Top rated Consumer Reports Corded Mower: The CR top rated electric corded mower for 2010 was the Black and Decker MM875. The MM875 offers a 19″ cutting deck for making short work of that lawn. This model does every thing well, in fact, it does it just as well as if not better than your run of the mill gas mower. Results showed that the MM875 does a good job at leaving an even lawn height. Mulching, bagging and side discharge all yielded excellent results. Starting and ease of use could not be simpler with its electric no hassle start. Like all corded mowers, you have to handle it with a bit more care so that you do not sever the cord. In conclusion, the MM875 makes for a CR Best Buy as it outperformed all the other corded electrics in the test.

Top 3 CR Best Buy Corded Mower Sorted by Rating

Black and Decker MM875

Black and Decker MM875 Shop At Price Rating: $199.00

Features

• Corded 12 amp electric motor
• 100 foot electric cord
• Mulching, rear bag and discharging capabilities
• Single lever height adjustments
• Lightweight – weighing only 52 pounds
• Easy single button start

Black and Decker MM1800

Black and Decker MM1800 Shop At Price Rating: $226.54

Features

• 18″ deck size with up to 1/4 acre cord rage
• Corded 12 amp electric motor
• 100 foot electric cord
• Mulching, rear bag and discharging capabilities
• Single lever height adjustments
• Lightweight – weighing only 46 pounds
• Easy single button start

Earthwise 50120

Earthwise 50120 Shop At Price Rating: $215.80

Features

• 20″ deck size with up to 1/4 acre cord rage
• Comfort grip V handle
• Corded 12 amp electric motor
• 100 foot electric cord
• 3 in 1 Mulching, rear bag and discharging capabilities
• Single lever height adjustments
• Lightweight – weighing only 60 pounds
• Easy single button start

Earthwise 60020 20-Inch 24 Volt Cordless Electric

Earthwise 60020 Shop At Price Rating: $270.00

The Earthwise 60020 is a powerful 24 volt cordless electric with plenty of juice for the average lawn. Just as with a regular gas mower, you get 3 in 1 flexibility with either rear bag, side discharge or mulch settings without having to buy extra parts. The 60020 is much lighter than your run of the mill gas mower so it is very easy to push and maneuver. Of course you will also enjoy the silent to noxious fume mowing electrics offer.

If run time is your concern, no need to worry with this model because the average run time is 45-60 minutes, more than enough to finish the job. Best of all, this model is quite affordable and is equivalently priced to your average gas mower.

Haussmann CLM46NU 19 inch 24 volt Mower

Haussmann CLM46NU Shop At Price Rating: $199.00

The Haussmann CLM46NU is a sub $200 electric cordless mower with slightly smaller deck with than the Earthwise. It also omits the side chute so this is either a mulcher or a bagger. Ideal for smaller lawns that can be bagged easily or that can be completed quickly in mulch mode. Max run time on this one is 45 minutes so not quite as good as the Earthwise above. If you have a smaller lawn, you can’t go wrong with this one at this price. Of course you will enjoy all the benefits of electric at a low price.

Suburban Lawn

You see it everyday, Joe homeowner mowing his postage stamp size lawn with a clunky gas mower. What’s even worse is the homeowner mowing his little lawn with a riding mower! Did you know that the average homeowner lawn is 1/5 of an acre? That is about 8000 square feet or an 80′ X 100′ lawn. Of course, suburban lawns are even smaller than that. So why contribute to the 5% annual pollution contributed to mower engines when such a small lawn can easily be managed with a either a corded or cordless electric mower?

Of course pollution concerns aren’t the only reason to go electric on that suburban lawn. How would you like to mow your lawn at 6am on a Saturday morning without disturbing your neighbors? You can’t do that with a gas mower but you certainly can with an electric. So are you a suburbanite still gas mowing? If so, ditch that loud and obnoxious gas for a quiet and efficient electric.

Even if you aren’t ready to let go of that gas mower and are still using a gas weed eater, then you should at least consider switching over to an electric. The fact is that electric weed eating is just down right better than gas weed eating a small suburban yard.  Everything from starting them to maneuvering them is just easier and more efficient on electrics.  Consider that that average gas trimmer weighs 15-20 pounds, compare that to the less than 5 pounds on the lightest 18 Volt trimmer.

Rudimentary ICE

While mowing your grass, it is not uncommon to ponder just how efficient that motor actually is. Believe it or not, small gas engines have remained largely unregulated by any governmental agency. This despite the fact that small lawn and garden engines produce 5% of the nations air pollution. The reason is simple, unlike a car where you can measure efficiency by ‘MPG’, lawn and garden engines have no such measure of efficiency. Another reason that is largely unknown by many consumers, is the fact that the majority of lawn mower engines are produced by the same manufacturer. So even if you shop from brand to brand, chances are that they use the same engine manufacturer. So how do you find out exactly how efficient your mower engine is? The simple answer is there isn’t.

What Makes Mower Engines so Inefficient?

The fact is that the ICE (internal combustion engine) is an inefficient method of transforming fuel to usable energy. Most of the inefficiencies come from heat or frictional losses. Many of the advancements in automotive engine efficiencies have come by way of electronic means and not from the mechanical process itself. When you think about your car, there are entire subsystems in your car dedicated to making the engine more efficient and scrubbing the emissions that are expelled from the engine. When you think about your run of the mill lawn mower, there simply is not enough room for such systems. In fact, small mower engines are the most rudimentary forms of the  internal combustion engine comprised of nothing more than a basic mechanical fuel delivery system, a spark plug and air with a little bit of oil for lubrication. Fact is that today’s mower engines are not much different than those from 20 years ago. Unlike a car, there are no onboard electronics that control the ignition and fuel delivery processes, there are no catalytic converters or  charcoal filters to scrub emissions, there is not engine cooling system, in essence they lack all of the major advancements in modern engine design. The reason for this boils down to cost. You see, in order to make lawn and garden engines more efficient, you need to make them more complex. To make them more complex, you have to make them more expensive. This in turn, also makes them more difficult and costlier to maintain.  So despite the upcoming new efficiency standards set to take place in 2011, mower engines are destined to remain highly inefficient compared to car engines unless consumers are willing to sacrifice high costs for much higher efficiency.  Would you be willing to pay twice as much for a much more efficient lawn mower when there are electric mowers that have zero emissions and will do the job just the same at a fraction of the cost?

Looking for more efficient options? Check out a full line of clean zero emission Electric Mowers here.

Gasoline engines require extra maintenance and when neglected can  be more problems than what they are worth.  If you are going to keep a gas powered garden tool, you will need to change the oil, replace filters, and in severe cases, rebuild the engine.  The gas lines can clog, spark plugs can fail and other countless problems can arise.

For the most part, gasoline engines are simply dirtier and less attractive than quiet electric garden tools.  When deciding what electric lawn mower or weed eater, it’s important to consider the long term maintenance and car of the tool.

Electric engines are what some might call “plug and play” and require very little maintenance.  Take a look  at some options.

36V Cordless Mower

The answer is absolutely! You won’t find one at your local box store but battery powered mowers do exist!  Consider the cordless electric mowers found here.  These mowers offer the same benefits and plenty of power to get through just about any lawn in one charge.  You see, these mowers pack more punch since they are either 24 or 36 volts which provide far more power than your standard 12 volt battery. In fact, a 36 volt lawnmower has the equivalent power of a 4 hp mower.

Long gone are the days when your only choice for going electric was your run of the mill corded mower.  While corded mowers are great if you have a small lawn,  they are not be practical for larger jobs. After all, you probably don’t want to run a 100′ cord.  However, with a cordless mower, you have the freedom to mow just about anywhere.   The great thing about these mowers is that they cost about the same as a good gas mower and have the same features like mulch mowing.  So if the only thing holding you back from going electric is the cord, then these battery powered cordless mowers may just be for you!

But I already have a gas powered mower and other tools….

Here is the tough part.  What do you do if you really want to go green but already have existing tools in working condition.  This is a sacrifice you need to make and retire your older tools for newer more efficient and earth friendly tools.  Just like changing light bulbs to more energy efficient ones, you actually have to eliminate the old and go with the new.

Should I donate the old tools?

At first, this seems like a perfectly logical solution but if you’re serious about going green and are ready to invest a few hundred dollars, you don’t want to give your problem away, you want to eliminate it.  Here is where you can reuse an old lawn mower or other tools by turning them into other useful things such as ornaments or re-purpose them  to serve a different function.  We have heard of people reusing the metal or turning the metal in for scrap and actually making money!

It is clear that going from gas to electric is a big and serious decision and one that will make a huge difference in your life as well as the planet’s.

Lawnmower MPG

The question of lawnmower MPG is one that I see often. Unfortunately, there is no real way to determine the “MPG” on your lawnmower, at least not on the push mowers. You see, MPG can only be measured if the mower propelled itself. Since you are the one doing the pushing, the MPG is really determined by how fast you walk as you mow since this determines how much ground you cover as you burn a gallon of gas. In essence, you would be measuring your MPG! Obviously, some people will mow faster than others so those that walk faster will get better “MPG” since the mower will run less and they will cover more ground. This makes it impossible to determine MPG on your push mower. Now, if you are still determined to find out your push mower’s theoretical “MPG”, consider the fact that the average human walks at a pace of 4 miles per hour. If you mow for 1 hour and your mower uses say 1/2 gallon (this is about how much mine uses in an hour) then in 2 hours you would have walked 8 miles and used 1 gallon. So your MPG is 8 gallons to the mile! That’s worse than a Hummer! The easiest way to improve your mowers “MPG” then is to walk twice as fast or basically jog. Even so, your mower will still only get 16 MPG and you will be ready to keel over by the time you finish! Of course, nobody walks that fast or that far when mowing. So the actual theoretical “MPG” number is probably much, much lower.

So what’s the best way to conserve gas when mowing? Well, that’s easy, get an electric mower! They obviously use no gas, the electricity they draw is minimal and they do the job just as good. Other pluses include, no pull starting, very little maintenance , they are much lighter thus easier to push and they last a lot longer. If your local lawn and garden does not have a great selection, check out GreenGardenTool.com, they have some nice electric mowers in both corded and battery.