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My buying the Black & Decker CM1936 cordless battery powered mower was not an impulse buy nor one taken lightly. I had fully meant to have a cordless mower for Summer 2009 but after much looking at models and handwringing just couldn't make a decision. This spring, with memories of how much I shelled out to the person who wound up doing the mowing last year, I resolved to follow through. I'm glad I waited and glad I decided on this Black & Decker.
First, to not only be "green" but to also spend my money "locally" I tried to buy this mower near where I live. Nobody had it. Home Depot listed it on their Web site but none of their stores carried it nor could they order it for me. No matter, I had accidentally wound up paying for Amazon's Prime shipping around the end of last year when I hadn't mean to so that means my ordering this mower here got it to me in just two days. Amazing.
The box weighs a lot and even had tape on it to alert the shipper to that fact. I chose not to cut the box down and roll the mower out like the booklet says as I wanted the box intact in case the mower had to go back for any reason; but what I should have done is unclip the battery and take that out separately from the mower unit instead of lifting the whole thing out (duh).
However, I appreciated the fact that it *was* heavy. It made the mower seem more solid, more sturdy, even if 65% of the weight is the battery itself. I unfolded and tightened the handle, browsed through the instructions to make sure I did the initial setup and charge correctly; they point out in several places the importance of the order in which things are plugged in IE plug the charger into the mower's connection *first* when connecting and *last* when disconnecting. However, even though I RTM, I still goofed when performing the first charge. I had not used this garage outlet before (never had to) but tested it with a corded helper lamp to make sure it had power. Plugged the charger in (in the mower first, then the wall) and saw the red light on. What I didn't realize is that this outlet was connected to the lights and the mower only charged for a few minutes. When I checked it the next day the light on the charger was out. I thought that was odd but felt confident it had gotten power. What was nice to see was how long the mower ran despite my screw up. I guess that means it came with a full to near fully charged battery. Read on.
After cleaning up the lawn of sticks and pine cones I was eager to get started with my first mowing with the CM1936. Now here's where Black & Decker, and battery powered mowers, won me over. To start the mower you put in the plastic key (which essentially bridges two cable ends and allows power to the motor, the green equivalent to putting the cable on the spark plug of your gas powered mower) and push the red button on the side of the handle while squeezing the dead-man bar. That is it. Amazing. All the other times I've ever had to start a (gas) mower it has been an ordeal in frustration, arm pain, expense. All that is now gone and I am forever grateful. Not only does that start the mower up but there is no big puff of exhaust (typical for gas powered mowers for the first firing up for a season) no loud roar (though I wouldn't say this mower is exactly quiet, still much better however), no stooping over.
As for actual mowing performance, I set the height to middle for the first pass of the season, not knowing quite what to expect. Setting the height is as easy as you've likely heard about. Squeeze the height adjustment handle and push down until you hit the mark then let the handle go. This mower worked just like any gas mower I had used. Cut just fine - I probably could have put the blade height a couple stops lower for most of the lawn but there were a couple thick tufts I suspect it wouldn't have gotten through. I guess that's the only difference I could notice when mowing, grass that might have barely slowed a gas mower caused the CM1936 to audibly drag. Not terribly mind you and it did cut the grass in those spots but it did have to work a little harder. Also the swath is a bit narrower than I am used to but once I adjusted to where I needed to be on subsequent rows I no longer noticed it. Finally, I chose to use the mulching insert instead of the bag for this mowing and it worked great, at least at the middle blade height I used.
What was pleasant to find out is that I believe I could have done the entire lawn on one charge. I was assuming our lawn took up about half of our one acre property but perhaps it's a bit less than that. Still, with me bungling the first charge, I still got through 80% of the lawn; the rest is under pines where the grass grows more slowly and where I had yet to rake up the pine cones. Now I'm wondering if buying a second battery when I got the mower was prudent or even necessary. Still, if I keep this mower and use it for the number of years I hope to then I suspect some day I may want another battery and I'd hate to not be able to get one in years to come.
So far so good and as I use this mower this 2010 season I will come back and update this review with any new revelations, problems, insights etc.
Pros:
Easy instant start! Pull cord? What's that? ;)
Mows almost exactly like a gas mower IE very well.
Seems well built.
Easy to remove battery means if I have a spare that's charged, mowing an area bigger than one charge is simple to do.
No gasoline and/or oil mess, no plugs to replace, no bad smells.
Manual states battery should be charging unless in use. I think this is a good thing as if you can remember to plug it in when done, you will always have a mower fully charged when it comes time to mow again.
Appears as though I will be able to mow whole lawn on one charge.
Cons:
Could not buy locally; if one has to pay for shipping it will likely be quite a bit as mower is heavy.
I'm tall (6'6") and the handle height is a bit low for me and caused me a bit of back strain. I thought I read somewhere that it could be raised so I will look into that. If not, that's something to think about if you are tall.
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Reviews with images
Durable effective mower - Wish it had a NIMH battery
I was concerned about the plastic body and fact that this uses a lead acid battery (albeit a sealed gel pack). The battery is a bit heavy to be lugging into the air-conditioned house where charging temperatures and humidity are more ideal than the garage and although sealed should technically not be charged indoors due to minimal outgassing (they do have tiny bleed holes), and lead acid batteries do not have the life span or the capacity for their weight that a NIMH pack would have.In spite of this, at least with a fresh pack (only used it four times now), it mulches great and it feels really solid.This is my first electric mower, and while I can feel that it is less powerful than my gas mower, it is not underpowered for maintaining a lawn (set it to max height and push slower if you allowed your yard to get to jungle length first) and feels very solid with excellent height adjustment.Not having to do any maintenance, deal with gas transportation and smell, and reduced vibration and noise are great pluses that keep me happy. I just hope the battery lasts. Be mindful of the size of your yard though, or purchase a second battery to swap.-----------Update: Having used this mower for near a year now, I have found that the single battery has plenty of capacity for my mid-size front and back lawn together. Capacity does not appear to have diminished any to date. Using the medium height adjustment (minimum height listed as ideal mulching), the mulching performance has been great, and the lawn is looking very healthy (see pic). Bottom-line, for small to medium size flat lawns, I would very much recommend this over a gas mower, and it appears to be the best battery mower from a size/performance/value perspective currently. If you have a very large or steeply inclined, stick with a gas riding mower.Update 7.12.16: 6 years later, the battery is surprisingly as strong as on day 1! Nothing has broken. Amazing! O_O
