Customer Reviews

LEHR LM139NP 20-Inch 5 HP 4-Cycle OHV Propane-Powered 2-in-1 Rear and Mulch Bag Eco Mower (CARB Compliant)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After a 3.5 month wait, this mower finally arrived...only to be immediately sent back due to quality control issues including "hanging" parts that obviously were never connected straight at the factory. Then again, what can you expect from items made "elsewhere" and shipped to the USA.

Okay, the saga of this lawnmower began months ago when I read about the new propane powered technology and thought this would be a terrific idea. As a landlord who needs to do a bit of odd maintenance in between vacancies, hauling a mower is always a dirty/messy and smelly job. No gas mess/smell, long term storage of propane plus the quiet, energy/eco friendly all sounded terrific so I put in an order even though there were not yet any reviews. Months go by and I wait...and wait...and wait. I contact the company to finally be told they are being shipped into the USA (hey - how eco-friendly is THAT?) and would arrive in another couple weeks (which they did). Total wait time...over 3 months.

The first mower finally arrives and must be immediately sent back/returned. There is a bar that goes from the back wheel to the front wheel on the right side of the machine that was never even attached...it was just hanging there, ready to interfere with the wheels if trying to mow. Obviously something missed at the factory - quality assurance isn't impressive.

The second mower promptly arrives thanks to Amazon and this one appears to have been put together right (no hanging parts). Overall it seems solid enough, very easy to use, quieter than a regular lawnmower but still fairly comparable to a standard push mower. Cut span is a bit small but reasonable. There is NOT a side discharge...only a back discharge so you either collect or mulch.

Speaking of the collection bag...it's a bit of a pain and much more difficult to remove than my old model standard mower (which was very durable and super easy/convenient). Suddenly bagging has become a major irritation again... a real negative since we like to use clipping in the compost pile.

Wheels and other parts are plastic like most mowers today...although very big and bulky so I'm not sure whether standard parts are going to fit should the need arise.

Overall, seems like a decent machine out of the box (the second one that is). Pro's and con's...

PRO's:
No gasoline
Super easy to use
Quieter - a bit
No notable deficiency in strength (standard yard...nothing special or difficult)

CON's:
Over 3 month wait to receive
Built overseas and shipped to USA (not so green)
Bagger is a big pain in the neck to attach/disattach/no side discharge option
Quality control issues - very sloppy and easily noticed problem with hanging pieces on first one received.

Questions:
Will standard replacement parts fit? Not sure yet especially on items like the wheels which seem much wider than regular mower wheels.

This is being written just hours after unpacking the mower, so opinions may change a bit after prolonged use.
First - it does work quite well, and as generally expected. It is easy to start, the design is clean, and the obvious lack of noxious exhaust is great. It is fairly easy to "assemble", which largely involves unfolding the handle and bolting it in place. That, and putting the bagger together are the two major mechanical steps. (I have not yet used the bagger, but I know from using other similar units that you have to be ready for frequent emptying unless you are doing a very small patch of grass.)
Before starting the mower it is necessary to put oil in it. Don't be confused by the the manual. It states that you must use service grades SF,SG, or SH 10W-30 oil. Good luck finding these as the API website lists these as obsolete. I'm assuming you just use regular SAE 10W-30 SM motor oil. I can only imagine that the technical writer for the manual was looking at some very old reference books!
Most irritating is that this is advertised as a Side Discharge mower. The manual even shows you how to attach the Side Discharge Shroud. Well, there is no shroud, and you will find no capability for side discharge short of cutting an opening in the mower deck with your saber saw! Lest I be misunderstood, let me restate; this product, advertised as SIDE DISCHARGE, definitely is not! So beware if this is an important consideration for you. You will only be able to run it with the bagger or as a mulching mower. Neither of these options may be optimal if you cut high and/or wet grass.
All in all, if you overlook the previously mentioned issues, this mower does seem to provide pretty good functionality with a lessened environmental impact.

I did alot of looking to try and be more eco-friendly with my mower choice. buying the lm139 was the wrong choice.I thought I was paying good money for a good idea and good product. It is a substandard product from the get go. When first unpacked I noticed a washer but found no other loose pieces. handle has nick in powder coat and is rusting from being poorly packed. The first pass of the yard the front end droped down. A part that was missing from my mower, and sounds to be the same another reviewer had to send mower back for. I called customer service and they where very nice and helpful, told me they would get the part my mower was missing out to me. After a week and rigging my new mower up to mow I had not recieved the missing part, emailed them and again talked to customer service who was apologetic and said he would get the part to me. Nearly 2 months later I emailed the company because I was infuriated. They once again called me and this time told me they just got the parts in, and he would expedite it(if you consider a week later expedited). The mowers are made elswhere and they apparently dont stock parts,having to wait if it slides by quality control before boxed and exported. Poor quality and I wonder how eco friendly the factory realy is? Awesome idea but not worth the problems and when it needs repaired, parts will probably not be avalible, putting this thing in the scrapyard. I see that being sooner than later because of poor quality, that is definantly not how we can be more green. great idea they pattened now they need to invest in the product.

I saw an advertisement for the Lehr LM139 in one of my handyman mags, and I was definitely intrigued. I did some research on the product, and definitely liked the idea of a gas-alternative lawnmower, especially with the price of gas once again on the rise. My wife and I are trying to be as "green" as we can, and this mower fit in well with that goal. The fact that it runs on propane, which burns much cleaner than gas was the selling point for me. So I ordered the lawnmower.

The lawnmower came about a week later, and I was impressed with how quickly it got here. It's a little disappointing that the product touts itself as a "green" product, but it's made overseas (not very green as far as that goes!).

Admittedly, I was a little weary about buying the mower, when I read of the problems folks were having with parts missing, or random pieces sitting at the bottom of the box. As I opened my mower, and assembled it, I was happy to see there were no surprises for me at the bottom of the box.

That said, my mower was not perfectly assembled, and I have to question what kind of quality control Lehr is doing on their mowers before they ship. Thankfully my issue was a small one. The lawnmower has a height adjustment lever on the right side, and a bar on the left side that connects the front wheel to the back wheel. When you raise or lower the lever, the wheels raise and lower in turn. Mine didn't, because the bar wasn't connected to my back wheel. A simple pin will fix the problem, and I've called Lehr to get that part, but all the same, how is something like that missed?

Other than that small issue, I inserted a can of propane, and after a couple of pulls, the lawnmower started right up, and afterwards started on one pull. The engine is a bit quieter than a regular gas mower, but there are no emissions to choke on! Definite plus! My only complaint is me being somewhat tall (6'0) the handle is set a little too low imho.

I'll update this review once I see how long it takes to get a pin from Lehr, and when my grass needs mowing.

Also please be aware that this model does NOT come with a side discharge as advertised by Lehr/Amazon. I've called Amazon over this issue, and they were kind enough to give me a partial refund, so please be aware when buying this model.

UPDATE 4/1/11: Soooo, we're a month into owning my mower, and I still don't have the replacement parts I need. Mind you, I called Lehr (or their third party company who handles warranty issues), over three weeks ago to obtain the replacement pin and washer and I was told I'd have it in a week. I called back today to find that there was absolutely no information on me or the parts I needed in their computers. What was the person doing who took down all my information???? So now I have to do this all over again in hopes that something as simple as a pin and washer can be sent. Yes, I can probably pick these up at the store, but it's the principle at this point.

Update 5/31/11: As time goes on, it seems my rating for this mower seems to go lower and lower. Amazon/Lehr advertises this machine as having an adjustable 1-3 inch cutting height. At it's highest setting my mower gets 2 1/4 inches tops. Also, the mulching on this machine is god-awful. Because there is no clearance to get the machine high enough off the ground, the mulch comes out in huge clumps, which looks horrible on your lawn. Not only that, but it cloggs up the cutter and eventually the machine will shut down. I called Lehr about this and they have no clue why. Great. That Gas powered mower is looking better and better each day.

I really wanted to like this mower.

Pros:
- Propane power = no 2-stroke gas powered stink and filth. Love it. It's the reason for two stars instead of one. (Never mind. See below.)
- Looks deceivingly great.

Cons:
- Big one - seems to leak propane when off. This could be hugely dangerous for obvious reasons, but also requires me to disconnect the tanks between mows to avoid wasting fuel.
- Another big one - rear discharge cover catches on the ground when backing up. Unless you have a perfectly square and obstacle-free lawn, you have to back up sometimes. Given the crappy cutting performance of this mower, you have to back up ever more. Especially on lower cut settings, the plastic cover catches on the ground, ripping up sod and forcing you sometimes to dangerously lift the back of the mower up to pull it back. Terrible design and bound to injure someone eventually.
- Underpowered. Bogs down quickly in tall grass.
- Poor suction. Just doesn't lift the grass up for cutting as well as other mowers I've used. I don't know if this is a blade design problem, or a deck problem, or a lack of power or what.
- Narrow cut, which wouldn't be so bad except that the wheels stick out an extra couple inches on either side. Forget about cutting close to edges and fences.
- Lots of plastic parts that look destined to break.
- Today I hit a hidden grounding rod with the blade. The blade got a big ding, understandably, but the piece that the blade mounts to also broke. Now I need parts. Maybe any other mower would have broken too, but it didn't seem half as bad as some of the crap I put my last mower through without incident. Ugh.

Oh well.

*UPDATE: Developed a full-on propane leak from one of the fittings when I switched tanks out today. Doesn't look like a seal problem, but an actual break in a metal part. Looks like I get to see how LEHR's warranty service is. Joy. Reduced my rating to 1 star.

I got this at a ridiculously good price during a sale so my opinions may be colored by that. It arrived with a broken spark plug boot, which I decided to replace myself rather than deal with customer service or Amazon. Once that was fixed, the mower started up right away and produced plenty of power. I have mowed my small yard 3 times on the same canister and there is still a bit left, so the 1.5 hrs run time seems reasonable. In cold weather, it started on the first or second pull. It's heavy but not more so than a self-propelled gas mower (mine is regular push). The throttle range seems limited but sufficient for my needs. One has to wonder about reliability given the plastic parts and condition on arrival, but so far I am an enthusiastic proponent of propane and am ditching my corded electric mower!

i never thought going green would feel this good i love this little mower starts right up i love the big wheels did a great job mowing i thought it would be hard to start in the cold but it was nothing to worry about.smells a little like frys cocking when it running youve got to love that .id buy this again any day

Can't say enough about their customer service. I received a mower that was damaged, looked like it was a return or something because of the oil all over it and damaged parts. Amazon remedied the problem quickly, and now I have a mower that works perfectly. First time ever using propane, and seems so much less hassle for me than using gas. This mower has plenty of power, and started for me on first pull. The only thing that looks questionable about it is the plastic wheels. Once the blade throws a rock into them I have to wonder how well they'll fare. Other than that quality looks good, and pretty happy with it.

*UPDATE*
amazon had these on sale again, so I just bought another. With gas prices constantly rising, these mowers make even more sense. This second mower I just received wouldn't start. I called their customer service and he suggested using a paper clip in the pinhole in front to release possible air trapped in the carburetor. Worked like a charm, started right up. Just a note to others in case you have the same problem, seems to be common.

This mower is the Cat's Meow ! I looked at electric mowers, corded and cordless mowers for years but was concerned about power and battery life. My older mower was difficult to keep tuned-up and the exhaust emission level was toxic. I really wanted to do something "green" with my decision. This little mower is the best. The positive gas pressure from the 16 oz. tank starts the mower every time. (no choke is supplied or req'd) The exhaust is orderless,there is plenty of power and it's very quiet. I even like the green color. The 16 oz. canisters can be purchased from several stores. Spin them on and go ! Thank you !

Folks, this mower is a crazy deal. First, where on earth can you get a decent mower for $108, no tax, no shipping? That's ridiculous. This was so cheap I took a shot at it. I bought it first for price and if it saved a little gas, well OK. But I am not exceptionally green. Well, I have now mowed 5 times on my first canister of propane! I can't believe it. Definitely cheaper and easier than gas. The adjustable throttle is key. My lawn is a mix of 'not so fast growing' St. Augustine and very fast growing Bahia. The Bahia needs a high throttle to get through and then I back it way down to a low throttle for the lower areas to conserve fuel. If you attentively adjust the throttle as low as the lawn requires, you will stretch the propane a long way. Really happy with this product. At this price, longevity isn't really even an issue. You just by another one...! It leaves me considering the propane trimmer..although I admit I am skeptical it will rev high enough to match the effectiveness of a 2 cycle trimmer. I'd love anyone's comments on the trimmer if you have one.