I just purchased this mower and mowed my lawn today. First, the positives:
1. This thing is as-advertised. There's no assembly required other than arranging the mulching bag and removing the mulcher - if that's what you want to do.
2. It was incredibly easy to start this thing - insert key and lift lever.
3. No mess, no gas, no oil, no air filter. The only maintenance described in the service manual is blade sharpening (once to twice per year) and battery replacement. (Possible two years?).
4. Charging the unit is as easy as charging a cell phone and it charged up overnight. It had enough juice to mow my 1/3rd acre lot with heavy spring weeds that were also a little wet without running out of battery juice.
5. It was very easy to clean. Just disconnect the key and then you can turn it over to clean the blade and guard without worrying about oil or gas spilling.
6. It's easy to disconnect handle and mulch bag for storage.
Negatives:
1. Although it's not incredibly heavy, it's not as light as my 5HP gas Craftsman mower. Since there's no self-propelling feature, it can get heavy if you had to go up hills - my lawn is relatively flat so no problem there.
2. The unit is basically plastic. It has a cheap feel to it - although I'm sure it would be too heavy if it was metal.
3. There's really nothing protecting the battery underneath the top cover and it's barely held there with a nylon strap.
4. The paper instruction manual is worthless. It has very little information in it and it's hard to read because one section is written and you have to go to another part of the manual for the pictures.
5. The unit came with Styrofoam inserts that surrounded the battery. I had a very strong feeling that these inserts were for shipping only and must be removed before operating the unit. However, there is nothing in the manual that states this either way and I had to figure it out for myself.
6. There are no instructions for how to replace the battery - you are instructed to take it to a service dealer. Perhaps they could have put more effort into the documentation.
7. The mulching bag doesn't seem to hold much grass. I had to empty it three times before I was done mowing.
All and all, I love this mower. I hated having to jack with gas and oil and filters and maintenance of gas mowers. Plus, this thing is relatively quiet compared to my gas mower. I recommend it.
