In my EGO LM2135SP review, the verdict is a buy for a level house lawn and a skip for slopes or for lawns that need more than one pack of mowing. It is a 21-inch, self-propelled, cordless mower with a Touch Drive speed dial, three blade options and a 5-year tool warranty. I used it on the lawn around the house and the edges of the yard, so the questions I care about are run time, clogging and storage.
EGO LM2135SP Review: My Verdict
The LM2135SP is a well-rounded mower for one kind of buyer: a level lawn that one pack can cover, and a wish to mulch, bag or side-discharge with the same machine. Its strongest feature is the Select Cut blade system, which lets you change the lower blade to match the job. Its main trade-off is a single 7.5Ah pack, so a long or thick mowing session ends when the battery does. I compare nine battery and gas options in my lawn mower picks by size.
- Who it is for: owners of level lawns who want self-propel without a gas engine.
- What it does best: three blade options and a speed dial you can set for corners and long runs.
- Main trade-off: the box run time is a best case, and EGO’s own table drops to 30 minutes under heavy load.
EGO LM2135SP Specs and What Is in the Box
Two rows matter most when you compare this mower with others: the run time and the drive speed range.
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Deck width | 21 in |
| Battery in the kit | One 56V ARC Lithium 7.5Ah pack, with the Rapid Charger |
| Run time, maker’s figure | Up to 60 minutes with the 7.5Ah pack |
| Drive | Touch Drive self-propel, 0.9 to 3.1 mph, speed set with a dial |
| Cutting height | 1 to 4 in, one-handed lever |
| Cutting torque, maker’s figure | Up to 7.0 ft-lbs |
| Grass handling | Mulching, bagging and side discharge, with a 2-bushel bag |
| Weight as listed on Amazon | 55.3 lb |
| Warranty, household use | 5 years on the tool, 3 years on the battery and charger |
According to EGO, the Rapid Charger refills the 7.5Ah pack in about an hour. The pack belongs to EGO’s 56V platform, so check EGO’s own list of approved tools before you swap it between machines. I cover nine options for small and large lawns in my roundup of cordless battery lawn mowers.
Cutting Performance and the Select Cut Blades
According to EGO, the Select Cut system pairs an upper blade with a lower blade you choose: mulching, high-lift bagging or extended runtime. The mulching lower blade is installed from the start. Changing the blade needs a torque wrench, and both the upper and the lower blade must be fitted or the mower will not run, so I treat a swap as a job for a calm afternoon.
EGO’s manual lists the extended-runtime blade as its first tip for more minutes per charge, and it says the mulching and high-lift bagging blades shorten run time compared with it. I keep the mulching blade on for the regular lawn and think about the other two only when the job changes, for example when I bag clippings under the trees.
Cutting Height and Grass Length
The height lever moves the deck between 1 and 4 inches with one hand, which is easy to do at the end of a pass. I raise the deck in a hot, dry spell to protect the grass, and I remove no more than a third of the grass length at once. Tall, thick grass is where this mower works hardest, and the overload light tells you when you have asked for too much. A dull blade makes it worse, since a Nebraska field study found a dull rotary blade lowered turf quality (1).
Mulching Leaves in Autumn
Extension guidance says tree leaves can be mulched into turf with a mower, up to about 6 inches deep at a time depending on the mower (2). Late October is when the apricot and plum leaves come down around my house lawn, and I use the mulching blade on them instead of raking. It is an easy way to keep the lawn clear, and it costs battery minutes, so I plan the leaf pass as its own session. My roundup of mulching mowers for fine clippings compares nine battery and gas models.
Touch Drive Self-Propel in Real Mowing
According to EGO, Touch Drive works by palm pressure on the handle, and a dial sets the speed between 0.9 and 3.1 mph. On the level lawn the dial earns its place. I set it slow for the corners and tree trunks and faster on the long straight runs, and my hands stay on the handle the whole time.
The drive is independent of the blade, according to the manual for this mower family. That means you can walk the mower back to the shed with the blade off, or switch the drive off to save battery on short, tight sections. If you pull the mower backward with the drive off, the wheels may lock for a moment, and a small push forward frees them.
Releasing the drive control stops the mower from pulling you forward. It does not brake the wheels, so on any sloped patch you hold the handle firmly. For the blade, the bail switch stops it within about 3 seconds of release. The blade is still turning during those seconds, so wait, then remove the battery before you touch anything.
Battery, Run Time and Charging
EGO states up to 60 minutes of run time with the 7.5Ah pack, and its manual table for this battery in the 21-inch family reads 60 minutes at light load, 45 at medium load and 30 at heavy load. Plan your lawn in minutes of real mowing, not in the number on the box. Grass species, density and moisture change the result, and the manual says so. For another EGO model, I cover run time by load in my review of the EGO LM2114SP.
A battery mower fails in a particular way: the cut simply stops when the pack runs out. On a long mowing day the pack has run out before I finished the last strip, and I now keep a second pack on the charger in the workshop while the first is in use. Charge only with the approved EGO charger. The kit ships with one pack, so the second battery is an extra purchase. The kit that ships with two batteries is in my review of the EGO LM2123SP-2.
Overload and Overheat Protection
The mower protects itself. If the deck clogs or the grass is too heavy, the motor stops and the status light flashes orange. Stop the motor and wait for the blade to stop, then remove the battery, clear the grass beneath the deck, reinstall the battery and restart. If the battery passes 158 F, the mower shuts off, and EGO says to release the bail and wait until the pack cools to about 152 F.
Living With It: Storage, Care and Safety
The handle folds into a locked storage position, so it takes less shed floor than a fixed-handle mower. EGO gives the mower an operating range of 32 to 104 F and a storage range of minus 4 to 158 F. In winter I keep the battery out of an unheated shed and store the mower with the pack removed, in a covered place and out of children’s reach. The pack itself is charged and stored within the temperature range in its own manual, and a damaged or swollen pack is never used.
The manual says not to use the mower in rain and not to mow wet grass, whatever the weather rating says. I wait until the grass itself is dry, not just the day. A damp patch can still clog the deck, and then I stop the mower, wait for the blade to stop, take out the battery and clear the deck with a stick and a gloved hand.
Safety Before the First Pass
Mower injuries are common. An estimated 934,394 lawn mower injuries were treated in US emergency departments from 2005 to 2015, and the rate did not fall (3). In a later study of mower-related eye injuries, 77 percent came from thrown grass, dirt and rocks, and only 2 percent of those cases documented eye protection (4). I walk the lawn and pick up sticks, fruit and stones first, wear closed shoes and eye protection, and keep children and pets out of the yard while I mow.
Among injured children and young adults, 97 percent of amputations were to the hand, finger, foot or toe (5). Look behind you before you back up, and keep children out of the yard while the blade can turn.
For slopes, the manual limits mowing to 15 degrees or less and tells you to mow across the slope, not up and down. A review of ride-on mower warnings notes that 15 degrees is commonly recommended and that many people cannot judge a slope by eye (6). If the slope is anywhere near that limit, this is the wrong mower for it.
On noise, a measurement study of more than 600 mowers found electric models significantly quieter than gas mowers (7). That says nothing about the decibel level of this mower, and I still wear hearing protection near the house on a long job. I compare these two self-propelled mowers in LM2135SP against the Honda HRN-BV.
Common Problems and What the Lights Mean
Most EGO LM2135SP troubleshooting comes down to the status light, so it is worth knowing what each pattern means. The table follows EGO’s manual for the 21-inch family, and the Touch Drive model may differ in small details.
| Light | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Solid green | Working normally, battery at least 15 percent | Nothing |
| Flashing green | Side rails not fully extended, or handle not locked in an operating position | Stop, then fix the rails or the handle |
| Flashing red | Low battery | Stop and charge the pack |
| Solid orange | Mower stopped from overheat | Wait for the blade to stop, remove the battery, cool it in the shade |
| Flashing orange | Mower overloaded | Stop, wait for the blade to stop, remove the battery, clear the deck, then slow down |
| Flashing red and green | Error | Contact EGO customer service |
Before you clear a clog, stop the motor and wait for the blade to stop. Then remove the battery, and only then touch the deck. The same order applies when you inspect or swap a blade, with heavy gloves on.
Who Should Buy It and Who Should Skip It
The buying criteria are short.
- Buy it if your lawn is level and one pack can cover the session.
- Buy it if you want to mulch, bag and discharge to the side with one mower and you value a 5-year tool warranty.
- Skip it if your lawn is large, hilly or has slopes near the manual’s 15 degree limit.
- Skip it if you mow wet grass often, because the manual says not to.
- Skip it if you want the simplest, lightest mower for a small flat yard, since a push mower does that job without the drive.
Drawbacks
The premium price is the main cost: a small flat lawn does not need the self-propel feature. Swapping blades takes a torque wrench, so many owners will leave the mulching blade on all season. EGO also gives no noise figure for this kit. I weigh that price against an 80V rival in LM2135SP against the Greenworks MO80L416.
A fourth point is the blade swap. It needs a torque wrench and care, so many owners will leave the mulching blade on all season and live with the shorter run time.
How It Compares With Other Options
Two EGO mowers of the same 21-inch size show where this one sits. The table gives the maker’s best-case run times, and the choice between them comes down to whether you need self-propel and how many batteries you want. I put the LM2135SP head to head with a sibling kit in LM2135SP compared with LM2114SP.
| Model | Drive | Batteries in the kit | Run time, maker’s figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| EGO LM2135SP | Self-propelled | One 7.5Ah | Up to 60 minutes |
| EGO LM2134SP-2 | Self-propelled | Two 6.0Ah | Up to 100 minutes |
| EGO LM2114 | Push | One 6.0Ah | Up to 55 minutes |
EGO LM2134SP-2
My LM2135SP and LM2134SP-2 comparison shows that the LM2134SP-2 has the same Select Cut and Touch Drive features with two batteries instead of one. Pick that one if your lawn needs more than an hour of mowing, because the second pack is already in the kit.
EGO LM2114
The LM2114 is a push mower with a manual drive. Pick that one if your lawn is small and flat and you do not want to pay for self-propel. Its run time, weight and cutting heights are in my review of the EGO LM2114.
My Final Recommendation
The EGO LM2135SP is a good mower for a level house lawn. It mulches, bags and discharges to the side, and the Touch Drive dial makes corners easy. It is the wrong mower for slopes, wet grass or lawns that need more than one pack. If your yard fits, I recommend it. That is where my EGO LM2135SP review lands: a clear yes for a level lawn that one pack can cover, and a clear no for slopes or bigger lawns. I compare seven options in my roundup of self-propelled lawn mowers I rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the EGO LM2135SP a good mower?
The EGO LM2135SP is a good mower for a level lawn where you want self-propel, a choice of three blades and a long warranty. It is a weaker choice for hills, wet grass or lawns that need more than the 60 minutes of run time EGO quotes for its 7.5Ah pack.
What are people saying about the EGO 21 self-propelled mower?
Owners report that the self-propel drive of the EGO 21 self-propelled mower handles a level lawn well. Battery mower owners in general say run time is the weak point and not power, which is why a second battery helps on anything larger than a small lawn and why I plan a mowing session in minutes.
Why is my EGO battery light red?
A red light on a T-series EGO battery, such as the 7.5Ah pack in this kit, means the high-temperature protection has switched the mower off. Release the bail switch and wait until the pack cools to about 152 F, then restart; a flashing red light on the mower itself means a low charge.
Why does my battery lawn mower keep cutting out?
A battery mower keeps cutting out when the pack is low, hot or overloaded, and the status light tells you which one. Flashing red means charge the battery, orange means overload or overheat, and flashing green means you should check that the side rails are extended and the handle is locked.
How long will an EGO mower last?
EGO gives no service life, only a 5-year limited warranty on the tool and 3 years on the battery and charger for household use, and a warranty is not a lifespan. What you control is blade care, battery storage and keeping the deck clear, and the manual covers all three.
References
- Steinegger DH, Shearman RC, Riordan TP, Kinbacher EJ. Mower Blade Sharpness Effects on Turf1. Agronomy Journal. 1983;75(3):479-480. doi:10.2134/agronj1983.00021962007500030015x
- Goatley M Jr. “Leave” Them Alone: Lawn Leaf Management. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 430-521 (SPES-729). Virginia Tech; 2025.
- Harris C, Madonick J, Hartka TR. Lawn mower injuries presenting to the emergency department: 2005 to 2015. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2018;36(9):1565-1569. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2018.01.031
- Stange NR, Jennissen CA. Lawnmower-Related Eye Injuries in the U.S., 2004 to 2023. Am J Ophthalmol. 2025;277:7-16.
- Vollman D, Smith GA. Epidemiology of Lawn Mower-Related Injuries to Children in the United States, 1990-2004. Pediatrics. 2006;118(2):e273-e278. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0056
- Karnes EW, Leonard SD, Lenorovitz DR. Ride-on lawnmowers warnings: Slope measurements and safety-by-separation. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation. 2012;41(S1):3629-3632. doi:10.3233/wor-2012-0116-3629
- Blomberg L, Trezza D. The evolution of quiet lawn mowers and their impact on community noise and hearing conservation. INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings. 2021;263(2):4896-4902. doi:10.3397/in-2021-2877
Safety Note: A mower blade can cut through a hand or foot and throw stones and sticks with force. Pick up debris before you mow, keep the discharge guard, bag or mulch plug in place, never point the discharge at people, windows or cars, and keep children and pets indoors while the mower runs; never let a child ride on a riding mower. Never disable the operator-presence control. Before you clear a clog, tip the mower or touch the blade, stop the engine or motor, wait until the blade has stopped, then remove the safety key or battery, or disconnect the spark plug wire on a gas model. Mow across slopes with a walk-behind mower and up and down with a riding mower, within the slope limit in your manual, and stay off wet slopes, drop-offs and ditch edges; on a rider with a rollover protection bar, keep it up and wear the seat belt as the manual says. Refuel only outdoors with the engine off and cool, wear closed shoes and eye and hearing protection, and read the manufacturer’s manual.