Black & Decker CMM1200

I bought this mower last summer (2008). I call it my "magic lawnmower" because it's so very delightful. It runs quieter than a gas-powered mower (but not a whole lot quieter), and it doesn't smell of… poorly-combusted gasoline. I have two complaints: I got a warranty repair for the switch axle which others have explained is poor design. The cut is not particularly even. I often cut the same spot twice (or use a very narrow pass) to get it level enough for my taste. Another commenter noted that the key switch is flimsy for its purpose and I agree, but it hasn't caused me any trouble. When I discuss this mower with friends, a few items come up: 1) It still uses energy, so how does it help the environment? Economy of scale. Power plants, even burning coal, burn much cleaner than a 1-cylinder gasoline engine. Most of the smell to which I was accustomed from mowing is from burning gasoline, and everything you can smell is a volatile organic carbon - which is worse than CO2 for global warming. 2) How long does it run? I haven't run it out of power yet. Once I forgot to plug it in after cutting the lawn, and it made it through two passes of about 25 minutes each. Given that I can cut the whole yard in about 25 minutes with a 19" mower, you can surmise that it's not a very big lawn. 3) Is it heavy? I don't think so. It's heavier than the $100 Murray I replaced, but it's lighter than some self-propelled gas mowers I've pushed.

expand

collapse

I like the way the mower works, but the handle shouldn't break on a $400 dollar machine. It's pivot point is plastic and that broke off. Rather than go through the hassle of taking it to a service center I… just drilled a hole and put a bolt through the pivot point and it works fine. When I complained to their main office they ignored the point about the shoddy workmanship and instead told me I had voided my warranty. I figured the jerks would do that. I told them to print out my reply in triplicate, wad it up, and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

expand

collapse

I've been using this mower for a year now. It doesn't have the juice to do my entire lawn, but I don't care. I love that I can mow with my kids around and not worry about choking them with exhaust and the… hazard of storing gasoline in the garage. (Did you know that running a conventional gas mower creates the same pollution as 8 cars running at the same time?) But I digress. It cuts great (I usually use either the highest or second-highest setting) and I always use the mulch setting. Battery run time has been steady at about 40-45 minutes, even with taller grass. The only problem I had with the CMM1200 is with the safety handle assembly. Perhaps they've updated this in the past year, but the handle that needs to be held in while mowing (or else it shuts off) is on the fragile side. I found out because I was holding in the handle while I "bounced" the mower a little bit on my driveway to dislodge some wet grass that I had gotten stuck up under the deck. And spang! Something snapped and the mower shut off. Anyway, I had to drive 40 minutes to an authorized warranty repair shop, but they had it good as new--with a sturdier handle--in about 20 minutes. (If this happens to you, just look up service or repairs on the Black and Decker site.) The folks didn't even need to see the mower receipt or anything. Anyhow, while that was a hassle, I love this mower! Now only if we had the know-how to build cars that ran on electricity, we'd be on to something...

expand

collapse