In fact, the HD1200 is so powerful that the tester said it was pulling loose plaster off the walls, so she had to be careful in certain areas. Consumer Reports recommends more than half the battery lawn mowers in our current walk-behind lawn mower ratings. Among the more than 60 push- and self-propelled cordless electric mowers we’ve tested, most models earn strong overall ratings. So there are plenty of appealing options at a variety of prices.If you have a lawn that’s less than a quarter-acre, you’ll probably find a battery push mower that will fit your needs.
Performance among our tested models is improving for both self-propelled and push battery mowers, and they offer more value, Trezza says. Several highly rated battery push mowers from Snapper, Ryobi, Skil, Greenworks, Kobalt (Lowe’s), and Atlas are priced at or below similarly rated gas models from Toro and Troy-Bilt. The top-rated Honda gas push mower has competition from an electric Ego push mower with the same high ratings—and the same for predicted reliability.
Cleaning up high—like if you’re sucking cobwebs off a garage window—is less of a problem with the DeWalt vac because you can just hold it. Although Ridgid vacs come in other sizes (many of them great), we think the 12-gallon size offers the best balance of capacity and mobility. It’s usually competitive on price, too, both within the Ridgid lineup and against similar models from other brands. At a little over 17 pounds, this vac is more manageable on stairs than some larger, more powerful, also-popular versions. There is a wide dry nozzle, a wet nozzle, and a small crevice nozzle (for corners and detail work). Other models might come with more options, but I’ve found that they just tend to get in the way or lost over time.
This might not sound like a lot, but for the way a wet/dry vac is typically used, we never noticed it as a hindrance. But since the Greenworks vac is more powerful, with the larger hose, we think you could accomplish more with it over hyper tough battery the course of a single charge. You get the best value from this vac if you already own compatible DeWalt batteries. If you don’t, having to buy a battery and charger makes the investment a little steep for what you’re getting.
If you can’t find our pick or you just want a more powerful option, we also like the Ridgid 14-Gallon NXT Wet/Dry Vac HD1400. This vacuum has more capacity and a more powerful motor than the 12-gallon HD1200, but the identical hose should suck up the same debris. User reviews for this model, like those for our pick, are extremely positive.
Two of these cordless electric push mowers, both from Ryobi, receive higher Overall Scores than the top-rated gas push mower, a Honda. The adapter above is a do-it-yourself adapter, so you will need to provide the circuitry to make it work. It has been reported that the Ridgid 18V batteries do have built-in over discharge protection.
I’ve lost a number of nozzle ends and have irreparably damaged a hose, so easy replacement parts are important. Tobie Stanger is a senior editor at Consumer Reports, where she has been helping readers shop wisely, save money, and avoid scams for more than 30 years. During off-hours, she works on her own fixer-upper and gets her hands dirty in the garden. Two-thirds of the battery push mowers in our ratings perform well enough for CR to recommend.
Another cordless option we like is the Greenworks 40V 3-Gallon Cordless Wet/Dry Vac. This one is larger and more powerful than the DeWalt vac, but it doesn’t have a cord, so the battery is the only option. So the Greenworks vac can handle things like little blocks of wood and some nails and screws. We also like that when we stretched out the hose, it became translucent, so it was easy to see the location of any clogs. Like the DeWalt vac, the Greenworks vac has two nozzles and smart onboard storage. This model is normally around $200 with the battery and charger, so if you need a vac with those included, it’s considerably less expensive than the DeWalt vac.
Through the course of testing and using the vacs around the house during a small renovation, this became our go-to vac, even though it does sometimes have a high-pitched whine. The Greenworks vac normally costs around $200, which we think is a fine price, given that it comes with a battery and charger. The HD1200 has enough power to clean up the type of debris that could damage your home vacuum. On our test, it sucked up the entire pile of workshop debris in 15 seconds (the cordless models all took over a minute).