RateMyEverything

I got a lucky break in the weather to mow my lawn (lovely June in the Pacific Northwest!). I rolled the mower onto the concrete and started it up. Man, it was slick. No yanking on a pull chord! The mower sound was loud reverberating off of the concrete, but once it was on the grass, it was much more quiet. Both sounds were more quiet than my old gas mower. I got to work mowing my lawn and was very satisfied overall with the mower. It started with little hassle, was easy to push around and maneuver and cut my grass with ease (it had been neglected for a couple of weeks!). Even when I was done mowing, I attached the optional trimmer attachment to the front of the mower and edged around the yard and then turned it veritcally to do the edging around the driveway. When I purchased the mower, I figured that I could mow my whole lawn on a single charge, so I was curious to know just how much of a charge I would have when I got all done. I glanced down at the handy analog voltage indicator on the handle and it was in the bottom portion of the green area (about half charged).



Things I Would Change:

I loved the Neuton, but there were some things that I noticed while using it that I would change.



1) The first thing that I noticed was the side chute. A great concept for a lawnmower and it worked very well when I used it. However, I did have it catch on the ground when I was backing the mower up to reposition the blades over a spot of grass that I missed. The chute would scrape the ground if I tried to lift the front wheels to turn the mower and I was going down a slope. I don't have a lawn that is very steep, so I imagine that other people would notice this if they use the side chute on a more sloping lawn.



2) I thought that the mower could have been balanced more evenly (see this image). Neuton did a good job placing the battery towards the rear of the mower, but it would be much nicer if the battery were even closer to the rear wheels. I think that doing this would make the whole mower feel much lighter when moving it around the yard.



3) The mower blade doesn't reach all the way to the front of the mower (see this image). My old gas mower did a good job of getting close to shrubs without me having to push the mower too far into them. It seems like Neuton designed the front of their mower to be conveniently lifted from the front (notice the handle in the image). My suggestion to Neuton is to reduce the overall length about 4", keep the front wheel axle in front of the blades and people can grab onto the axle when lifting the mower.



4) The trimming attachment was very convenient as far as storing it and attaching it onto the mower. I wish that the attachment (when it is parallel to the ground) were further outside the front wheel. The string does not quite reach far enough outside the front wheel, so I found myself angling the mower to get at most fence edging and the edging along a small rock wall. This is pretty much the same problem that I had when the trimmer attachment was flipped up 90 degress.