New Black & Decker 16" Li-Ion Battery powered Lawn Mower

[MowerMike]

Black & Decker joins the lithium-ion battery powered lawn mower wars.



It comes with two 40 volt 2 Ah batteries that provide a combined 30 minute run time, and a 9.5 gallon grass bag. There are six height positions from 1.2 to 3.2 inches with a single adjustment lever, and the handle folds fully for storage. The weight is 38 lbs. MSRP is $330 and warranty is 2 years. Hopefully B&D will follow up with a full size model to replace their aging heavy lead acid battery powered lawn mower models.

 

[066]

any idea of what the recharge time is on the batterys?

 

[MowerMike]

any idea of what the recharge time is on the batteries?

According to B&D, the 40 volt 2 Ah batteries will recharge within 2 hours (120 minutes).

Black & Decker Tools | <p>40v Max* Fast Charger</p> LCS36

 

[bee-man]

Just received mine today. Here are my initial impressions:


Arrived from Amazon!


Very nice.



The physical battery size concerns me because I was expecting something that was considerably larger and heavier than my Makita 18V. Time will tell...


Storage mode.


Business end.


What? An unconnected spring? What kind of QC is going on here?


I wasn't about to return this back to Amazon, so I removed the cover for the height selector and...


found a home for the spring. It makes it easier to raise the cutting height.


Problem solved, I hope.


Not quite an edge max, but good enough.

It is still wet outside so I haven't got to test it yet. More to come.

 

[MowerMike]

Thanks for posting this detailed initial review. Please update when you have the opportunity to use it.

Also, could you please measure the blade length, which is a true indicator of the cutting path width.

Another question. Does it have a removable plug for mulching w/o the grass bag ?

 

[MowerMike]

I just confirmed today with CPO Outlets, who sell this mower, that it does not have a removable mulch plug and therefore cannot mulch the grass cuttings. It is strictly a bagger.

 

[bee-man]

Only got to mow twice (been raining a lot). No problems so far, and much easier than my manual push mower. I cut roughly every 2 weeks, so the grass isn't too long. I am able to do 2/3 of my property (the entire front and one side of the house) before a battery change. Comments:
* Grass catch is a little on the small side, but sufficient for my needs.
* Cutting path feels narrow, which leads me to my next comment...
* The blade is 14.75 inches! How can they specify a 16" mower?
* As mentioned by MowerMike, no mulching plug.

Overall, not bad for $329. Right now Amazon has a $20 coupon so it can be had for $309 shipped. Here are more pics and a short video clip of my property so that potential buyers have an idea of what to expect.


Futuristic looking mower.


I was cheated! That's just wrong.


16" is the diameter of the plastic surrounding the blade.

Keep comments relevant, and let's not make fun of the small property.

 

[MowerMike]

Thanks for the great review ! I see you have discovered the new marketing tactic of rating the mower size by deck width rather than blade length. This is actually quite common with electric mowers, and if you read the fine print in the specifications, you'll see that nowhere do they say anything about blade length, which is typically 1" less than the deck width. It's very annoying in practice, because you have to remember to overlap the wheel tracks and you can't get as close to walls and fences. Anyway, it's good to see that you can complete your yard w/o depleting both batteries. Are you wearing flip-flops ?

 

[MowerMike]

New Black & Decker 20" Li-Ion Battery powered Lawn Mower

It looks like B&D has added a larger 20" Li-Ion mower to their stable. I found it listed on Amazon, although it has yet to appear on B&D's website. Unlike the 16" mower, which can only bag the clippings, this one is a 3 in 1, with mulching, bagging and side discharge, and uses larger capacity 2.5 Ah 40 volt batteries.

Amazon.com : Black & Decker CM2040 CM2040 Lithium 3-in-1 Cordless Mower, 20-Inch, 40-volt : Patio, Lawn & Garden



Note, if you look closely at the last image, you can see that there is also a corded electric version of this mower.

 

[bee-man]

Thanks for the update. My mower is still going strong, though I have had to sharpen the blade a few times and it seems like the batteries are slowly holding less charge. To be expected. Though my property is small, I still wouldn't mind moving to a larger blade size so that I can reduce the number of passes. I have been drooling over the EGO line from HD, and will probably upgrade to that once my mower dies.