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Spoiler Alert: We’re giving you our recommendation first and the reasons why down below.

This Victa 82V Cordless Mower receives our highest praise: the Editor’s Choice Award.

Actually, because the other two Victa products in their 82V range also received our Highly Recommended rating, we would not hesitate to give our Editor’s Choice acclamation to the whole 82V product line because, more than just individual tools, they are a complete system.

So you reckon this Victa can nicely mow your typical suburban front lawn?
Sure, but when you see what else we have subjected this machine to, you’d be convinced that this is one heck of a powerful beast!

Cordless tools gradually have acquired some grunt to match their corded or petrol-powered cousins. We’ve seen voltage (and amperage) grow from 5V to 12, 18 then 24 and 36V.
Victa uses the Briggs & Stratton 82V battery, which is humongous in size and power. They can run for about 30 minutes and charge in about the same time as well so that you’d run out of energy pushing this thing before running out of juice.

The Victa mower weighs in at close to 30kgs with battery so it comes in a rather large and heavy box. Assembly takes around 10 minutes and if you straightaway put one of the two batteries on charge you can start mowing immediately.

First choice: do I mulch or collect? If you use the 60 litre clippings catcher you have to remove the mulcher plug. Just grab, twist and pull. Easy.

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When we took delivery of the mower it had been raining a fair bit here on the coast. Mowing wet grass clogs everything up real fast so when my patience ran out I started on the still moist and very overgrown rubbish grass in between the fruit trees. See picture below (click on it to enlarge).

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Well, page 4 of the manual says to not force the machine beyond its cutting capacity. So what we did is not recommended nor was this unit designed for it but, hey, this is a test site. We sometimes go a bit beyond what sanity dictates…

We put the cutting deck at the highest of 7 settings (goes from 25-80mm) and to our surprise the Victa mower tackled the moist tall grass quite well. The 1200W motor did not seem to struggle even though there’s some variation in RPM at times when “turbo” mode kicks in.
You also notice that on start-up: press and hold the blue safety switch, engage the bail lever and a soft start revs up the motor within 3 secs. Nice.
By the way, the actual lowest cut you can achieve with this model is close to 35mm rather than 25mm as the cutter blade sits a bit higher than the lowest part of the deck which is 20mm off the ground.

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Run time in this heavy grass was 25 mins. Manicured lawns will take less of an effort and the battery will last longer.

The next few tests: more of the same but then on a 15 degree slope (which is about the max for comfort and safety). Tall, rubbishy grass with occasional very tall (1.5m!) bracken. Nightmare stuff for any mower!
Again, no problem for the Victa, but I felt my back after trudging across the slope for an hour…

That’s where I found the only feature “lacking” in this model: I’d love a bit of self-propulsion to cope with the rough terrain. It’s entirely feasible of course to use a bit of that battery power for pulling the mower when needed but that will be at the expense of endurance.
It’s like using an e-bike: a bit of assist for going uphill…

Anyways, like I said: the machine is designed for suburban fields of green not for paddocks! On the flat it is very easy to push and manoeuvre. Everything on the Victa range is well designed with great built quality. Aussie at its best, I reckon!

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A Cut Above?

Summing it all up for you and as we touted in previous reviews of the other models, this is what we really like about the Victa 82V Mower so far:

• Very easy start / stop
• Safety on switch and auto off when you release the bail lever
• Much less noise compared with petrol units (only 60dBA)
• No mess/smell from mixing and handling petrol
• Easy to inspect and clean underneath without the risk of spilling fuel / oil
• Potentially cheaper when buying other units in the Victa range because of interchangeable batteries
• Eco and neighbour friendly
• Easy to store vertically (can’t do this with a petrol mower)
• 5yr domestic warranty

With the great cutting ability – even in high and rough grass – the Victa stands out as more capable than many a petrol-powered mower.

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The RRP for the Victa 82V 21” Mower is AUD799 and since it comes with 2 batteries you can more easily consider buying the other tools in this Victa range without their battery and charger (console only).

Bunnings is a good place to have a look at the Victa range. There is also a smaller (and cheaper) 18” model, priced at $499.

And for more info on the whole 82V range check out Victa’s website.