I purchased the Lawn Hog 12amp 19" from Amazon.com in April/2005. I have a large yard area. My front and back yards combined equal, at least, approximately 8,000sq. ft.
Over the years, I have had numerous different gas mowers. My last gas mower was a Sears 6.5HP 22" Self-Propelled with a Briggs&Stratton engine.
Pulling 15-20 times to start it (sometimes it took even more pulls) gets very tiring and frustrating! Don't they all claim a "3-push 1-Pull Start"? I decided to search online at Amazon.com for reviews of electric mowers. I hate having to mess with gas, oil, tune-ups, noise, shaking that made my hands numb during mowing (which I finally mitigated by wearing gel-padded cycling gloves).
My grass is "tall fescue" - it grows very thick - I live in the high desert in the Antelope Valley, CA (elev. 2346 ft.). As you can probably guess, it gets quite hot here during mid-to-late summer (105-115+). Even when I start mowing early (9-11am) it is already near 100 degrees so, I searched for the most powerful electric mower I could find. I wanted to make sure my time spent under the sun would not exceed that of a gas powered unit of equal power. Just as other reviewers have stated it arrived in a big box on my front porch. Assembling the handle and attaching the bagger was a snap. It IS a two-prong input into the handle of the Lawn Hog - I already had that type of cord. I plugged it in, pulled up the orange handle up and WHAMO! It roared to power!
In my opinion, this mower is comparable to a 6.5HP gas mower - others may disagree but I will tell you, this thing is POWERFUL. It cuts the grass with the cleanest cut out of any mower I have ever owned and does no damage to the lawn sprouts (as long as you do not set the height adjustment to scalp your lawn). The height adjustment is fingertip easy.
TIP#1: To assure the bag fills evenly
With the bag empty - cut for about 2-3 minutes, stop the mower, take off the bag, shake the accumulated contents to the rear of the bag and put the bag back on the Lawn Hog. Now you should be able to cut until the bagger reaches capacity and it will fill evenly.
TIP#2 KEEPING THE CORD OUT OF THE CUTTING PATH
Say, for instance, you want to mow your lawn up and down in an East-to-West pattern moving north as you mow. Uncoil your cord and accumulate it 5-10 feet away from you to the South - now, you will always be mowing and moving away from the cord location and, as long as you do not jerk a lot with your turns, the cord will not get in the way.
You may also want to consider purchasing a few plastic/steel spikes and situate them at strategic points on your lawn perimeter. Place the cord appropriately behind the spikes - this will stop the cord from following you and getting in your path - it takes experimentation but eventually you will get to know the perfect points to place them allowing you to mow nearly as effortlessly as with a free reign mower.
TIP#3 KEEPING THE UNDERCARRIAGE FREE OF DEBRIS BUILDUP
It is important to keep the undercarriage of the mower free and clear of debris, ESPECIALLY THE BLADE - a dull blade will make a dull cut and will start damaging your grass sprouts. This will cause browning and leave the lawn shoots exposed to disease, rot, insects etc. At lawncare.scotts.com website (by the way, a WEALTH of everyday practical information is located there about everything regarding lawn care, flowers, shrubs etc.) I came across a tip that suggested:
COATING THE BOTTOM OF YOUR MOWER WITH A NON-STICK SPRAY - they suggested any Non-Stick Oven/Pan Food spray would do. I purchased a can of PAM spray. The next time I cut the lawn, I first cleaned the undercarriage as well as I could by scraping it with a 3-inch plastic paint scraper. I was careful not to push on the blade too much for fear of throwing it out of balance. I then turned the Lawn Hog upside down and leaned it up against my garage wall (can't do this with a gas mower, can ya?!) and sprayed the inside with a thin coating of PAM (including the blade). I set the Lawn Hog down, right side up, and waited about 5 minutes to allow the spray to adhere. (The undercarriage of the Lawn Hog, which houses the blade, is plastic so be careful if you use any metallic scraping tools - you can easily put gouge marks into the undercarriage causing even worse accumulation of dirt, grass, unbalancing the blade etc. making it harder to clean up). I then cut my entire lawn. When I was done, I propped the Lawn Hog up against my fence and was happy to find minimal grass/dirt accumulation. I got busy with my 3-inch plastic paint scraper and the scrapings came off with nominal effort. Even the residue on the blade came off easily. THIS REALLY WORKS and it is relatively inexpensive too!
NOTE: SPRAY COAT THE BOTTOM BEFORE YOUR FIRST USE! It will make subsequent cleaning a breeze (I wish I had read about this tip before my first mow).
The Lawn Hog is very light and easy to push. As the bag accumulates, it takes a tiny bit more effort to push, but for me, it is negligible.
I used the Lawn Hog from April to June when I decided that a riding mower might prove better in reducing my physical exertion. I purchased a Sears 13.5HP Riding mower. All the headaches associated with gas, oil etc. started coming back to haunt me but I figured I owed it to myself to try. The first mow was a breeze. The next week I went out to start it and it was dead. I waited two weeks for replacement parts. After repairs, during which time I used the dependable Lawn Hog, the Riding mower ran fine but then, one of the front tires went flat and would not reseat itself properly. Another repair call, another delay. I noticed that no matter how I used the 6-position height adjustments the riding mower sometimes scalped areas of my grass and sometimes left other areas too long in length. I then attempted to change the riding mowers oil - WHAT A MISTAKE! The oil outlet valve did not protrude past the side edge of the riding mower and the oil spilled all over my garage floor and the mower housing itself. I decided, "THAT'S IT"! I returned it to Sears.
I am now happily mowing my lawn with the Lawn Hog and I cannot even imagine, in my wildest dreams, ever going back to an environmentally insane, stinky, oily, noisy, shaking gas mower of any kind.
By the way, the mulching function works fantastic and I now mulch much more than I bag, just remember to keep the blade clean.
I AM VERY HAPPY AND PLEASED WITH THIS MOWER.
I hope this has helped. Black & Decker MM875 Lawn Hog 19-Inch 12 amp Electric Mulching Mower with Rear Bag - Lawn Mower - Eco-friendly - Black And Decker - Electric Mower'
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