Black & Decker 18" Electric Mulching Mower Review

I bought the Black & Decker electric mower for touch ups. One section of the back yard near the door where everyone comes in grows faster and lusher. Seemed a shame to break out the riding mower for a little section. I had a heck of a time pulling the cords on gas push mowers and also blew my last one up, so I decided to try an electric lawnmower. This B&D was the only electric lawnmower Lowe's carried, so that decision was easy.

I used the Black and Decker electric for a couple of years as intended, and it worked great. I just grabbed a drop cord, plugged it in and hit that back yard section. No problems.

Then my riding mower got on my last nerve and went to the curb. Though the B&D electric was never intended to do big yards and is not recommended to be used with two 100 foot drop cords, I have done the yard this season - every inch of it with the B&D.

This can only be called lawnmower abuse, but I can say that the B&D has stood up to it. It cuts nice and even and it will handle higher grass (like when I waited too long to mow). For taller grass, lift the mower up and set it down slowly. It will cut the tops. Then, drop down and mow as usual.

Though the blade cut is listed at 18 inches, I swear it's more like 12 inches. Fine for the small back section. A lot of pushing for a big yard. It takes me about 7 hours to do the whole yard with the electric mower. But it does it.

The cords are kind of annoying, but that comes with the territory. If you don't want to mow around a cord, then don't get an electric lawnmower. I didn't notice it much with the touch ups. It has been pretty rough with a huge yard and loads of trees and shrubs.

The little black plastic blower thing falls off if you push this up too close to shrubs or bushes. Then the grass can't blow out. You have to put that back on, but it's easy to do.

As far as mulching, I don't know why they call it that. It just cuts and throws the grass out like any other mower I've ever used. It does cut pretty fine, but it does go out in the yard. They may sell a mulcher bag with it, but they didn't have that at Lowe's when I got it.  

I would have gone 4 stars on this mower before. A cord is kind of a pain. It does not cut very wide. But it sure does a great job. I found that out with cutting the full yard the last couple of months. If it stands up to that, it's a darn good lawnmower.

I got an old Toro lawnmower fixed up to mow now on a rider. My Black & Decker electric can go back to touch ups as intended. It saved the day though, and the lawnmower repair guy said he couldn't believe it stood up to doing my big old yard and nice and neat too. "It's not intended for that," he said. I told him that I knew that, but ya do what ya gotta do. It took a lot of time and pushing, but it worked. Hard to beat that for a small, inexpensive mower never meant to to be a real work horse.