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358 of 361 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lawn Hog - Aptly Named, July 14, 2005
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.
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122 of 123 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My lawn is happy now....., April 25, 2001
After years of using my Dad's gas powered lawn mower, I am finally a home owner myself and embarking onto the wonderful world of home and yard improvement. One of the items that I needed badly was a lawnmover and after looking at all the different types and models I settled upon this one. Overall, I am pleased with my new lawnmower as it did the thing it was supposed to do with relative ease at a very affordable price. It really is a pleasure to not have to hassle with gas or to worry about whether I charged the battery. Just plug it in and go. My yard is a sufficient size to not battle the cord the whole time so I found the cord battle to be minimized with some simple mowing-route planning. The things I enjoyed most about the mower were its ability to raze through the toughest areas (it had been a while since my yard had been mowed!) and the ease with which it starts and stops. What a pleasure to be able to take a break and get a glass of iced tea without feeling guilty about polluting Los Angeles with exhaust from a gas powered mower (they are such a pain to have to start up again). The other item I thought worked great was the nifty cord attachment section - the cord never came loose once while I mowed. The only problem I had with the mower (making it 4 stars) is the mulching tunnel to the rear bag is quite small. This is good for avoiding snipping a finger off, but a nuisance since the grass had a tendency to get lodged in there and block the path to the bag. Granted the grass was a mildly damp when I mowed. The rear bag is also very easy to take off, it just takes a bit of coordination to hold the mulching door up and snap the rear bag on. Not a problem if you are coordinated, but I could see someone being frustrated by this feature. Otherwise, I am very pleased with my new affordable mower. I recommend it for managing the rigors of smaller yards.
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71 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great alternative to gas mowers. lot of plusses, May 4, 2006
We just moved from a condo to a house which has around 7000+ sqft lawn in the front and around 1500+ sqft lawn at the back. Being new to this I did a lot more research before buying a lawn mower. Our first dilemma was to decide between gas and electric. Few things which came up in the comparison, general to gas and electric mower, were:
- gas is more powerful than electric. It might be true but this never is a problem even if you mow once in 3-4 weeks. We are quite happy with the power.
- cord management: You get used to it once you plan the layout and how you'll mow the lawn. You always start from close to the outlet and go far away from it. This way cord always follows you and you don't run the risk of running it over. Although, you should still be watchful of it.
- maintenance: Definitely less worries with electric mowers. no gas, no oils, no smell in the garage, no special handling when storing it away for the season, no servicing before the season starts
- operation: easy to operate other than managing the cord, pull the lever and it starts, no need to pull the string etc. Some expensive gas mowers have switch to stop the blades but let the engine run when you are emptying the grass bag, but this one doesn't need anything like it.
- environment friendly
- less noisy as compared to gas ones
- less cutting area. 18 or 19 inches instead of standard 22 inch with gas mowers.
- warranty: lot of people mentioned that gas mowers have 4-5 years and electric one's have 2 years, but most of the mowers now, even gas ones, have only two years warranty. So, it was not an issues for us.
- cordless? first of all, these are slightly heavier since you are carrying the battery also but the deal breaker was replacing the battery after 2 years.
Going with these comparisons, we decided on the Electric Mower and started looking at different models. Black and Decker stood out with basically 3 models MM 575, 675 and 875. Most of the stores carry 575 and 875 and I could find lot of reviews for those two models.
The main difference in 575 and 875 model is the coverage area. 575 is 18" while 875 is 19" so we ended up buying 875. Both are same amperage (12 AMPS) but the 875 comes with rear bag also. We like the mower and how its functioning.
- Very easy to begin. It comes all assembled. The handle is flipped to the front, you just pull it back and tighten two levers and its ready to go.
- A hook near the power plug on the handle so you don't accidentally pull the extension cord plug away.
- It was very difficult to find the correct extension cord gauge for this since there are no guidelines, but after lot of researching here's what I've found. It's 12 AMPS and we run it on 120 VOLT so its 12x120 = 1440 watts max. So, if you running it max at 50 feet distance from the power outlet, its VERY safe to use 14 gauge extension cord (50 feet). If you are doing 100 feet distance from the outlet, then its advised to use 12 gauge (100feet) cable. Although, I'm using a 100 feet 14 gauge cable for 100 feet distance. I gather that it's not always running at full amperage so it's totally ok. And, its working good also.
- Mulching: If you plan to mulch, you'll need to mow at least once in 7-10 days otherwise the grass just grows too big
- Get used to a smaller cut area unlike 22 inch with gas mowers. you'll probably be making couple more extra runs based on how big is your lawn.
- 8 settings for cutting. Not that you need such a fine control over the grass, but it feels good that you have options. It moves up and down from all wheels so its probably better than the ones which only move the rear wheels
- lighter: I do notice some more flexibility while turning and u-turns.
- rear grass bag: Lot of people complained that you need to empty the bag once its 1/3rd full otherwise it spills the grass. I think you can successfully use it till 2/3rd and then it starts dropping the grass on the sides and making a line. It doesn't bother me that much.
One last thing, this was on sale at Ace Hardware since they are celebrating Northwest Natural yard care with county support and are selling it at $184.99. you can probably still find more details as yarddays.com.
Overall, a great buy and we are very happy to decide on this.
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