I bought my first electric lawn mower when I bought my first house in 2004. It was a Black and Decker MM675 with a flip-over handle. That lawn mower served me well for about 5 years and never let me down. Then, one day I used it when my lawn was too wet and the motor started to smoke as it bogged down on wet grass! I could no longer get the MM675 model, so I went to Home Depot and “upgraded” to the MM1800, the 18″ corded mulching/bagging mower from Black and Decker. Immediately I was dissatisfied. It didn’t feel as strong as my old mower, was more unwieldy, and had this awful plastic shroud that made it hard to maneuver. Everything on it felt cheap, and two years later, it died on me while mowing grass that was not that thick.

I decided to try to leave the Black and Decker world and see what else I could find.

Bear in mind, I did not consider gas because I don’t have the room to keep fuel around and I have a modest size yard. I did not want cordless battery power because I didn’t want to have to keep batteries alive (some require charge/discharge cycles all winter) or buy new batteries.

Corded lawn mowers are a fine solution. Many complain about “cord management”, but here’s the trick. Your lawn never changes. Unless you are a professional landscaper (and if you are, buy a gas mower), then you always mow the same lawn. So the trick is to come up with a mowing pattern where you mow away from the outlet and never trip over the cord. Once you have a pattern, stick with it and you can mow quickly.

Which brings me to the Greenworks 25022 20″ electric bag/mulch/side discharge mower. It costs a bit more than the Black and Decker, but what a difference. First, the deck of the mower is metal, not plastic! That means it is thinner than the B&D. Also, with more metal the top is not covered in bulky plastic. I have a sewer cleanout stand-pipe in my yard. My Black and Decker MM1800 could never mow close to it so I always had to get out the weed whacker. I was amazed that the Greenworks 25022 could mow so close that there was no need to come back for cleanup. I did it all in 1 pass.

The amazing thing is that the mower is 20″ instead of the 18″ of the B&D, meaning I could mow my lawn faster with fewer passes, yet it could also get closer to things due to the smaller shroud over the blade.

Other nice features include very large rear tires, what might be the largest in the industry. They make it far easier to maneuver than models with 7″ or 8″ wheels. Cord management is a snap with a nice pig-tail cord that secures nicely. The B&D model didn’t have a pigtail, just a plug on the device itself, and the cord was harder to keep in.

This mower also permits side-discharge. I normally just mulch, but it is nice to have that as an option in addition to bagging.

The mower activates with a simple bar that has a 1-button safety. The safety is easy enough to use to not be obtrusive and the bar is full length so you can grab it from either side.

The height adjustment of this mower is far higher quality than the B&D height adjust. Strong metal controls with positive stops made height adjustment a snap.

For the space limited, the handle folds very easily. The middle bar doesn’t even need to be unscrewed as there are folding posts to “snap” it into place, and the screws on the bottom are retained in the unit when it folds so there are no parts to lose.

I am a happy convert from Black and Decker, and recommend you give this mower a try!

Update from November 2011:
When I first reviewed the mower, I commented that I was just mulching. This weekend I gave the bagging feature a try because I wanted to mow up the leaves all of my yard. If you mulch those you just make a mess, so I needed to bag. The bag installed easily – just lift the spring-loaded back door, remove the mulching plug, and the bag has 2 hooked to secure it. The bag filled up quickly which was to be expected given the large number of leaves I was mowing, but it was easy to empty. One thing I quickly noticed – the bag is narrow enough to fit between the handlebars. As a result, I could pick it straight up without bending over and pulling all the way back. I spilled less clippings and got it emptied far faster. The bag is obviously well thought out and rounds out a great tool that I recommend with no reservations.

I waited until I had a full season of use before submitting this review. My prior mower was an electric corded BD Lawn Hog that I had for six years. I’m used to being tethered to an electric cord for mowing the lawn. My property is 60′ x 100′ on Long Island and relatively flat. This Greenworks mower is way better than the BD I used to have. It’s a bit bigger, 20″ vs 19″, but it’s lighter, more manuverable and even though both are 12 amp, the Greenworks mower seeems to be more powerful. I always bag the clippings so I can’t comment on how well it mulches. The bag mechanism is great. The spring loaded flap closes securely. The deck is metal not plastic as in the BD. The blade design is different too and I think it cuts better. I did the lawn today after not cutting for two weeks. The Greenworks cut through the high grass with ease. The price is great. It’s a “green” product that doesn’t pollute the air. It’s quiet compared to a gas mower. The light weight makes it very easy to use. I have no complaints am I am very pleased with this product.

I don’t have a small lawn, but it’s not huge. I had previously been using a reel lawn mower, but because there’s a lot of weeds right now (until I replant) it just wasn’t cutting it (pun intended). When I got the Greenworks in, it had rained so the grass was wet. It also hadn’t been cut in almost a month. Despite such adversity, the mower made short work of the grass. I am deeply impressed. So long as it holds up in the long haul, I would definitely recommend this product.

I really dislike reviews of products that have only been used a handful of times but…here I am. I will edit or add to this later. Since these Greenworks units are relatively new, I thought it would still be useful to post something. I also own their cordless, litium-ion edger/trimmer and hedge trimmer. Those are great.

This is, as you know, a corded electric mower. We’ve been using a manual, rotating blade-style mower for a while now, since we moved in January. It did the job but we had a lot of trouble adjusting mowing height plus, due to a lot of bermuda grass that we’re trying to get rid of, we had to rake every last bit of cut grass.

What I notice about this mower is that the bag really does get every last bit of what’s being cut. I barely do any cleanup at all. The 20″ deck is a big benefit since you have to move the cord around. It’s very doable to move the cord with one person, btw – just do a lot of rope-skipping style movement and it stays out of the way. I can usually do 3-4 passes (up, down, up, down) before I have to pick up some slack and move the cord around. The cord management on the mower itself is quite well done.

I didn’t have any problem cutting through my lawn, but I don’t have anything “weird” on their, as I have been mowing. Now, while I keep working at getting rid of all that bermuda, at least I have a thicker, greener-looking lawn.

It’s also handled my back yard just fine, where I didn’t do the best job leveling the dirt (first time seeding a lawn from scratch). I was able to easily keep the blades above the few sprinkler heads that I need to stick a bit out of the ground, and still get a nice consistent height.

Overall I’m impressed so far. I will see how well it stands up to time, of course, but of the electrics I considered, this one had what I wanted, was from a brand I am trusting more and more, and was a good price (esp. with the 3 in 1 option, which I hope to make use of once I get the yard cleared a bit more).

To clarify I’m Donna’s husband and I’ve owned and worked on lawnmowers for over 50 years and never written a product review in my life. I’m compelled by this Greenworks 25022, owing to its outstanding design, ease of use and excellent performance. It’s simply the best electric mower I’ve seen and have owned five over the past 30 years from three manufacturers. After moving from the farm to suburbs going electric made sense and you never miss handling or storing petro products. I’ve spent more than this machine costs on parts for Black and Decker e-mowers alone. Granted I’ve only owned the Greenworks since summer 2011 but I have a good feeling about the build quality as noted by other reviewers. The mower was delivered quickly by Amazon with free shipping in a well constructed box, super easy to attach handles and ready to cut 10″ high grass through simple height adjustment. Grip is more comfortable than most, motor is strong and quiet, grass catcher works great (for grass and fall leaves) and best of all the large wheels roll over our bumpy, uneven lawn with half the effort. I cannot express more satisfaction, having found this the best value of anything purchased in years. Thank you Greenworks and Amazon for improving the quality of life for one the few homeowners who still mows his own lawn.

I am a 68 year old female and recommend this electric mower to everyone. It is so easy to handle and with the easy height adjustment… it would be hard to not get a perfectly manicured lawn. I don’t use the bag… as a mulcher, I never have clumps of grass left around. I am really happy with my Greenworks mower !!!

Only used 5-6 times but so far i am very happy with this mower. I haven’t used the side discharge (& probably never will) but the bag & mulch option both work great.
If my opinion changes in the future i will post an updated review but i wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this mower to friends.

When I landscaped my front and back yard with Marathon Grass, I gave up using gas products and have been mowing about 2200 sq. ft. of lawn with the Black & Decker MM875 Lawn Hog Mower. I can’t really fault the B&D but it only lasted four years before the switch wore out and the tires were smooth.

So, looking for something else, I found the Greenworks mower and thought I would give it a try.
Wow!! The difference is like night and day between the two mowers. The B&D is like a plastic toy compared to the Greenworks (which is more like a tractor).

I found the GW to be far more robust in build quality and design. It adjusts up and down easily (with a knobbed metal handle just like a tractor) and has a setting lower than the B&D . No more lifting the bag sideways to clear the mower’s handle. It comes right out and up through the handle bars. Watch out for the tightly sprung chute cover.

The cut is perfect leaving hardly any clean up. It mows closer to the edges of the flower beds than the B&D.
A concern I had was the weight of this mower. I’m happy to say this mower can be pushed with one hand if necessary. It may be just my imagination but the Greenworks seems a little quiter than the B&D. The paint job is very cool as well.

All in all, a great mower that I’m very happy with.

have used the mower twice. very easy to put together. seems to have sturdy parts. very easy to raise and lower the blade. easy to clean. one should use cooking spray or something similair on the bottom part to prevent grass clogging up the blade. so far, so good

I was a little skeptical at first. Had an electric mower years ago and was not impressed. I knew they had made vast improvements over the years so when my gas mower broke down (again)I decided to do some research. Based on reviews I decided to give the Greenworks 12 amp mower a go. So glad i did! Needed very minimal assemble (just the handle) and it was ready to go! After a scorching drought and then an unusually mild, wet start to the year my yard was a mess. Major overgrowth of weeds. Unboxed the mower, assembled the handle and I was mowing minutes later. It is light, powerful and a cinch to use. Did quick work of my front lawn. My back yard is another issue. Very tall and hefty weeds. Will most likely weed whack that before attempting with the mower, but have no doubt that I will have many, many trouble free mowings with this awesome machine.