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- Verified Buyer
You could say, that I am a skeptical person. I believe nothing unless I can confirm it by at least 3 other sources. So here I am in AZ. yes it can get hot 110 F, a pool is a must, and despite all logic my house has grass. If you are not aware of it, grass does not naturally grow in the desert, for good reason. It gets very hot, and there is little water.So my dilemma is how to maintain a 20'x 50' area of grass. A standard gas mower makes little sense and causes more work, which I do not like. I am not a yard guy and have no intention of winning yard of the month. So I search for options and find the Black and Decker MTE912. I do much research and am skeptical at best. I pull the trigger and order the MTE912. I opted for the corded version out of logic, knowing a mower will draw much power to cut grass and a battery may not handle it. Even a small yard the battery will slow after a few minutes which will affect the cutting. If you look you can find the review you want to see, good or bad.Going in I know, a cord, cable of any type will not cut as a blade does, it is pure and simple. As the load increases from the deep grass the cord will slow down, curve and not cut evenly. So I knew I would not get a cut as I would with a standard blade mower. I chose the corded version because a constant source of 110VAC - 120VAC will be more stable and consistent than a battery, especially over time.My results; I jokingly refer to it as vacuuming the yard, as it takes more of a back and forth action to work well, as opposed to a normal mower. This is mainly due to the fact that, there is no port for the cut grass to exit the mower unit, so the cut grass is trapped under it until you cover more ground. The back and forth action seems to work. It does cut dry grass pretty well even to a rather high height. 5" - 7". One restriction is the adjustment of the unit only gives you 2 level choices, low or lower. The wheels are large enough that it could and should go higher. It seems to be built pretty well even though it looks like a toy mower. Because it is so light, it is affected by an uneven surface, so if you have lumps or bumps in the yard, the level is affected in the end. As far as time goes, I would say all in all it does not take much if any additional time to use than a gas mower, probably less as there is no need to chase down gas, or oil, sharpen blade, attach and empty bag etc.So far I am okay with it, after two months, using it each week, I have only used 1 spool of line, and had no other issues. You cannot bang this unit around too much, it is only plastic. After use I wash it out with the hose and it is good as new. All in all, I like it. I can only give 4 stars as there are fixes that could make it much, much better, if B&D are so inclined I would be happy to advise, but I will not hold my breath.PROS:Light weight, easy to push and maneuver.Gives a reasonable cut, for what it is.Takes up very little space. No gas, oil.Dual use, mower and edger.BONUS.Easy to clean and maintain.Cheaper to operate and maintain than gas mower.CONS:Should have more adjust ability for height.Needs an exit port/shute for cut grass.Heavier wheels would make it more stable and cut better.A more powerful/faster motor would cut better when line is under load from thick grass or weeds, again an exit port would help this as well.A more positive locking system, which marries the motor unit (Weed Eater) to the mower unit.Stiffen up the mower unit, making the motor and mower more like one piece.I find it works best if I overlap my rows, and slow down, at times I even go over the yard again, as my yard is like the surface of the moon "With Grass". Overall it comes out fairly nice, after all it is not a gas mower, so don't expect the same cut, it is not going to happen. For the price I can live with it. Many others buy extra parts right off the bat, I suggest to wait and see how it works for you first. Remember, don't handle it like a gas mower, it's not. I buy bulk line and rewind the spools myself, it is much cheaper in the long run. You can buy spools already wound, if that works for you great, the added expense is not for everyone.The bottom cap for the line spools, if installed right, should last. I have yet to see how so many can be breaking them ? All I can think of is rough use, REMEMBER you do not have have to BANG this trimmer on the ground to feed more line!... Simply take your finger off the trigger let it stop and start again.If my upgrades were done, I am sure the price would be affected. But, it would be a better product and last much longer, in my mind still worth the extra price as it would fill a void where a trimmer won't do it and a gas mower is too much.Just my .2 centsThis looks like a toy, but it is a great tool if you have a slope or terrace to mow. I have a small in width but steep grass slope in front of my house by the street. It was difficult for me to mow even with my light Greenworks 40 volt mower. I dreaded mowing that 150 ft long slope every week, but not now. This little tool works great and is as easy as pushing a light weight vacuum cleaner around the house. It takes me no time at all and very little effort to complete the job with this. I now also use it to do the two 250 ft long strips along the sidewalk between a wall and sidewalk and the strip between the street and sidewalk around my corner that is very time consuming to do with my regular mower as there are tree roots, a bus stop sign and several other obstacles in the way. There isn't a lot of space to turn around a full sized mower without crashing into the wall or stepping out into a busy street. The job goes very quickly with this little guy as it is so light weight and maneuverable. It converts from mower to edger with no effort at all by stepping on a lever on the back that releases the string trimmer from the mower base, and it goes back in the mower base just as easily. I am surprised how long the spool of string lasts when it is on the mower. However, today as I was using it to edge the sidewalk for the first time in a while I went through string very fast using it as an edger, I guess as the string was hitting the sidewalk. But, using the trimmer as a mower I I have done the front slope and the strip around the corner without edging at least 10 times and still had not used up the spool of string, and it feeds without snags. I have been wondering for years why no one has made a mower base for a string trimmer as the trimmers get heavy and are hard to keep the grass height level without the base. It would be really nice if B&D made a 40 volt trimmer to fit in the mower base too, but I am so happy to at least have this 20 volt lithium ion version for now. A slight problem is that the wheel height which is held by a spring pops back to the lower height easily so I have to be careful that doesn't happen when I bump it up and down over the tree roots and higher sidewalks or curbs. It can be put back in place pretty easily, but it is a slight nuisance. It also would be nice if the height were a little higher as I like to keep my grass higher than this allows. My slope looks like a perfect golf green, but I may need to water it more often. I highly recommend this mower base which fits many B&D newer 12" String trimmers (not all), or buy the two items together and have a great little mower for all those steep or tight places. You will not be disappounted. If I only had a small yard this is probably all I would use. It is so little it takes up no storage space. It is so light an arthritic senior like me or child could use it. The 20 V lithium battery actually last quite long. I purchased a quick charger and have 3 batteries that I rotate as I work, but I have a very large yard and have many areas between garden borders, under trees and bushes and more cramped spots where I use this and leave the larger lawn areas for my regular mower. It saves me a lot of time in those areas. It is a great invention. I hope B&D continues to make it as an option and for some of its other more powerful trimmers.UPDATE: THIS IS GREAT FOR MULCHING AND SHREDDING LEAVES IN THE FALL. IT IS EVEN EASIER THAN USING A MULCHING LAWNMOWER AS IT IS SO LIGHT!! Shreds the leaves in no time and I have loads of leaves to get rid of. The string lasts a very very long time when shredding the leaves too. I hope B&D keeps making this combo. IT WOULD BE GOOD IF THEY MADE a larger one also. IT IS GREAT CUTTING GRASS ON SLOPE AND IS A PHENOMENAL SHREDDER/MULCHER.I have a trailer in a 55+ community with grass on both sides, not a lot 4 - 8 foot wide on either side and 60 ft long. To much for my back with just the weed Wacker, but too small to buy a mower. Perfect for my needAfter having it for about three years, I would give it 2 star review. It is difficult to cut through thick grass especially so evenly. It take forever and may require back in forth. Feels like vacuuming. It is very light but only 6.5 amps so not very powerful. The 2 in 1 is great for edging but for cutting grass, unless you have a very very tiny yard to cut, its too time consuming. Also it looks like a toy cause it's tiny and the handle does not go high enough. I'm 5'3 and it is just ok for me, too small for husband. Also there are some issues with the spooling randomly at times and I have to keep cutting the plastic cord on the trimmer which is very annoying. After owning it for a while the trimmer doesmt really click on the deck like it used to so it keeps coming out. Additionally once you adjust the height of the trimmer, you are supposed to turn a plastic piece to lock it in place but after a while it doesn't stay locked very well which is super frustrating while cutting. I am looking for a new mower.Funciona muy bien. El corte es muy parejo y el pasto queda como alfombra.Al desacoplar la bordeadora se vuelve otra herramienta muy práctica para dar acabado al perímetro o alrededor de arbustos bajos.El único inconveniente es que el carrete que trae de fabrica es muy pequeño y es casi de muestra. Asi que cuando pidas una maquina de éstas, es necesario pedir carretes de repuesto.Estoy más que contento. Poda el pasto ligeramente alto, lo suficiente para que se vea bien. Si la usas cada 15 días ni siquiera te tienes que preocupar por recoger el pasto cortado, ya que lo deja tan fino que desaparece en un par de días. Supongo que por eso no tiene ni necesitas bolsa recolectora. Es muy ligera y al desmontarlo del carrito muy versátil.it works well and t is light . but it does not come with the cord to plug to the wall . so I needed to buy an outdoor cord separately. the big issue is that the majority of the cords do not fit in the machine properly!. they have made the cord space round and small on the machine but most of the cords that are in stores do not have the same round and small head.also make sure to buy extra spinning wires ( which inserted in the orange plastic ) with your order . because they ripped soon after few times you use the machine, and need to be replaced.The machine stopped working at the beginning of August, less than three months since I ordered it. I reported the problem to Amazon, but no response from the supplier. Almost 2 weeks past. I got to clean up the issue now. Here is the copy I wrote to the CS of Amazon.Hi, Mike, I wait for quite a while but still no response. Is it possible to return it? I bought it less than three month, I actually just used it for less than two months cuz we hired a lawn service while our tractor was down. I actually only used 3-4 times. The material they use in the machine is weak, the key component to keep the string holder in place is a small piece of plastic. This is the broken part. I guess it should be returned and they should correct the issue in the future. Your consideration is highly appreciated
