Thursday
3:30
Second to last meeting of the day for me, and I stopped to talk with Kress about the new Voyager 60 autonomous mower for commercial users. They told me it’s a unique in that it’s “class 5” and others are but I need to double check that.
Friday morning I will go outside to look at the new Kress solar panel charging add-on. Meantime here is the new Voyager 60.
Noon
I stopped at Avant to learn more about this Finnish manufacturer, its vehicles and its battery products. Beau Slavens, president of Avant Tecno USA talked with me about what the company is going and working to grow in America. I will download more of this story for next week, but it’s interesting to see one vehicle in particular, and that’s the e727. This battery-powered articulating loader is an evolution for Avant following the brand’s showing of an electric loader last year at Equip. Slavens said the company learned a lot talking to dealers and users, and the e727 is the result. Plus, the company owns its own battery manufacturing business so it has unique control of that “fuel” system.
11:30
I walked to the Masport display because the original press conference schedule had Daye / Masport at 11 am. But the company changed its plans and I did not look at the updated conference schedule. So I asked them, what’s up and why the schedule change?
Things happen and Masport decided it wasn’t totally ready to meet the press, as it were. But I made them tell me the story anyway. And I will share in a longer post. But for now, know that Masport is looking to grow a new dealer network in the US, building on its history of work in Australia. More to come.
9:00
I walked in and spoke with the Ego Commercial people about a wide range of new products they are showing. Three new stand-on mowers as well as new sit-down zero-turns, with more coming. The new stand-on pictured below has what sounds like pretty advanced smart communication functions from the vehicle and batteries to the owner or fleet manager. More to come on that, but that is a feature that I hope more manufacturers develop. The brand also – like others – updated its batteries to tabless cells. And it has new commercial-grade handheld products.
Wednesday
End of Day
Evening wrap of day 1. It’s too early to draw any conclusions or even see trends. And I haven’t even gone outside yet.
A couple things I’m following.
1: I had a good discussion with Dan Ariens today about the deal with Yanmar. I will post that interview text soon. Most interesting to me was our brief discussion about “why.” And that question leads to more questions about manufacturing of zero-turn mowers and which manufacturers can continue to do it in today’s big-volume world. Or is regional distribution and a strong brand following – mostly pro-only – enough to be “successful”?
2: Battery platform growth. The Stihl snowblower. The Honda handheld lineup. And the growth of the pro-level distribution of Milwaukee and Dewalt. Batteries are changing retail for consumers, but to keep that going, these other brands need to build a platform credibility and following that goes well beyond sales and Home Depot and Lowe’s. Can they do it? And how big an answer is e-commerce?
3: Construction equipment. Lots more to see here.
3:30
Leading the “unique” category (so far) is this Senix mower that is a combo walk-behind and robot. It’s a 21-in battery model. Interesting
1:00
Honda unveiled the line of handheld products, officially, at Equip Expo. We already reported on those products. And this is just a brand perception kinda post, really, but the Honda booth this year finally looks like a Honda booth, to me. I’ve followed the Honda brand for many years, automotive and powersports and now power equipment. This year’s display has the clean and engineered Honda brand look.
I look forward to talking with dealers about it. More to come.
11:30
I stopped by to see Stefan Behring, the brains behind the Lawn Stryper add-on. I met him last year at Equip when he was working to sell his towable striping attachment to an OEM. This is the result of that work.
10:15
Makita doesn’t always do press conferences at Equip so I figured the brand must have new products to show.
First? A new battery-powered engine replacement designed to take the place of gas engines like the Honda GX35 that runs loads of equipment. According to Makita’s Mario Lopez the new battery motor is designed to fit easily as a replacement but it’s for B2B purchase, like OEMs. Not for users who might need a new motor. And Makita is hoping that manufacturers in attendance here find it appealing.
The manufacturer also has new tabless batteries (which are becoming the norm).
10 am
I made a quick stop at Mean Green to see Matt Conrad and get clarification on their new ownership group. More on that later. Meanwhile, Mean Green is showing a new 60-in zero-turn with a price point of $20K, which Conrad said should help pro users save money over comparable gas units.
9:30 am
Stihl press conference: Ricky Cacchiotti introduces new president Sean McGinnis and tells the crowd that Stihl will introduce more than 90 new products in this year. Including Stihl’s first gas stand on zero turn mower.
