Customer Reviews:
 yes-i would buy this again September 30, 2008
works like a dream for my med. sized yard - only wish there was some way the factory would install a "low battery" light so I know where to stop in my lawn so that while it is recharging (over night) the people on my street won't look at me strange... do buy this item!!!!
Great Mower September 29, 2008
I have an acre lot that I mow with this mower. It takes two charges, but it gets the job done. I do not have to buy gas, oil or spark plugs any more. It starts every time- No more fighting with a gas mower that will not run.
 poor engineering September 26, 2008
When my CMM1200 arrived from Amazon, the height adjustment was inoperable.
I looked in the bottom of the box and found one of those cheap "locking washers". There's a bar that goes from the front wheel to the rear wheel that connects to the height adjuster. The bar had come loose from the shaft it attaches to. To re-attach the bar, one has to kneal on the front of the mower while lifting up on the rear of the mower until the hole in the bar lines up with the shaft. For the time being I re-installed the "locking washer", but my guess is that it will continue to fall off in use. Why Black and Decker didn't put a hole in the shaft with a pin is beyond me. If they can't get the little stuff right it concerns me as to the reliability of the rest of the mower.
 Poor engineering September 25, 2008
My old version of this mower just stopped working and the repair guy said it would cost $250 for a new starter, new battery... So I bought a new one. He said that the new ones were not as well manufactured. I couldn't imagine how you could make things worse (it is a simple product and just adopting improvement over the years should be really easy).
But, the starter on this model is horrible. You have to tun this incredibly cheap key in a very poorly designed socket. Fails over 80% of the time. The old model started easily essentially every time. The design was just as you would expect, foolproof. Whatever pointy haired boss approved this designed needs to go into another line of work.
The ability of the mower to cope with high grass is very poor - much worse than the previous model. I had a good test at first given the time between my mower breaking and getting the new one. Not often an issue, but still not a good thing.
They had a poor indication of the charge left in the battery previously. They now provide no indication of the charge left. It makes you realize that a poor indication was much better than none.
Battery technology has improved a great deal, and that was one of biggest the weaknesses of the last one. Well they seem to have managed to provide worse battery performance after 5 years of improvement in that technology. Pretty sad.
The bag design is much better than the previous model. You have to assemble it yourself but it is much more sturdy and much better designed - you can replace the fabric and keep the frame. The old model the entire things needed to be replaced if the fabric broke. And given the flimsy design mine broke very early on.
The old model has an extremely cheap hand hold (rubber over the medal to cushion your hands) that broke within months. This one seems to have the same very poor hand holds - that are already breaking.
The new design (again some pointy haired boss decision, I imagine, I sure hope no engineer suggested this) has a flimsy plastic handle that you most hold with 1 hand of the mower power goes off. The old model had a solid medal bar that either hand could control. This is extremely annoying if you have to maneuver (around bushes, into tight areas...) and don't have the flexibility to let go with one hand ever.
Sadly, until some managers leave Toyota and found a company based on the management and engineering principles at Toyota I am not confident any other manufacturer will do any better. Pretty sad that so many obviously bad engineering decisions can be apparent so quickly and that companies making such decisions actually stay in business.
Electric lawn mowers are definitely preferable for cost, ease of maintenance and environmental reasons to gas mowers. So I will keep using this mower, but it worse than the previous model (the bag seems to be the only improvement), which I find extremely lame. Companies should improve products over time, not go backwards.
Better then I expected ! September 25, 2008
I was able to pick this mower up brand new off of ebay at a considerable discount last winter. I have been using it since the first cut of spring and....i really like it. No gas, no mess, no smell, no spark plugs. It has more than enough power for my yard(50X100)and i love the easy wheel adjustment which adjusts the whole deck at once. Quiet? Yes a bit quieter then the gas mowers, which is nice. I have had better cuts with gas mowers but i will not be taking out my gas mower again unless this thing breaks down. If the longevity is high with this mower i will consider it a wise purchase.
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