I’ve been mowing my yard with the new Dewalt 2x20V brushless mower since the middle of July and I figured it’s about time I actually reviewed it. My test sample was delayed until the middle of summer, giving me the opportunity to purchase and spend some time with the EGO LM2101 push mower, reviewed here while I waited.
One aspect of this mower that people get confused about is the actual operating voltage — what does 2x20V mean? It means that the two batteries are in series, and so the mower actually runs at 40V Max (36V nominal). This is the same voltage as their 40V mower.
Advertisement
I’ll start out like I usually do, with a rundown of some relevant specs:
- 19″ cut width
- 20″ metal deck
- 1.5″ – 3.4″ cutting height
- Runtime is not specified
- Brushless motor
- Requires two 20V Max batteries
- Mulching, bagging, and rear discharge
- 2 position handle
- Folds for compact storage
- Single-lever 5-position deck height adjustment
- 3 year Warranty
Right now the mower is only sold in one form, as a kit with batteries and a charger. Specifically, it comes with two 5Ah 20V Max (DCB205) batteries, a single bay charger (DCB112), collection bag, mulching plug, and safety key for $399.
Buy Now (Kit via Home Depot)
Interestingly, as I was searching for links, I found a Home Depot page for a Dewalt 2x20V mower with a “bonus” of two 5Ah batteries for $677. What? That’s $277 dollars for two “bonus” batteries? That’s well over what you’d pay if you bought the original mower and just went and purchased 2 additional 5Ah batteries.
I’m wondering if they created this listing to counteract so many of the bad reviews due to poor battery life. It still doesn’t address the batteries heating up so much that you can’t charge them right away, or the 5+ hour recharge time for a pair of 5Ah batteries.
Advertisement
Features
The handle has two mowing positions and one storing position. I was a bit skeptical of the long fixed-length handle at first, as it does take up more vertical space when stored, but I found the solid handle really improves the responsiveness of the mower.
There are two knobs on the side of the mower that you pull and twist one-quarter turn to move the handle.
The metal handle with the metal plate and the positively locking knobs really make the handle feel like a part of the mower deck. The whole assembly is very rigid. The deck responds instantly when you press down on the handle to lift the mower — there is no slop at all. This makes mowing a much more pleasant experience, especially when you are tired.
Speaking of storing position, the mower folds up and rests on the back and takes up very little space. I can fit both the Dewalt and Ego mower in a smaller foot print than my old gas mower.
The mower weighs 26.30 kg, or about 58 pounds with the two 5.0 Ah batteries installed.
The dual battery meters are very visible when you are pushing the lawn mower.
To adjust the height of the mower, there’s a single lever with 5 notches.
Something that surprised me about the mower was the inclusion of a safety key. The mower will not run without the key in place. For the life of me I can’t figure out how this makes the mower any safer. My Ego mower doesn’t have a safety key. I just see this as something that would be frustrating to lose.
If you need to work on the mower safely, you take the batteries out, just like any other battery powered tool.
At the Craftsmen launch I asked one of the mower people why they included the safety key on the Craftsman and Dewalt mowers. He said it was required by law. I asked specifically which law, and I’m still waiting for that response.
It also doesn’t appear to be a theft deterrent, as I found a simple jumper between the terminals will allow the mower to operate normally. Stuart will probably make me put a disclaimer here like: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!
Issues Out of the Box
I was already aware of the handle pinching the cable thanks to Travis over at toolsbydesign on Instagram. And the first time I tried lifting the handle into place, it pinched the wire.
The pinching cable seems like such a small matter, but I know from experience that over time a small issue with the mower’s cables can turn into long term frustrations with the mower. My old Toro had a cable that kept moving around on my and catching on things. No matter how I moved it or strapped it down, eventually it worked it’s way back to where it was in the way. After 8 years with the mower, it drove me crazy.
What’s worse about this pinching cable is that if it’s not fixed, it’s going to fail, and it’s not going to take 8 years. You’ll be lucky if it lasts a season. Plus, Murphy says that it’s going to fail when you are already in a hurry, or are in a bad mood.
My third and final fix was to 3D print a new bracket that holds the cable far enough inside the handle to where it doesn’t want to catch. You can also see the 3D printed ball on the cable, that was my first try. I thought the ball would be thick enough that it would jump out of the way if it got pinched.
I did discover later when I tried bagging that this solution can interfere with the bag. @toolaholic on Instagram came up with a much simpler solution. He simply twisted the wire so that the loop faced away from the joint where it was pinched and held the wire in place with a few wraps of electrical tape. Sorry I don’t have any photos of that fix because it was from a temporary story of his.
Another issue that was pointed out to me by Travis was that the height adjustment lever gets in the way of the handle release knobs if you have the deck height set to 2 or 3. The easiest fix for this is to change the height.
Run Time With Included Batteries
Dewalt does not specify a run time, so here is what they do say:
It is perfect for properties up to 1/4 acre. For optimal performance, the battery-powered lawn mower can be paired with high capacity 20V MAX DEWALT batteries or FLEXVOLT batteries for extended runtime.
I felt is was important to use their own words, because this mower has been widely panned for it’s abysmal run time with the included 5Ah batteries. That’s not the only issue.
Once you have exhausted the 5Ah batteries, they get quite warm. Now 120°F might not be too hot to run in the mower, but they are too hot to charge right away.
When I put the two batteries into a charger, you can see the hot/cold light is on. The charger won’t charge these batteries until they cool down.
That brings us to another issue. I’m charging the batteries on the Portable Power Station because Dewalt only ships a single bay 2A charger (DCB112) with the mower.
This means that it will take at 2.5 hours to charge a single battery. If you bought this kit and weren’t already in the Dewalt 20V Max ecosystem, that means that you’d have to wait at least 5 hours to run this mower after you ran out of juice — and that’s if you remembered to switch batteries on the charger at the 2.5 hour mark.
So how long was I able to mow with the included 5Ah batteries? I don’t have very thick grass and that I mow it every week so I’m not making the mower work very hard. With that in mind I was able to get somewhere around 20- 25 minutes of mowing before the mower would quit.
This amount of time only allowed me to mow about 3500 sq. ft., or about half of my front yard. To finish the yard, I ended up using other Dewalt batteries that I have. Changing the batteries halfway through became frustrating, especially after being spoiled by the the long run time of the EGO LM2101 cordless mower that I reviewed here.
Run Time With 9Ah FlexVolt Batteries
We knew in advance of receiving the mower that people were complaining about the short run time, so we asked Dewalt for two 9.0Ah Flexvolt batteries to test with the mower, but I didn’t receive them until the end of August.
When the 9.0Ah Flexvolt batteries arrived, I charged them up and was able to mow my entire front yard, which is about 6600 sq. ft. Every time I mowed thereafter I was consistently finishing after 40 to 45 minutes with one bar left on both batteries.
There isn’t much left after that one bar though. One day I started mowing my back yard after I finished my front yard, but I only was able to mow a few rows before the 9.0Ah batteries were depleted.
The other bonus was that the Flexvolt batteries did not overheat. Their temperatures never measured over 82°F and I was always able to put the batteries on the charger right away.
Blade vs. Deck Size
On the Dewalt 2x20V mower the blade is 19″ and the deck is 20″.
There seems to be an industry standard in battery powered lawn mowers to use the size of the deck and not the cut width as the size of the mower. Whereas on gas mowers, the cut width is the size of the mower, or at least that was what I thought. To confirm this I went to several stores with my tape measure and measured the blades of every gas mower I could find.
Without exception, the gas mowers used the blade length to describe the size of the mower.
I found that Menards even goes as far as to specify the cut width on the placard in front of their gas mowers. Of course I double checked and measured the blade myself and found it to be 21″. I forgot to check the battery mowers though.
Noise
For an electric mower, the Dewalt 2x20V seems a bit on the loud side. While it has no gas engine, I measured 84 dBA at the handle approximately 1 meter away. This is too loud for me to hear my headphones and almost on the threshold of needing hearing protection if you were able to run it all day.
Bagging, Mulching, Rear Discharge
The mower has a mulching plug behind the rear door. It needs to be in place for mulching. Otherwise for bagging and rear discharge, it needs to be removed.
Here’s what the mower looks like with the mulching plug removed.
For rear discharge the mulching plug is removed and the rear door swings down back into place. The grass is actually deflected downward by the rear door onto the rubber rock catcher.
In the above video you can see how the grass and leaves are shooting out onto the rubber rock catcher, but quickly accumulate and start to block the rear discharge.
In the photo above, I had a few more leaves in the mix and it completely plugged the rear discharge.
I usually never bag my grass unless I’m collecting leaves in the spring and fall, but I put the bag on and collected grass for a few rows.
The mower does a pretty good job of throwing the grass to the rear of the bag. This way, it fills from back to front and doesn’t start to block the clippings before the bag is full.
I mulch most of the time and the mower also did a pretty good job of this. I would mow some decently thick grass and there weren’t windrows of grass left over.
As for cut quality, my lawn isn’t very good for determining this. Unless I mow on the lowest setting and scalp my grass, I haven’t used a mower either electric or gas that really does a good job. I think I would need one of those professional models they use to stripe baseball fields before you’d notice any difference.
The Dewalt 2x20V pretty much cut the same as my EGO, and my Toro, and my Lawn Boy before that.
Summary
I really like the feel of the mower. The handle is solidly attached to the deck with almost zero slop. This makes the mower respond instantly. This is a huge plus over my EGO LM2101 where there is a ton of slop in the handle.
Despite the smaller 19″ cut width, it really doesn’t take me much longer to cut my yard, so I don’t think that the smaller blades size should scare anybody away.
While I was at Craftsman, I asked about the battery life issues (it’s no secret that Craftsman borrowed from the Dewalt OPE team). I specifically asked why, with having only 28.6% less watt hours available than the Ego 5.0Ah battery, it can only run about half the time. I was given two answers: 56V gives you a bit more efficiency than 40V, and the Dewalt mower is actually geared lower to handle thicker grass.
I think a third reason is the heat buildup. The Flexvolt and EGO batteries are designed for this kind of sustained load and the 5Ah 20V max batteries aren’t.
Despite a few annoying quirks, this is a good mower packaged with inadequate batteries and charger. It’s further puzzling that they marketed the mower as being “perfect for properties up to 1/4 acre,” then only be able to mow about 1/12 of an acre every 5 hours.
I see two solutions to the run time issue. Offer a bare tool at a discount for people that already have a few 9Ah or 12Ah FlexVolt batteries. Or offer the mower with 9Ah Flexvolt batteries and let’s not forget a dual charger like the DCB102 so you don’t have to swap batteries during charging.
Thank you to Dewalt for providing the review sample.
The yeti
2 x 40 volt be a better idea. Support your 40v line. Please
Joseph
They released this on their 40v line. I bought one at Lowes this summer, I didn’t experience any of the issue that Benjamin complained about. The battery didn’t overheat, I could mow around 1/5 of an acre on the 6ah battery it came with.
My only complaint compared to my 21″ troybilt is the bag had to be emptied a couple of more times per mowing, which actually is quite bothersome over a summer of mowing.
Steve
I wonder if the “key” is a safety feature for children? I know my kids (4 & 5) would be unable to start a gas mower but its seems like it would be easier to accidentally “start” an electric one.
Matt
That just might be the reason. My toddler has grabbed the drive lever on my SP Ego a few times in the yard and been shocked to discover the mower starts moving. The key makes a whole lot more sense now.
Aaron Enfield
Seems wise to me. I’ve had a Neuton mower for >10 years now that came with a key. The key is on a little lanyard that I wrap around the battery handle when I remove the battery so it always stays with the battery. Without that, I am sure it would have been lost long ago.
To the point about kids not being able to start a gas mower easily, I would replace “kids” with “everyone”- I think that’s why most of us use battery powered mowers 🙂
Chris
Yeah nanny state
James C
Yep, same concept as removable switches on some stationary power tools. You can unplug them but not too difficult for a kid to figure that one out. Now if you remove the switch and lock it in a drawer, that’s going to be much more of a deterrent to starting the tool. Same concept on the mower.
Benjamen
I’lI still say the removable battery is the safety feature, the fob is an unneeded extra annoyance. You’re not going to lose the battery as easy as a fob.
You already have to remove the battery when you are done mowing so that you can charge it — you want it to be fully charged for next time.
There’s already a sequence of events that has to happen to start the mower: you push the start paddle and pull down on the bail.
It’s only been 6 years since my youngest was 5, so I’m not that far removed from the dangerous years where they can get into trouble as fast as it takes to turn your head, but frankly if a 4 or 5 year old kid can find the battery, insert it into the mower, and go through the start up sequence, you have more problems on your hands than just a lawnmower — like them finding and plugging in your power tools.
Toolfreak
Think of it this way – the key is something small and easy to take with you in case, say, you need to run into the house and take a bathroom break while the kids are out playing in the yard. You can take the key and have peace of mind one of the kids isn’t going to go over there and mess with the mower and injure themselves or others.
It’s likely more about liability than anything – you know the company would be on the hook for not providing such a disabling device if/when someones kid died or was injured from operating an unattended mower.
Plus, like most other powered things, it’s good to have an emergency kill switch within reach – if letting the handle go doesn’t shut it off, you can pull the key.
I too hate nanny state stuff, but from a safety perspective, it can make sense, particularly when others or people with kids are involved.
Chris Gutierrez
I agree, it’s for the kids.
My 3 year old loves mowing, he gets his gloves glasses and ear muffs and pushes his toy mower around the opposite side of the yard while I do the real mowing.
But as soon as I go to empty the bag or grab some water he runs over to the gas mower and tries to pull the cord like Daddy.
100% he would figure out the two action start.
And, I keep all the batteries up high because he has already demonstrated the ability to grab a drill off the bench and insert a battery.
Just remember, they know how to do it, they just aren’t big enough. But they will be big enough long before they understand the danger.
Matt
My 2 year old is the same way. He follows with his mower while mom is watching him. Sometimes I have to stop mowing to move a branch or an unexpected doggie delight. Those are the times he can dart in and grab the drive lever which is always live if the battery is in. Removing a simple key would be much easier to render the mower safe than pulling the battery out 3x per mowing session.
Gordon
It seems silly to design a mower that has to use two batteries, and not include a dual charger. How much extra would it have really cost SBD to include a dual fast charger? Seems like the target competitor is the Ego which is also $399, but only needs the one battery. It feels like Dewalt is screwing over the uninformed customer.
Jason
I think you are confused. The question is how much extra would it have cost the customer and would they be willing to pay for it. All companies (pretty much regardless of the industry) need to make about the same profit margin in order to continue existing. So at $399 price, the product has a set “cost” based on that price. So if the charger you proposed costs more then only two things can happen. Either the retail price goes up or some other “features” are removed to compensate for the cost. No, most customers are not going to pay more than a competitive unit unless they know they are getting more (and maybe even not than). So you can’t increase the price to justify the charger. So now you have to look at what to remove to afford the fast charger at $399. Maybe there isn’t anything than is transparent enough to the user to be removed without giving the competition a noticeable advantage. So again, the question is how many people would have realistically paid more than the EGO just to have the fast charger? My guess is that if we are honest with ourselves, none of us would. Hence, slow charger it is. But, but, but why can’t SBD just make less money. Sure they could do that, but you can only do that so many times before you stop having money to survive as a business. That’s just not how it works.
Gordon
My point is that at $399, the EGO and the Makita, offer a better experience out of the box. The EGO has one battery and good charger the Makita has 2 batteries but a dual fast charger. So SBD is the only company that offers a charging solution that is not appropriate for the use. It means that they either expect people to buy based on the equipment they already own, or expect the consumer to not know any better.
The cost difference beteeen a single slow charger and a dual fast charger, to SBD, can not be significant enough to cut features. If so, then it is a poorly designed mower for the sub $500 market.
Chris
Have had this mower now for about three months. I run it on 9ah FlexVolt batteries, have two dots left on each battery by the time finishing front and back yards. Works great, wish the bag was a bit larger though, fills pretty quick.
Amazing that all my tools run the same batteries. Pretty darn happy, and no gas and minimal noise.
Big Adam
Not sure will help the debate any but there’s a few differences between the US and UK/EU versions:
1) Over here, you can buy the mower ‘bare’. I did this although we still end up paying almost as much as the US kit package. So I just throw in a pair of 9Ah batteries and mow away.
2) We don’t get the rubber ‘rock catcher’ but we do get a rear roller as us Brits love a striped lawn (I guess!)
John S
Does any company make a self-propelled battery powered mower? Can’t say I would ever buy a battery powered mower unless it did everything my Honda self-propelled can do. Not everyone has a flat yard, I would hate to mow mine and push the darn thing the whole time.
The other real test is how long these will truly last until needing to be replaced. You can easily expect 15-20 on a Honda mower. My crappy Murray mower was totally neglected on maintenance for 12 years, would start every season and still worked when iI gave it away. I just don’t see any of these plastic, battery powered mowers lasting 10 years. I would also imagine cost of ownership to be much higher than a simple Honda gas powered mower. Batteries crap out and these high amp lithium packs are expensive.
jsbson
My gas mowers have all lasted longer than my battery ones. I’d say too many places where strength was sacrificed for lower weight. Mine have all been 24V dual 12V lead acid battery models. I have a small yard so when batteries died ( two-five yrs) I use 7ah replacements that are only about $25 a pair due to usage in many UPS units. I now use a Home Depot house brand that seems sturdy but is way too loud. I’ll try a lower lift blade for need season.
jsbson
How about “next season”
Doug
Ego model LM2102SP is self propelled.
John S
That Ego model looks to have great reviews and 5 year warranty seems quite good. Nice to know they do exist, but not many models though for self propelled yet.
Matt
I have owned the LM2102SP for 3 summers and am very happy with it. I mow about 6000 sq ft of very hilly grass with it and the self propel doesn’t even blink at the hills. It’s actually perfectly capable of dragging me up the slope if I don’t drop the speed down. The 7.5ah battery will usually have enough power remaining that I can slap it on my string trimmer and do touch up trimming. I cut my Minnesota bluegrass/fescue lawn to 3″ and it mulches pretty nicely. It will bag leaves pretty well too. So far I don’t see any cause for durability concern.
Framer joe
Ego makes self propelled mowers.and steel.decks…these mowers will last as long as you take care of it like any tool…
Farid
On a different note, I think yellow color looks really bad once dirty?!
Sorry, but I think Dewalt could have done much better. I think it is ludicrous to supply this with 5AH batteries. Theyv’e shot themselves in the foot with this. This should have been 2×40 or 2x60V from the start. It would take me at least 2 days to mow my 10000 sq ft yard with this , and I doubt if it’ll handle the springtime very thick and “juicy” grass.
As loud as this is, I’ll stick with my Honda for now. It starts on first pull, even first time in the spring. Dual blades mulch tall grass like no other, and it is not as loud as some (I can hear my earbuds at a moderate volume level). And… it is self propelled!
Rcward
That big of a yard does not call out for a battery powered mower.
Farid
Point taken. However, it does not seem capable of even finishing the advertised quarter acre . If you figure half the property is taken up by structures, you still end up around 5000 sq ft. That’s at least 30-minutes of mowing (with a 21″ mower) and two battery cycles. A better description would have been “Perfect for yards up to 3000 sq. ft”
If you buy this thinking it’ll save you the hassle of dealing with gas mower, it sounds like you’ll be disappointed. I know the technology will keep improving, and sometimes I am an early adopter myself and pay the premium, but in this case, the technology is already here to make it practical , but Dewalt chose not to use it.
Finally, all manufacturers exaggerate the claims, but exaggerate unrealistically or relegate too much to the fine print, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Bill
That big a yard calls out for a riding mower 🙂
chris
yeah 10000 square feet is DEFINITELY not the market dewalt is going for dude. Clearly.
That’s like complaining “this stupid Tesla can’t handle my 450 miles of commuting every day”.
Well, uh, yeah.
Farid
I suppose calling people stupid is easier than comprehending a point of view. I never said it was target for my yard’s size. The stupid mower can barley finish a 3500 sq. ft yard, which is not the claimed 1/4-acre, while others on the market can do twice as much.
And yes, with a dual flex-volt and dual fast charger, or 2x EGO batteries you can do 10000 sq foot yard with electric and have enough left to trim the yard.
And no you don’t need a riding mower for that size, unless you are immobile. I used to do 15000 with push mower – no problem.
Chris
“It would take me at least 2 days to mow my 10000 sq ft yard with this , and I doubt if it’ll handle the springtime very thick and “juicy” grass.”
And just for clarification, never called you or anyone else stupid. Maybe a better analogy to your complaint is you need to cut down and chop 4 trees so instead of buying a chainsaw you buy a jigsaw. This mower would be the wrong tool for the job of 10000sq feet.
Sheesh.
Farid
1/4 acre = 10890 sq. ft to be exact!!!
Rcward
Why would anyone bag the clippings? Mulch, your lawn will thank you
John S
That would be true if most home owners properly mulch cut their lawns. If you’re cutting more than 1/2 inch off a normal home owner quality “mulching” mower is not mulching, its just leaving dead grass. This translates to more fungal issues, chocking out your grass, and more costs in chemicals to get through that layer of dead grass (often mistaken for thatch). The “benefits” for mulched grass is over exaggerated unless you’re mulching it fine that you can not even detect the grass cuttings. The lawn won’t be able to process the clippings quick enough by the next time you cut if you’re doing it weekly. Commercial equipment get through this with HP and size and most of these home products are not even close to the job unless you’re doing this at least twice a week and/or keeping height cuts 1/2 inch and less. I won’t argue that mulching with your mower is a huge time and labor cutting way, but there is a huge cost (in your pocket) if not done correctly.
Scott
I have never bagged either. Just mow. I don’t rake leaves either, just run them over with the lawn mower. My grass grows so fast in the spring and 1st half of summer that it’s almost hard to keep up with. I swear it will grow 6″ + in a week.
Eric
I would like a Dual Flexvolt self-propelled version that is a little bigger.
That said, if my Craftsman mower dies or I can no longer get parts for it (I bought extras of the frequent offenders) I will get this mower if there is not a superior DeWalt offering and it is available as a bare tool. I have no use for more 5ah batteries or more slow chargers and everyone is right those batteries are silly for a mower.
I use my push mower for our few highly sloped areas and running one pass around the fence border and corners, trees, where the riders do not fit, etc.
At this point, I am firmly in the DeWalt system, and am not interested in adding additional battery platforms.
Smitty258
Thanks for the review! I’ve been considering this one for when my Troy Bilt Honda push mower finally gives out. 12 years old now and it’s still going!
The Troy Bilt self propelled used to be my primary mower for my 1/3 acre sloped yard but a few years back I got the Craftsman Neighborhood Rider so now the Troy Bilt I use to get the areas that are too steep or the rider cant get into.
When the Troy Bilt quits, I wanted to get this one since all my other cordless power tools, including my weedeater, blower, and hedge trimmer are DeWalt 20v. I see this as being ideal for my application as a secondary mower to a rider. 20-25 minutes of runtime would be fine for my needs of just finishing up the areas that my rider cant do.
Thanks for the tip on the cord! I’ll be sure to watch out for that when I get around to getting one!
Mike S
When you say your Ego mower has “slop” in the handle – what are you describing? I’ve had the 20″ Ego push mower for 2 seasons now – and its been fantastic and I don’t have a single complaint or issue with it.
Ok, I do have two gripes:
* I’d like to run the mower without the handles fully extended (in a sort of short handle config)
* I wish that the pre-set angles for the handle were slightly different
Other than that – I think its a fantastic product. The charger recharges the battery in no time flat (faster than it takes to drain the one in the mower/blower/edger). The headlight is useful for mowing in the dark (which I do on occasion). It stows in a small space easily. It starts right up every time without any fuss. It mows like a champ through normal and thick/high grass.
Benjamen
I really didn’t have any complaints about the Ego either, but after using the Dewalt mower I noticed the Ego handle (at least on mine) has two things I’d consider slop.
First on a hard surface with the handle locked into position and extended, lift the end up and down. My handle moves up and down about an inch.
Second even when the handle is all the way down in the bracket, it still bends a little before the front wheels will come off the ground.
With the Dewalt mower, the handle locks solidly into the bracket on the deck so there is no movement and it does not flex noticeably.
I’m just saying that if I use the Dewalt mower then switch to the Ego mower the Ego feels cheaper. Kind of like when you step into a normal car and you start turning the steering wheel, you can turn the steering wheel through a certain arc before the wheels start turning, whereas on a sports car the wheels respond instantly to the slightest touch of the steering wheel.
JoeM
Good writeup, Benjamen. Glad I live in an apartment and don’t need one of these. Definitely going in my list of DeWALT tools that make no sense to me. AKA “The Marketing Folks are on Drugs” list.
John S
I dunno, i think that reply:
“Dewalt mower is actually geared lower to handle thicker grass”
to cover for the battery and motor inefficiencies is a bad answer because it certainly doesn’t achieve the ability to handle thicker grass. Any more so than the competition. I’ve seen plenty of in action videos and this one frequently stalls out on anything but short and completely dry grass. At least from the research I’ve done myself.
I don’t think this mower is there yet. I think if you’re just pushing it with 1 bar left and a few passes after the front yard, by next season at least it won’t be able to complete the full front yard. The wear on the batteries is pretty extensive here. The heat (and don’t forget how much hotter this is during summer months in addition to the work load heat) and the full dumping of power from 100% to 0% every time is going to really cut its maximum runtime in short order.
Randy
I bought the Snapper 82 volt. Comes with two batteries and is awesome. I really wanted to use the Dewalt since I have several 20v batteries but this was a better mower on paper. I believe it is actually a Briggs and Stratton.
jec6613
I bought the 40V to supplement my JD, and it works perfectly. I got the 40V because my string trimmer and blower are 40V to keep up with the size of my property, and so this only made sense that when I needed a mower to trim the small areas that the big deck can’t get to, to get the Dewalt 40V. Since I’m just trimming the edges of my property with it run time isn’t an issue, either, and with the other 40V tools I always have a spare battery charged anyway.
Scott
I will stick with gas. It takes a tank of gas to mow my yard if I am only cutting a few inches off, if it gets really long, it’s at least a tank and a half. I like pouring and going, and don’t want to waste hours waiting for batteries to charge.
Paul C
I don’t understand why SBD doesn’t just charge more for the Dewalt and be done with it. When you compare a lot of power equipment it is quite obvious that one of the major manufacturers chose yellow paint because yellow looks better than red or black and it’s the cheapest pigmented paint. They were kind of the first out there so even today the recognized “leader” in the industry is Cat, even when their product is inferior over the competitor. And most other construction equipment is also painted yellow for the same reason (cheap paint, associated with construction). So everyone associates yellow paint with heavy duty construction equipment no matter which manufacturer it is but it also gets used on yellow colored electrical meters which are sold at a much higher profit margin as well as power tools that SBD sells at a huge margin over the competitors. Prior to EGO battery powered OPE was basically a joke. If Dewalt wants to compete they need to be at least on par with those guys because let’s face it the majority of their buyers are either going for the yellow plastic or because they already own a bunch of other yellow plastic, or because unless you know about them, EGO sounds like some Asian knock off junk product that nobody has heard of over the Dewalt professional line of tools. Sorry SBD…missed the mark “by that much” on this one.
Chris
Dewalts 40V is their professional OPE line.
ToolOfTheTrade
A very wise man once told me a joke that would fool the whole world. There’s almost as much hypocrisy in going green as there is in religion. It’s a joke that gets funnier every time I think about it. Except it’s not a joke, it’s the truth. But it seems that’s all they can come up with to manufacture and sell an inefficient replacement for your gas powered lawnmower amongst everything else that’s made for the sake of going green. I can go to any gas station to purchase and fill up any gas powered mower for less than $10. And it will run all day and it will take less than 5 minutes to put gas in it and continue to mow for several hours. Efficient time management. I cannot go to any gas station and purchase a brand specific readily available charged battery for less than $10 although I paid almost double for my battery powered mower. I’m now forced into waiting an hour or more until the battery is charged for which will again be dead in less than an hour. Inefficient spending habits and Inefficienct time management. The efficient gas mower can still run on the same tank of gas from 2 days ago. But hey, we got tricked into thinking that we’re going green. Yay! You won’t see one of these on a lawn service/landscaping truck or trailer anytime soon. Well they must not care about going green. Shame on them.
Yunker
That’s one way to look at it or you could choose to look at it in the long term. If you buy the electric mower and 2 batteries for example. Your spending is capped there. You will be buying spark plugs and fuel for a gas powered mower for the life of it. To me it sounds more like poor planning with just one battery instead of buying a spare.
Casey
I got one of these when they launched, I wanted to like it, I didnt like the idea of another battery system to sit around all winter and go bad.
I also had the batteries get too hot to hold
Went through about 10-12 total misc dewalt 20v packs, most of them 3ah or more.
Had the rear axle bent when it arrived via UPS due to the packaging design as much as anything
Left lots of mohawk style strips even when I made sure to walk plenty slow.
In the end, I took it back to dewalt factory service center within the 90 day period about 2 months ago.
STILL waiting on my check back from dewalt.
Purchased a 80v Kobalt mower and haven’t looked back with a lowes 10% off deal when you move so it was actually less than the dewalt out the door.
Cuts better, decent cooling fan in the charger that times it just right, so when one pack dies, the other is ready to use off the charger. Best warranty in the industry. That said, I havent had to use theirs yet.
Nathan
This is almost target marketed to someone like me. I use a walkbehind to supplement my rider. so it goes around the house – the play set – the mail box, and twig 2. then the rider does the rest of the acre plus.
I use a gas husquvarna right now but when it starts to act up some day I’m getting some flavor of electric. I was leaning toward Echo – but their customer service is rather lacking so I might lean over to something else.
The key I bet is a requirement for maybe Europe or some other place. And like said before not the worst idea considering many people don’t remove the batteries out of a tool when they are done with them. My dad doesn’t – despite my insistence.
Kevin Ferguson
Just got the Dewalt DCMWP 233 s x 20V Max mower. Lasted 10 minutes, then stopped abruptly. Charged the batteries — overnight. Indicator light on charging units said they were charged. Put them in and nothing. I’ve heard there’s a dead-man’s switch, but I’m at a loss as to how this would have been triggered. Any clues?
Benjamen
I’m not sure what you mean by dead man’s switch? There is a dongle that has to be inserted into the bottom of the handle. If that is not fully inserted, then the mower won’t run.
I haven’t encountered it with the mower you have yet, but the previous version would stop if the blade encountered too much resistance. Then you’d let go of the bail on the handle, make sure the obstruction is gone, then restart the mower.
This might be a warranty issue…
Kevin Ferguson
Thanks. Yeah, in addition to the key, there’s a curved piece of plastic that springs in and out from a slot just below where the cord runs up the right handle. I’m not sure of the purpose. I saw one YouTube video that referred to it as a ‘dead man’s switch.’
Benjamen
Ah, I was wondering what that weird junction was for. It is definitely a switch. When the handle is locked down it is open, then when you move the handle it springs out and closes the switch. I just put in batteries and tested this.
It seems like another poorly implemented safety feature. It only prevents you from turning the mower on when the handle is locked in the down position, once you move the handle a few degrees, it’s closed and you could start the mower bypassing any protection it provides.
A better design would have been for the switch to only be closed when the handle is locked in one of the two mowing positions.
Kevin Ferguson
excellent. thank you