Greenworks 60V 46cm SP Mower Kit

I'll be right up front and say that I've only had the mower (kit) for about a week and only used it once. So my opinion is short term, it may change once I've had the mower for weeks/months/years. So far it's been a positive experience. My yard is quite long between having my previous mower away (trying to get fixed under warranty) and Cyclone… Read more ·  1

Alfred. So my first mow was on a yard that hasn't been touched in nearly a month. As a result the mower did stall more than once, and it was more noticeable while using the self-propel feature. Basically when pushing it, if it bogged down I'd stop pushing before it stalled. But with the SP on it'd sometimes stall before I cut the power to the wheels.

Frankly though the yard was really high and thick so it'd have easily stalled my defunct AEG and probably my previous Victa petrol too. So I can't downrate it for that. Once I got the pacing of the SP feature right (or just didn't use it) it performed just fine.

While on the subject of the SP feature it's something I wasn't looking for but the kit was priced too attractively compared to the standard (non SP) mower so I grabbed it. And having used it I'm glad I did. On the flat it's no big deal but on the uphill runs it's so nice letting the mower do the work. I've read other people complaining about the handle used to activate the SP feature. I have to say I didn't have issues with it. I think it could be better designed (shorter range), but I didn't find it painful to use or difficult to keep in place. I would like to move the speed control to the top of the handle though because it's current location (about halfway down) is inconvenient if you want to adjust it regularly.

Pace wise the top speed seems too fast, and ultimately I had to dial it way back to slowest pace. I think the top speed is fine (it'll work for younger, fitter people) but oldies might find the slowest pace to still be too fast. It's also "heavy" for a couple seconds after turning SP off. I guess the wheels are still connected to the driving mechanism. So you need to turn off SP, push gently for a second and then the mechanism disengages and you can turn the mower or drag it backwards more easily.

I think between the heavy load (thick, long grass) and using the SP a lot it's very hard on the battery. I got less than a quarter of my yard done, and it lasted less than half an hour. However, I think that'll change dramatically once I'm doing "normal" mows. This brings us to the charging, which is super fast but sounds like a hair dryer. This is because the charging unit (and possibly the battery too) has a cooling fan that is active while charging. It's ridiculously noisy, so don't expect to charge the battery while having a nap anywhere nearby. It does however smash the charge in really quickly. I didn't time it, but the 60v 4ah battery was definitely done in less than an hour (from flat).

The catcher has one interesting quirk. I say quirk because I'm not sure if it's a problem or not. Basically half the space where the grass exits to the rear is completely blocked off. So it's only throwing grass into the catcher through a hole about 20cm wide instead of the full width. It seemed to catch roughly as well as the AEG did with a full width gap so I'm not sure it's makes a difference.

Other than that, build quality seems quite solid, the handles fold well, and it can be stored upright. The cut seems a bit wider than on the AEG, but I think that's because the blades are the same length but the body of the mower is narrower. So you're getting closer to the full width of the mower when making a pass. There are some plastic components underneath the mower that I'm worried about trapping grass near the deck and becoming a potential rust risk. Will have to keep an eye on that.

All in all I'd like to give it 4.5 stars not 4, but can't do that. So the deduction is for the slight niggle adjusting speed and that it feels a little too fast in SP mode.