BLACK+DECKER 36 V Lithium-Ion Autosense Mower

In recent times there has been a trend towards making technology ‘smarter’. This covers everything from a greater level of connectivity to the internet (‘the internet of things’) to simply making products more efficient. In the power tool world one popular smart feature is to vary the amount of energy used by a cordless tool in order to conserve as much energy as possible and make the tool last for longer on a single charge.

This ethos is exactly the case with Black & Deckers 36V ‘Autosense’ mower, so named for its ability to detect how much load is being placed on the motor, adjusting the power and torque to suit. So for instance when you’re giving your lawn a routine trim the motor will run with less power than if you were cutting an overgrown lawn for the first time in the season. Obviously it depends on how rigorous your mowing session is, but in general you should expect to get around 45 minutes of run time from this mower, which is good by anyone’s standards.

Like other ranges of cordless tools, the two batteries that the 36V Autosense mower come with are compatible with other tools and Black and Decker’s 36V cordless range, so when you’re not busy mowing the batteries are available for use in your strimmer, hedge trimmer, or leaf blower. To this end you can buy this mower either as a standalone tool if you already have batteries, or as a complete kit with batteries and a charger, whichever suits you best.

Besides being optimized from a power and runtime perspective, the Autosense range are also Black and Decker’s largest cordless lawn mowers, ideally suited to large gardens. This model has a 48cm cutting width and a 50 litre grass collection box, putting it well on par with the average petrol mower, and making it a great alternative to these as a result.

This mower also comes complete with other Black and Decker trademarks such as the ‘Edgemax’ system, allowing you to cut as close to your edges and borders as possible, without having to reach for the strimmer, and 7 points of cutting height adjustment ranging from 38 to 100 mm to allow you to tackle every level of grass growth.

Pros

• Gives an excellent clean cut
• Battery technology is effective, and having the spare on board extends the cutting time
• 2 hour charge time per battery, means you will never be more than an hour or so away from a charged battery whilst you use the other one
• A great clean, quieter alternative to a petrol lawn mower

Cons

• Wide cutting deck makes this mower unsuitable for small garden where tight manoeuvres are required
• At 22kg it is, like all cordless mowers, a touch on the heavy side, hoever B&D have done their best to compensate for this by making it surprisingly easy to handle and steer

Conclusion

We were pleasantly surprised by the 36V Autosense, very often cordless mowers are marred by their weight or short run time. In this instance, whilst the weight hasn’t been completely addressed, everything around it to make it as manageable as possible has, and the dual battery system puts any concerns about run time to bed straight away. Two thumbs up!