Comments on: Hot or Not? Cordless Electric Lawn Mowers

By: Reuben Gathright

Reuben Gathright — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:40:43 +0000

I am an eco-researcher and have stumbled across the CMM1200 cordless mower. I really like the mower and feel that it can be used on almost any yard now.

We should all do our part to save the enviroment and encourage the growth of the solar and wind power industries. Cordless electric lawn mowers go a long ways towards these goals. I recently purchased the Black & Decker Cordless Electric Lawnmower the CMM1200. In the
review I describe how to upgrade the mower to mow over 9,000 SQFT! I hope my review will help you make a decision about our future.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Black_Decker_19_In_24_Volt_Cordless_Mulching_Mower/content_445899312772

By: Connie McCullough

Connie McCullough — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:12:56 +0000

DITTO: Don’t buy a Homelite UT13122 20″I bought one from Home Depot just over a year ago as I gave up on trying to start gas mowers due to shoulder problems. Well it was wonderful for just over 1 year. Now it won’t recharge with the light never moving over to the green but it has a pitiful low speed on the charge needed light. I have tried to find a place to have it serviced and a friend told me about this site, and lo and behold, all these folks have the same story! ANY IDEAS anyone wants to give me on a new cordless electric mower? I have only one electric outlet outside or I would use a corded one (which I had years ago and it lasted for over 5 years after buying it used)

By: Wildson

Wildson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:32:33 +0000

Do the lead-acid batteries have the same “memory” problems as other rechargables (NiCads, I believe)…. that is, if you don’t drain them fully they will not discharge fully the next time. If so, the answer for extening battery life might be as simple as changing the way we mow. Instead of mowing the lawn then recharging, mow the lawn, but don’t recharge. When you have to mow again, run the battery out completely, then charge fully over night and finish the next day. It’s a bit different that the old finish-it-all-at-once way, but an easy adaptation.

By: llcr

llcr — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:04:57 +0000

I just bought one of these mowers under the “Earthwise” brand. It was returned to the store by a previous owner who had it one day and didn’t think it had enough power for their lawn. I bought it but it was missing the instructions. Wondering about charging the battery. Do you leave it plugged in all the time during the growing season or just when it’s running low on power?

By: alex / santa barbara

alex / santa barbara — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:53:08 +0000

DO NOT BUY THE HOMELITE 24V MOWER! I started reading this thread, everyone who bought one was pleased ~ at first. 1 year into it, we’re all talking about the machine no longer holding a charge. SAME HAS HAPPENED TO MINE. It’s a BAD PRODUCT, it’s actually a product that should be recalled. One year of use does not make for a good mower.

By: Mike / Phoenix

Mike / Phoenix — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:15:11 +0000

Follow up to my previous post. Home Depot agreed to send my UT13122 t out to repair on my behalf (battery had quit charging after 90 days). Got it back after a week, the module on the mower that the charger attaches to had been replaced. The mower was fully charged, I cut my lawn, plugged in the charger, looked the next morning and still no green lights.
End of story, it’s as broke as before.
Next step, try to deal with Homelite and begin the PITA repair cycle again.
ARRRRRGHHH!

By: Mary/Arkansas

Mary/Arkansas — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:13:01 +0000

I purchased the Homelite UT13122 from Home Depot in June. I’m going to return it this week before my 90 days are up. I was delighted at first at how it simply started every time, as I have fought year after year with brand new gas mowers that only survive 5 uses before the carb needs a rebuild. The fact that it started every time and no smelly gas to worry about almost made up for the fact that it bogs down when I get into the slightest bit of thick grass. I can’t imagine anyone having a lush zoysia lawn, which i do not, being able to use this without getting frustrated. It simply bogs down too easily, even when you set the blades up higher. Anyway, I went out to use it today and either the battery or charger or both are out, so I’m done with it. Appears to be a waste of money. This is a 24v battery model. Can anyone comment on models that have a higher volt battery? Will that make a difference on the bogging down? I’m thinking of checking out one of those, but don’t want to get burned again.

By: Dale/Phoenix

Dale/Phoenix — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:50:46 +0000

I bought the Homelite UT13122 20″ last July, worked like a champ on my two small yards until about a month ago, then failed to hold a full charge. Homelite only warranties the battery for one year, and as one other reader observed, their website is of no use whatsoever.

I kept the mower in a shady spot, but I think the Arizona heat proves too much for this sensitive piece of equipment, and the heat in the garage would also be too hard on this gear. If you are in a hot climate, don’t waste your money on the Homelite. I’m out $300 and have a front yard that looks too much like an ongoing art project. Time to borrow the neighbor’s reliable gas mower!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:33:16 +0000

I am looking for a replacement transformer for my Black and Decker Cordless Electric Mower/Mulcher CMM625 model. The part number is 241672-02 and not produced anymore.

If you have a lawn that is not huge 1 acre or more, an electric lawn mower is the way to go. I have had mine 5 yrs and love it, but just broke the connection piece for the battery charger and the piece is obsolete.

Please contact me if you have it at mesp019@yahoo.com

By: mike/Phoenix

mike/Phoenix — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:53:52 +0000

I bought the Homelite UT13122 20 inch ninety days ago. It stopped charging last week and will only light the first red light on the mower (and never hits green on the charger no matter how long it’s plugged in). The Home Depot exchange policy expired the day the battery did! We’ll see what they say.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:00:53 +0000

@davea0511 - I’m very interested in your conversion specifications - mainly what and where you got your motor. I’ve been struggling trying to find the right motor for the right price. I old gas mower deck is ready and waiting. Can you post the doc somewhere on an online filesharing server or e-mail me - 924 [at] lirdies.com.

Thanks.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:35:25 +0000

I have been thus far pleased with my B&D CMM1200, the one pictured. The one hand height adjustment works well. It is easier to push than the weight would imply. It doesn’t bother my cats too much when I mow like the gas mower did. The mulching is excellent, very fine clippings and as long as the grass is not wet there is no clumping. The trick to long life is charge the battery after each use and maintain it on charge,

I chose this over the newer Neuton because B&D has a better chance of being around 10 years from now. The batteries are a commonly available part. B&D has been making cordless and electric mowers for a long time, so I feel better with their level of refinement than the Neuton.

By: davea0511

davea0511 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:05:31 +0000

I might add … I’m not sure why manufacturers cover the electric motor with all that plastic, which just looks stupid in my opinion. Showing this small cylinder as the motor is just plain cool.

By: davea0511

davea0511 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:00:50 +0000

I’m almost done with my conversion to an electric mower. Do a google search within a couple weeks for “pimp my push mower”. It has cost me less than $350, and will have a whopping 792 WattHrs. Yeah, that’s over 3X more than say the wimpy Neutron 5.1, and it has a 22″ blade, and it’s self-propelled. I’ll include instructions for anyone who wants to do this conversion themselves. Of course, the 12V batteries (deep cycle) just lift out for easy storage and swapping. It’s a 12V system to, so to add mowing time just add another battery. It also has a current meter in addition to the volt meter so you can see how fast you’re consuming electricity (tall grass, etc).

When I get solar panels to charge it I’ll be mowing by the power of the sun.

Those manual push mowers, incidentally, stop dead in their tracks if you have trees that drop sticks and junk.

By: CDunk

CDunk — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:12:38 +0000

I have tried two manual reel mowers and although they’re probably fine if you have no trees, they just can’t get through my lawn. Leaves are major obstacles and twigs seem to stop them dead in their tracks. I have found them consistently very frustrating to mow with — I’d rather cut my lawn with a scythe if I have to go fully manual.

I have been using a Neuton 5.1 for two years now on a 1/4 acre urban lawn in Minnesota. As with any battery in a cold climate, I expect that bringing the 24v lead acid battery inside for the winter will significantly prolong its usable lifespan, so I appreciate the lift-out battery. (I also have a spare battery which I have used only occasionally.) My sister owns a Black & Decker with a non-lift-out battery and she hauls the entire machine into her basement for the winter, which makes me feel almost intolerably smug.

This mower produces 240 watt hours of power, and that is enough for basic mowing tasks, although using a mulching blade slows the rotation too much and gives an uneven cut, so I use the normal blade for a cleaner look. This mower also has a trimmer attachment which many people find to be cumbersome, but I find it very convenient for both trimming and edging (though I admit a hand-held trimmer does a better job).

The 14″ cutting deck is a bit too narrow and still irks me. I’ve been coveting the Neuton 6.2’s 19″ deck (with 360 watt hours!), but I will probably just buckle under and wait for Bosch to WAKE UP and market it’s lithium ion mowers to the U.S. before I upgrade. Of course there’s always the Robomower to consider, on the off chance I inherit a large sum of cash before then.

As far as cutting power and maintenance go, this cordless electric is a great product. The lift-out battery is a must for cold climates or larger lawns, and lead-acid recycling programs are relatively clean and nearing 100% efficiency. Hopefully lithium recycling will be as advanced when we start to see large-format Lion batteries reaching widespread use.

By: SuperJdynamite

SuperJdynamite — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:13:17 +0000

I bought the B&D model pictured above (the CMM1200) a few months ago. So far I’ve been happy with it.

It’s actually a mulching mower. The mulching feature works well enough that I’ve never had the grass catching bag hooked up to it and I don’t get clumps of dead grass littering the lawn. I’ve also used it to turn small piles of leaves into finely ground leaf litter.

The one-handle height adjustment works well, too.

Although it’s not a feature described in the manual it seems to have some kind of current limiting feature; if you drop it down onto and especially tall patch of grass it will turn itself off before it stalls. No matter — you simply lift the deck, pull the start lever and drop it slowly onto the grass.

So far the biggest con is the long battery charge time. Plan on tethering the mower with an extension cord the day before you intend to mow. That said it seems to hold a decent charge.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:22:37 +0000

Just bought a Remington cordless mower. The dial would not stay in position to charge the battery so I had to hold it in place with a business card and some tape. It was supposed to charge after 10 hrs. 12 hrs. later, the battery was still charging. Tried to start it, and it will not start, even when plugged in (it has a corded option). It’s going back to the store for sure! After spending almost $600 for this brand, I am thinking about an electric mower.

By: steve

steve — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:16:53 +0000

fyi
if you do a goggle search on homelite 20 inch 24 voly cordless lawnmower you’ll find quite a few people who agfter a year the battery won’t charge. mine was a year old and it had a defective battery cable which caused the battery to short
steve

By: amh

amh — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:17:10 +0000

I bought a 20″ cordless Homelite mower last year and it worked great all year. Could usually get all the back and the front too with one charge. This year, as someone posted above, it won’t charge. Shows power when plugged in, we replaced the charging terminal which looked like it wasn’t working (dirty and no lights) but still the batteries are dead after 17 hours of charging. Talked to the warranty people and while there is a 2 year warranty, they said the batteries are only covered for 1 year. To replace the batteries is $140, half the price of a new mower. So I wonder if we have to buy new batteries every year or was it a fluke? I suppose I expect batteries to be replaced every so often, but $140 every year is not a good investment.

By: Doc Brwn

Doc Brwn — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:17:23 +0000

I’m a physicist/electrical engineer/mechanical engineer. I work at a synchrotron at a national laboratory, have a real good gut sense of what is possible and what is not, what the state of the art is in many fields,… I bought the Homelite 20″ cordless at Home Depot. This machine knocked my socks off. My lawn was waaay overdue for mowing. And it’s fairly big - front yard is ~40×100, side yards are each ~15×30, and rear is ~30×120. It was a bit wet this morning, grass was plenty tall, first time using this mower and I figured it would take 2 or 3 charges to do the whole thing. I was amazed. It did the job on the first charge, still had plenty of zap when I was done. The guys that designed this thing rock. They did a great job. I am so happy to have this machine. Thank you.

By: Travis Rassat

Travis Rassat — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:03:54 +0000

I purchased the 24 volt cordless Homelite last year at Home Depot and I love it. I have about 6,000 sq. ft. of grass, and it is enough to do the entire yard, even with heavy grass. I have noticed that after a winter left on the charger I do seem to be getting closer to running out of juice by the time I’m done.

I just got an e-mail from Menard’s saying that they now sell the Remington Cordless mower, which has swappable batteries or can run plugged in if necessary. That seems like a promising idea.

Here’s the URL for the Remington mower site:
http://www.remingtonmower.com/

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:08:18 +0000

Bosch Rotak 37 Why the heck they don’t sell this in the US baffles me. Better than anything here. Damn lucky folks across the pond.

By: J. Connolly

J. Connolly — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:29:46 +0000

In the late 1950’s we had a corded electric mower. It was very sturdy, had a reversing handle, a single handle that easily raised or lowered all four wheels, and a spinner that showed the blade was moving. Best of all it was WHISPER QUIET! Dad explained that a well functioning electric motor makes almost no noise. Unfortunately, he told me later that they were no longer being made, since they lasted so long that they were not repurchased often enough, and since so many people wrongly equated noise with power. The electric mowers after them have had a very annoying blaring sound added - the manufacturers claimed as a safety precaution, but really just as much to appeal to the noise = power market. My question: can the added noise maker on electric mowers be removed? Thanks.

By: Mike M

Mike M — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:42:13 +0000

I just purchased the new Neuton 6.2 cordless mower. I also bought an extra battery. This new model has a wider cut (19″) and a 36V battery. They must have had the idea before Lew A contacted them or they are really fast at development. This model has plenty of power, I started mowing with the height set too low and it didn’t even bog down the motor. Obviously it’s too early to know about the reliability but from the reports about the 5.2 model it should do well.

By: Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:02:17 +0000

I bought a Homelite UT13122 cordless mower last summer at Home Depot and it worked like a charm on my relatively small lawn. It never ran out of juice and it cut even the tallest, thickest grass - and even wet grass! So last fall after the last cutting, I put it in the crawl space under the house and left the “trickle” charger on it for the winter, which the instructions said to do. Now the problem begins this Spring when the darn thing won’t charge up fully and I can’t tell if it’s the battery or the charger. The red or green light on the charger won’t light up, which tells me it’s not receiving a charge, however, it does run (barely) while plugged in to the charger, which tells me that some power is getting to the mower. The Homelite website is no help and I can’t find anywhere that sells the replacement battery OR charger. So now I have a one season mower. I’m thinking of going back to gas.