EGO Power+ 21" Self-Propelled Lawn Mower review

Short verdict: I’ve owned an EGO 21-inch self-propelled mower for four seasons, and it’s the mower that got the gas can out of my garage for good. It starts every time, folds into a footprint smaller than a moving box, and one big battery has covered my yard two or three times between charges. It isn’t flawless. Its self-propel drive quit on me during the first season, EGO’s support was slow, and a few plastic and steel parts show their age. If you mow a typical suburban lot, roughly a quarter acre or less (Tool Box Buzz’s rough ceiling for a 21-inch walk-behind is about 13,000 square feet, about 0.3 acre), and you’ll keep up with weekly cuts, the current version of this mower, the LM2135SP, is easy to recommend. If your grass routinely gets away from you, or you want a steel deck and a local dealer network, keep reading, because there are better fits.

Mine is an earlier generation of EGO’s 21-inch self-propelled line. I bought it in 2017 with the biggest battery EGO sold at the time, a 7.5Ah pack. EGO has since replaced that model, so the specs, price and comparisons on this page are for the current LM2135SP. My own results come from my older mower, and I keep the two apart all the way through: when I say “I,” I mean what I saw on my own mower in my own yard, and when I give a spec, it comes from EGO or a named source listed at the bottom.

Quick specs: EGO LM2135SP (current model)

Why I went electric, and why EGO

Before the EGO, I mowed with gas. I’d also tried Home Depot’s Ryobi electric mower, and it didn’t win me over. The cut quality wasn’t where I wanted it, and the battery didn’t last long enough for me to stop thinking about it. That last part mattered more than any spec. If you’ve ever had a mower die with a strip of uncut grass left down the middle of the yard, you know the feeling.

So when I bought the EGO, I paid up for the biggest battery available, the 7.5Ah. My goal was simple: cut the whole yard without ever wondering whether I’d make it. Six months in, I was cutting the yard twice on one charge. By the four-year mark, I was still getting two to three cuts per charge depending on how long the grass was, the same as when it was new.

That’s the first thing a homeowner should take from this review. Runtime claims like EGO’s “up to 60 minutes” are measured in friendly conditions. What matters is whether one battery finishes your yard with margin to spare, and the answer depends on your lot size, your grass and how much you use the self-propel. The big battery took range anxiety off the table for me. A smaller battery would have saved money up front, but I’d be back to watching the gauge.

What mowing with it is actually like

Starting it

There’s no pull cord, no choke and no priming bulb. You slide the battery in, press the start button and pull the bail lever back. The first EGO models used a removable safety key that people kept losing. Mine has a built-in button you hold down while pulling the lever, and that’s the only way it starts.

The moment that sold me came after three seasons. The mower had sat in the garage all winter, I hadn’t cleaned it, and I dropped the battery in to see what would happen. The self-propel came on and the blade spun up right away. “You don’t get that with a gas mower,” I said on camera, and I meant it. There was no stale fuel, no carburetor cleaning, and no spring tune-up.

Pushing it

The deck is plastic, and that worried me at first, since most of us grew up on metal mowers. In practice the light deck is a big part of why this mower is easy to move around. EGO also put ball bearings in the front wheels, and you can feel it. The mower rolls smoothly, and at year four I still found it easy to push through the yard.

The self-propel is a nice extra rather than a necessity for me, because the mower is light enough to push. Where I really use it is on any hill or incline. You can hear a second whine when the drive motor is working. A neat detail on my model is that the self-propel runs even when the blade is off, so you can drive the mower back to the garage without cutting anything.

On the current LM2135SP, EGO calls the drive Touch Drive. You engage it by pressing on the handle with your palm, and you set the speed with a dial at your fingertips, from 0.9 to 3.1 mph. Wirecutter, which now ranks the LM2135SP as its runner-up, notes that its self-propel controls are less refined than those on EGO’s newer LM2236SP-2.

Cutting

My lot isn’t a putting green. In the three-season video, you can see the mower going through a section with a lot of weeds, which are harder to cut than grass because they grow in every direction. It handled them well. Now and then one or two weeds would bend over and pop back up behind the deck, so I’d catch them on a second pass. I also run it right along my fence line, and I’m not gentle about it. When I yank on the deck, it doesn’t budge.

The mower runs at one blade speed during normal cutting and revs up on its own when it senses thicker grass. That’s where my biggest wish comes in. I can see thick grass coming well before the mower’s sensor does, and EGO’s blower has a turbo button. I want the same thing on the mower, so I can rev it up before I hit the tough patch instead of after. If you mow weekly, this doesn’t matter. If you let the lawn go for several weeks and it’s 12 or 13 inches tall, you’re going to run into trouble with this mower.

Be honest with yourself about this before you buy. If you’re the kind of homeowner who mows every week in season, this mower fits you well. If you travel a lot in summer, or your lawn shoots up after every rain, look closely at the rivals below. Ryobi’s 40V HP mower, for example, has a turbo mode you trigger yourself, which is exactly the control I asked EGO for.

Mulching, bagging and side discharge

I mulch about 99% of the time. The mulch plug slides in and out easily, and it’s how the mower shipped.

When I do bag, the bag earns its keep. Compared with other mowers I’ve used, it fills the whole bag before it clogs, so you aren’t stopping to empty a half-full bag that’s choking the chute. Bagging still takes me longer than mulching, but I only have to empty it about twice for the whole yard. After four seasons of regular use, the bag had no tears or rips, and the tougher fabric on the bottom has clearly helped it last.

The side discharge chute is the weak link of the three. Older EGO mowers didn’t include one at all, and you had to ask EGO to send one. Mine came in the box. I tried it a couple of times, it attaches in an odd way, and it works fine but nothing special. It’s good to have if you need it.

On the current LM2135SP, EGO’s Select Cut system adds a second, upper blade above the lower one, and you get three lower blades to swap between: one for mulching, one for bagging and one for longer runtime. In a side-by-side test of mulching oak leaves, Tool Box Buzz found the two-blade LM2135SP left noticeably smaller leaf pieces than EGO’s older single-blade LM2100SP. In bagging mode, the two mowers came out about even.

Adjusting the height

This is the feature I’d point a first-time buyer to. A traditional mower makes you go to each wheel and adjust it separately. On the EGO, a single lever moves the whole deck. After four seasons, that lever still moved freely between the highest and lowest settings, which is impressive for a mechanism you use all the time. I keep my mower in the garage, which likely helps.

The current LM2135SP has eight height settings from 1 to 4 inches, according to EGO. A few retailer listings say seven positions, so if you need a specific setting, check the manual before you buy.

Folding it up and storing it

Folding is what impressed me most, and four years later it still did. It folds up so tightly that it fits in a space about 2 feet by 1.5 feet. The folding mechanism locks the handle in place and has three positions, and it’s quick to use.

For a homeowner, this changes where a mower can live. A gas mower usually needs a full parking-space corner. My EGO stands tucked against the garage wall and out of the way. When I’m done cutting, I fold it and it’s put away in seconds. You can also take the battery in and out while the mower is folded, which some models I looked at couldn’t do. Since the battery doesn’t need to come out between cuts, I usually just leave it in.

The battery and charger

The charger sits on a shelf, you slide the battery on and it starts charging. It’s fast. EGO rates the current Rapid Charger at about 60 minutes for the 7.5Ah battery, and Tool Box Buzz reported the same 60-minute empty-to-full time.

My original 7.5Ah battery shows a green light that tells you it has some charge, but not how much. EGO’s newer batteries, including the one that came with my EGO string trimmer, have a fuel gauge you check by pressing a button on top. It’s a real improvement, especially when you’re moving a battery from the mower to another tool and need to know if it’ll last.

How much has my battery faded? I honestly can’t measure it, because neither the battery nor the mower gives me any numbers. What I can tell you is that after four years I still got two to three cuts between charges, the same as at the start. I’m sure there’s some degradation, but I’ve never noticed it, and part of the reason may be that I never run the battery all the way down.

For context, Tool Box Buzz ran a current LM2135SP at its fastest self-propel speed until the battery quit and got 50 minutes. That was in November, with light grass and a few leaves, so heavy summer grass would cut that number down. Their rough rule of thumb: if you’re mowing a lawn around 13,000 square feet with a 21-inch walk-behind, it may be time to think about a riding mower.

The other reason I’d pick EGO is the battery system. I also own EGO’s blower and string trimmer, and the same battery runs all of them. I can mow, then pull the battery and put it straight into the trimmer or the blower. If you keep two batteries, one can charge while you use the other, and you never run out.

The headlights

Here’s a small one I noticed against the Ryobi I tried. The EGO has a button that turns the headlights on and off. The Ryobi kept them on the whole time. Most people mow during the day, so being able to switch them off makes sense to me. The current LM2135SP still has LED headlights.

What went wrong in four seasons

The self-propel drive quit

This is the one real failure I had. In my first season, the self-propel motor quit while I had a full bag of grass on, almost as if the load had bogged it down. I took the bag off, turned the mower off and back on, and the drive worked again. For about a month after that it came and went.

I called EGO and asked for a replacement, since the mower was still in its first season. EGO told me I’d have to take it to Home Depot, and that the repair would take six to eight weeks. In the middle of mowing season, nobody has six to eight weeks to wait. I also sent several emails that went unanswered. I had to call just to get a response, and EGO finally emailed me back about a month after my first email.

In my case, the problem fixed itself and never came back. I was lucky, and you might not be. If a quick repair matters to you, factor in that service runs through retail and service partners rather than a mail-in swap, at least as it was handled for me. The current LM2135SP carries a 5-year limited tool warranty and a 3-year limited battery warranty, according to EGO.

Rust on the drive shaft

There’s no rust on the deck, because it’s plastic, but the steel shaft for the self-propel drive underneath had surface rust after three seasons. I hit it with 3-in-1 oil and a wire brush. By the next spring, the rust had come back. It never stopped the drive from working, but it’s worth knowing that “plastic mower” doesn’t mean “no metal to look after.”

Small plastic parts and clips

Early on, I said the battery door felt flimsy and I worried about how long it would last. Four years later, it had loosened slightly at the top but still opened, closed and held the battery fine, including the big 7.5Ah pack. It never caused a problem.

The handle clips lock the handle into its open position, and these did hold up better than the older EGO design. At six months, I said the snap was firm and the handle never felt like it would drop while I pushed. Later, I noticed the handle does shift a little while I’m pushing, so it isn’t as solid as I’d like.

A small retaining clip on the pin that releases the folding mechanism also came off, and the pin itself worked loose twice. Both times I found it and put it back. It’s a small part, but if your yard is bumpy, it’s worth checking now and then.

The blade

For three full seasons I didn’t sharpen the blade, clean under the deck or wash the mower beyond hosing it off once or twice. That’s not a maintenance plan I’d recommend, but it shows how forgiving this mower is. By the start of the fourth season, the dull blade was showing. It was pushing some longer grass down instead of cutting it, and a second pass fixed it. Sharpening a blade is standard on any mower, and this one is no different.

How the EGO compares with its rivals

I’ve filmed Toro’s 60V 22-inch Recycler too, and it has its own review on this site. In the table, the numbers for the other mowers come from each brand’s own spec page, not from my own testing.

What those numbers mean for you:

• Toro 60V Recycler: The pick if you want a steel deck and a dealer network. Toro says it has nearly 4,000 service dealers in the U.S. and Canada, and that’s a real answer to the repair wait I ran into with EGO. In exchange, it’s heavier at 85 lb, its claimed runtime is shorter, its charge time is much longer, and its mower warranty is shorter.
• Greenworks 60V LM2116S: The value pick on paper. On sale, it costs about $200 less than the EGO and comes with two batteries, a steel deck and a 4-year warranty. Two 4Ah batteries mean swapping mid-mow, though, unlike the EGO’s single big pack.
• Ryobi 40V HP: Its Cut Command Center and manual turbo mode answer my biggest request for the EGO, and two 6Ah batteries give it the longest claimed runtime here. My own experience with an older Ryobi mower years ago wasn’t good, but that was a different model, so I wouldn’t hold it against this one without testing it.

If you already own batteries from one of these brands, that usually settles it. A 56V EGO battery won’t fit a Toro, and the reverse is true too.

Pros and cons

Pros (what I saw over four seasons, plus EGO’s current specs)

• Starts right away, even after sitting all winter, with no gas or tune-ups
• Folds into roughly 2 ft by 1.5 ft of floor space
• One lever adjusts the whole deck height, and it still moved freely in year four
• The bag fills completely before clogging, and it lasted four seasons without a tear
• The 7.5Ah battery covered my yard two to three times per charge with no fade I could notice
• Light, easy to push, with ball-bearing front wheels
• Self-propel works with the blade off
• Headlights you can switch off
• Batteries are shared across EGO’s other 56V tools
• The current model has a 5-year tool warranty and charges in about an hour (EGO)

Cons

• My self-propel drive cut out under a full bag for about a month in season one
• Slow customer service, with a quoted 6 to 8 weeks for repair through Home Depot
• Surface rust on the steel self-propel drive shaft that came back after cleaning
• A clip on the folding-release pin came off, and the pin worked loose twice
• The handle shifts slightly while pushing, and the battery door loosened a little
• No manual turbo, so overgrown grass of 12 inches or more is a struggle
• The side discharge attaches awkwardly and is only average

Who should buy it, and who should skip it

Buy the EGO LM2135SP if you have a typical suburban yard, you mow weekly in season, you’re short on storage space, and you want a single battery that finishes the job. It’s also a strong pick if you already own EGO tools or plan to, since one battery system runs your trimmer, blower and mower.

Skip it if your grass regularly gets well past mowing height between cuts. The Ryobi’s manual turbo is built for exactly that. Skip it too if you want a steel deck and a nearby dealer to fix it quickly, which points to the Toro, or if price comes first, which points to the Greenworks on sale. If your lawn is much over about 13,000 square feet, roughly 0.3 acre, Tool Box Buzz’s rule of thumb says a 21-inch walk-behind of any brand is the wrong tool, and a riding mower is worth pricing.

FAQ

Is this the exact mower you tested? No. I tested an earlier generation of EGO’s 21-inch self-propelled mower that I bought in 2017. The current model is the LM2135SP, which adds the Select Cut two-blade system and Touch Drive. My ownership results are from my older mower. Specs and prices are for the LM2135SP.

How long does the battery last? On my older mower, the 7.5Ah battery cut my yard two to three times per charge, depending on grass length, and that held through four years. EGO claims up to 60 minutes for the LM2135SP. Tool Box Buzz measured 50 minutes at full self-propel speed in light November grass.

How long does it take to charge? EGO rates about 60 minutes for the 7.5Ah battery on the included Rapid Charger.

Does a plastic deck hold up? Mine did. After four seasons of running it along a fence line, the deck was still solid. The parts that showed wear were the steel drive shaft, which rusted, and a few small clips and pins.

Can it handle tall grass? It handles normal weekly growth easily and senses thicker grass on its own. If grass gets to 12 or 13 inches, expect to struggle, and plan on cutting high and making a second pass.

Can I use the self-propel without the blade running? On my model, yes. You can engage the drive with the blade off to move the mower around.

Has the EGO mower been recalled? I found no CPSC recall for any EGO mower as of Oct 26, 2026. EGO’s recall page lists only the HT2410 hedge trimmer, recalled June 1, 2023, for a trigger that could fail to release.

What’s the warranty? EGO lists a 5-year limited tool warranty and a 3-year limited battery warranty for the LM2135SP.

Sources

My tested results come from my own videos:

• EGO Self-Propelled Lawn Mower | 6 Months In (Oct 14, 2017), youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6f7UNhj7M
• Last 6 Years with the EGO Lawnmower (that’s the video’s title on YouTube, but it’s my three-season update, Apr 10, 2019), youtube.com/watch?v=JOBXgmpu7Dc
• EGO Electric Lawn Mower 4 Year Review (Apr 21, 2020), youtube.com/watch?v=N84naCpxGJ8

Specs, prices and test results from other sources, all accessed Oct 26, 2026:

• EGO LM2135SP product page: https://egopowerplus.com/21-inch-self-propelled-mower-select-cut-lm2135sp/
• EGO recalls page: https://egopowerplus.com/recalls
• CPSC, EGO HT2410 hedge trimmer recall: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Chervon-North-America-Recalls-EGO-Power-Cordless-Brushless-Hedge-Trimmers-Due-to-Laceration-Hazard
• Home Depot LM2135SP listing: https://www.homedepot.com/p/EGO-21-in-Select-Cut-56V-Lith-Ion-Cordless-Electric-Walk-Behind-Self-Propelled-Mower-7-5-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-Included-LM2135SP/311174493
• Amazon LM2135SP listing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D3WV5NZ?tag=allelectric-20
• SunSouth LM2135SP specs: https://sunsouth.com/ego-equipment/lawn-mowers/lm2135sp
• Mowers at Jack’s LM2135SP specs: https://www.mowersatjacks.com/product-details/ego/lm2135sp
• Tool Box Buzz LM2135SP review: https://www.toolboxbuzz.com/lawn-garden/lawn-mower/ego-lm2135sp-select-cut-cordless-mower-review/
• Wirecutter, best lawn mowers: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-lawnmower/
• Toro 21466: https://www.toro.com/product/21466
• Greenworks LM2116S: https://www.greenworkstools.com/products/pro-60v-brushless-21-inch-self-propelled-lawn-mower
• Ryobi 40V HP 21” kit: https://www.ryobitools.com/en-us/products/46396053749

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15, ESV)