer. I was fed up with having to use the gas trimmer during my time without the Ego trimmers so I found an amazing deal on a power head motor unit with edger attachment kit for less than the powerhead motor unit by itself. The power head was like the commercial trimmer where I sent the old one back in the box the new one came in. Everything was replaced for free but my service provider put a bunch of labor into the powerhead. I hope Ego compensated him for his labor. When my warranty replacements finally came in I owned two power head motor units and one commercial string trimmer.


My second customer support experience:  I never got around to going further on the faulty battery but in 2020 I thought my blower quit working so I bought the new 650 cfm blower. Before the new blower shipped I decided to open up the old blower come to find out it still works . The switch got a bit loose. I secured the switch a bit better and now it works no problem. I decided to keep both blowers. The new blower quit by the end of the season. It did not like all the dust in the fall and I think that is maybe part of what killed it. I decided to call Ego to get battery and blower warrantied. By this time they had switched to Indian call centers. The Indian call centers were not very helpful. Their go to response was send it to my service center. No more replacing the product no questions asked. The battery had to be at my service center for a certain amount of time and I got it back plus a new one in the mail. Ego does not take back batteries. I don't remember specifics on the blower replacement. Regardless it was replace under warranty. It was probably a long process like the others. I wish I remembered specifics.

My snow removal experience: I decided to buy the ego snowblower in 2019. This was before the 2 stage and the updated single stage came out. It was fantastic. Not too many complaints. The chute direction control lever sometimes sticks and isn't always smooth when using. The scraper bar designed to wear and be replaced wore out far to quickly. Not sure how often they normally wear out but I could go through a few of them each season. The snowblower decided to have a wheel break at the end of the second snow season and to replace the wheel seemed quite involved. I may ask Ego if there is an easy way to swap out a wheel on the snowblower. I decided that for last season I would upgrade to the new single stage snowblower with the metal blades. It works fine. it is a big rougher to use especially if the blades hit something. I use both snowblowers with the commercial battery and battery adapter. Works fine. You just can't close the lid to the battery compartment. Probably not recommended but when you got work to do you gotta get the job done.

 

My third customer support experience: This is where things get not so great to say it in a nice manner. My replacement commercial string trimmer had the trigger act up like the original and just before warranty was up. I called Ego before warranty was up and instead of sending a new one I had to send it to my service center. Needless to say some time had passed my warranty was up and I called Ego again and they tried claiming it was out of warranty but the support ticket was created before the warranty was up so it should have been honored. I never was able to get it replaced. I probably could have tried harder but honestly I was sick of Ego support so I wasn't even going to bother.

My Ego experience now: My replaced 650 cmf blower does fail sometimes like the other but at least I can unplug the battery and plug it back in to get it to work. It started acting up during dusty leaf season. Another product I decided to pick up the Nexus Power Station. One battery from the power station went faulty but I got it replaced no problem if I remember right. It has come in handy a few times. We had a power outage for around 5 hours two times this year and I used it to power the refrigerator I have also powered my vac from it and my battery charger I use for the mowers. My most recent purchase was the Ego light. I have mixed opinions on the light but it is more upgrades I would want and not problems with the tool. It is super bright. I also had my first battery with the old style charge display fault on me. I guess thats not too bad considering the old style batteries might be older manufacture date. I have yet to use any of the mowers. I have also picked up the extension, cultivator, and paddle broom attachments for the power head. They do the job.

 

In total I have spent over $10,000 in Ego products. I have not owned or used any of the mowers. I have not owned or used any of the chainsaws besides the 10 prunning saw attachment for the powerhead. Even with all the problems I have had with Ego I expect I will buy more Ego in the future. I think I got everything regarding my Ego experience. I may update this post if I think of something else to add.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My experience is nowhere near as extensive as yours but of the Ego equipment I've owned since 2018 it all works well.  I have the following (all purchased in 2018-2019 so probably not the newest models):

 

21" mower: works great but I have to pay attention if the grass is tall or wet.  You can tell when it's about to cut out, so lifting the front wheels avoids having to wait a few seconds for the overload protection to turn off.  I tried using the bag but didn't care for it and the chute is all but worthless as it clogs up with clippings way too fast, so I use the mower with the original blade and no attachments.  This is very likely the reason it cuts out so readily if I don't pay attention.  One of my 5Ah batteries could cut nearly the entire front yard of the house I rented over the past four years, while the other battery seems to be faulty and dies after cutting maybe 1/4 of the grass.  This mower is now relegated to cutting a small section of the backyard I fenced in for the dogs.  My neighbor is still using his Bad Boy ZTR to cut most of the grass, and I know from experience that Louisiana heat and humidity make push mowing an acre tortuous.  I bought a gas 22" Craftsman self-propelled mower in 2009, cut the grass once, and went back to Sears for a rider a couple of weeks later.  I can't imagine how many batteries I'd need for the Ego.

 

Self-loading string trimmer: it's worked great and is probably my most used Ego product.  I had to trim the ditch over the weekend and hadn't yet unpacked the Ego batteries, so I used my Dewalt trimmer.  It was way underpowered, and after a couple minutes the string stopped feeding on one side.  I fixed the issue but had a little too much excess, which wrapped around the shift and promptly threw off the spool.  I pulled out a "should have a full charge" 2Ah Ego battery and had no issue cutting the weeds, with the battery dying right as I finished.

 

Hedge trimmer: I like its power and safety features but haven't used it all that much and now have little use for it at all.  A friend nearly lost his finger to my DeWalt hedge trimmer when he used it one handed and had it kick back, so the two safety switches are nice to avoid potential Darwin awards.  

 

Backpack blower: nice, but truth be told I usually opt for the large DeWalt handheld one.  If I'm really on my game I'll use both at the same time.  I like this blower and will probably use it much more now that I'm back at my house.

 

Batteries: I have the two 5Ah packs that came with the mower and blower, a 2.5Ah pack that came with the string trimmer, a pack that came with the hedge trimmer (can't remember if it's 2Ah or 2.5Ah) and a couple of 2Ah packs picked up on clearance when HD dropped the brand.  One of the larger batteries seems to lack runtime but between it and the other 5Ah I can usually get the job done.  The smaller packs are great for the trimmers but almost a waste of time to try to use in the mower or blower.

 

Next year I hope to have the funds for a ZTR of my own.  The Ego versions are tempting until I really look at the price and future upkeep.  I used to specialize in battery operated forktrucks and such as a mechanic, so I'm no stranger to DC electrical systems l, but I also know that a gas engined mower, while requiring more annual maintenance, can be kept going for years.  My neighbor's Bad Boy was bought used over eleven years ago and still cuts like new.  He added lights to it and if theres an issue he has a welding machine and the tools to fix nearly anything.  The Ego costs much more than a decent fabricated deck gas mower and relies on brand specific parts that may or may not be available in 5-10 years.

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@fm2176 The brushed hedge trimmer came with a 2.0. When I got mine they had tools with both the 2.5 and the 2.0. I thought the 2.0 was discontinued within the last few years. Not sure if the 2.0 is making a return but the 4.0 is making a return with some of the 2023 offerings.

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