Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like most of you, whenever I go to buy an appliance or tool on the internet I read the customer reviews to try to get a feel for the product's long term performance before I invest in it. Unfortunately, many of the reviews have been submitted by short term owners who are still jazzed over their purchase and haven't used it long enough to offer a comprehensive assessment of the product. That's why I decided to review this mower now after I've used it for a few seasons. I've had my cordless mower since May of 2004. It is actually the CMM1000, the model previous to the CMM1200. I understand, based on the number of negative reviews, that the quality of design and manufacturing of this product could be considered suspect. Temper that with the reality that most satisfied customers remain mum while most dissatisfied customers howl to the heavens. I've owned several other Black and Decker products with mixed results. My drill? Awesome. My weed wacker? The first one was junk. The second one - a cordless model - worked out. My power washer? I've gone through two of them and I wouldn't wish one upon my worst enemy. But even after a few years of service, I still love my mower. At the end of the first season, something broke in the electronic guts under the cover that the switch was attached to. At first it wouldn't shut off until I removed the key, then after a while it wouldn't start. Since getting that fixed, I've had no problems. It seems to operate just as long now as it did new. If there has been any falloff in performance, it hasn't been significant enough for me to complain about. Power is very good for the task of mowing and mulching but you have to keep in mind that it won't have the shear output oomph of a gas mower. If you keep the tasks tailored to the capabilities of battery power, you should be more than happy with the CMM1200. The mower is quieter than a gas powered model, but not as quiet as you might think. My neighbors love it, but standing right next to it you still have to raise your voice to be heard. It is also heavier than you expect and pushing it around gives a good workout. That can be considered a positive. But, though I'm over forty, I'm a reletively large and fit guy. Flinging it around the yard isn't a problem for me. I have a medium sized lawn including ten trees and one steep side-hill section about ten feet wide and 150 feet long. The whole job is a little big for the mower to handle in one session, especially during those growth spurts in June. Usually, I do the front yard one day and the sides and smaller back yard the next. It mulches the grass really well so I don't have to bag or rake. In the fall, I pulverize the leaves in place and this has contributed to my lawn improving each spring. Trust me, it is just as much work as raking but with the added benefit of fertilizing the lawn. During the fall of 2007, the trees in our region held on to their leaves until the last minute. In early December, it all came down at once. The mower was a bit overwhelmed and it couldn't keep up as quickly as I would have liked. So I bought the MM875, which is the corded version of the same mower, to use as a supplement for next year. It uses the same blades as the CMM1200 and operates similarly. So when the grass is too thick or the leaves too numerous for the battery mower to handle entirely, I'll switch to the MM875 to finish up. This is not to say the CMM1200 isn't good enough. The mower is more than capable, downright impressive, as long as you don't expect perfection when you push beyond the envelope. Am I happy I bought this product? If the switch hadn't malfunctioned that first year I'd be giving this mower five stars. I'd buy it again, even if the thing died tomorrow!