Customer Reviews:
 Satisfied customer September 9, 2008
Having read all the reviews, I was hesitant to throw this much money at a battery powered lawn mower. But, so far (4 uses...area is about 1800 sq. ft) I have had NO problems. The wheels are still on. The battery has plenty of juice. Its not too heavy to roll from the front yard to the back and best of all, the grass was cut very cleanly and the mulching is so fine that it is not noticed after cutting. All in all, it is worth the $. I had a 5 hp gas rotary and then a European manual push reel. Both of those had their own unique problems that made mowing a real pain in the ...! This Black and Decker model(19" 24v) seems to be a quality tool. mike b.
 BEWARE WARRANTY REPAIR September 8, 2008
Before buying this item beware of the issues involved with a warranty repair. I had my Black and Decker CMM1200 mower for only 4 months when the battery/charging system failed. The nearest factory authorized service was OVER 100 MILES AWAY. When I called Black and Decker's consumer '800' number, I was told to:
A. Mail the mower to be repaired.
B. Drive the mower to the service center for repair.
c. Fix it myself and void the warranty.
Needless to say, I will not buy a Black and Decker product again, EVER!
 CMM1200 Black & Decker cordless 19" mower ... NICE September 8, 2008
What a difference from a gasoline mower. Loved my 20+ year old Honda, self-propelled, 21" mulching mower. I mulched every root, leaf, and branch up to 1" for years - but it was noisey, belched smoke, leaked oil, rattled & shook, and may well have self distructed soon, so off to the recycling center. The B&D is so light it needs no self-propel, very easy to adjust height, QUIET, uses no gas or oil (no more trips to the gas station due to an empty gas can - & no fumes in the car)... so no leaks. Never struggles to start after a long winter or on a cold day. BUT, is is a relative lightweight - no mulching branches, no powering through thick 3" wet fall grass. Only 45 minutes of regular mowing (OK for my 0.25 acre yard if I mow before it gets too tall) Otherwise a great, GREEN choice.
Not perfect, but I'm happy with it. September 6, 2008
I purchased this mower partially out of spite. I'm sick and tired of having the oil companies run my life, so this seemed like a good chance to deny them access to my wallet when I mow the lawn. All of our other lawn accessories are electric, so with this purchase, I no longer need a gas can or oil.
Having said that, this mower isn't as well-designed as it could be. The cutting height adjustment seems flimsy. Out of the box, our mower kept sinking to its lowest cutting height by itself. I don't know if ours is defective or if they are all like this one. I had to monkey with it for about 15 minutes to get it to stay locked at a height setting. Since then, it has stayed at the cutting height I selected with no additional incidents, but I am not looking forward to having to change the cutting height in the future. For the record, I followed the manual's instructions to set the cutting height but did not attempt to contact Black & Decker for additional help.
Our yard is 1/4 acre and we have very thick burmuda grass. Our lawn had not been mowed for about three weeks prior to this purchase, so the grass was very tall. Our first attempt to mow the whole property ran the mower's battery down several times, so we had to mow in stages and wait for the mower to recharge between attempts. I would guess it took us six mowing sessions with charging time between each session to get the yard back under control. I don't blame the mower for this, but if you are like me and you skip an occasional week during mowing season, don't expect this mower to chew through a lot of tall grass on a single charge.
Since that difficult first cut, the mower has completed the front yard and the back yard with a single charge between the two sessions. I doubt it would have completed the entire property on a single charge, but we always mow the front yard and the back yard on different days, so we'll probably never answer that question.
I love the idea of a cordless electric mower. Although my experience with this one has been limited, I would purchase one again if I had it to do over. It seems a little flimsy and had the height adjustment issue in my case, but it's clean and quiet and seems to meet our needs.
Good but unwieldy September 6, 2008
I like my new cordless mower. It works well (but then it should, as it's new!). Mowing without an electric cord is a delight. The only drawback I see, so far, is that the mower is quite heavy, rather cumbersome, and difficult to maneuver. You get quite an upper-body workout while mowing. That said, given the noise and pollution of gas-powered mowers, I would never go back to a non-electric mower.
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