The RMA 443 T-C was gifted to me by Stihl in exchange for an unbiased review.
The benefits of cordless battery power in the garden have been clear to me for some time (I first wrote about Stihl’s implementation of it within two of their cordless hedgetrimmers here), so I’ve been particularly interested to see how this would translate to a mower platform. I’ve long eschewed electric garden tools with their cables and opted for petrol power instead, but any gains made in terms of mobility had to be weighed against increased noise, vibration and emissions (while clearly the electricity used to charge Stihl’s batteries will have an emission footprint somewhere along the line, we do at least have the option to choose a renewable energy provider, something not possible with a tank full of oil and gas). But I remained to be convinced that battery power was at the stage where it would have enough oomph to power a self-propelled mower while retaining sufficient juice to keep the blades turning, without having to continually recharge the cells or swap power packs. If Stihl could provide a cordless mower that would take the place of my petrol model, I was going to be impressed.
First impressions
Unboxing reveals a neat little unit in orange and white Stihl livery. (I’m quite pleased about this as, though it’s of very little importance, I’m was never mad keen on the bright green used by Viking – the Austrian-based mower arm of the company that has now visually been entirely aligned with the Stihl brand.) Four wheels (no rear roller on this model, so no stripes, but that’s fine for me), a hard plastic grass box which will make an interesting change and, where the petrol tank should be, something that looks like a hi-tech motorcycle helmet and visor. Lifting the smoked plastic flap up, I see it’s where the battery goes. The most visually arresting thing about this machine is that the handle only seems to attach on one side – how on earth is that going to work, I wonder? It looks cool, but won’t it be hard to manoevre, put undue stress on the side where it connects? We’ll see.
Power
In the battery compartment, the lower of two slots receives one of Stihl’s AP System batteries, of which there are currently four. Push the battery in till it engages, insert the ‘key’ – which looks like a larger version of the kind of two-blade fuse you find in your car’s fusebox – and you’re good to go.
The upper, passive slot can be used to carry a second battery so that you can swap over mid mow without having to return to wherever you’ve left your battery charger – whether or not you’ll need this depends both upon the size of your lawn, the capacity of the battery you’ve chosen, and how much you’re using the self-propelled motor. On the biggest lawns I’ve cut I found one battery in the mower and one in the AL 500 Hi-speed charger worked well, as this gets an AP 300 battery from flat to full charge in just 20 minutes, which is about the length of time it took to drain an AP 200 on full power with long, damp grass and the drive engaged for a steeply sloping lawn.
There’s an ECO mode which can be engaged with a switch within the battery compartment. Turning this on will prolong the battery life slightly, at the expense of a little power and torque – rather like the automatic gearbox on a car, it’s an adaptive control and works well on a regularly mown lawn, but I will probably continue to favour full power for the first cut of the year or anything particularly long.
There are at present four batteries in the AP System, and three chargers – and all can be used interchangeably with the AP System tools for large gardens and professional applications (though the cordless chainsaws such as the MSA 220 C-B really benefit from the extra power of the AP 300 S battery). Full details are here.
Special features
Mono-comfort handle I’ve already mentioned this as one of the stand-out features when looking at the mower, and I’ll admit I was decidedly skeptical about it. In use, you wouldn’t know you weren’t using a regular handle with two sides – Stihl must have exerted their engineering expertise considerably to guarantee such a smooth implementation of a unique design. It has two settings to suit operators of different heights, both the height and the collapsing of the handles are controlled by the same chunky, slightly recessed lever.
Hard shell grass box Inevitably this takes up a little more room when storing and transporting the mower, but I found it quite refreshing not to be flapping around with a grass box like a concertina. There’s a moulded handle on both the top lid and the bottom of the box, and an interesting little flap towards the back (nearest the operator) of the lid, the purpose of which I had yet to discover.
Height adjuster You can’t help feeling Stihl are just showing off with the cut height adjuster. It’s the smoothest implementation you could imagine – at the back of the deck there’s a transverse handle which runs left to right, and changing the height is simply a matter of grasping this and gently either pushing down or pulling up (you fingers naturally trigger the large, hidden release button as you grasp the handle). Height level indices are moulded into the polymer deck, a small notch on the metal chassis indicating the current cut height from numbers one (25mm) to 6 (75mm). Interestingly, a talk I attended at Stihl/Viking HQ in Austria just before Christmas revealed that the even lower S (for Service) setting is there just for us Brits – the Europeans find it highly amusing that we crop our lawns so closely.
Carrying handle A lovely, chunky carrying handle moulded into the front of the deck makes this mower a dream to lift into the shed, the garage, or the car, one hand on this, one hand on the rear handle mentioned above.
Optional mulching kit AMK 043 For those who don’t want to be dealing with piles of grass cuttings, the optional mulching kit will do away with the need for the grass catching box and return mulched clippings straight into the lawn.
In use
The handles make the mower a dream to move in and out of storage, and being an electric mower you can fold the handle down and store it upright without having to worry about flooding the carburettor or getting air bubbles in the fuel feed. Assuming, of course, the battery’s disconnected and the key’s been removed, but that becomes as automatic as pulling the HT lead off a petrol mowers spark plug before working on it or transporting it.
With all four wheels on the ground, the handle folds back smoothly and you’ll hear a satisfying click as the release lever clicks into place. Flip the battery compartment lid up and push a battery into the lower slot till it engages, then put the safety key in and close the lid. At the back of the machine, lift the flap to the rear chute – and it’s at this point that you’ll notice quite why Stihl have spent so much time working on what might at first appear quite a gimmicky handle, because the absence of the second arm means access to the rear of the machine is so much easier. You’ll notice a large grass chute which I have yet to manage to get clogged even with damp grass – the collector box lifts in easily at this point and, once you’ve set the cut height, you’re good to go.
Here is one minor niggle I have. The cut height adjuster is, as mentioned, gloriously well designed, and smooth as you could hope for. Is it terrible of me to be wishing for the reassurance of something a little more clunky, the positive action of an old fashioned ratcheted system with a big lever? And the moulded height numbers on the deck really need to be emphasised more, they’re quite hard to see. Clearly, I’m getting old, and this is a beautiful, seamless action – I’d just prefer it this part of my interaction with the machine to offer some more positive feedback. A clunk, a click, and a dirty great number I don’t have to peer at.
Starting the machine involves holding down the big orange button on the top of the mono-comfort handle, and pushing the back lever bar towards the bar. This is your basic dead man’s handle, the motor will fire up and the blades start turning, and you can let go of the orange start button. Releasing this handle will stop the motor. The single-speed drive to the rear wheels is activated by the lever on the front of the bar, pull this towards you to engage the self-propelling function. It’s worth noting that the mower is reasonably light even with a full grass box, and since the drive does drain the battery faster, I’ve often found myself simply pushing the mower. It’s nice to have though when you have slopes or a lot of lawn to cut.
Nitpicking once more, with so much evident thought into the design of almost every part of this very slick and lovely machine, both motorstop and self-propulsion levers feel a little spindly. I think all that might be needed is a vinyl sleeve along each to make the feel of using these match the operator’s experience of the rest of the mower. It’s a really fussy point to make, but Stihl have spoilt us in every other area with this machine, and so here we are.
The grass collector is a little box of delightful tricks. As soon as the blades are engaged, you’ll notice that the air flow through the machine causes the mysterious little flap on the top of the collector to rise up. As the collector fills with grass, this gradually lowers until, when completely flush with the lid, you know it’s time to empty the box. So much better than waiting till the mower starts spitting mashed up cuttings from under the deck. Another well thought-out touch is the clamshell action on the box, having lifted the collector out of the machine by the top handle, with your other hand on the bottom handle you can flip the lid and empty the whole box out via the top in one fluid motion, rather than having to shake everything out through the front aperture.
Overall
Already a convert to Stihl’s AP battery system in several other pieces of everyday gardening kit (the ‘killer app’ being the super fast AL 500 Hi-speed charger), the test here for me was how well the cordless system would transfer to a lawn mower that would do more than just pootle daintily around a very small garden. In use, it’s handled slopes, long grass, windfall apples and damp conditions, and been a pleasure to use. The mower itself is an ergonomic delight – beautifully engineered and finished, notwithstanding the two very minor gripes mentioned in my review – and any initial skepticism regarding that unique mono-comfort handle has been shown to entirely unjustified.
For anyone with a medium to large lawn looking to replace either an electric mower or, more likely a self-propelled petrol machine, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Stihl’s RMA 443 TC.
The Stihl RMA 443 TC is available at the time of writing as a the bare mower without batteries for £449.00 or in a promotional set with two batteries and the AL 101 charger for £694.02.
The Stihl RMA 443 TC
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.
