Stop That Noisy Polluting Mower
The August Issue of Wired had a great little piece on noise making, air-polluting mowers vs. the new electric, and quiet earth friendly next generation mower.
Here’s the scoop…
Silent Green
That new Prius may impress your eco-fascist neighbors, but your noisy gas mower? It spews as much pollution in an hour as 11 cars. That’ll never get you on Al Gore’s Christmas card list. To help you clean up your lawn care act, we pushed the latest electric mowers more than 3 miles. That’s a lot of yard.
Sunlawn EM-2
$379 – www.sunlawn.com
Don’t be put off by the Sunlawn’s throwback appearance. It’s motor driven reel blades chopped down 4-inch-tall grass with gusto and 8-inch weeds in two passes – mowing a third of an acre on a single charge. Best of all, at 39 pounds it was the lightest cordless lawn razor in our test, requiring minimal effort to out around.
Wired: Handle pivots into a vertical position for storage, taking up about half the floor space of a standard mower. Sealed lead acid batteries are readily available, cheap and a snap to replace.
Tired: Tiny grass catcher means frequent emptying; you’ll ditch it on larger lawns. Setting blade height involves two separate adjustments.
Black & Decker 24V CMM1200
$400 – www.blackanddecker.com
It looks like a traditional gas model and decimates overgrown brush with ease. But with great power comes great back pain: B&D’s grass chopper is frickin’ heavy – 76 pounds! We were psyched when its battery gave out after only a quarter acre; we were already sore.
Wired: Activation lever simple to operate. Spring assisted deck height adjustment doesn’t require Popeye arms to operate.
Tired: Permanently installed battery limits lifespan. Safety key tricky to use, rendering it not only childproof but adultproof. Expensive.
Cub Cadet CC 500 EL
$229 – www.cubcadet.com
With a heavy steel deck and brawny wheels, the Cub Cadet is the Hummer of the bunch. It delivered the most power by far, cutting 10-inch grass without slowing down. But its 51 pounds of corded girth made human frailty the limiting factor: We couldn’t push very fast.
Wired: Comfortable handle. Grass catcher a cinch to empty. Clever angled bottom stays clear of the ground during wheelie turns.
Turns: Corded. Lifting the heavy deck with the one handed height adjustment lever feels like pumping iron.
Worx WG712
$219 – www.worxpowertools.com
The Worx is beautiful, and it cut smoothly, leaving less pronounced stripes than the heavier models in our test. But the handle’s wonky angle had our forearms aching in minutes. Also the rigid grass catcher scraped the ground when we tilted back, complicating turns.
Wired: Light – 40 pounds. Simple cut height setting prevents lawn scalping. Folding handle makes the Worx easy to pick up or stow away.
Tired: Ergonomically challenged. Replacements for custom wheels tough to find; how fly will your mower look with mismatched rims?
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