Snapper HD 48V MAX Cordless Electric Self-Propelled 20-Inch Lawn Mower, Battery and Charger Not Included

I, a 75-year old woman who likes mowing lawn, like nearly everything about this mower. 1) It took my neighbor less than 10 minutes to get it out of the box and have it ready to go. 2) The charger and battery are small and easy to manage. The battery is about the size and shape of a 4-lb. bag of sugar; I can carry it one hand. 3) It's an easy flick of a little lever to change the speed of the self-propulsion: If I'm getting tired, I just slow it down for a bit. The handles and bars are comfortable in my hands, and my neighbor easily adjusted them to accommodate my height. 4) It's cut down tall weeds and thick grass with relative ease. 5) The mulching capability is excellent. At least during these first two or three months of using this mower, I'm loving it!

I recently acquired the Snapper HD 48V MAX Electric Cordless Lawnmower Kit with 5.0 Battery and Charger, 1687966, 20WM48K. The mower comes with the following parts that need to be attached: Bag, upper handle, mulching plug, and side discharge chute. It also has separate boxes that include the battery and a box for the battery charger. Assembling the unit takes about 10 minutes. In order to assemble it you have to first adjust the lower handle, then install the upper handle, and install the grass catcher bag if you plan on catching the grass, if not, you need to install the mulching plug since you cannot have both the bag and the mulching plug in together that some mowers allow. The mulching plug requires a bit of force to remove before installing the bag. It is all very clear in the instructions. Now that you have the mower put together the next step is to add the battery but first you must charge it since it comes with just a very slight charge. So, to do this, you must remove the battery from the box as well as the battery charger from the second box. Both items come with instructions but it is very straightforward. Basically you plug the charger in and then slide the battery onto it. The battery takes about 2 1/2 hours to charge. Once completely charged you are now ready to use the mower. So, in order to install the battery, all you have to do is lift open and hold the battery door and insert the battery making sure it snaps in place. Finally, you insert the safety key and now the final step is to adjust the height on the mower. Adjusting the height is also very simple with one lever that has 7 height adjustments. I typically use somewhere around 2 inches. Finally, you start the mower by pressing and holding the safety lock-out button and pull the lever up. Just follow the instructions and you will be fine. I then proceeded to start the mower and cut my grass. I have a very large lawn that typically takes anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to cut. I have other rechargeable lawnmowers so this one was to fill the gap since most rechargeable mowers last anywhere from 10 minutes to 90 minutes on one charge. This particular mower cut the lawn nice and even with very little noise. I was able to get about 75 minutes out of the battery on the first charge which is not bad at all. I finished the rest of the lawn and the went to store the mower. The other nice thing about this mower is you can store it standing up if you have to or standing flat taking up less room by rotating the handle and placing the bag on top. So, you have options to make storing a breeze. Overall, I am very pleased and this happens to be one of the better rechargeable mowers I have used.

Update: I am downgrading my original rating because I am so sick of the terrible customer service I sought to fix my original problem with the knobs that allow you to fold down the handles for storage. I tried everything I could think of--calling Snapper, emailing Snapper, watching endless videos on YouTube, going to a dealer, contacting them through Amazon. Nothing worked. When I went over to the dealer, I discovered that Snapper must have recognized the problem with those knobs because they only had a newer model that has the knobs that turn to unscrew rather than knobs to pull the bolts outward. I was in the process of walking the mower to a dealer when a fellow stopped me to ask if he could help. I showed him the manual and told him my dilemma. He was a tall, strong young man, and he must have fiddled with it for about 10 minutes (which made me feel better) and finally was able to pull out the knobs and lower the handle. At least then I knew what had to be done, but the question was whether I could do it! I was hoping that he had loosened those bolts enough for me to be able to do it myself going forward. But no such luck. You have to grab both knobs across the mower and pull them out at the same time, making an awkward situation and diluting any strength I might have--although I must admit that without a screwdriver, I am not strong to pull one out even using both hands. This is just bad engineering. And while it may seem like a little gripe, there are two really bad consequences to this. The first is that pulling out the bolts for storage ruins your handle height setting, which also depends on the placement of those bolts. Second, without being able to deal with those knobs, I cannot store the mower anywhere because it won't fit the space I have available. So it must sit outside all the time, and that is not good for the mower or the look of my house. I am seriously frustrated with Snapper in terms of this design feature as well as its failure to offer any advice about how to cope with it. Can I spray something, for example, to loosen up the bolts or knobs? There must be something that can be done.Original review:I am coming from a different perspective than most if not all of the reviewers I read before buying this mower. I long ago gave up gas mowers and have been using a Neuton electric mower for so many years I cannot even remember when I bought it. So the first thing that struck me about the Snapper is that it is probably double the weight of my Neuton. I could not even lift it out of the box. I don't need a self-propelled feature on the Neuton because it's so light and easy to push, but it's a good thing I ordered the Snapper model with that. Still it has its limitations as I have to do a lot of maneuvering around landscaping lights and oak tree roots sticking up out of the ground, and I cannot do that with self-propelling engaged. It is also hard to back it up to reposition it to go forward, as I have to do often.I also have a problem with the handle knobs. They simply don't work very easily, and it is hard to tighten them. I managed finally to get them tight to attach the upper to lower handle, but then when I wanted to store it vertically and loosened them again and bent them forward, I can no longer tighten them at all--leaving me without the ability to store it inside the shed. The instructions do say they have to be tightened in order to pull the front up to vertical. So this is a malfunction.The manual is poorly written, and I spent much more time putting it together than I should have had to because of that. I wound up seeking help from the authorized dealer across the street from me, from the help line given in the paperwork, and from the place the help line referred me to. No one could help. The dealer doesn't even sell the electric ones, and that is the reason I bought the Snapper in the first place--because I would have easy access to authorized repairs. They were not very cooperative at all. The people I reach by phone were very nice, but really they did not have the ability or knowledge to help.I haven't had it long enough to know about the battery life for sure. It did last through the back yard, front yard, and alley way with one light left on--about 40 minutes. And it didn't take long to charge it, but I am coming from a battery that takes 12 hours to charge, so this part seems amazing to me. And I certainly have no clue about how long a life the battery will have.I am not sure I want to keep this mower. If I could get someone to tell me how to move the darn knobs so I can store it and adjust the handle height, that would help a lot. I've tried pulling them out as the manual says, but I just cannot do it. They will not budge.

Pros: Easy to start, no fumes. Very quiet and I don't have to turn my ear buds to full volume. Easy to store.Cons: Battery life is about 30 to 40 minutes which is disappointing when it clearly says 60 minutes and yes, that's without using the self propelled feature. My lot is just under 1/3 acre and it barely cuts half. The adjustment levers stick out way too far making it tough up against a chain link fence. The mulching plug will not stay in so you may be emptying bags of grass unwittingly.All in all it's a solid piece of equipment but plan on spending a $182 on another battery unless you like waiting on the other to charge.

I orders this electric cordless self propelled lawn mower because of the claim that the battery runs "up to 60 minutes of run time with 5.0 battery under light loads" Well, that is not the case, I mowed the grass which was not too high, new grass, and after 30 minutes the battery died. That is a false claim by the Snapper.Tony Espinosa