If you’re shopping for battery lawn gear in 2026 and you’re stuck between EGO, Stihl and Husqvarna, you’re not alone. It’s the most common question we hear from homeowners who want to ditch petrol but don’t want to end up with a shed full of gear that can’t get through a full mow. The honest answer is that no single brand wins across every tool. Our franchisees mix and match based on what they’re cutting, how long they’re cutting for, and what batteries they already own. Here’s how the three brands stack up, tool by tool, with real-world loadouts from Jim’s Mowing teams across Australia.

Why the battery question matters now

A decade ago, battery gear was a novelty. Today, plenty of our franchisees run an almost fully battery setup all day, every day. The tech has caught up. Batteries last longer, motors are punchier, and the noise drop alone is enough to win customers over. We’ve had Jim’s franchisees tell us their elderly clients now actively prefer battery because the gear doesn’t wake up shift workers next door.

That said, the mower is still where the battery story splits. Hand-held tools like hedge trimmers, line trimmers and blowers are largely a solved problem on battery. The walk-behind mower and the brush cutter, less so. So your loadout depends on what you actually need to cut, and how long you need to keep cutting.

EGO: the all-rounder homeowner favorite

EGO is the brand most homeowners land on when they go full battery. The 56V platform covers mowers, line trimmers, blowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws and even a ride-on. Batteries are interchangeable across the whole range, which is the single biggest reason it wins for residential users.

One of our franchisees on the northern beaches switched after watching another operator run an EGO loadout for a day, and now runs 100% EGO across his entire kit. His logic was simple: if a fellow franchisee can run a business on it day in and day out, it’s good enough for a backyard. The mowers handle most suburban blocks comfortably, the line trimmer has plenty of grunt for kerbs and edges, and the hedge trimmer is light enough to use one-handed on small jobs.

Where EGO can struggle is on heavy brush, long-grass rentals and properties over 1,000 square metres. The mower will get through, but the runtime drops quickly when the grass is thick or wet.

Stihl: petrol pedigree, growing battery range

Stihl is the brand most professional landscapers grew up on, and the petrol heritage shows in the build quality of their battery range. The AP and AK series batteries are well-engineered, and the line trimmers, blowers and hedge trimmers feel almost identical to the petrol equivalents.

That said, when our franchisees need to clear blackberries, thick weeds or knee-high grass on a rental rescue, many still keep a petrol Stihl in the trailer. Mitchell Dennis, who runs the Belgrave / Emerald patch in the Dandenong foothills, is one of them.

“”I’ve got a Stihl FS261, which is a $1,400 big powerful brush cutter. I’ve got an aftermarket Pro Cut head on that which uses 3.3 mil line and it’ll just go through anything. It goes through blackberries.””

— Mitchell Dennis, Jim’s Mowing Belgrave Heights, on the Jim’s Mowing podcast

Mitchell pairs his petrol FS261 brush cutter with battery hand-held gear and a 32-inch Scag ride-on for the acreage and ride-on mowing jobs he does up in the foothills. That mix is pretty typical: battery for the everyday, petrol for the worst of it.

The other thing Stihl has going for it is the service network. If you’ve ever had a chain break or a head jam on a Saturday, you’ll know how much that matters. Jim’s franchisees get a 17% discount through the group on Stihl gear, which makes the price gap to EGO smaller than it first looks.

Husqvarna: heavy-duty battery and ride-ons

Husqvarna sits between EGO and Stihl. The battery range is solid, and the brand has gone heavier into commercial gear, including some serious robotic mowers and ride-ons. Their hedge trimmer is a regular pick for pros who want a battery tool that still feels like a piece of professional kit.

Where Husqvarna shines is the larger ride-on and zero-turn market. If you’re managing a couple of acres and you want a serious ride-on without the petrol service bill, Husqvarna is worth a look. For most homeowners with a quarter-acre block, though, EGO or Stihl will get the job done for less.

Tool-by-tool: what our franchisees actually pick

Here’s the rough split we see across the Jim’s Mowing network. Treat it as a guide, not a rule. Every patch is different.

• Mower: EGO for suburban blocks; Honda petrol self-propelled or Pellenc for heavy daily commercial use; Greenworks 82V for franchisees who’ve already bought into that platform.
• Line trimmer / whipper snipper: Battery for everyday edging (EGO, Stihl AP, Milwaukee). Petrol Stihl FS261 with a heavy-duty Pro Cut head for brush, blackberries and rental rescues.
• Blower: This is the weak spot for battery. Plenty of our franchisees keep a petrol backpack blower for big leaf cleanups and overgrown jobs, because battery blowers burn through batteries faster than any other tool. For small residential clean-downs, a battery handheld is fine.
• Hedge trimmer: Battery wins hands down. Lighter, quieter, no fumes in the customer’s face. EGO, Stihl and Husqvarna are all good. See our hedge trimming guide for sizing and technique tips.
• Brush cutter: Petrol still leads for serious clearing work. Stihl FS261 is the franchisee favourite.

George, who runs Jim’s Mowing in Mornington, is one of our 100% battery franchisees. He carries 11 batteries in total across his kit, runs a Greenworks ride-on that lasts three or four days on a single charge, and goes through about three batteries on a busy day across his line trimmer and blower. That’s the kind of setup that makes a full battery business viable.

Runtime and charging: the real-world numbers

Battery specs on the box are rarely the same as what you get in the yard. A 5Ah battery rated for 60 minutes might give you 35 to 40 minutes once you’re cutting thick grass on a hot day. The bigger the battery, the heavier the tool, so there’s a balance.

For most homeowners doing a once-a-fortnight mow on a quarter-acre block, a 5Ah or 7.5Ah battery and one spare will easily get you through. If you’re going bigger, look at how the batteries swap across your other tools, and whether you can pick up a fast charger that gets you back to 80% in under an hour. We’ve broken this down in more detail in our battery mower runtime guide.

Price, warranty and the long view

Like-for-like, EGO is usually the most affordable entry into battery. Stihl sits in the middle. Husqvarna can be the most expensive, especially in the ride-on and commercial range. Warranties are generally 5 years on the tool and 3 years on the battery for domestic use across all three, though that varies by model.

The long-view question isn’t really “which brand wins”. It’s whether you’ll actually use it. A $600 battery mower that sits in the shed because you don’t enjoy mowing is worse value than a $0 outlay and a phone call to your local Jim’s. If your lawn keeps getting away from you, or your weekends are spoken for, the Jim’s lawn mowing service is the easier path.

So which brand should you actually buy?

Pick the brand whose batteries match what you already own, or the brand that has the strongest range across the tools you’ll use most. If you’re starting from scratch on a suburban block, EGO is the safest first buy. If you want professional-grade gear for a bigger property, Stihl battery hand-held plus a petrol brush cutter is what most of our franchisees lean on. If you’re managing acreage and want a single ecosystem, Husqvarna’s heavier range is worth a look.

Whichever you pick, sharpen your blades each season, keep your batteries cool, and don’t try to mow wet grass to “see what happens”. You’ll burn a charge for nothing.Prefer to skip the DIY entirely? Your local Jim’s franchisee already owns the gear, knows the tradeoffs, and will sort your lawn properly the first time. Get a free quote from the Jim’s lawn mowing service on 131 546 or book online to find your nearest Jim’s.