A Two Stroke Tecumseh

My Brother-In-Law dropped off his parents' snowblower, as they had recently purchased it, but it was not running properly at all.  
Not sure what the issue was, and no way to recreate the problem as the pull recoil rope had

nearly broken, and there was no way I'd be able to use it to start the engine.
Only thing to do was to crack into the case, and start monkeying around inside and see what I can learn.
A few bits of hardware were missing, but nothing major, considering it was all just outer casing bolts. Sure, they're pretty useful to have it all, but I'd be more concerned if the hardware on the engine was missing.

The first big reveal when I took off the top plastic case was the big "TECUMSEH" logo on the Pull Recoil. Imagine my surprise, and delight, when I saw that.
Even tho they may have a reputation for being junky engines, they really aren't that bad. They're fairly well constructed, they are... kinda eccentric? Or... something along those lines... But overall they are decent engines. 
The carburetor was really easy to access too, with its own little door.
A pair of 3/8" bolts is all that holds it on, and you have easy access to the bowl nut, so you can drop the bowl.

However, as it was pointed out, I think I may have not read the label as literal as I should have.
Misinterpreting the label as "ON/CHOKE/OFF" instead of "CHOKE ON/OFF"
My bad, but I still kept the operation correct, any way you look at it.

I mean, could I have reversed it back? yeah, but I didn't really think about it, until "AFTER" it was picked up, and I had explained it to him.

After cleaning up the carb, and the struggle to reinstall it, the snowblower came back to life, I also replaced the pull rope. Not that it was really bad, but I figure it was the right thing to do with the service.

When reassembled, I even gave it a little bit of a test with some leftover.. uh.. snow

IF you want to call it that, but the snowblower did a good job blowing it, even tho it's not really intended to be moving heavy snow like this.

And because the on/off switch fell apart, I changed it to a normal on/off switch, instead of a key switch.
I mean, the key is kind of pointless, but I understand it's for safety to prevent kids from playing with it, and getting hurt.

I would say this was a successful repair!

Anyway guys, until next time.

Stay tuned....

Trying Something Different

Decided to try to integrate two different, lives?, I think is the right word, together. Such as Photography, and Small Engine repair.

Taking out my camera, I've decided to try to do some photos of the lawnmowers around that I've worked on that I haven't sold, as of yet.

Murray 22" Cut Mower w/Briggs Quantum Engine

Honda HRS216 w/Honda GCV160

Honda HRS216 w/Honda GCV160

Canadiana Elite Self Propelled Lawnmower w/Briggs Engine

Craftsman Tiller w/Tecumseh Engine

I think it made for a different take on them.  Adding additional drama. An old technology, captured on an old technology, and it really managed to catch the grit and age of the equipment.

Expect more of this, as I actually enjoyed making these. Maybe making these into prints, and selling them.
Might be something to do on the page.

"Mikeanic in the Darkroom" hahaha!

Uh... maybe, we'll see

Until next time..
Stay tuned..

A Year On YouTube

 So it's been a year now, since I started my YouTube channel, and what have I learned?
Well, that's hard to summarize in a simple sentence, or as a singular question to that kind of question, so I'll have to break it down as best as I can.

What has been the most challenging thing about YouTube so far?

That's easy, honestly. The YouTube Algorithm. Hahaha, no all jokes aside, it's actually finding enough to do for content around Winter, as sometimes you have to find the smaller projects, and to make them into new videos, just to get a view or three, or YouTube punishes you for not having your channel active, and changing your rhythm. 

What are the unique challenges faced with building your channel?

Trying to stay motivated, it's a big one. But it's not really unique to my channel, in particular, but one that I'm sure many YouTubers get, whether they're big, long time YouTubers, or new channels, like mine, I sometimes find it hard to get motivated to get that video finalized, or the next segment set up right away.
Especially when one of my devices is full, and I have to empty the card, or device memory, to free up space.
Oh and forget having Hard Drive space! It's gone too!

Is there anything you'd change if you were to start over?

Yes, definitely. For one, I think I would have had done a bit more preparation into setting up a proper workshop/studio for it, instead of jumping headlong into it, however I think that's just what a lot of people do. It took me a bit to shake the nervousness from it, and sometimes I still get it when there are people nearby, or I perceive they are within earshot.  Not that they really care, they likely just think I'm nuts.

If someone was to start their own channel today, what would you suggest?

That's a really good question, and I have a couple things I would suggestion.

1. Make sure you have at least 3 to 5 videos ready to upload at the start.
   Make at least the first 3 visible right away, this way if someone watches one, they have a higher likelihood of watching more, and possibly subscribing if they do.
2. Don't be afraid to be yourself. You don't have to pretend to be some kind of different person, unless that's what your channel is all about.
3. Do not focus on subscribers. I know that's the most challenging one to get past, but views will bring the subscribers to you.
4. Do research into the niche you're looking at getting into. Check the competition, because it is a business after all, and see what you can do different. What you add to it, or maybe even a whole different breath of air on something.
5. Most of all, pace yourself. You do not want to burn out.
   Barely 1% of new YouTube channels get monetized, as most actually quit before their first 100 subscribers.

Also, check out channels like "VidIQ" for some help with your channel.

When posting a video, what has been the most frustrating part?

Oh that's an easy one. Getting it noticed by the YouTube Algorithm, and actually having it shared with people that are actually interested in that content.  One of the most frustrating things about the YouTube algorithm is that it has a habit of sharing the video with people that have a very low likelihood of clicking on it, however one thing that really does help.
A good, catchy title, and most of all, a very appealing thumbnail.  The thumbnail should summarize why the viewer should click on your video and watch it, with the title being a brief summary of what your video is about.

like "My Lawnmower Became A Tree Stump Grinder, No That's Bad News!"

or something like that, catchy, and could be about you repairing a lawnmower that hit a stump and bent the crankshaft, or damaged it in some other way.

What are your plans going forward in your channel?

Mainly, doing what I do best. Fixing lawnmowers, trimmers, and other small engines as best as I can.
It's a lot of fun, and I'll be documenting my journey along the way.
I've begun to roll out Memberships, and plan on even starting a merchandise line, like stickers, or hats, or even T-Shirts.
I wouldn't mind some button up Mechanic, or should I say, Mikeanic shirts, complete with the little YouTube ▶️button. I think that'll be nifty!
That way I can officially retire my old Mazda shirt. Very fond memories of that place. 

Thanks for tuning in guys!

Ever onward!

A Treat Find

There's nothing like getting old rolls of film developed. It's like a "Time Capsule" honestly. 
Sadly, the shop I was taking the film to, decided that they were going to be scumbags.  They refused to develop a roll of film, claiming "It's got some kind of chemicals, or fluids, on it"... When I do not do that kind of photography, and I even inspected the roll in complete darkness (pulled it out, and felt for any residues).  If anyone knows films that have accidentally been exposed to moisture, then dried, it's not coming out of the can. No matter how hard you try, it's not coming out, or it'll stick, and bind, and just be a complete mess.

Well, that was not the case. Was a clean roll of film.

Because of that, and I couldn't get into the city to collect the film back, it ended up being tossed into the garbage.

I don't usually call out places, but if you are thinking of visiting "GRAINATION" in Toronto, think again. There are better, more reputable shops, that will happily take your business.

It started out lovely with GRAINATION on Spadina Ave in Toronto, but then they showed their true colours, and I won't deal with them again, and put the word out, for anyone thinking about it, think again.
Downtown Camera is a fine choice of location to drop off your film, their kind, courteous, and knowledgeable staff (Yeah Stan, you may be a d1ck in store, but I know you're a softee outside of the store).

All that said, however, back to the film, it truly is remarkable how much of a time machine they can actually become.  What a treat!  This is Kodak Gold, run through my Spotmatic, with a SMC 50mm 1.4 Lens.

All the problems I had with this car, yet I really do miss driving it. The amount of space inside the
wagon was remarkable!  I'm definitely going to be replacing the current car (Nissan Juke) with another
wagon in the near future.

I just have to find a local shop that'll develop, and nicely scan, my film for a reasonable price, and hopefully I can get thru the small backlog I still have.

Until next time guys,

Keep those shutters firing!

What Exactly Is NET-ZERO?

That is a remarkable question, that I cannot overall answer, but I will take a shot at talking about the impossibility of it even working.

NET-ZERO is about the reduction of Carbon Dioxide emissions, to a zero-in zero-out emissions standard. It's sort of like the idea of a Ponzi Scheme, where you're offsetting carbon emissions thru carbon credits, which you can buy, or using "so called Green" technologies.

So let's say that you build a house, for it to be NET ZERO you would have to offset the costs of the carbon emissions while building it, use the most efficient windows, insulation, appliances, furnace, etc.  In fact the furnace would have to be Electric, likely a Heat-Pump, not a gas fired furnace, which honestly is the least expensive, and is far more efficient at creating heat than a heat pump, considering it's using fire. So already you're having to spend more money. The stupidity of saving the planet, simply by paying more money. It doesn't make sense.
It's all about "Offsetting Carbon Footprints" ... which begs the question, why are they building Wind and Solar?

How does Wind and Solar play into Net-ZERO?

Wind, and solar, are the two hot ticket items, with WIND being toted as the cheapest form of energy capture systems.  They are toted as "NET-ZERO" as they, supposedly, will offset their carbon emissions of manufacture, by their end of life, which is in approximately 10-20 years.  

The problem here is that the wind doesn't always blow, and there are times where the wind blows too much, and you're having to apply the brakes on the mill to prevent the turbines from ripping themselves apart. 
Not to mention, the insanity of the amount of resin used to create the huge fibreglass turbine blades, which is notoriously damaging to the environment.

On top of all this, they require large areas of land, and will provide a small percentage of the total power on the grid, with the main grunt work being done by the most reliable, cleanest, and most efficient energy production system that we have at our disposal, Nuclear.

Solar, being the other NET-ZERO hero, is also quite useless, as they are quite inefficient, lose efficiency, and require constant maintenance, and are prone to damage by the weather, and again, require huge amounts of land to be viable.  


When you say that Wind and Solar take a lot of land, what do you mean?

Wind and Solar are known as "FARMS" for a reason. A Wind Farm is a large area of land, often cleared of trees, as the trees would act as a windbreak, and the wind turbines need a constant flow of wind.

With SOLAR Farms, they HAVE to be clear of all trees, and other foliage, aside from grasses, as they require direct access to the sun, without any shade. These lands could also have been used for actual

agriculture/food production instead.

What you're ending up with, believe it or not, are trees being cut down, to make room for green energy?
Someone please make it make sense, because it baffles me. Forests are our natural carbon sinks. As trees grow, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and use that captured carbon to build up their branches, trunks, and root system.  They use it to produce leaves, which give us oxygen to breathe, give us shade, and actual cool the air around us, as the leaves actually evaporate water into the air, taking a bit of heat away with it.

We're destroying natural carbon sinks for green energy production, then the governments claim that Carbon Emissions have risen dramatically over the years, instead of going down.
Well, ya, for one, India and China use large amounts of Coal Fired power generation, and we're cutting down forests to make room for "Green Energy"

What is a viable alternative to Petroleum Based Fuel Fired Plants and Coal Fired Plants?

The best non-petroleum based, or coal fired plants, is simple. Nuclear.
I know, it sounds like a really scary word, especially for those of us who remember Duck and Cover drills.  I'm not old enough to remember the Open Air Nuclear tests, but I'm old enough to remember Chernobyl, and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosions. I was quite leery of Nuclear for many years, until I actually learned the truth behind the lies.

For one, Chernobyl was a Soviet Disaster, there was no containment facility, and there were a lot of mistakes made in general in that scenario. Have there been mistakes made in the USA and Canada? Absolutely. 
But when you look at the Fukushima disaster in 2011, it had a containment vessel, which was breached thru a series of explosions due to lost cooling when the coast was slammed by a massive tsunami, which followed a huge earthquake, taking out the backup systems (diesel generators) which ran the cooling systems.  Even tho the reactor was shut down, the cooling systems were knocked offline. 
Again, many things were compounded by Human Errors, but it wasn't ultimately what actually triggered the event, as that was a magnitude 9 Earthquake that spawned the Tsunami.

However the overall amount of Nuclear Plants that are in use today, such as in France alone, or the plant in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, that is in the middle of a warzone, and had the dam destroyed, which provided fresh water to the cooling pools, and has taken direct hits from artillery, and missile strikes, yet has not breached, or exploded.
Nuclear Power has come a long way.

Okay, but what about Nuclear Waste?

That's been a big scary word for quite a while. When you consider what Nuclear Waste is, it is actually carbon rods, not some green goo. Those rods are stored in large drums, sealed, and contained on the Nuclear Plant grounds for containment, and cooling.
Once they have cooled sufficiently, they are then moved again to a contained storage area. You can track the fuel, and waste, from start to finish with Nuclear.
The amount of Nuclear Waste generated in North America would be the size of 1 football field, about 10 yards deep. As I said before, you can trace Nuclear waste from the place it was mined, to where it is stored. From start to finish, entirely traced. What other industry can do that?

How do EVs play into the NET-ZERO Agenda?

EVs are interesting, as they are straight out a way to 'offset' the carbon footprint, nothing more. It's just moving the carbon exhaust emissions from the tailpipe, to the manufacturer and power generation.  The

funny thing is that it's just greenwashing, and giving the consumer "feel good" vibes, because they aren't actively burning any kind of "FOSSIL" fuels themselves.  In truth, it's all a complete joke. 
If you start at the mining side of things, extracting the minerals for the batteries, and components of the vehicle require massive amounts of oil.  Sure, the mining equipment is mostly electric, as electric motors provide instant, and huge amounts of, torque, where as a gasoline, or diesel engine, has to rev up to provide the same torque.  Electric motors provide maximum torque at 0 RPM, and the band kind of goes downhill from there.. again, why they use Electric motors, because they only rotate when doing some kind of work, while a gasoline/diesel engine continues to operate, regardless of whether they're doing work or not..
Here's the thing, there are no grid hookups for those mines, as they're entirely powered by diesel fired generators.  In fact, this is where it gets interesting, as solar farms, and wind mills require a diesel generator as a backup.  IE, during times of low-wind, or low-solar, output, will require a diesel backup generator to provide enough power to the grid. Many EV chargers are powered by large diesel generators, especially semi-truck charging stations, which have to provide huge amounts of electricity for the giant batteries in these vehicles.
So the whole NET-ZERO with EVs is all, again, smoke and mirrors.
Trying to stop OIL seems to be some odd agenda by the green zealots, without realizing that everything, from your cell phone, to the food you eat, the electricity you utilize, computer products, etc, are all brought to you from oil. There is no way around it. Everything in existence today that has been made my human hands is thru the consumption of oil. Whether it's fresh lumber for a home, or bananas on your counter. Every last product has been because of oil.

Is there anything us, as consumers, can do to offset our carbon footprint?

Of course there is. Buying a new EV, or a new battery operated piece of equipment, is one way of increasing your carbon footprint, as you're putting a demand on these manufacturers to create a new

product, which entails the mining of raw materials, as well as the transportation of that product to your store where you purchase it. When it comes to a vehicle, having an older, well maintained vehicle is far more environmentally friendly, than purchasing a new vehicle, as again, it creates a demand on the market for a product.  
Consumerism, planned obsolescence , etc are the main driving factors behind CO2 emissions. 
EVs contain a lot of oil, and require the burning of a lot of oil. So keep that car you have for longer, keep it well maintained, and it will last for many more years to come.
If you have old gas powered equipment, such as a lawnmower, or a snowblower, maintain it. 
Those small engines can last for decades with proper maintenance, as they do not operate at all to the extent of the engine in your gasoline powered car, and that engine can last for hundreds of thousands of hours.

Write your member of parliament, write to congress, tell your friends, and family, and above all, do not vote for people who want to implement these damaging policies.

A proper green transition should not be forced, nor should it cost us our livelihood, and it definitely

shouldn't cost us our homes, but these policies are doing just that.
Driving the costs of goods up faster than inflation.

Anyway guys,

Comment below, follow for more.

Chat soon!

The SnowKing

 Built by Tecumseh Power Products, and used on a big MTD Snowflight 826 2-stage Snowblower, it's a monster of an engine!
The first time I heard it fire up and run, I said... "WOW! That thing is loud!"
Maybe because I'm standing right behind the muffler, but I'm pretty sure it's actually really bloody loud. I do like the sound of the engine, and I do like how loud it is... but I can't deny that it's likely at a hearing damage level. I mean, it sounds close to that of a motorcycle.. But not quite.

The 826 means it's a 8 Horsepower engine, with a 26" clearing path. So it's a pretty big snowblower, but I am thinking it might be a little too much snowblower at times! 

It was nice to have, when we got the big dumping of snow recently, and boy did it chew thru the snow! Made short work of the small mound the plow had dumped there.
It's not as bad as one year when we had a near 3 foot tall wall in front of our drive because of a plow.. That was a terrible snowfall! 

Could have done with the big snowblower then, it would have enjoyed that.  I had a single stage snowblower, but it was battery powered. Talk about useless! it would often cut out while clearing snow, and was useless in anything but powder. Add a bit of slush to the mix, nope... wouldn't do anything, just clog.  Add ice, and it would stop.  Heck, it would stop on powder too.  Terrible, was happy when I sold it, as I was done with the Battery Powered experiment, and found it to be lacking a lot.  The lawnmower was junk, and the snowblower could barely blow snow.

This Snowflight snowblower, well, it lives up to its name! It blows snow, and it makes the snow fly away!  

It's hard to believe that it was towards the end of summer that I thought to myself, it's time to get the snowblower ready... and not until October that I actually got around to it.
Sure enough, a quick carb clean and the Snowflight was back in action!

Now funny story.. I was out using it not too long ago, no before the large snowfall, just to get the hang of it, and understand how it works. WELL, the tire chain came off and got sucked up into the chute... Stalled the engine, as expected it would, and the chain got all tangled in the auger. Blah!  I was worried I had sheared the key, so I started it up, and it ran fine... Thank goodness! 
Shut it down, did my best to get the chain off, and out of the auger, but nope... Out came the grinder, and goodbye chain...
I decided to take the other tire chain off, don't need a repeat, and those chains were pretty toast.
Funny, because it has loads of traction! Enough that it does a wheelie when I engage the transmission.

It's a great snowblower, and one I would highly recommend to others.  Sure, it's a Tecumseh engine, but they are really good snowblower engines! The King of Snow, after all...

Alright guys,

Chat soon...

LEDs. Were We Lied To?

 Many years ago, 10 actually from the writing of this post, I wrote a brief on the cost of LED vs Incandescent Light Bulbs. The odd thing is that LEDs have not been lasting the 25k hours. In fact, some have lasted less than even the Incandescent counterparts.  Energy costs haven't gone anywhere either, in fact, they've increased. Even using LED bulbs, swapping everything to LED, changing to Energy Efficient fixtures, etc. It hasn't really made much of a change in energy costs, and many times it has increased. Especially with the added cost of these being more expensive products overall.

Which begs the question.

Were we lied to?

The short answer is. Yes. Obviously.

But it's a lot deeper than that. They (Energy Minister) suggests that it's the "aging" infrastructure that is to blame, which is adding costs, such as the "delivery" charge, which is what is the portion that is supposed to go towards upkeep, maintenance, and upgrades of the electrical infrastructure. 
And does it? Hard to say, especially when you consider that many times the CEO of these Power Generation companies are making multi-millions, but that's a topic for another discussion.
I find it hard to believe that it's aging infrastructure, more than it's buying into technologies

that are not really all that they've cracked up to be. 
Wind Turbines are great, for the average person to have one, as a sole means of backup energy capture (Electricity Production), so they can power things off grid, reducing their overall cost on Electricity, but as a means of power production for a large mass of people, it's silly.  You're taking a backup means of generation, and attempting to make it the primary means, that's just asking for trouble. Same with Solar. The sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow, therefore they should never be considered as main power generation systems. Why would they be? That's basically the same idea of putting the horse behind the carriage. 
It works great on a Porsche, having the engine in the rear, but doesn't help when the horse cannot see where they're going.
And honestly, they're not even really backup power, as they're more along the lines of ... Supplemental Power Generation. Sort of like having batteries in a car. It sounds like a good idea, until it's put into actual practice. Then it makes no sense at all.
Batteries are great as a method of storing generated power when there's low usage, and returning it back to handle any spikes, helping the grid cope when it needs to ramp up power generation. Batteries are also great in small handheld devices, like cell phones, cordless drills, impact drivers, and laptop computers. They also make sense to help clean up DC power production, as you can use a AC/DC inverter, run it thru a battery to help clean the voltage into a steady, true DC voltage, and run DC loads off it, such as electronics, without damaging interference.

If you consider how an AC Sine Wave works, you have a "Positive" voltage, followed by a "Negative" voltage, 60 times a second (or 50 in other parts of the world). This cannot work as a DC voltage, as DC requires constant, direct voltage, in one direction, no spikes, no dips, or you get interference, or outright damage to the electronic components. 
Consider your car, for instance. You have an Alternator, which is a generator, and it recharges the battery. However, it being an alternator, creates an 'alternating' voltage/current, meaning it's creating AC electricity.  By running it thru a couple gates, and capacitors, and you get a DC voltage, however it is not a constant DC voltage, so by running it thru a battery, it's able to remove the voltage sags, and give constant DC voltage.

We're being told this is all for "Green" Net-ZERO, and that it's for the planet, with CO2 reduction in mind. How much CO2 are we reducing? 0.04% of our atmosphere is CO2.. 100 Million years ago there were 5x to 10x the concentration of CO2 in the air, the planet was a lot warmer, meaning there were no polar ice caps, and the largest, most successful animals, existed, and walked the Earth. 
The land was fertile from pole to pole due to the temperature, and CO2 content in the air.
Us paying more, many having to decide whether to buy groceries, or pay rent, feeling like they're in over their heads more, never able to get ahead at all, is not going to reduce any kind of CO2 footprint.

A Conflict of interest?

No, I was a pretty early adopter of Electric Battery powered equipment, such as an E-Bike in 2014, and then we got a Battery Operated Snowblower in 2015, followed by a Battery Powered Lawnmower in 2017, alongside a battery powered weed trimmer, so I have done the whole battery crap already.  The one thing that I think works well as a battery operated tool, is the weed trimmer. It has plenty of power, less vibration, and is overall lighter than a gas powered trimmer.  But, I find that the trimmer line is less robust, as it's often a thinner gauge than on their gas powered counterparts, plus the battery will not last anywhere close to what a gas engine will, when maintained. 

What was your experience with the Battery Powered Lawnmower?

Honestly, I enjoyed using it. I found it to be a great little unit when using it for a small lawn.  My original reason for getting a battery operated lawnmower was because, 1. it was easier to operate for my wife, who enjoyed cutting the lawn, as she enjoyed the sunshine, and 2. The gasoline powered mower I was using, failed. The person I took it to that said he could fix it, simply couldn't. I figured if he couldn't fix it, then who the heck else could? It was before I had started to learn and take an interest in small engines. It was definitely easier to start, tho.

But that's when I started to find the problems with my mower. It wasn't a Greenworks lawnmower, it was a SunJoe, however insert whatever brand you want, and
you'll get a similar result. The body was made of plastic, certain questionable parts were made out of plastic, and many times they were non-serviceable parts.
The blade adapter on the SunJoe mower was entirely non-serviceable, and if it broke, the entire lawnmower is now junk.
The first issue I had, was the body flexed. It surprised me when I saw it the first time. I was mowing along my fence line, and pushed a bit against the fence, which caused the body to flex. That's when I heard the sound of a quickly spinning blade coming into contact with the body of the mower. That surprised me. I shut it off, and inspected the damage. I found a few chunks missing on the underside of the deck, which you can see in this video.

Next was the tiny bagger on it.  It would fill quite quickly, and when that would happen the motor would easily bog down on even slightly tall grass, which no gas mower would even falter. This is where the second issue is that I had with it. Completely lack of power. It would bog down in grass that may have been ignored for a week or two extra, often causing the overload to cut it out of action. How ridiculous is that? 
The benefit that I found, being lightweight enough that my wife used to be the one who enjoyed mowing the lawn, to her complaining it would cut out when she went over slightly longer grass.  She used to use our old Gasoline powered mower, and never had it bog down once going over any grass.

Now EGO is another lawnmower brand out there making grand promises, such as "The First Lawnmower to be as powerful as a gasoline mower!"

Yeah, I could see that, if it has a powerful enough motor, but then will need the battery to match, which can be quite expensive.  And this is where the EGO mower starts to fall flat. Sure, they are powerful, but the batteries are questionable. With batteries actually being the weakest point of these lawnmowers, which begs the question. How green could these mowers actually be? 
Many lawnmowers I come across to repair are in the range of 10-20 years old, with some being older than 40 years old.  The minor little repairs I do, and they're good for another half dozen, or more, seasons, especially if they're maintained.  
Most Battery operated lawnmower batteries often cost several hundred dollars to replace, which can easily be more than the break point on even replacing the battery, which is often what a lot of people do. They sell the mower, as is, without the battery, having bought a new mower with a battery.

How is that environmental? When I find a non-running gasoline powered mower, it's simple to get going, and will often cost someone less than a 1/3rd of a replacement battery.

What other considerations do you have about battery operated equipment?

Battery operated equipment isn't terrible, honestly. For the average person, with the average lawn, they're okay to have.   There is a risk of fire, especially on the cheaper batteries, considering they'll be built to a lower price point.
This should be avoided, but as I said before about rising prices, people will choose the option that doesn't hit the pocket book as much.

What about used battery powered equipment?

I would have to say that Used Battery equipment is a gamble. You often cannot really test the life of the battery, until it's too late. Many times Lithium batteries will work, until they don't, and when they no longer hold a charge, it's quite sudden.
Or the battery could last several years, but then you're still stuck in the same boat. The battery replacement, if it's still available, will be more costly than just buying a new unit, that has more options.
Sound familiar with EV cars?

What is the difference, then, with gasoline powered equipment?

This is where it's interesting. Many of the older parts are actually readily available, as the design sometimes simply hasn't changed. The Briggs Flathead 3hp engine has been basically the same design for, gotta be going on 50 years. It's a solid engine, and well designed, however it's no longer manufactured, as they've moved onto OHV engines, due to emissions standards.

Often gasoline powered equipment can easily be repaired, unless there has been catastrophic failure. However the parts could easily be used on a similar model that may need less work to get going again.

Considering all this, what would you suggest?

Honestly, it's hard to say. LEDs are definitely going to be less expensive to operate than their INCANDESCENT counterparts, just on energy consumption alone, and they've become so inexpensive that they're often sold in small packs at the dollar store.
So thru consumerism, they are often less expensive overall, although the bulbs are now filling up the landfills as well, as it's often the drivers that fail on the bulbs, due to inadequate ventilation.

However with gasoline powered equipment, vs battery powered. I would say that older gasoline powered equipment will easily outlast any modern battery operated equipment, hands down, and does not even come close to posing the same fire risk. Sure, gasoline is flammable, but can easily be extinguished, and contained. Lithium Ion fires easily burn far out of control quicker, and more aggressively, with much hotter temperatures.
I would steer clear of buying new in general, and definitely avoid buying battery operated equipment used.  older, well maintained gasoline engines will last a very long time, as they are very simple machines overall.

Moving forward, I can see battery powered lawn equipment becoming more prevalent, with gasoline equipment seeing a drop, for a bit, then a surge as people find the replacement of a battery just isn't worth the cost.

Until next time...

Chat soon