Will Milwaukee Make A Cordless Lawn Mower

Milwaukee 21" Cocky-Propelled Dual Bombardment Mower2822HDReview

Milwaukee has been paying attention to the market and recognized the demand for an M18 mower to complement its impressive line of OPE. This month, Milwaukee simply announced its make new 21" Self-Propelled Dual Bombardment M18 mower. Toolbox Buzz is pleased to have the opportunity to review the new Milwaukee mower.

While the Milwaukee 21" mower is geared towards the professional landscaper it is worth a look for anyone who wants a very solidly built cordless bombardment-powered lawnmower, especially if they're on the M18 battery platform.

Milwaukee introduced this mower with a high lift steel deck that mulches grass into finer pieces and provides a "Best-Cut" quality. In addition, they highlight a torque functioning that is greater than a 200 cc gasoline mower. Since the 36v electric motor powers it, the bract reaches its full ability and its summit speed in under one second. Then, we wanted to put this new equipment through its paces and see how it performed when pushed to the max.

TBB selected a lot that was overgrown with a combination of grasses, weeds, and any else nature grew in a plot of country at the front of ane of our structure sites. We expect the Milwaukee 21" Self-Propelled mower will excel when mowing a well-manicured backyard. But how would information technology perform at an overgrown, rugged development bundle?

Milwaukee 21" Self-Propelled Dual Battery Mower 2822HD Kit with ii Batteries 12.0 Ah

Specifications and Features

Drive Blazon: – Rear-wheel bulldoze self-propelled
Deck size: 21″
Commercial-grade steel deck
Single betoken cut pinnacle adjustment delivers 1" – 4" deck summit range in ½" increments
No gas, emissions, oil mixing, or pull starts
POWERSTATE™ Brushless motor delivers more torque than a 200-cc gas mower
Self-propelled with variable speed adjustment wheel (0 MPH – 4 MPH)
Variable Speed Selector and Active Speed Management Paddles to adjust walking speeds
2 bay battery compartment for 2 M18 Blood-red Lithium High Output 12.0 Amp-hr. Batteries
3-in-one design allows for mulching, bagging, or rear side discharge
Front and Side LED lighting provides 180-degree visibility in low low-cal
4 LED Battery fuel estimate faces operator during use
Ergonomic Handle with recessed bail bar design
Vertical storage adequacy
Handle meridian adjusts to i of 3 handle heights
Blade rotation speeds two,800 – iii,300 RPM in High Lift Mode
Grass catcher pocketbook holds upwards to two bushels of grass
Weight with supplied batteries – 85lbs
Measured Noise level -77.9 dB no load on pavement 71.half dozen dB while mowing.

2823-22HD Kit Includes

M18 FUEL™ 21″ Self-Propelled Dual Battery Mower (2823-20) (ane)
REDLITHIUM™ HIGH OUTPUT™ HD12.0 Bombardment Pack (48-eleven-1812) (2)
Dual Bay Simultaneous Rapid Charger(48-59-1802) (1)
Grass Handbag (1)
Mulch Plug (one)
Rear Side Discharge Chute (one)

First Impressions | Milwaukee 21″ Battery Lawnmower

Unpacking and Associates

Unpacking the mower and setting it up was extremely easy. The packing materials are peak quality meaning that the shipping bumps and bruises did not reach the inner box and the mower arrived in perfect condition.

The assembly of the Milwaukee 2823-twenty mower was simple. The instructions were clear and the entire process took less than 5 minutes from a loose set of parts to a finished and ready-to-become mower.

Manufactured Quality

While we were assembling the mower, nosotros noted that the hardware and mower pieces were excellent in quality. The pieces fit together with no issues. Nosotros noted that even the bolts that hold the handle together showed a great deal of thought.

These bolts accept a section of the threads machined out and then that the user tin know when the knob has been backed off a sufficient amount to enable the user to fold up the mower handle. The threads at the stop capture the knob threads and ensure that the user tin fold the handle and the knob does non fall off the cease of \the bolt.

We tried the fit of the mulch plug, the rear side discharge chute, and the grass catcher. Each of these parts fit with no difficulty and nosotros could hands install and remove.

We took a look at the underside of this mower and liked what we saw. Showtime, nosotros checked the wheels for run-out and felt no backlog tolerances between the wheels and the axles. Unlike some of the competitors' offerings, the Milwaukee precision is top-notch.

Another blueprint element we liked was the front of the mower having what might best exist described equally a sideslip-plate-like design. The molded-in ridges should permit the mower to climb over debris and obstacles but similar a skid plate works on a real off-the-road vehicle. Given that nosotros were nearly to go mow down a rugged plot of land, nosotros were glad to see this feature, knowing that the mower might take an easier time climbing over rough ground and over obstacles.

The Milwaukee has the look and feel of a mower that was built for daily nonstop utilise past professional landscapers In short, this high-quality Milwaukee mower is made for the long haul.

Controls and Adjustability

The Milwaukee 21" Self-Propelled Dual Battery mower is clearly targeted for the professional person landscaper or owner that needs a high-quality lawn care mower. The 2823-20 is fully featured with all the controls that these applications crave. The features are detailed and keyed to the diagram, below.

Starting time Bract Button

The switch is located on the operator's right-paw side almost the Rubber bar. Information technology is a large and well-positioned switch that stands out considering of its size and white background. Users volition get familiar with this command because the mower does no cutting until information technology is engaged. The bail bar must be held against the mower handle to keep the Start Switch depressed to starting time the bract motor. The Showtime Blade Push button will remain locked inward equally long every bit the Bond Bar is held down.
Safety Bond Bar

The user must engage the Bail Bar before the mower self-propulsion or blade motor will piece of work. Milwaukee did a nice blueprint job with integrating the Condom Bar into a recess in the mower handle. We used the mower extensively and did not even feel the Safety Bar during that fourth dimension.
Self-Propel Speed Dial

This command sets the speed (from 1 – v) that the mower will move. Nosotros recommend that the user set this at a relatively low setting and then increase the speed that is comfortable. The mower has a lot of torque and when the variable speed paddle is engaged, the mower volition very quickly reach that speed and can startle a user or cause the user to lose control of the mower. The user tin reset the Self-Propel Speed Dial while the mower is moving.
Variable Speed Self-Propel Paddle

Users can vary the speed of the mower with this control on a proportional basis. When it is fully depressed, the mower volition reach the maximum setting on the Speed Dial. Users can also attune the position of this Paddle to throttle the mower speed slower for going around obstacles or other reasons. Milwaukee designed this Paddle to exist used by either hand and information technology works well fifty-fifty when one pollex is used. One feature of the Paddle is that it is available whenever the mower is powered. The blade does not need to exist spinning to use the self-propelled feature.
High Lift Selector

High Lift mode increases the speed of the blade from 2800 rpm to 3300 rpm. Users may want to appoint this way for situations where Better bagging or effectively mulching is needed. In the autumn if the user wants to pick upwardly leaves in the purse, the higher lift and faster blade speed will certainly assistance in ensuring the lawn is clean after the mower makes a pass. Engaging the Loftier Lift Mode volition light upward an LED adjacent to the selector to remind the user that they selected this mode of operation.
LED Calorie-free Switch

For low lite operations, users can turn on the headlights and sidelights to illuminate the surface to the front and sides of the mower. Toggling this switch volition plow on and plough off these lights.
Fuel Gauge LED

Milwaukee put the LED Fuel Judge for the battery status on the rear of the mower facing the operator. That way, they tin can see instantly the remaining amount of bombardment power. At full accuse, all four LEDs illuminate. When the batteries reach ane LED, the batteries are pretty well spent. However, When the juice is critically depression, the remaining LED will flash. Shortly thereafter, under load, the mower will finish working. This LED cycle gives plenty of warning to prevent the user from being far away from the next set of charged batteries.
Blade Pinnacle Adjustment Lever

Milwaukee designed a unmarried lever height adjustment to enhance and lower the whole mower deck. The lever is located on the right side from the operator'south bespeak of view. This lever moves the deck peak from one" above grade to 4" above grade. It has stops at ½" increments between the highest and everyman adjustment. Users can easily change between these stops by moving the lever out of a detent and positioning the lever to a new location. While information technology takes a chip more force to move the deck higher, the amount of effort required is small and hands accomplished.
Handle Top Locking Pins

Milwaukee's designers provided iii height positions for the mower handle. The lowest position places the heel of my hand at 36 ¼' above ground. The middle adjustment puts my hand at 40 ½" above ground while the highest adjustment is 44 ¾". I personally felt the highest setting is too tall for my comfort. I used the mower generally at a medium height and was still comfortable on the everyman setting.

Getting lost in the weeds

During this beginning testing, we subjected this mower to conditions it may not have been designed to routinely undertake. Our exam patch was on the other terminate of the spectrum from a finely manicured backyard and may have been better suited for a brush squealer than a mower. We estimated that the grass was approximately nine" boilerplate height as gauged by the tiptop when compared against a 5-gallon construction bucket.

When we used the side rear discharge chute, the mower resembled a hay bailer with the debris shooting out the side. Surprisingly, the mower did not bog downwards even when we cut down small bush-league-like growth and dense iron grass clumps.

The mower senses when the speed drops and nigh instantly provides more ability to compensate for the additional load. The user can hear the change in pitch when this happens. The mower recovery fourth dimension to increase the speed is almost instantaneous.

Showtime Cut

We started the test patch with the mower deck at 6 ½" loftier. That mode, we could go through the highest grass and weeds and bluntly miss anything that was curtained in the grass. Nosotros used the mulching plug for this cut to see if the mower would choke on the corporeality of textile it was chewing upwardly. Information technology did not and cut through the materials with no trouble at a relatively high speed. Our typical speed on the first cut was between three ½ and iv. The first cut lasted ½ an hour and used ane unit of power out of iv

Second Cut

One time the initial cut was completed, nosotros lowered the deck to a two-inch summit. We used the side rear discharge chute during the second cut and re-cut the plot of the ground. Once more, the Milwaukee mower did non hesitate in slicing through the grasses. We took 20 minutes to complete the second cutting and had one unit of measurement of power remaining. This portion of the test actually challenged the mower, and we moved an impressive and large mass of grass material. Almost the terminate of the 2nd cut, nosotros took a couple of areas and lowered the deck downwardly to the lowest deck setting.

The Milwaukee mower went through this fabric and the onetime clippings with no issues. The only affair we noticed was that at one indicate in this exam, the clippings stopped coming out of the chute. When we turned the mower over, we found a stick that lodged itself across the discharge chute and built up a plug of grasses that stopped the grass clipping discharge. The mower did not bear witness whatsoever issues with this instant conversion to a mulching process. It was simply credible that nothing was coming out of the chute.

Last Cut

The final portion of the test was taking the mower to another part of the site and cutting a more than conventional grass lawn to see how much longer the bombardment would run on one LED's worth of power and how the mower would behave when nosotros exhausted the batteries.

The mower lasted another 15 minutes in the remaining lawn area. We connected to use the side rear discharge chute as this represented the lightest load for the mower. When the batteries are nearly depleted, the single LED on the fuel guess starts to wink to indicate the end of the power. While it was in this flashing land, we hit a dense patch of grass and the mower simply stopped. Lights out and no power.

In total, nosotros used the mower for 65 minutes of torture testing fourth dimension. Throughout that time, the Milwaukee mower had no difficulties with anything nosotros asked it to cut. In the easier grass areas, we felt similar the Milwaukee mower clearly outperformed a gasoline mower. It was much quieter, creates no exhaust fumes, and was as agile and like shooting fish in a barrel to use every bit any mower we have ever used. Quite an impressive first experience.

Noise

One of the biggest questions readers take asked about cordless mowers seems to be how much noise do they make?

We did a basic decibel test to measure the sound pressure of this mower to go an thought of how much dissonance information technology makes. The test consisted of running the mower with the deck raised to its midpoint level sitting on the asphalt slab in front end of our construction trailer. We held the decibel meter at approximately user ear superlative. The decibel meter used an ITU-R 468 frequency rating.

We ran the test for thirty seconds – enough time to have the mower reach a maximum and stable rpm speed. The blade speed reaches a maximum rpm rate in less than one 2d. We extended the time to be consistent with the dB reading we took in our Cordless Mower Head-to-Head exam in 2020. That way, we could see how Milwaukee stacked upwards.

Readings

The Milwaukee registered an average reading of only 77.9 dB on asphalt – most the same corporeality of racket as one experiences when a machine passes at 65mph. The noise we measured while mowing averaged 71.vi dB which is a reduction of approximately twoscore% in noise free energy from the reading on the asphalt. The Milwaukee mower was quieter than any of the mowers in our 2020 Cordless Mower Caput-to-Head by2.5dB.

This mower is very tranquillity. Your neighbors may not even know you are cutting your backyard when they are inside their homes.

Annotation that both of these audio levels are well below the OSHA limit requiring hearing protection over a period of an eight-60 minutes shift. That is one reason our operator did not wear any hearing protection.

Comparing

For reference, the average gas lawnmower produces approximately 95 – 100 dB. Compared to a 100 dB noise level, the Milwaukee 2823-xx mower at 78.9dB reduces the sound intensity energy y'all hear by over 100 times compared to a loud gas mower. (Decibels are a logarithmic scale, 14 decibels departure is approximately twenty times louder). Many communities in our area accept adopted noise restrictions that limit the fourth dimension that you can mow with a gas mower. Please notation that the sound force per unit area value was measured while running on top of an asphalt slab. In do, the Milwaukee mower was much quieter when used on a lawn.

Storage and Send

Milwaukee's engineers and designers produced a mower for the pro-market. To this end, Milwaukee's handle stores all-time vertically with the handle in a directly configuration. Pro landscapers are all about efficiency and speed, so a folding handle is commonly a negative feature as that keeps them from getting on and off the task more than quickly. Homeowners may want to take the time to fully fold the handle every bit they typically accept a good amount of infinite. I personally don't desire to fiddle with a folding handle and would proceed the handle directly.

One well-thought-out feature of this mower is the big handles on the front of the deck and the back of the mower. Allowing information technology to exist easily picked up and put in the back of a truck or trailer. The Milwaukee mower is no lightweight piece of equipment, and the 2 handles go far much easier to lift.

Overall

This is a groovy mower designed and built with the professional in heed and the quality/price reflects an excellent value. The Milwaukee M18 Fuel™ 21" Self-Propelled mower is an impressive OPE tool and volition stack upwards well against its competition.

I was one of the leads in the Toolbox Buzz 2020 Cordless Mower Head-to-Estrus that we published in June of 2020. In comparing this Milwaukee to the results I saw in that H-2-H, the Milwaukee 21" mower would have killed it in many of the critical categories we reviewed. I would stack this mower upward against the top finishers from that comparison.

I am glad Milwaukee produced a compelling offering in this market. Swell chore.

Kit pricing will be $999.00 with a product availability of Apr 2022.

Milwaukee Milwaukee 21" Self-Propelled Dual M18 Battery Mower

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Milwaukee 21" Self-Propelled Dual Bombardment Mower2822HD Video Review