RazarSharp MiniMower - The Original 13" Electric Lawn Mower for Urban Yards

After suffering with an Elf cordless mower for a number of years (battery technology is unfortunately a joke), I decided to try a corded mower. My lawn is less than 100 ft2 so this one seemed appropriate. Seems to work fine; takes me about 5 minutes to mow. The grass catcher is a bonus as I can dump it directly into the compost. The plastic wheels are kind of strange and noisy - they will probably be the first thing to break and were a bad design choice. Otherwise I'm OK with this mower - check back in a few years. No more endless replacing of batteries that last less than a year and cost $40.Update 8/22/12: Still working fine, except that the clippings basket comes off very easily, hanging as it does by just the edge of some rather easily warped plastic. I will be doing some modification to this edge to make it more sturdy and will add that info as well.

So I did what most of you probably have which is read the review of this item which was a bit light and wonder if its really that good? There are no details past its light, cuts well, has a metal blade and its cute enough for the ladies. Ok so I read this one and I reviewed a lot of other mowers in the price range as well as over, corded and non, etc. I even skimmed Consumer Reviews. Somehow I kept coming back to this item and I did look at it for weeks before I pulled the trigger. So the end result? I am super pleased but there are a few caveats to consider.So why don't more people by this as opposed to the Black and Decker or other brands? I think part of it is that you have to pay shipping and its also a big unknown from a brand perspective. I know because I did spend a lot of time looking at the other reviews and wondering whether I should just get that? Well I walked into lowes, saw how huge the other mowers were and I read the bad reviews on both amazon and CR for one popular brand (grey) and I just said the hell with it. If it sucks I can always return it. So I pulled the trigger and ordered it. Then I got the delivery notice of Dec7-20. Dang was this coming from Brazil directly? Well no worries it arrived Fedex Ground by Dec 4. I was thrilled. The box was not too bulky and this thing really is in the feather weight category. Its easy to pickup and would fit in most smaller trunks so that is good if this is an issue for you.So what are the caveats? Well not too many really but mainly on putting it together. Its a matter of just putting on the handle and assembling the basket for the clippings. The handles are coated in a kinda plastic that the holes are drilled in. Its not clean so take a moment to run the screws through and trim the excess plastic. Also recommend you have someone hold the handle while you line up the screws. I did it myself but it was a trick to line up and hold AND get the bolt in. The second bigger issue is looking at the basket I thought there is no way these two will join up. One is rounded and one is square. If you colored outside the lines as a child this will be no issue to you but it was a bit strange. The manual says that they will flex into position and it did indeed but it was a pain to get it started. This took me the most time, sadly about 15 min because the basket kept sliding away. An extra pair of hands to hold it into position will likely make this a snap. Lastly they had some clips for the power cable from the body of the mower to the handle. Well they dont really fit the cable and honestly they are just going to fall off anyways. I tossed em and used some plastic cable ties. Nice and neat, come in black and they hold extremely well which I think those plastic ones will keep falling off and probably piss you off eventually. So just ditch em.So the cut! What about the cut! Ok ok it cuts damn well. Manual says dont use on wet grass. Well I live in Seattle so fat chance of that. I cut my over grown matted down nasty brown patch of grass and it cut like a champ. I had to keep emptying the basket a lot but that was expected since I have not mowed the grass since we bought the house 5 months ago <embarrassed whistling in background> but hey I had trouble settling on a good electric mower. I did have to occassionally clean out the cutting area but that should go away as the grass recovers and becomes lest dense and matted down not to mention clumped. Please remember to unplug the mower. Its very tempting to say oh its just a minute nothing will happen but I dont want anyone to lose a hand.Over all, this is a very small, light and space saving unit. Its not super loud and its cute for the ladies. Operation is simple, and its easy to move around and compact. For the ladies, wear your short shorts and act like you dont know what to do with the box and I am sure you will have half the neighborhood boys happily offering to assemble this for you. They will probably even mow the lawn for you! :DOverall I strongly recommend you buy this model. I dont know why more people have not ordered this but its an excellent mower that will take almost no space in the garage. A+

The various reviews are worth reading. I completed assembly and have just finished my second use. I have a few comments:1) Assembly was relatively easy ... about 20 minutes, requiring only a Phillips screwdriver (with a powerful wrist to drive in the permanent screws) and a small crescent wrench to install the upper handle. The various holes did line up for assembly for me, unlike what some others have complained about. Yes, a second person would make assembly easier, but I had no problems by turning the unit on its side to alternately assemble each side. The springs used to hold the cutting height adjustment for each axle are WAY too strong for their purpose. Arnold would easily be able to make the height adjustment, but a normal person needs a very strong pair of hands to make those adjustments.2) An absolutely INSANE clippings catcher design and attachment procedure! While it took only 20 minutes to assemble the mower, it required over TWO HOURS of fiddling with the catcher to successfully attach it. I was close to returning the unit for just this one horrible feature. The Razarsharp representative has commented on other reviews that you just have to "get the hang of it" to properly attach the catcher. The user manual is woefully lacking in help for doing so. Instructions are limited to keeping the catcher level and just "attach the catcher to the mower." Well let me tell you, it will take alot of "hanging" practice to make it convenient and useful. Note that there is no .PDF manual available online at Razarsharp's website. They need to make one available. (UPDATE 11/23/14: There is a PDF manual on their website now.)3) While the catcher is affixed by horizontally joining it to the back of the mower; when full, the catcher is angled upward to detach it, thereby spilling clippings.4) Perfomance is good. It is recommended to half-mow each strip on tall grass, which is a worthy suggestion. The unit performs well if making sure to not strain the motor in thickets or during a long-overdue mowing job.5) The size and weight of the mower is excellent for very small yards (only 16'x10' for us). Our dog is a little confused by his new yard, asking "is this all there is?" Hilarious!6) There are some references about a "folding" design, and being able to "fit on a shelf." Those are somewhat overstated unless you have one HUGE shelf. The upper half of the handles are released by the two wing nuts turned by hand, but the overall folded dimensions are hardly compact.7) The two-handed start process is a pain, but perhaps meant as a safety feature. A keylock mechanism and/or a tilt-sensor mechanism would be preferable. The unit has a 2-prong, NOT a grounded 3-prong, plug. Perhaps that's for international use, but I would feel much better if a grounded 3-prong design was employed. Double insulation does not completely compensate for the absence of a grounded power line.Overall it is a good unit for its purpose, although a bit pricey when compared to other mowers in this class. It would have been four-stars, but one star is deducted for the poorly-designed catcher mechanism.

Difficult to put together and to operate. Also much to heavy and cumbersome to store away after use. Would NOT recommmend the product