Customer Reviews

CEL CY1 POWERmow 16-Inch 24-Volt 7 amp Cordless Electric Reel Lawn Mower with Grass Bag

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Note: Please read the entire review, I appended updates to the bottom.

I bought this mower partially based on the review here, and I'm glad I did. I was originally looking at traditional rotary mowers (cordless electric), all of which were more expensive than this mower. I'm glad I saved some money. I have a smallish yard, living in a small city, with a wraparound yard and 8' wide grass between the sidewalk and streets (it's on the corner). I would guess 1/4 acre size, but I don't really know off-hand...

The very first time I used this, this May, was a morning after it rained and the lawn had not been cut yet that year. The grass was thick, wet and ready for a fight. The mower performed really well. I had to go back over spots or walk extra slow a few times, but generally I walked as fast as I would with a rotary on this sort of grass and it cut just as well. It lasted almost the whole lawn on one battery charge, too, so in normal mowing I'm not worried about battery life whatsoever. It's very light and easy to maneuver, much lighter than I thought it would be.

I've never used a reel mower before. I don't use the bag so it shoots the grass out at my shins and knees, so I made a simple cardboard shield. Not a big deal. Also, it's impossible to get edges (that a rotary would get), around trees and along the curb and sidewalk--anywhere that the height varies--so you may want to get a trimmer if you don't have one. The wheels take up some width, and then the casing does, THEN you get to the blade, so there is probably 2-3" of non-cutting stuff on either side and an inch or two in front before the blade comes into play.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a small to average lawn. I would only not recommend it if you have an acre or more of lawn, or mostly little tricky bits to mow around. Hopefully I'll get some solar panels hooked up soon and be able to charge it from the sun. :)

Update (2011-06-08): I'm taking two stars off; it's OK. Well, almost EXACTLY one year after I got it, it broke. One year and one month. The blades are nearly impossible to turn by hand (not pushing the mower, that doesn't work, I mean manually with the mower flipped). I cleared out the grass inside it and around the spindle but it's still almost impossible to rotate when flipped on its side. I turned it on once, for a split second, and it made a high-pitched screeching/scratching noise, as if it were stripping or something. I hope it isn't permanently broken. IIRC< it did this when I was using it without the mower engaged, showing it to someone. I have no idea what to do, now. I will try to contact CEL and update with what they say.

Update (2011-06-26): Finding the company was a little difficult, their web site is [...], but the US contact responded quickly. My mower was just a month or two past the warranty period and had siezed up completely; I could barely turn the blades with both hands. Before, I could spin them a dozen times with the flick of a finger. I emailed their US support contact (who is actually VP of sales). He sent me a used display model they had and it's working perfectly. I just had to snap my handle on to it and was up and running. I took apart my siezed mower (it's actually pretty simple inside), cleaned everything and lubricated it, and got that fixed (I think). It spins by hand now. I think the bearings just dried out, and needed to be lubricated. Some WD-40 and motor oil seems to have fixed it. I haven't mowed with it yet, though. The bearings may not be sealed well.

Overall I'm satisfied with the mower and support. The company seems sketchy because they don't have much US market penetration, AFAICT, but they were more helpful than most US companies I've dealt with. The mower does lose power quickly in long or wet grass, which is to be expected, but it starts to struggle more quickly than a gas engine would. However, I don't mind, I just mow more slowly or back up, let the grass fall out, and move forward a little--making slow progress. Mowing more often would be a better idea, if possible (we just had 2 weeks of rain straight). Another problem is with the way the casing is designed: there are inches of plastic ahead of the blades, so if you try to cut a weed or something stiff, it just bends down when pushed by this plastic and never meets the blades. The result is that many of the stronger grass or weeds don't get cut without rotating the mower directly over them. It's easier just to yank on them by hand; I might modify the casing to avoid this. I let the clippings fall and decay, feeding the lawn (no grass bag). This created a problem: the spinning blades threw the grass clippings all over me, even staining my knees! Impressive. Anyway, I cut up a cardboard box and zip-tied it on to the handle to act as a deflector, so now they just hit that and fall down. Lastly, the mower can't get corners or edges well at all; you will need a weed timmer/whacker. Overall though these problems are minor, or expected, or can be easily worked around. I like this mower and would recommend it for anyone with a small to average lawn (a lawn that takes 1-2 hours to push mow).

Plus - lightweight and plenty of battery power for a small yard - eco friendly

Minus - flimsy blade setup - it does't cut evenly and requires mulltiple passes to get all the grass cut. Might be okay for a very small yard like at a townhouse.

Very disappointed. I'm not sure if I'll use it much longer.

Our experience with POWERmow has been nothing short of OUTSTANDING.
Firstly, my husband just loves the options of battery or push; and especially likes the cut of the grass. wonderful.
Even more important was the SERVICE we received during this transaction.
We had a question and was contacted by the VP OF SALES, a polite, friendly, knowledgeable gentleman who assisted us
with care and consideration throughout the purchase. Their attention to detail and customer satisfaction is the best
we have ever received in any on line purchase.
The mower is fantastic; delivery was swift; personal attention was the best.
What more could you possibly want.
Buy with confidence!
The Segers

Enjoying this mower a lot. We have Bermuda grass (along with weeds) and since starting to cut with the POWERmow the weeds are very much under control. The mower does not always get all of the crabgrass, but I'm working on getting rid of that. Had a mechanical issue which was dealt with very quickly by the company.

Hi Sam, It sounds like your blade is not correctly adjusted. Take care of the cylinder blade while adjusting the fixed blade as it will turn when you rotate the wheels.
You will have received a hex key with the mower that fits 2 hex bolts on the underside of the mower.
Turn the mower on its side so it balances on one wheel, tighten the uppermost hex bolt gradually while spinning the cylinder blade.
Stop when the cylinder blade makes a slight noise as it touches the fixed blade.
Turn the mower onto its other wheel and tighten the other hex nut until you hear the same noise.
A correctly adjusted blade will make a scissor like sound as the blades make contact, when running this sound should be audible but not too loud.
This adjustment will make your mower cut much more efficiently.

I bought this CEL CY1 Powermow
from Amazon. The power of this
machine is very weak, so it gets
stuck so easily. Since this item
can not be returned, I just
have it stored in my garage and
am wondering what to do with it.

Ok I have a couple of areas of lawn that take about a full charge to mow if the grass is dry and not too long. I cut about once a week weather permitting and except for a couple of times when I ran out of juice and had to hand mow to finish I am well pleased.

So why only three stars.

Well the design of this reel mower has a couple of drawbacks (just like the original push variants from long ago). The grass thrown at you is a nuisance and the bag is too small needing to be emptied every two or three stripes down the lawn. Worse though is the fact that the side wheels mean that you cannot mow to the edge of the lawn requiring that you man handle it on one wheel to get a decent level edge. Really badly done guys. Fiskars solved the problem with an arrangement that provides a full width cylinder.

My biggest gripe though is the fact that after 1.75 summers (i still expect to cut my grass a few more times) I have now to order a replacement battery at $69 since the one I have died completely without warning (- beyond the fact that it never once showed fully charged all this summer no matter how long I left it charging).

I want to be eco friendly and NOT use a gas mower, but the disposal of a Lead Acid battery every two years wipes out that benefit in a heartbeat.

Had I known I was going to have a cost profile of $200 initial outlay plus $35 per year for battery replacements I think I would not have bought this device.

Perhaps their Lithium Ion Battery will last longer we shall have to wait and see once it becomes available. Meanwhile, suggestions as to what I do with the 11lb acid filled brick would be welcome.

I purchased this mower because I was looking for a reel-type mower to manicure my front lawn. This does not do the job. It leaves the grass looking choppy. It misses a lot of blades and a person needs to mow the same area two or three times to get all of the blades of grass cut. I feel the reel turns too rapidly to catch all of the grass blades. I have not tried to use it as a regular push mower without the power being turned on. However, at this point it is sitting in the storage shed and I am not sure if I want to get it out. One other thing, the power kept turning off during mowing. I needed to reset the start button and the power handle several times during mowing. This was in a half-hour mow. I guess I ws looking for a push reel mower like I had 60 years ago. This does not fill the bill.

I bought this mower after years of using a manual reel mower in a succession of relatively small urban yards. I was looking for something that would be less work to use and easier to use around non-straight areas (where the momentum loss from turning makes a non-powered mower a real problem).

I wanted to avoid the awful emissions, noise, and smell of a gas powered mower, and my small garage made the smaller size of this mower really attractive compared to other electric options.

Assembly was a breeze, and while I did have some issues with the first mower the sent, I found prompt and very helpful support from the company that successfully resolved all of my problems. The mower is easy to use, does a good job cutting, and is much quieter than gas mowers.

This probably isn't a great mower if you have a large yard (> 1/2 acre), but for those of us with smaller plots, it's one of the best options I'm aware of.

I received this mower in February and watched as the UPS driver dropped it hard in the snowy street...slight crack to the housing of the battery...but only cosmetic.

Anyway, after waiting for the snows to melt, I was able to begin using it at the end of March. This is Mid-June so I've had about 3 months use. I live in Kansas, with a mixed fescue, rye, blue (and some that have not yet been identified) type of yard. I'm an average size 59 year old male....and out of shape. I bought the house in December, and it is my first lawn in 20 years. My lawn is 6-7,000 square feet, rolling (uphill both ways) not steep and a sun and shade mixture with thick spots and thin spots. Ok, enough background.

I gave this 4 stars because it is just what I expected and a little more.

First the battery charge is great. I have yet to run out of charge even after spring rains made the grass really thick and I had to walk slow and cut some areas twice. At this point my neighbor was struggling to get through his grass with a gasoline mulching mower, but mine was going right through as long as I walked slowly.

Speaking of the neighbors, many walk by and ask about it, and of course I let them mow a strip or two. Kind of a Tom Sawyer sort of thing...getting my yard mowed by others...but I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon.

I have often used this as just a manual push mower. I think it weighs in at under 40 lbs, but the battery weighs about 10 lbs. and the grass catcher another 2-3 so just as a manual reel mower, it probably weighs 25 lbs or so...and light enough to lift with one hand. Without the motor, it is more of a workout, not because the mower is heavy or hard to push, but because you have to walk faster. I usually have to break up my lawn into cardio bites, but my 20 something daughter did most of my 4,000 sq ft back yard without a break.

With the electric motor running, I find it is a joy to use. Unless the grass gets tall, I don't use the catcher. The catcher is about what I expected, falls off sometimes, and as it fills, adds to the weight of the mower, and some of the grass flies around or over the catcher. Still it's useful when the lawn gets too long.

How about tall weeds and stalks. Yeah, I didn't expect it to do well on these, and it doesn't. I think that is one drawback inherent with all reel mowers. Still, if you have a golf course quality lawn (and I do in some spots), you get a gold course quality cut.

Here is the one thing that kept me from giving 5 stars. After 3 months the mower has developed a squeak. This isn't really mechanical, it just occurs as the blade rubs against the straight cutting bar and it's more noticeable in manual not electric mode. Once it's cutting grass, the noise disappears, but in the garage or on the driveway, it's annoying. I can eliminate the noise by backing off the gap a little, but that doesn't cut as well.

However, I emailed CEL UK about this little problem, and they emailed back with some recommendations in just a few hours...really good and honest customer service. I have yet to try their suggestions, so will update this as I do.

All in all, I wanted a reel mower for quality of cut, but I wanted electric for power, and I didn't want to fool with gasoline. I hoped that this would cover all of the bases which it did. When I'm feeling energetic, or want a workout, I can just use it as a manual reel mower. When I'm feeling lazy, or the grass is thicker, I have the power to deal with that. In my opinion, I got the best of both worlds.