Testing Toro's Revolution mower in a 6 foot tall WET swamp

All right, you guys. We are going to be taking the brand new Toro Grandstand Revolution pure battery powered moore through some of the gnarliest, worst conditions, and we're going to be testing run time and answer trying to answer a lot of the questions that you guys may have about a battery powered lawnmower like this. [Music] All right, guys. If you're not familiar with who I am, my name is Stan Genetic. They call me the dirt monkey. This is Frankie, my right or left-hand man. What do you think, Frankie? It all depends on what day. It does. And uh Frankie and I are taking a look at the Grandstand Revolution. So this is a brand new battery powered mower that's out on the market right now. And I figured the easiest way for me to give you guys a walk around is to give Frankie a walk around at the exact same time. So Frankie, if you have any questions, feel free to pop them out. Now, this is a prototype, but it is going into production. And this is pure battery. We don't have we have no gasoline. We have no hydraulics. We have no we have no belts. Nothing like that to deal with on this mower. And well, I think one of the big questions. Well, Frankie, you tell me. What would be one of your first questions when you looked at a mower like this? How long will it last? How long will it last? And I think that's the main question that everybody is worried about. How long is it going to last and how much is this thing cost? [Music] [Applause] are the two things and we're going to address both of those in today's video. We've got 60 acres of pasture across the road from us that has not been mowed yet once this year and it's coming up in August. So, we've got grass anywhere from waist high to to chest high or what have you. And we're just going to see how far this thing can go. Now, Toro claims it's got a seven hour run time, but seven, but we're gonna actually just see the distance that it'll go. Couple things that as we look at this Grandstand Revolution before we do get into the testing, it's got a battery shut off right here. So, that allows you to completely disconnect the battery as you leave. So, now we turned it back on. And so now your dash comes alive. So now our battery in this case is 100% full. Let's see if you guys can see that. So there's our indicator. Now we can toggle through the control panel right here. This one has 2 hours. Now here's the load is kind of an interesting thing. Frankie, come check this out. There's three There's five motors on this mower. Okay, three for the blades. So, each blade has its own dedicated motor. They don't deal with hoses, belts, they don't deal with gearing. They just And each tire has its own dedicated motor as well. And what they've done is they've actually shown you a display where it tells you the load on each motor. So, as you're mowing, if you all of a sudden see that this goes up, that means this side of the deck is encountering some as encountering a heavier load. Now, here's another thing to the best of my understanding that Toro has done with this is they've also created obstacle sensors in each motor of the blade. So, if the blade is spinning and it hits something, that blade will shut off while the rest of them continue. So, nothing's going to explode. You're not going to have a belt rupture. You're not going to have anything popping and locking and going crazy on you. And as we go through the control panel, let's see what else do we have. Now, here's where it gets kind of fun. Max traction speed. So, you can adjust the speed up or down from turtle gear all the way to rabbit gear. And this thing will go 10 mph. This will outpace my skid loader. Like, if I'm taking my my skid loader down the road, this will go faster than my skid loader in rabbit gear. Wow. But they don't recommend. Well, I don't know if they they didn't tell me anything. I tried it. I don't think I would recommend trying to mow in rabbit gear. No, she gets she gets to be pretty fast. Um, now here's another thing that's pretty interesting. This is your blade speed right here. So, you could control the speed. So, I think the slowest setting in the in the in the lowest mode is about 14,000 roughly revolutions per minute and the highest is I don't know why would you want to go slower? Conserves your battery by up to 40%. So, that's a that's a great question because what happens is the faster you're you're spinning those blades, the harder that battery is working, right? And when you want to work all day long and you don't need high like out here, we wouldn't need a high blade speed, you know, but if we're getting into some nastier, thicker stuff, we might need a heavier, you know, a faster blade. Yep. To keep up. And so that's your dash basically in a nutshell. Uh it does have a USB port. Here's your PTO. Here's the lights. Here is your uh depth. So this so this mower also has a feature that I I haven't personally seen in another mower besides this is your your height of your grass cut, but they also let you adjust this is a feature I haven't seen. The rake of the deck. The rake of the deck. And I think one other company has that, but I've never personally seen it. So you can adjust whether this deck floats like this, this, or somewhere in between. And they recommend you change the rake of the depth because that will actually also or potentially can impact your battery life especially in a mulching application. So if we don't have the chute on and we block that up and we want to recircate all of our grass clippings then flat I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, no, no. Then you'd want to rake it backward so that you're letting it kind of blow out the back end so it lifts it up, keeps that grass elevated. Now, this is actually also the same cutting deck is on all of Toro's commercial other commercial decks. So, this is a a a tried andrue proven cutting deck. So, when you go to Toro's commercial series, that's that's the Turbo Force. This is a 52 in. And don't quote me on this. It's not designed for hill stability, but there was a guy that took this on a 38° hill and mowed with it. Really? Yeah. That's That's like that. I wouldn't want to do it. Don't quote me on that. I didn't see it, but I would imagine that it's because the the weight of the batteries being down low, just the balance of the machine. I don't know. It's got to be heavy. It's a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Couple cool features which kind of look wonky. Right here is phone holder. Actually works. And so this actually just plugs in right here. When you want to charge it up, you just plug that unit in right there. And it to go from zero charge to full charge takes about 12 hours. And they do have what's called a limp mode in this mower. So if you're down to around the 5% error in the batteries and you got to get back to wherever you're going to go, the mower is automatically going to shut down all non-critical functions to get you back to where you got to be. This is smart. And this just plugs in off from a 110 outlet. Just zip, plug it in, and you're good to go. That's pretty good. You got any questions on it, Frankie? Nope. All right. Well, then I'm going to take it across to the farm and just see about how far I can get this thing to go. You won't hear anything else. You just hear a click. [Applause] actually not surprising. It's a battery powered electric unit and just like everything that seems to be electric, the torque is not really comparable to the gas equivalent. But that same principle of that excess force and excess power getting applied to those tires, something that we can see is also applied equally to those mower blades. In fact, we're going to end up taking this mower in grass that would stop a full grown tractor. Look at the grass. All right, guys. Here's today's test grounds. We're just going to start seeing how far she'll go. In the very initial beginning phases, I turn the blade speed down just to see how this will cut. I'm not cutting 1 to 2 in of grass off the top. I'm cutting 1 to 2 feet. But when I get into the thicker, taller stuff, that's when we turn the blade speed all the way up to see what she can really do. Now I am I am cutting in all fairness. I am cutting on the highest setting I can. Technically I'm cutting at 4 and 1/2 in and I have my chute wide open. If you're not familiar with a hay field, it's really not like your typical grass that you would mow in a lawn. This is tough, strainy, thicker stuff, and it resists cutting. It just does not like to be harvested. [Laughter] So, this is the first year in 51 years that I've been here that we have not had cows on the farm. And it's just freaking weird. Kind of doesn't feel like a farm anymore when you don't have cows. Ah, but it gives me plenty of mo grass to mow. All right, so let's keep going with this same spot. We'll just move you guys over here so we can see the action as we come closer. Sometimes you got to stop and smell the raspberries. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] something I want to show you guys and that's the load. Hopefully we can see this. Let's let's pop you guys on the dash here for a minute. We'll take a look at the load on blades as we're cutting. That's some big stuff right there. Look at those blades. The center blade is taking the most right now. That's the heaviest load. Actually see it in the dash there. I don't know if you guys can see that. I hope you can. And as we come out, no load. Pull back in. See what the load is like. My daughter knew I was mowing a mulling plant over. have my head on a platter. Zero clue. Like this is called a mullen plant. Oops. Looks like I trimmed it up a little bit too much. You know what I used to use them for? She says they're medicinal. I used them to wipe my butt when we were out in the woods cuz they're really soft. But now you got this stuff over here. And this is stinging nettle. And that crap will make you itch soon as you touch it. So don't touch it. But that's super medicinal. Don't ask me how, when, where, or why, cuz I'm not her. But anyway, you guys are like, I don't really care about that. I want to know about the lawn mower. All right. Well, let's keep mowing stuff with the lawn mower. [Music] That is not good. Don't tell Don't tell my uncle. You guys, the rest of that wire's got to be in here somewhere. I don't feel like mowing through wire anymore. I don't know if you guys heard it or not. Let's see. Hear me? Good. [Applause] Looks good. See how these blades are doing so far. Oh, they're looking nice. Crispy. Fing. Still looking crispy. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I found the rest of the wire we cut through. Yep. She went straight through her. [Music] All right, let's grab a snack here real quick and move on to the next phase. Looks like lunch is on mother nature today. Careful when you pick raspberries. You don't pick and eat them too fast. Sometimes you eat a bug. All right, let's try to cut our way down to the water. See how that does. Christ up. Okay, last thing I want to do is bury a $30,000 grandstand in a swamp, but I have been caught up. I found a a ridge here. We're just going to try to drive it out. Okay. Well, I don't think we're going to be going that way any further. As soon as I let go of the handlebars, the e bra sets on and I don't there's no manual brake that I have to worry about. But let's talk about the price of this mower and a couple of the things that uh that would maybe make you pause for hesitation. The price tag is $30,000 on this mower roughly. And you're gonna a lot of you guys are gonna go, "Nope." And that's fine because that's what I would have done too in the very beginning. But Toro actually has a calculator on their website to actually ouch what the heck that was. Anyway, Toro has a calculator on their website to actually help you calculate the cost of this motor in comparison to the gas powered equivalent 52-in standon. So, at $30,000 with Toro's calculator, adding the cost of electricity in because electricity is not free. So, plugging that thing in, they actually take that into consideration. They minus out the cost of the maintenance, the gas belt replacement, etc., etc., for all of the typical day-to-day stuff that you guys do when you own a a a mower that you don't have to do when you have a battery powered mower. If you run this about 700 hours a year in 2 and 1/2 years, this $30,000 lawn mower will cost you the equivalent of the gas powered standon mower that usually typically brand new costs anywhere from 11 to $13,000. And then after that first 2 and 1/2 years. So that's your break even point. And after that, you're now getting ahead of the game. But let's also talk about another thing that should be first and foremost in in front of your minds. And that is the battery replacement. I know some of you guys are like, "Those batteries are going to cost so much. It's not even worth it for this mower." This mower has a 4,000 hour unlimited hour 4year unlimited hour warranty. That's that's a pretty huge warranty. But here's the way look at batteries. Let me let me kind of break down battery performance because I was exact same way. Oh my god, when those batteries are shot, oh, after two years, you're only getting 80% of your battery life. So, let me explain what's going on. You're going to hear this in other places. Typically, after the first thousand out thousand charge cycles, so that means completely discharged to completely charged, your battery should be operating at 100% efficiency. And then from a,000 cycles to 2,000 cycles, you'll get 80% of your battery efficiency. You're not losing power, you're you're losing run time. Okay? And basically what that ba means is if this was a gas powered equivalent. If your fuel tank had 10 gallons, could hold 10 gallons the first thousand times you used it from a,000 to 2,000 somewhere in there your fuel tank is going to shrink on you and only hold 8 gallons. It's not going to give you less power. It's not going to give you less performance. It's just going to be a smaller fuel tank. It doesn't mean you got to throw the batteries away. I would use them till they're dried, shriveled up, and they look like burnt toast. Personally, I would use this more till it had 60%, till it had 50%. At some point where the batteries, just like your iPhone, you guys probably know this, your your iPhone battery doesn't last quite as long. Well, these are rated to 1,000 full charge from 1,00 to 2,000, 80% charge, and then from there on, who knows? It's no man's land. Nobody's taking one of these things that far. That's the problem. Nobody's actually taken one of these that far. All right. Well, we got more more grass to mow. Let's not dump Toro's prototype $30,000 lawn mower in Shrek Pond. Let's just not do that. But we do want to see how far we can mow, right? So, this is some pretty thick gnarly stuff. Ouch. I just ripped my fingernail off. That kind of hurt. All right. Uh, so it's some pretty thick, gnarly, kind of wiry stuff. Let's see how she does in it. I didn't need that fingernail anyway. [Music] In this case, we're going to turn the blade speed up. Heat up here. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat up here. [Applause] [Music] Oh, fatality. Oh, shoot. Shoot. Darn. That was a big bullfrog, too. Or a big uh big leopard frog. We just don't have enough leopard frogs anymore nowadays. Frogs are just disappearing. So, that's pretty wet grounds down there cuz that's the edge of the pond. Let's uh let's clean and cut some more and see how this thing keeps going. Let's go to time lapse and have Dan the man stick on some cool tunes and uh let's just see how far this bad boy will go. [Music] and we're double and triple cutting nest. So, we've got wet grass since we're cutting right right along the sides of a pond. in a hay field. And this is the drop off. I'm making a mental note to myself, you guys. Look at drop. Drop off. Very, very bad. Very, very bad. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Anyway, one of the things I'm thinking of right now, you guys, is taking a look at the grass we're cutting. So, just to kind of give you an idea, um, we got some pretty thick, pretty gnarly grass. So, we're not dealing with taking an inch or an inch and a half off. We're taking more like a foot to a foot and a half off. So, if it kind of looks like I'm doing this, it's cuz I'm bouncing over stuff like this when I'm not hitting it. I suppose that's a stupid place to throw it because that's where I'm going to mow next. Why would you throw it where you're going to mow next? Okay, I just threw it where I did Mo. But anyway, I think this is next. [Music] All right, let's see how she's doing so far. I don't know if you guys can see that. This is your battery gauge. We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Okay, 10 whatevers and one is empty. So, we've mowed this and so far we mowed this part of the hay field twice, some of it three times. Plus that upper portion starting from over there, we mowed down that way and all of this. And we've used up one bar. And right now the lawn mower is on. I've been leaving it on the entire time. Even though it's not running, still having it on. Just has it on. What should we mow next? That's some nasty stuff. That is some nasty. All right, fine. You want to go in the nasty stuff. Okay, that works for me. [Music] You know what? I think we're giving the I think we're giving the show away. Before we get too deep into this grass, let's back this up from where we all started. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat [Music] [Applause] up [Music] here. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] What the heck? Oh, that's a plant burning on that fence. That's electric fence. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] up here. Looks like a good board to flip. A good flip. Oh, there goes a mouse. And there's an egg. Why would there be an egg below the board? Hm. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh, [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat up [Applause] here. [Applause] Heat. Heat. Heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] up here. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] All [Music] right, guys. Let's check and see how we're doing on our juice on the battery. Hopefully you guys can see that. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. We still have seven out of 10 bars. And let's take a look at what we've cut now. Um, everything that we've been cutting, we've been double, triple, sometimes quadruple cutting because we're not taking one inch off. Sometimes we're taking one to two feet off. So, it's a big difference. So, let's just take a look at how far we've gotten on three bars. And if you were just cutting a regular lawn and not cutting one to two feet off from it, you'd probably go twice to three times this far pretty easily. So, we got all that done and we came in here and we got from that dirt pile all the way down into the pasture. And down in that pasture is where we started to get into the really gnarly stuff. And that would be the grass that was five, six feet tall, wet, and thicker than fleas on a dog's back. So, that is where we're going to leave it with this one cuz I think this lawnmower I I couldn't I couldn't beat it in the tall grass. I'm not going to beat it for just standing on here and cutting pasture for another 6 hours cuz well, you know what? Let's Let's find out how long have we been at this so far. I started at 2:00 and it's 5:53 right now. So, let's just call it 6:00. So, I've been on that mower for about 4 hours, double triple cutting this, setting up cameras, and using that mower today. And we're down three bars. I…