Works well as long as the job is not too big
Pros:
Easy to use, works well on small to medium sized jobs, quiet.
Cons:
Short battery life, heavy, flimsy arms.
The Bottom Line:
As long as you don't have a large amount of grass to cut, this is recommended.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
This review is for the CM1000 model of the Black & Decker 19" 24 volt cordless mower.
After learning about how inefficient gas mowers are in terms of pollution, I decided to get a battery powered mower. This mower was pretty much the only option I found, and seemed to get generally favorable reviews online. I'll preface this review by stating that as this is the first mower I've ever used, I have no experience with gas mowers or other electric mowers.
The mower is user-friendly for the most part. There's a "on" lever that you simply flip and the thing jumps to life. You don't have to fool with pull-cords or primers or tinkering with the engine to get the thing to start. Adjusting the height of the blades is very easy. It's a bit heavy so it can be hard to turn on tight corners or push up hill. The blades don't seem to quite cut out to the outer edge of the wheels which make you have to overlap the lanes you mow in the grass some, which seems less than efficient. I've only used the bag attachment on a few occasions but it seems to work quite well when I did.
For the most part the mower is very sturdy and well made. My only complaint about the craftsmanship is the arms that come up from the mower to form the handle with which you push it. They are made up of several bars that are attached together with hand-twisted knobs. It's designed this way so it can easily taken apart and transported in a smaller box, but the arms fit together loosely and tend to be wobbly. Over time they can even totally detach from each other, so they need to be continually re-tightened. One time I overtightened a knob and it cracked.
My biggest complaint about the mower is (of course) the battery life. I have a 3000 sqft front yard and a 2000 sq ft back yard. I mow the grass pretty high and typically when it's dry. I always get through the front yard and maybe half way through the back yard on one charge. Since the battery takes 24 hours to fully charge if totally discharged (that's taken from the manual), mowing my entire yard is a two day endeavor.
If you try to use the mower on wet grass or to cut the grass very low or if it's been a long time since you've cut the grass and it's gotten long, the battery will drain very quickly. If any of those conditions occur I typically make it through a little over half my front yard on one charge.
It's not astoundingly quiet, but it is much quieter than gas-powered mowers.
I'll always recommend this mower over a gas mower for environmental reasons, but I do wish it had a longer lasting battery. Maybe the CMM1200 model works better in this regard.
