Ad Infinitum I am nothing but a patient man.

Earthwise 20inch 24-volt 60120

Earthwise 20" 24 volt 60120 Electric Lawn Mower made by American Lawn Mower Company

I purchased this lawn mower at my local Ace Hardware for about $340 with tax. I bought the already assembled one without a box. When I bought it the manager said they would simply take another out of the box and assemble it for the floor. To date I have yet to see another in place of the one I bought.

All reviews are done on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being highest. I plan to give an overall rating with various components broken down within to give a measure of the true product. All ratings are shown below followed by an overall impression and then each of the breakdown ratings followed by specific explanation.

Earthwise 60120 overall rating: 7/10
Mowing tall grass: 4/10
Mowing short grass: 9/10
This model uses a bag, a mulcher or a side eject
Mowing with bag (long grass): 2/10
Mowing with bag (short grass): 7/10
Mulching (long grass): 3/10
Mulching (short grass): 7/10
Side Eject: No Rating (Not used Yet)
Battery Life (long grass): 5/10
Battery Life (short grass): 10/10

Overall I like this mower. The battery takes 12-15 hours to charge which is fine overnight. I like not having to keep a gas can on hand or having to leave my house to fill up the gas can when the mower runs dry, however, if I let the grass get too long there is a good chance I'll have to take two days to get the whole yard done (I'm on less than a quarter acre, if you have a larger yard don't plan on this model to get your lawn done in a single shot unless you mow twice a week to keep it short enough). In this scenario I either cut the grass short and get about two thirds done or I raise the deck higher to finish the whole yard but then have to go back the next day with a lower deck to really have a lasting mow.

As you can tell from the numbers, I'm not too thrilled with the bag on this model. It suffers from two basic problems. The size of the eject hole on the mower is too small causing frequent clogs which I have to stop and clear lest I want to be mulching when I'm trying to bag. The second problem is that the bag itself is under sized meaning that it fills up pretty quickly and actually drags when it is over filled, again causing frequent stops to empty.

Mowing tall grass: 4/10
We've had so much rain in northern Illinois this summer that the grass has grown and grown and grown some more. As a result the grass has been much longer than I would like most of the times I have had to mow. This mower does not have the power to keep up with that tall grass. A combination of factors are at work, notably the small size of the eject hole and the resulting mulching that happens when the hole gets clogged. I have found myself having to mow 'relief swaths' (perpendicular lines to what I am cutting) so that if I am crossing the yard long ways I'll hit these patches to give the mower a break before continuing onto the long row again. The only way to work around the shortcomings are to raise the deck two or three notches higher than I would like. This works well but then leaves me with grass that is still too tall.

Mowing short grass: 9/10
This mower performs admirably when the grass is short (or the deck raised). The bag functions much better (but still has its shortcomings) and the mulching capability doesn't drain the battery quite as much (although it still drains it more than bagging or side ejecting).

This model uses a bag, a mulcher or a side eject

Mowing with bag (long grass): 2/10
As noted, if trying to mow long grass very short in one attempt don't use the bag or the mulcher, they just can't cut it (love the pun). The side eject may be helpful in this case but I haven't tried it yet as I have no interest in picking up grass after the fact.

Mowing with bag (short grass): 7/10
The bag works much better when the grass is short. The opening is still a little undersized and the bag fills up too quickly but overall it gets the job done.

Mulching (long grass): 3/10
The downside of mulching with tall grass is that the battery weakens pretty quickly and that the overall process is much slower. Because this is an electric motor it slows when overwhelmed. As a result the person doing the pushing must also slow down to allow the motor to keep up. Essentially it doubles the time needed to mow.

Mulching (short grass): 7/10
Mulching works when the grass isn't too long. I was surprised at the lack of noticeable clippings when using the mulching feature on short grass. The motor does have to work a little harder, even with the grass being shorter but if you like to make sure the full battery charge gets used this isn't such a bad thing.

Side Eject: No Rating (Not used Yet)
Like it says, I haven't tried this yet. I'm not keen on taking an extra hour to rake my yard.

Battery Life (long grass): 5/10
When the grass is long the battery life is short. This can be attenuated by walking slower to give the engine time to work but that is frustrating too since it means you have to budget more time for the whole job. I find that I can get two thirds to three quarters of my yard done when the grass is long. After that, the battery needs at least 6 hours of charge time.

Battery Life (short grass): 10/10
Not much to say here. If the grass is short the battery is plenty to handle the whole yard. I charge it after every use, usually over night and then unplug in the morning. The charge holds well enough between mowings that I don't need to top off the charge just before use.

If you (like me) can tolerate the quirks and work around the short comings this is a fine mower.