Black & Decker MM875 Lawn Hog 19-Inch 12 amp Electric Mulching Mower with Rear Bag
|
List Price: Our Price: $215.00 You Save: $220.16 (51%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $180.00 (click here) Category: Lawn & Patio See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Black & Decker MM875 Lawn Hog 19-Inch 12 amp Electric Mulching Mower with Rear Bag
Customer Review: 18" Blade, but only 6" cuts
Summary: 3 Stars
While I thought that getting used to the cord would be the main problem with this machine, I have been surprised to find a worse problem. The design of the blade is incredibly stupid. The whole central 12" inches of the blade are raised up and so never even hit the grass, leaving only the outer 6" to do all the work. This makes for very inefficient mowing. I have to do everything twice to make it look decent, which makes the job twice as long. With a small yard, may be okay. For a large yard, it is quite a disappointment. Otherwise I have not had a problem with it in 2 years. I did spray nonstick pan coating on it when I first got it as recommended in another review and have gotten very little build up underneath. I can't believe so many people gave this mower 5 stars.Customer Review: 19" Lawn Hog Electric Mower - EXCELLENT
Summary: 5 Stars
I decided to buy an electric mower because I was tired of the gas type as I was sick of pulling that cord over and over again to make the thing start and I didn't like smelling gas all the time. So I decided on the 19" Lawn Hog and what a dream. It is so light and it is much quieter than a gas mower, and does a GREAT job. A couple of tips are I clean it externally each time after mowing, however, one should make a note to take the black hood off of the top every now and then to clean the grass out. One day I noticed it didn't sound as strong - sounded more like a hum, and next thing you know it wouldn't start. I took the black hood off and sure enough there was ALOT of grass under the hood. I turned it over, dumped it all out, rinsed it out, blew it dry with a blow dryer and waited approx. 1 hour to let it dry further. Sure enough, it powered up just as strong as it did on day 1. Also, when I mow, I start at the side closest to where I plug it in. That way I am moving row to row away from the cord. Believe me, it saves on having to fiddle with the cord all the time. But the cord is a small price to pay for the smell of fresh cut grass as opposed to that fresh "gas" smell. This product is highly recommended by me. I hear they now have one like it with a flip handle. I'll be getting that one when this one gives out.Customer Review: 2 year life
Summary: 3 Stars
This mower has a two year warranty. My mower motor just burned up right at the two years. I was satisfied with the mower, but I think it should have lasted longer. I mowed my .25 acre lawn and that's all.Customer Review: A Fix For Poor Cutting Performance - How to Maximize the Performance of the MM875
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my second season owning this lawn mower and I was getting more and more frustrated that it didn't cut as well as gas-powered mowers. But I have figured out a solution that makes this electric mower cut as well as any gas-powered mower, even as well as the 'professional' riding mowers. I agree with many of the negative reviews: (1) Not as powerful as gas-powered mowers, (2) annoying cord, (3) lumpy, poorly cut lawns. I was thinking about getting rid of this mower by selling it on Craigslist and getting myself a gas-powered mower. All of my neighbors have gas-powered mowers, some even own John Deere riding mowers and all of their lawns look like a golf course. I got a lot of stares too from passerbys, so I started shopping around for gas-powered or riding mowers. But no more! I made a slight modification and got a very smooth cut lawn, just as good as my neighbors lawns! Here is how:
1. Sharpen your blade! Or you can buy a replacement blade. I check the sharpness before each time I mow and sharpen about once a month. Keep your blade sharp! You can watch a video on YouTube that shows you how to sharpen your blade with a metal file.
2. Keep the underside clean of grass. Scrape with a plastic scraper and spray with cooking oil like PAM.
3. Buy the right kind of power cord--preferably 12 gauge OUTDOOR power cord.
4. Finally, most importantly, don't use the mulching attachment! Instead attach a side discharge chute (part number: 242867-00). Here is the instructions for that:
[...]
A big reason for the poor cut quality is that the mulching attachment keeps the airflow beneath the mower, flowing back down towards the grass. That's why it looks as if the grass is being crushed down, resulting in an uneven cut. One reviewer thought that this was due to the entire blade housing being too low, so the mower's plastic housing itself was pushing the grass down before the blade even gets to it. I don't think so. I think it is due to the fact that there is no suction being produced.
When you have a discharge (i.e. a hole where the air and grass clippings can flow out), it creates a natural suction. The grass blades are pulled up into the mower, where it's cut and then blown out through the discharge. I noticed this when carefully observing my neighbors' John Deere riding mowers. None of those have mulching features and none of them bag their cuts. Instead, they all let it shoot out from the side discharge. Didn't I say that their lawns look like golf courses?
So, a light bulb went on inside my head. I realized I have to let the air flow OUT of the mower. Since I couldn't wait to receive my discharge piece from Black and Decker, here is what I did for a quick fix. I removed my mulching attachment, then propped open the back door/cover using two triangular-cut pieces of styrofoam 2-inch insulation wedges (like two big doorstops). The wedges measured 2 inches thick, 2 inches high, and about 11 inches long. I held open the door and put one wedge on each side to keep the door propped open. The spring on the door was strong enough to keep the two pieces in places the entire time I mowed by yard. I also spray-painted the two wedges with black Rustoleum paint to match the mower cover. This created a downward discharge chute. It worked like a charm!
I realized that I actually liked the downward chute that I created instead of a side discharge. I didn't want to spray the clippings all over the driveway, sidewalk, and into my neighbors' yards. So my solution actually turned out to be better! I think I'll cancel my order on the side discharge chute and just use my homemade solution. Yes, it works that well and makes that much of a difference!
Another piece of advice is to set the height of the mower at the 5th highest notch, which is the line right where the orange best-for-mulching zone begins. This equates to about a 2.5-inch cut, which seems like the optimal height. Also, when you are mowing, don't walk too fast, and don't feel bad if you have to mow over the same area twice to get a nice even cut. Even gas mower owners do that.
So, in a nutshell, keep your blade sharp, and let the clippings discharge from the mower. You'll notice a BIG difference.
Happy Mowing!
Customer Review: A Good "Green" Choice for Me
Summary: 4 Stars
I like my Black and Decker Lawn Hog #MM875. I have a small lawn this machine works well. It is not the best mulcher in the world, but no big deal. I had to get used to the power chord, but in order to be "green" it was worth it.