Craftsman V60 Battery Powered Mowers - Any Experience?

[Newell33]

Hi Guys

I've been looking at a battery powered self propelled 21 inch mower to replace an older Craftsman Honda powered mower that I've had for years. I've casually been looking at Ego, Greenworks, Ryobi, and other brands. Most of the reviews for these units are pretty good, but a lot of the same issues come up in the negative reviews. Aside from the "didn't work out of the box," or the "worked for 5 minutes and quit" type reviews that are understandable with a certain small percentage of products, I see quite a few reviews across multiple brands that mention poor suction and a poorer cut than the gas mowers that they replaced. I also see quite a few mentions of poor knob or handle designs, as well as poor deck adjustment mechanisms.

Recently I noticed that both Lowe's and Menards are offering the fairly new Craftsman (Stanley Black and Decker) V60 line of mowers. The CMCMW270Z1 self propelled model looks pretty nice, and seems to have all of the features that I'm after (https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-...21-in-Cordless-Electric-Lawn-Mower/1000730256). There aren't a lot of reviews so far, but the ones I do see are all positive.

Battery platform is not a big concern to me at this point in time. I'm currently invested in the M18 lineup, and have a Milwaukee M18 string trimmer for outdoor power equipment. I also own a Lynxx 40V blower from Harbor Freight. If I purchase any additional battery powered equipment such as pole saws, chainsaws, etc, it will likely be under one of those those two platforms. Battery run time is also not a huge concern. I have an acre of property, and use my utility tractor to mow most of it. The push style / self propelled mower is only used for a few smaller sections of yard that I can't quite get to with the larger mower (probably 10 to 15 minutes of mowing).

The new V60 line up of tools looks pretty nice, but I'm a bit hesitant looking at Craftsman right now. Does anyone have any first hand experience with the new V60 self propelled mower, or the new V60 line up in general?

 

[Newell33]

Since the V60 mowers are quite new, I decided to give one a shot on Friday afternoon. I used it for the first time tonight. It’s no replacement for my gas mower, that’s for sure. I’ve already got it boxed back up and ready to return tomorrow. There’s a half second delay every time you push the self propel lever. Then every time you let go of the lever and pull the mower backwards the wheels stay locked. You have to push the mower forward again to release it. Imagine how fun that is when maneuvering around a tree or obstacle. I also found the lever to be awkward to use, and the entire push handle assembly too long.

It also doesn’t cut near as well as my gas mower, and its lowest setting is higher than my 2nd lowest setting on the gas unit. On setting number 1 it barely looked like I had mowed, and there was no way to match the the cut of my 62 inch deck on my utility tractor used on the rest of the property.

The only positives are it was quiet, and I only used one of the three bars on the battery (just trim work).

I thought about trying one of the other brands, but they seem to have similar issues with the cut. I think I’ll just stick with my gas powered unit as it performs quite well. I’m not sure the tech is quite ready on the electric mowers.