Earthwise 50220 20-Inch 12-Amp Side Discharge/Mulching/Bagging Electric Lawn Mower

I have found myself at that age where my patience and tolerance for mechanical things rival the memory capacity of a gnat. As such, I have given up on any gasoline powered lawn & garden device.This mower was my first venture into the electric world of yard equipment. I figured if I'm gonna go, go big. It has really paid off too. I am more than pleased with the performance of this unit. I researched a few of the 'name brand' units, with many of them a bit less expensive. But I kept coming back to this unit mainly due to other postive reviews and the fact that the frame is metal, not plastic that a lot of the other electrics had. I certainly didn't want a spinning blade at my feet being supported by plastic.The cord can be a real pain when on the back end of the yard with 100' out in play. But even with that I don't have to pull and cuss and kick and cuss and breathe hard pulling on a gas model each year trying to get it to run. Plug it up and go. Every time. That is worth a dollar or two at least.If and when it fails, I will be buying another. But then of course, as it is with most 'good' things, the manufacturer will hire some snot nosed fresh out of college engineer who has a 'better idea' and redesign it to the point of being another also ran. Maybe I should go ahead and buy the replacement while I can..........*****Season 2 update July 22, 2014Mower still going strong. Absolutely no issues with operation at all. Even better this year as I have one of my sons doing the cutting with it. He has broken off some of the plastic flap on the rear to deflect items, but he did that with every gas mower too. Still an excellent item.******Season how many now? Oct. 07, 2016Well, I gotta tell ya.....it ain't pretty. But then again I don't think most things that have been left outside for 4+ years would be winning any beauty contests. Yes it's faded, paint chipped here and there, one of the kids 'lost' the height adjust knob, but this thing keeps running!!! I (hopefully) did the last mow of the season today. This thing still runs like a top and does the job. The extension cord will always be a pain, but the fact that it starts and runs every time without the gas engine grief just validates my decision on this more and more. If you are on the edge, take the leap. This mower is worth it, hands down.******October 13th, 2017 Coming down from another season of dependable cutting. This thing will outlast me I do believe. Still does its thing on the first try. It has yet to be covered other than just stuck under the end of my boat outside. I did break down and sharpen the blades this year. I hope this doesn't become a regular maintenance habit. ;) I may break down and add a photo or 2 next year.******August 28th, 2018 The mower has an easy year. Due to health I have had a 'yard boy' most of the summer but that has seemed to dry up. I dug out the mower this past weekend and hit the front yard. Fired right up and mowed like the first day I bought it. The cord deal is still a pain but I have a new retractable cord I'm going to try next. Just keeping the cord out of the mowers path is the biggest pain. Still cannot complain about this mower.

I've been using an electric lawn mower since I was a little kid, and I'm now in my 30s. So I know my way around these things pretty well (in 20+ years I've only ever mowed the cord once, it can be done). Before this Earthwise mower I had an 18" Black & Decker with a flip-over handle and a 6.5 amp motor. Can you believe it soldiered on for all this time? But it finally went to lawnmower heaven. Guess I won't be leaving it for my kids after all.This is my first day with the Earthwise with no big issues. If any significant problems arise I'll update this rating. For right now it feels pretty solid. It should be possible to get 10+ out of this one.There's practically no assembly, just unpacking. It went very quickly like most of the reviewers said. But there are these two little pieces of cardboard jammed into the lower handle assembly that were harder to get off than I thought they'd be. Having a flat-head screwdriver around to pry those things out might be a good idea. The parts are very well machined and put together. The mower is very sturdy, the screws and connections are not too tight or too loose, they all fit snugly.It went through its first paces today doing these two adjacent lots with the grass at about 8" height. This isn't Phoenix. The grass really grows in Chicago. I figured the best possible test was to do that with the mulcher and I'm very satisfied with the job it did. I'm not overly impressed with the power because the old B&D 6.5 amp motors for some reason ran really strong at 4000 rpm. Mowers on the market today pull more power out of the wall (12 amps here) but seem to only run at about 3500 rpm. So, it's not as powerful as the old one but it's powerful enough. On one particularly thick and damp patch I expected it to have some slow down and in fact the motor did cut out there. Under excessive load it does a smooth power down instead of letting the motor blow itself out. Just pulled it back, adjusted the height, started it back up and kept going, no problem.It may be a bit heavy for some. For instance, my mother could never get it up from the basement by herself so be aware of that. It feels lighter once you get going. The 20" of cutting path is great! I'm not going super fast, but I feel like I'm doing much less work out there now then I was before with an 18", no question. I don't have much basis of comparison to talk about noise level. It's pretty much exactly as loud as the old B & D. No more, no less.A few things worth mentioning:- Some people complained about the rear flap folding under when pulling backward and a few people even tore the thing off. They're right. But I like having it because in Chicago people like to leave broken beer bottles in other people's yard. It feels safer to leave it on. It does catch and make it harder to pull back, but Tip #1, try and keep it on the front wheels a bit when you're pulling backward and it's much less of an issue. If you did want to remove the flap it looks like you could probably do it by disassembly without cutting it off with a knife or anything.- Tip #2, I've been doing the corded electric mower thing for a long time. I'm 99.999% sure the best way to handle the cord for pretty much anyone will be to tie the extension cord around the cross bar. It's out of the way and you can move it to either side as you go. I'll post a picture of what I mean.- If you're switching from a gas mower, congratulations! Electric is definitely the way to go. The transition is a little easier with this mower because of that really awesome height adjuster. It's like having a 6-speed shifter on my push lawnmower when it clunks into place. Makes me feel like more of a man quite frankly.- The padding on the handlebar is like on a stepper at the gym. It's very comfortable, but this isn't a stepper. I think someone said the padding started coming off for them. I can see that happening, especially if it rubs up against a brick wall or something. I actually decided to wrap it in some tape to keep that from happening.Biggest PRO - The handle is my favorite part of this thing. It is so well designed it's ridiculous. It's a good, sturdy metal that gives good confidence pushing it or carrying it. The lower crossbar is great to have, and the padding on the top is great too (once I taped it up). The little ergonomic v-shape DOES come in handy believe me. The whole top assembly is really impressive. It was designed by people who knew what they were doing. Pushing the button and starting it up became second nature in no time.Biggest CON - The front wheels have a lot of give in them. I'm not too concerned they'll fall off easily, it seems like they're designed that way. I wish they weren't. I prefer the wheels to not rock at all so I'll probably see what I can do about that.OVERALL - It's not crazy powerful, but it does well and I'm happy with the choice. My neighbors all have their lawns professionally done. They don't know the joys of the old ways. It'll really give them something to think about when I install the bottle holder from my bicycle on the mower's handle. I'll be the only guy around that has a mower with a gatorade dispenser. Thanks a lot to all the reviewers who steered me toward this product. It feels like it should be a good tool for years to come.

Just started Second season of use. Bought in Sept 2018. Mower lasted two weeks into season. Just died all the sudden. Opened up and found commutator pieces coming off. Need new MOTOR 8401-517002 NOT AVAILABLE anywhere. Called Earthwise -USA manufacturer -- so they say it stopped selling in 2014. Must be 3rd party seller on amazon what? 2 yr warranty as stated on Amazon website not valid. So its now a paper weight? Amazon honoring these warranties?

I bought it because of all the positive ratings. It would have been used to back up my Black & Decker in case of an emergency. A curiosity: It was shipped in the original box instead of using a protective outside box. That's the way I'll ship it back. Today, I had to use my back-up mower to finish the job. The new one stalled and stopped several times.1) I wasn't aware of the line gauge needed to power it. My other lawnmower will run a hundred twenty five feet with a 16 gauge line. This one won't make it with a 14 gauge line, which I bought specifically for it. Be prepared to use a heavy, expensive 12 gauge line. By the way, the other mower's amp rating is the same.2) The front wheels are "sprung." One of them won't touch down on a flat surface; and, the back wheels stick out farther than the front ones, making it difficult to follow a border around a tree, for example. You'll have to use a back wheel for a guide, not a front one.4) The cover for the grass catcher won't go high enough to make it easy to use the bag. You'll have to bend over and look for the latch attachments every time you move the bag, off or on.5) I expect a substantial "hit," by sending it back.6) I have to say this: The mower has the best height adjustment system I've seen.