Photograph: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Shopping for a brand new using garden mower has all the time include a certain quantity of homework. Earlier than deciding on a particular mannequin, you first have to navigate the varied sorts: rear engine, garden tractor, or zero flip. Then, there’s determining the suitable measurement and whether or not fuel or electrical energy fits your wants. To additional complicate the buying course of, each the potential and pricing of battery-powered using garden mowers have improved dramatically.
We’ve reached the purpose the place legacy fuel garden mower manufacturers like Craftsman are more and more influenced by the successes of battery-powered garden mower firms like Ego Energy+, Greenworks, and Ryobi. However can the old-timer shift gears and replicate the success that the newcomers have skilled? I not too long ago examined the brand new Craftsman 56V 42-inch electrical using garden mower to seek out out.
Utilizing an electrical using garden mower is an effective way to scale back noise and exhaust emissions. In that regard, the Craftsman 56V 42-inch mannequin produces much less of each. And due to a number of key design and efficiency particulars, it rises above the competitors by way of maneuverability, operator consolation, total versatility, and the acreage it could possibly mow per cost.
Whereas this mower will not be fairly excellent, it might be the best choice in case you are in search of a battery-powered using garden mower that works no less than in addition to its fuel equal. Forward, discover out the excessive and low factors I skilled whereas testing this Craftsman battery using mower.
Craftsman 56V 42-Inch Battery Using Mower: At a Look
Photograph: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Score: 8.9/10
SPECS
- Mower sort: Garden tractor
- Weight: 420 kilos
- Battery: Constructed-in 56-volt (V) 60 amp-hour (Ah) lithium-ion battery
- Charger: 56V MAX lithium-ion charger
- Cost time: 4.5 hours
- Runtime: 1.75 hours
- Motor sort: Brushless
- Deck width: 42 inches
- Variety of blades: 2
- Deck peak vary: 12 positions; 1.25 inches to 4 inches
- Blade pace: 3,200 revolutions per minute (rpm)
- Max ahead pace: 6 miles per hour (mph)
- Max reverse pace: 3 mph
PROS
- Acquainted really feel with journey controls equivalent to gas-powered hydrostatic using mowers
- Excessive vantage level and sloped hood improves the operator’s imaginative and prescient
- 42-inch chopping deck and TurnTight steering give the mower glorious maneuverability
- Runtime and pace permit as much as 3.5 acres of mowing per cost
- Mulching and bagging succesful (despite the fact that equipment are offered individually)
- Highback seat is properly padded, ventilated, supportive, and comfy
CONS
- Shallow deck doesn’t create as a lot suction to tug grass blades upright
- Not appropriate for steep hills or severely overgrown areas
- Seat-mount system was additional bouncy with no shock absorber and felt a bit wobbly
- It takes time to develop into aware of the ahead and reverse pedal sensitivity
- Quieter operation than comparable fuel using mowers and produces zero emissions whereas mowing
Get the Craftsman 56V battery using mower at:
What’s the Craftsman battery using garden mower?
Consistent with the pattern towards battery-powered garden tools, Craftsman launched a brand new line of American-made 56V electrical using garden mowers for the 2023 season. The brand new lineup features a compact 30-inch electrical using mower, a 42-inch electrical garden tractor, and a 42-inch electrical zero-turn mower, assembled in Ohio and Tennessee.
I examined the garden tractor. Three brushless motors—one for the drive wheels and two for the blades—are powered by a built-in 56V 60Ah rechargeable lithium-ion battery. In my exams, it charged in 4.5 hours and delivered roughly 1.75 hours of runtime per cost. The 42-inch mowing deck options two common blades able to facet discharge, mulching, or bagging (mulch equipment and bagger offered individually).
With a most ahead pace of 6 mph, this machine is able to mowing about 3.5 acres of grass per cost. It additionally options the patented TurnTight 5-inch radius steering system. Different standout options embody vibrant LED headlights, soft-touch steering wheel, premium cut-and-sewn high-back seat, lighted battery-life indicator, and onboard fast charging system.
Photograph: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
How do you get began with the Craftsman electrical using mower?
Though the battery arrived partially charged, I needed to start the take a look at with a full cost. The battery will not be detachable for distant charging, so I needed to park the mower pretty near an influence outlet. The fast charger plugs into the wall outlet on one finish and into the mower on the opposite for a 10-foot attain.
Due to the mounted battery, customers have to be conscious that lithium-ion batteries are delicate to warmth and chilly. Storage temperatures above 90 levels Fahrenheit degrade the lifespan of those batteries, and working temperatures beneath freezing scale back the working capability till the temperature warms. A climate-controlled storage is the perfect place to maintain this mower throughout temperature extremes.
I examined the mower on two adjoining properties:
- A 3-quarter-acre lot with a gated yard and quite a few panorama beds and different obstacles that scale back the overall grass space to about half an acre
- A full acre of grass with no obstacles aside from undulating terrain
On a single cost, I used to be capable of mow each of the properties twice—about 3 acres of grass whole—earlier than the battery was depleted. It took about 4.5 hours to recharge.
Is the Craftsman electrical using garden mower straightforward to make use of?
To anybody accustomed to a gas-powered using mower, the very first thing that can stand out is the quiet drive motor. When the blades weren’t engaged, this mower drove virtually silently. Even when the blades had been operating, this battery-powered using garden mower operated way more quietly than a gas-powered using mower. Craftsman states that its exams confirmed it to be 80 p.c quieter than one in all its personal fuel fashions, which appears about proper to me.
The digital controls had been clear and simple to make use of. A security key unlocks the system when the operator is seated. Insert the important thing with the brake pedal depressed. Then press and maintain the beginning button to begin. The system beeps twice to sign that it’s awake, and the display lights as much as show the battery cost degree. At this level there’s zero sound, however the mower is able to drive or mow.
Working the mower felt very acquainted—almost equivalent to the gas-powered hydrostatic using garden tractors I’ve used. The brake pedal was on the left, with an emergency brake lock lever on the console beneath the steering wheel, and the ahead and reverse pedals had been on the proper. The pedals are pressure-sensitive press and go: The more durable you press, the quicker you go. The mower is supplied with a cruise management system to keep up a set tempo with much less operator fatigue. There have been no gears to function and no excessive/low energy vary to handle. Two buttons beneath the show display management the LED headlights and the ability take-off (to interact the mower blades).
Photograph: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Is the Craftsman electrical using garden mower snug to function?
The Craftsman 56V electrical using garden mower seat was tremendous snug—a tier above the molded foam and vinyl seat on the 10-year-old garden tractor I nonetheless use at house. It was properly cushioned with a gentle cloth cowl and good air flow. Visibility was actually good throughout because of the downward slope of the hood. The seat mount was virtually too springy, although. Using throughout bumpy floor delivered some severe bounce. It could have been good if a shock absorber was paired with the twin coil springs.
Craftsman’s TurnTight steering system was a pleasant added function that stood out compared to different garden tractors. The patented design permits the entrance wheels to make sharper turns with out bumping into the mower deck or body. However that’s not all. I’ve used loads of garden tractors with common steering programs that don’t grip the bottom when the steering wheel is totally turned, inflicting the entrance finish to float sloppily across the nook. I actually appreciated that the Craftsman system really gripped these tight turns as a substitute of sliding throughout the bottom.
How properly does the Craftsman 56V electrical using garden mower minimize grass?
The stamped metal mower deck of the Craftsman 56V electrical using garden mower was simply adjustable with a hand lever on the proper facet of the operator’s seat. Though 12 positions appeared on the lock-in peak selector, the lever wouldn’t attain the very best or lowest place on the machine I examined. This was in all probability one thing that might be adjusted within the deck-mounting system, however I didn’t want both of these positions for the take a look at. Because it was, I mowed on 2.5 for a pleasant tight end on Bermuda grass and raised it to 10 for the sphere of tall fescue.
The mower carried out greatest when chopping lower than 2 inches of foliage off the grass, whatever the beginning peak. It’s not a really deep deck at about 4 inches, so it doesn’t generate a whole lot of suction to tug tall grass blades upright. Once I tried to take away greater than 2 inches of the present peak, whether or not chopping 6-inch grass all the way down to 4 inches or 3.5-inch grass all the way down to 1.5 inches, the end grew to become more and more ragged, requiring a second “cleanup” move.
The three,200-rpm blade pace is about common for garden tractors. In my evaluation, this mower is a superb alternative for routine garden upkeep and occasional cleanup however undoubtedly not for heavy-duty discipline chopping.
Photograph: Debbie Wolfe for Bob Vila
Is the Craftsman 56V 42-inch battery-powered using garden mower well worth the cash?
After testing the Craftsman 56V electrical using garden mower in my yard, I in contrast the using mower to related battery-powered garden tractors by Ryobi, Troy-Bilt, and Cub Cadet. Since I haven’t had the chance to check the competitors, my comparability relies solely on the producer specs.
All of those battery-powered using garden mowers are priced inside $200 of one another, so the value must be thought-about truthful so long as the specs are related. Within the circumstances of Troy-Bilt and Cub Cadet, the specs are basically equivalent to the Craftsman mower. Moreover, all three are manufactured by MTD for his or her respective manufacturers. The Ryobi electrical using garden mower, the most costly of the group, provides barely much less mowing energy and shorter runtime than the others.
With all of this in thoughts, I take into account the Craftsman mannequin to be a good worth. It can set you again about $1,500 greater than a comparable gas-powered using garden mower, however a lot of that worth distinction will probably be returned over its working life by eliminating gasoline, oil adjustments, and different elements of fuel engine upkeep.
Is the Craftsman battery-powered using garden mower best for you?
The Craftsman battery-powered using mower is a superb alternative for sustaining 1 to 4 acres of garden. The journey is quiet and comfy, it’s straightforward to function, and it produces loads of mowing energy. It may even tow a cart or spreader. But it surely might not be the perfect using mower for each shopper.
Those that want a heavy-duty using mower to chop down excessive grass and weeds in an overgrown discipline will discover that this one lacks the deep mower deck and highly effective airflow wanted for an environment friendly minimize. Additionally, the built-in lithium-ion battery presents some limitations exterior its optimum temperature vary. This isn’t a mower you’ll wish to depend on for snow removing, and the battery’s longevity could also be compromised by the long-term results of utmost warmth.
Even with these caveats, the Craftsman 56V electrical using garden mower is a extremely good mower. For normal mowing with out the noise, exhaust, and different hassles related to fuel engine upkeep, most customers received’t be disenchanted.
The place to Purchase the Craftsman 56V Brushless Battery Using Mower
Get the Craftsman 56V battery using mower at:
Meet the Tester
Mark Wolfe is a author and product tester with an intensive background within the nursery and landscaping industries. For greater than 20 years he mowed, edged, planted, pruned, cultivated, irrigated, and renovated lovely landscapes. Now he exams and writes opinions in regards to the newest out of doors energy tools, hand instruments, garden care merchandise, and different out of doors dwelling items.
