I bought my first electric lawn mower when I
bought my first house in 2004. It was a Black and Decker MM675 with a
flip-over handle. That lawn mower served me well for about 5 years and
never let me down. Then, one day I used it when my lawn was too wet and
the motor started to smoke as it bogged down on wet grass! I could no
longer get the MM675 model, so I went to Home Depot and "upgraded" to
the MM1800, the 18" corded mulching/bagging mower from Black and Decker.
Immediately I was dissatisfied. It didn't feel as strong as my old
mower, was more unwieldy, and had this awful plastic shroud that made it
hard to maneuver. Everything on it felt cheap, and two years later, it
died on me while mowing grass that was not that thick.
I decided to try to leave the Black and Decker world and see what else I could find.
Bear in mind, I did not consider gas because I don't have the room to keep fuel around and I have a modest size yard. I did not want cordless battery power because I didn't want to have to keep batteries alive (some require charge/discharge cycles all winter) or buy new batteries.
Corded lawn mowers are a fine solution. Many complain about "cord management", but here's the trick. Your lawn never changes. Unless you are a professional landscaper (and if you are, buy a gas mower), then you always mow the same lawn. So the trick is to come up with a mowing pattern where you mow away from the outlet and never trip over the cord. Once you have a pattern, stick with it and you can mow quickly.
Which brings me to the Greenworks 25022 20" electric bag/mulch/side discharge mower. It costs a bit more than the Black and Decker, but what a difference. First, the deck of the mower is metal, not plastic! That means it is thinner than the B&D.
I decided to try to leave the Black and Decker world and see what else I could find.
Bear in mind, I did not consider gas because I don't have the room to keep fuel around and I have a modest size yard. I did not want cordless battery power because I didn't want to have to keep batteries alive (some require charge/discharge cycles all winter) or buy new batteries.
Corded lawn mowers are a fine solution. Many complain about "cord management", but here's the trick. Your lawn never changes. Unless you are a professional landscaper (and if you are, buy a gas mower), then you always mow the same lawn. So the trick is to come up with a mowing pattern where you mow away from the outlet and never trip over the cord. Once you have a pattern, stick with it and you can mow quickly.
Which brings me to the Greenworks 25022 20" electric bag/mulch/side discharge mower. It costs a bit more than the Black and Decker, but what a difference. First, the deck of the mower is metal, not plastic! That means it is thinner than the B&D.
Black and Decker MM675 with a flip-over handle
