# Swardman Electra



## Shawn E (Jun 24, 2018)

Anyone have any insight on when the new electra model will be for sale. Lee from reel rollers owes me a mower and I can't get any information when they will have the new ones out. I reached out to Lee and Swardman and Landzie with no one helping me. I just want to know if they are even "testing" on grass here in the US.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

Shawn E said:


> Anyone have any insight on when the new electra model will be for sale. Lee from reel rollers owes me a mower and I can't get any information when they will have the new ones out. I reached out to Lee and Swardman and Landzie with no one helping me. I just want to know if they are even "testing" on grass here in the US.


I was in your position as well. Had an Electra on order with an ETA...then got the dubious email saying they won't be getting any...

I took my money back and bought an Allett. Probably the best blessing in a disguise that could have happened to me...


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## Shawn E (Jun 24, 2018)

Sounds like you made a smart move. Lee has assured me he would take care of me and I don't doubt that he will. I just need more communication on how long I will be waiting. Reel bummer.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

Shawn E said:


> Sounds like you made a smart move. Lee has assured me he would take care of me and I don't doubt that he will. I just need more communication on how long I will be waiting. Reel bummer.


Lee was a good dude. Very open with me. He had about 8-10 Edwin/Electra returns just sitting in his shop that were waiting on being sent back overseas to Swardman...

I was drinking the Kool aid hard and asked him to do a deal with me and let me buy one of those...he stopped me from doing so which tells me he does care a lot about the reel community.


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## lacrossekite (Aug 10, 2020)

So what was the issue with them?


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

lacrossekite said:


> So what was the issue with them?


He never told me. Just said he's shipping them back to Swardman whether they like it or not...


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

I agree that Lee and his crew are good, honest people. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with Lee again. Lee was quick and generous with my Electra refund after he couldn't get repair parts from Swardman.

I was initially a huge Electra fan because it was such a perfect solution for me. Unfortunately, I no longer trust Swardman as a company. They still haven't sorted the second-gen Electra? Wow, this doesn't bode well.


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## Shawn E (Jun 24, 2018)

I might switch to a toro but I love the idea of electric and all the cartridges. I can't give up on that idea just yet.


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## potatochip (May 28, 2020)

Shawn E said:


> I might switch to a toro but I love the idea of electric and all the cartridges. I can't give up on that idea just yet.


I would consider an Allett. They have been selling high end mowers, mostly in Europe, for over 50 years and are a very reputable company. They have an electric version of their Kensington mower with a similar cartridge system. You can get different cutting cartridges (6 or 10 blade), scarifier, verticutter, etc. Bonus: Their electric mower uses removable batteries so you can just swap out the battery to a fresh one and keep mowing rather than the built in battery of the Swardman.


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## Boy_meets_lawn (Sep 27, 2020)

I have no experience with electric reels but if I was looking at them I'd probably try to source a used infinicut which is probably a hard task in itself. There will probably be more electric options available in the future as Sun Joe just released a product. Hopefully a more commercial or prosumer mower will come out.


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## Queso (Jul 23, 2021)

Super interested in any updates that anyone gets regarding the Swardman Electra availability. Been researching reel mowers for a while, and it seems as far as electric options the Allet Liberty and Swardman Electra are the only two high quality powered reel mowers right now. Seems to be some drama around this thread on YouTube and this forum, but to me the swardman is very appealing and Reelrollers seem like a great group.


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## Alowan (May 25, 2021)

If anyone know what the problem is With the electra please write it. I have a liberty but Was considering an electra for my next mower…


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## Bombers (Jul 14, 2020)

Queso said:


> Super interested in any updates that anyone gets regarding the Swardman Electra availability. Been researching reel mowers for a while, and it seems as far as electric options the Allet Liberty and Swardman Electra are the only two high quality powered reel mowers right now. Seems to be some drama around this thread on YouTube and this forum, but to me the swardman is very appealing and Reelrollers seem like a great group.


Toro has an electric flex version if you want to fork the Benjamins.


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## Queso (Jul 23, 2021)

Bombers said:


> Toro has an electric flex version if you want to fork the Benjamins.


Thanks, hadn't seen that Toro electric before. Can't seem to find a price without getting a quote from a local dealer, anyone know off hand what these go for? Mostly curious, don't think this would actually fit my needs, seems a little overkill for my 5500 sqft yard. The Electra is already at the top of the budget the wife will allow 😄


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Queso said:


> Bombers said:
> 
> 
> > Toro has an electric flex version if you want to fork the Benjamins.
> ...


Don't bother with a quote for the Toro, if you think the Electra is expensive.


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## ADanto6840 (Apr 1, 2021)

I was on the fence between the Electra & the Allett Liberty. I'm quite happy with my choice thus far (around 2-months or so). The mower itself is great, the team is great, and they're legitimately interested in helping you achieve your lawn goals (the US CEO literally asks me to text him photos of my lawn at various stages).

I had a single issue with the Liberty, just before my sand-leveling project (4th of July weekend) -- they had someone hand-deliver a part for me *on* the 4th of July. And they mailed a few more spares of the part (a belt) to me the following week, just in case.

I've never tried an Electra, and I was _very_ hesitant to go with the Allett, especially since the consensus here _tends_ toward preferring the Swardman (and generally seems to regard ReelRollers very highly). That said, I have no regrets, and I continue to get better at using the machine pretty much every day.

If anyone in the Vegas area has a Swardman though, I'd love to try it, just for kicks. But I can confidently recommend the Allett machines; they make great products, have a very good & long-standing reputation in the industry, and their support is top-notch. The machine is great, too! =D


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

This thread is derailed. No offense intended, but the thread topic is NOT what's "better" than an Electra or "I'm so happy I bought a such-and-such brand" instead.

It seems the only answer we have is on the Swardman web site...

_"The Swardman Battery Powered Electra 45 and Electra 55 mowers *will not be available until the Fall of 2021.* This spring, once travel restrictions are lifted for international travel, Swardman Engineers and Design experts will begin testing several new designs specific for the USA market. The extreme summer temperatures and our thicker warm season grasses require a different set up compared to other regions in the world where the Electra is incredibly successful. This is the same process we used in the summer of 2019 to redesign the market leading Edwin 2.1 for the USA. We are incredibly sorry for the delay, but the disruptions caused by COVID are a reality we are all working through."_

I don't know how long this message has been posted. I would like to know if they've actual started their "Spring trials". We're in mid-Summer here and haven't heard anything about the tests. Did they even happen? Do things look good? Bad?

Swardman should blog some updates. There's a LOT of lost confidence they need to regain.


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## Queso (Jul 23, 2021)

hsvtoolfool said:


> This thread is derailed. No offense intended, but the thread topic is NOT what's "better" than an Electra or "I'm so happy I bought a such-and-such brand" instead.
> 
> It seems the only answer we have is on the Swardman web site...
> 
> ...


100% agree with this statement, would love some updates from Swardman on how things are progressing.


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## DSchlauch (Jun 25, 2018)

Queso said:


> Bombers said:
> 
> 
> > Toro has an electric flex version if you want to fork the Benjamins.
> ...


While looking for my mower I saw  this  dealer in Canada that has like 4 of them ....


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

ADanto6840 said:


> I was on the fence between the Electra & the Allett Liberty. I'm quite happy with my choice thus far (around 2-months or so). The mower itself is great, the team is great, and they're legitimately interested in helping you achieve your lawn goals (the US CEO literally asks me to text him photos of my lawn at various stages).
> 
> I had a single issue with the Liberty, just before my sand-leveling project (4th of July weekend) -- they had someone hand-deliver a part for me *on* the 4th of July. And they mailed a few more spares of the part (a belt) to me the following week, just in case.
> 
> ...


That's an insanely good level of service. Pretty incredible in the modern age. Great feedback!


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## Shawn E (Jun 24, 2018)

A couple updates; They have not started to test them here in the usa again so I doubt this fall but who knows. The main problem with the electra is that it shuts down when it cuts thick longer grass. I'm cutting 1.5 down to 1 or sometimes .75 and in my 10k yard it will loose power and stop propelling itself forward. You can reset it, and I do multiple times but then it must overheat protect itself and nothing works. I can mow my yard twice on a full charge no problem. The negatives are the front is so light weight that it kind of floats. Also the drum is so light weight that it dents easily. And I know the thread turned but I checked into the toro electric greens mower and it was over 20k. I believe closer to 26k but not certain. I hope Swardman gets the electra straightened out soon so I can mow without all the hassle.


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## steffen707 (Apr 9, 2021)

potatochip said:


> Shawn E said:
> 
> 
> > I might switch to a toro but I love the idea of electric and all the cartridges. I can't give up on that idea just yet.
> ...


I want Allett to make a 20" electric Kensington.


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

Shawn E said:


> They have not started to test them here in the usa again so I doubt this fall...


Thanks for posting. What is your source for this news?

I agree that if they haven't even started testing, then it ain't happening this year. There's something else going on here besides supply and travel delays due to 'Rona.



steffen707 said:


> I want Allett to make a 20" electric Kensington.


Agreed. Allett's mowers are either way too small for most American lawns or way too wide and expensive. With Allett, there's nothing between a tiny urban townhouse garden patch or a professional soccer field. How long will it take to mow a 14K lawn with a 17" battery reel mower? At the opposite extreme, the Allett C27E power unit is $16K without a reel. Add another $4K for the 27" reel cartridge. Ouch.

While we're wishing, which one of the following do you think is more likely to happen?

A) The HudsonStar 16" manual reel mower should cost less than $2K. How can a 16" manual mower cost $3K? Is it gold plated?

B) Swardman should use mainstream, external batteries instead of their janky, homemade, internal lithium cells. Yeah, it looks really cool to hide everything inside a metal Art Deco body. But do I really care if my lawn mower looks like a prop from _Logan's Run_? Just adopt a decent, easily-sourced battery (greenworks, ego, toro, ryobi, etc.). It's nice to have fresh backups. Mostly, I want pull the battery for safety while working on the mower. Working on an Electra is like cleaning a gun which can't be unloaded. You just have to hope the safety works and keep your face away from the barrel.

C) Someone (anyone!) should use a little imagination and make a "Smart" mower. Once you commit to a mower having a micro-processor that monitors lithium cells and controls brushless DC motors, then the next step is obvious. How much would a wireless interface simplify the mower controls? How many cool features can you add? With a wireless connection, I can adjust clip-rates, set acceleration ramping from stop, and add features in the future. Most importantly, errors can be diagnosed without counting LED blinks or pressing obscure key combinations on an unreliable membrane keypad.

D) I should be 20 years old again with a winning lottery ticket in my pocket.

Yeah, we all know that "D" will happen first.


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## rothnic (Jul 12, 2021)

JerseyGreens said:


> I took my money back and bought an Allett. Probably the best blessing in a disguise that could have happened to me...


I wish I knew about this before I bought an older jacobsen to use for the rest of the season. I already have a bunch of 40v greenworks batteries/tools I got when walmart was clearing them out a year or so ago. I wish it was a little bit wider, but otherwise it looks perfect.


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## Queso (Jul 23, 2021)

Reelrollers has posted on their website that they will not be selling the Electra as they are completely booked with Edwin orders. They redirect you to Landzie.com to get the Electra, Landzie says they are back ordered still though. Have an email to Landzie sales to see if they have any estimates. If Allet had a larger width and battery I think I'd jump on one, but I'm not a fan of the 17 inch and battery capacity for my size lawn. Wish we had some more options for residential electric reel mowers!


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

hsvtoolfool said:


> Shawn E said:
> 
> 
> > They have not started to test them here in the usa again so I doubt this fall...
> ...


B) Take this for what it is and I reserve it for the technically minded Swardman electra owners. It does not take much to convert the Electra from the LiFePO4 to something you can charge externally if you want to go the Lithium Ion route or if you just want to hot swap LiFePO4 batteries. Its really just a matter of swapping the anti-tamper bolts on the lid out for something that can be popped open quick, similar to hood pins for a car. Then just use a plug on the battery similar to xt connectors or whatever you preference is in terms of other rechargeable sources. If you go with higher voltage style batteries you basically just need a buck converter to step it down.

C) So the Electra has an ESP32 processor that controls everything that includes blutooth and wifi. It's possible that a lot of what you're talking about could be enabled in the future. In my case I wanted to be able to adjust the FOC so that it matched the HOC and wasn't just a ratio of the rear drive speed to reel speed. Because the brushed DC motors in the swardman are independent of each other it definitely was possible to modify it so I could dial in the my own FOC for the reel. I needed a few things though, there are no encoders on the on the motors so I installed a very simple fix with hall effect sensors so I could measure the rotational speed of the 2 different motors. From there it was just tap into the "Can" style bus rs-485 the Electra uses to send the commands from the controller. Basically all I had to do was monitor the commands for speed being sent to the throttle, intercept the command that drives the reel, modify the output speed for the reel and send a new speed command to the reel motor so that the reel speed matched the FOC I wanted based on the HOC and throttle setting. Yeah I know I'm a nerd but it worked and proved it could be something they could do in the future. For them to add a clip rate adjustment in software they will need to add encoders in the future, no clue if they would ever do that though if they don't see the consumer market as caring. You can grab the other data off the bus as well if you have the patience to decode the data like battery life or if you are in beast mode etc.

All that said the potential is already in the mower, just a matter of them unlocking it and maybe some extra sensors.


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## MrT (Jul 30, 2021)

Something to consider, in the Uk the swardman Elektra is much more expensive than the Allett Liberty.

However, the Liberty 43 suffers from a significant cost increase compared to the the Elektra when sold in North America. The battery and charger is listed extra here and in the UK both are included, in addition advertised prices in the uk normally include 20% sales tax. For Canadians, not including tax or delivery, to make the comparison as fair as possible it represents around a 50 percent percent increase compared to buying one in the UK, The Electra does not suffer from anywhere near the same price increase.

It's the same for the Allett cartridges, In North America for some reason we have to pay approximately twice the price for the 17 inch scarifier cartridge when compared to someone in the Uk. Again the Swardman cartridges do not suffer from the same increase.


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