Best Corded Electric Lawn Mower: Greenworks vs Sun Joe

Lawn grass requires regular trimming so that the grass has the same short height, which serves to enhance the appearance of the lawn as well as make it suitable for recreational purposes. A special wheeled machine called a lawn mower is equipped with spinning blades that cut or trim the grass surface to a specified even height. In this review, we’re going to perform Greenworks vs Sun Joe brand battle to find the Best Corded Electric Lawn Mower. But before that, here is a brief digest of the appliances.

Normally, most lawn mowers feature a master lever (or related height-adjusting mechanism) that allows the user to adjust the height according to which the grass is to be cut (or reduced).

There are different types and sizes of lawn mowers for cutting different grass types in different sizes of lawns.

These lawn mowers can be categorized, depending on how they are moved around the field, into 4 broad categories;

In push mowers, you stand behind the mower and push it around the lawn, while the ride-on (or riding) mowers are designed as 4-wheel ultra-compact small tractors that can be driven around the field.

Self-propelled mowers are battery-powered mowbots (robotic lawn mowers) that drive themselves around the field. On the other hand, the walk-behind self-propelled lawn mower lacks an artificial intelligence to guide it around the field, and this requires a human to walk (not push) behind them and guide the mower across the field.

verdict

Most high-quality electric lawn mowers are the walk-behind self-propelled type.

Still, what powers the cutting blades?
These blades can be powered in 3 main ways:

These last electric mowers are divided into 2 groups:

Corded (also called plug-in) lawn mowers have an electric cord with a plug that needs to be fitted into a socket or power outlet. These low-maintenance lawn mowers are lighter and more powerful than the battery-powered lawn mowers. This makes them suitable for creating unique lawn patterns and handling stubborn grass and weeds that have overgrown over a field. Therefore, these lawn mowers are suitable for residential lawn owners, gardeners, and lawn maintenance specialists.

For this reason, you need to know what to check for in a corded or cordless lawn mower before acquiring it, and the buyer’s guide that follows the product review describes the main things to check for.

This review focuses on 4 of the best electric lawn mowers.

1. Sun Joe MJ401E – The Best Budget Mower for Small Lawns

This is a compact, lightweight, and high-quality rotary mower that comes with a 16.5-inch cutting deck and a 10.6 gallon detachable (grass catcher) bag.

It is well-suited for maneuvering around tight spaces, which ensures that your entire lawn (including corner sections) is well prepared.

It uses a push-button to start the machine and also comes with a fully-functional safety switch that prevents accidental starting.

This easy-to-use compact machine has 4 rugged all-terrain wheels, which allows you to cut grass across a rugged and uneven lawn terrain. This model also features manual height control, which adjusts the height of the cutting blade to one of 3 positions.

This lawn mower is built by Snow Joe, and its model number is MJ401E. Its color scheme is green.

This lightweight model weighs about 28 pounds, and it is 38.5 inches long, 16.5 inches wide, and 36 inches tall. It is built to deliver a cutting power equivalent to a gas-powered mower.

It is powered by a 12-amperes motor that provides 1440 watts of maximum power. Its wheels have ultra-lightweight; yet plastic tires are considerably tough and durable, which helps minimize their overall weight.

This machine can work with a 100 feet long 12-gauge extension cord, which allows the user to trim 100 square-feet per trip, with a turn-around trip trimming 200 square-feet of the lawn. This allows one to quickly trim the entire lawn within a short time. Even so, it is usually shipped while bundled with a 16-gauge cord.

This model uses a 14-inch long steel cutting blade which is housed in a durable 16-inch wide deck that is made from high-quality, lightweight ABS plastic.

Along the right vertical bar of the ergonomic handle, we see a manual height-control lever that allows the user to trim the grass to a tailored height. This is achieved by setting this manual height-control lever to any of its 3 positions, which allows the blade to rise to a maximum height of 2.52 inches above ground or to descend to a minimum height of 1.18 inches above the ground surface. This model uses 2-in-1 cutting options.

The grass clippings are thrown off the blade and into the detachable grass catcher bag that is fitted at the rear open port of the cutter deck housing. This rear bag has a hard top.

This ETL-approved, maintenance-free model is supported by a 2-year warranty.

2. GreenWorks 25022 – Excellent Middle Price Option

This is a compact, medium-weight, and high-quality rotary mower that comes with 3 options for managing grass clippings; side chute discharge, rear bagging, and mulching.
It is suited for cutting tough grass and maintaining a luxuriant lawn as the mulch produced serves as natural mineral-rich fertilizer for enhancing grass growth in the trimmed lawn. It comes with a spacious 20-inch cutting deck.

This easy-to-use compact machine has 4 rugged all-terrain wheels that allows you to cut grass across a rugged and uneven lawn terrain. The front wheels have a diameter of 7inches, while the diameter of the rear wheels is 10 inches. This model also features manual height control, which adjusts the height of the cutting blade to one of 7 positions.

This lawn mower is built by Greenworks, and its model number is 25022. Its color scheme is green.

This medium-weight model weighs about 56 pounds, and it is 26.9 inches long, 20inches wide, and 18 inches thick. It has an inverted-U handle bar that features an ergonomic handle and hosts the height-control lever bar. It is built to deliver a cutting power equivalent to a gas-powered mower. It is powered by a 12-amperes, 24-volts motor. Its wheels have ultra-lightweight, yet considerably tough and durable, plastic tires which help minimize its overall weight. This machine can work with a 100 feet long 12-gauge extension cord, which allows the user to trim more than 100 square-feet per trip, with a turn-around trip trimming over 200 square-feet of the lawn. This allows one to quickly trim the entire lawn within a short time.

This model uses a 20-inch long high-quality cutting blade which is housed in a durable deck that is made from high-quality stamped steel. Along the right vertical bar of the ergonomic handle is a manual height-control lever that allows the user to trim the grass to a tailored height. This is achieved by setting this manual height-control lever to any of its 7 positions, which allows the blade to rise to a maximum height of 3.75 inches above ground or to descend to a minimum height of 1.5 inches above the ground surface. This model uses 2-in-1 cutting options.

The grass clippings are thrown off the blade and into the detachable grass catcher bag that is fitted at the rear open port of the cutter deck housing. The bag holds up to 14 gallons.

This medium-duty model is supported by a 4-year warranty.

3. Sun Joe ION16LM – Perfect Combination of Performance and Freedom

Those who worry about the limited cutting area and the necessity to purchase additional extension cords may pay their attention to cordless electric lawn mowers. Sun Joe ION16LM is one of the best models available at the moment.

The unit already comes with a 4.0Ah battery and a quick charger. Thus, we get up to 40 minutes of non-stop and whisper-quiet operation. Actually, cordless design means we have complete freedom of work on any square. However, please mind that the battery needs periodical recharging, and that’s the moment that limits us in work time. As a rule, one charge is enough to cut over 500-700ft2.

The 40V IONMAX battery system powers an innovative 600 W brushless motor. Such a combination increases battery efficiency, maximizes motor performance, decreases noise and vibration, and extends the mower’s life. Let us also note the presence of patented EcoSharp technology for no-fade power and maximum performance.

The motor starts instantly with a well-known push button. The safety switch is included.

Indeed, the ION16LM cannot be called budget like the previous garden appliances. This is a top-level mower with 16 inches cutting width and as many as 6 height positions. The minimum height is the same 1.18 inches, while the manufacturer increased the max mode up to 3.15 inches. The blade is made of durable steel to meet thick growing elements and stay sharp and efficient as long as possible.

Body dimensions and weight were also changed. Now, the model measures 48.4 inches in length, 17.7 inches in width, and 42.9 inches in height. The mower weighs 37.3 pounds. Despite increased dimensions, engineers did their best to keep maneuverability and ease of use. We see the same 4-wheel design and lightweight yet durable metal and ABS plastic materials. And a collapsible ergonomic handle contributes to your comfort.

Traditionally, you can either collect grass into a bag or set the discharge chute cutting option. Surprisingly, the bag is smaller than in the cheaper Sun Joe MJ401E modification. It fits 9.25 gallons. However, a convenient grass indicator window is a nice worthy improvement.

The manufacturer chose the classic green color scheme. The ION generation product is ETL approved, Energy Star certified and features a 2-year warranty.

Overall, Sun Joe ION16LM suits all types of backyards, including large ones. However, limited runtime makes it ideal for mid-sized lawns. The model costs its money as you get silent operation, no cord problems, more cutting options, and longer motor service life.

4. Greenworks 40V 20-Inch Twin Force – The Ultimate Beast for Large Lawns

The final representative of our Greenworks vs Sun Joe comparison, Greenworks 40V 20-Inch Twin Force, also belongs to the category of cordless electric lawn mowers.

The 40V in the name stands for G-max 40V Li-Ion battery system that powers this tool as well as over 40 other Greenworks tools. This mower is an extremely beneficial purchase for those who already own some Greenworks power tools. The kit includes one 4.0 Ah battery, one 2.0 Ah battery, and a charger. It’s enough to last the mower for 60 minutes.

Two batteries aren’t included in vain. Use the Dual Battery Port to install both batteries. Once the first unit is over, your mower automatically switches to the backup battery for a longer runtime.

The 20-Inch stands for a 20-inch cutting deck. The Greenworks cutting capacity stayed the best among all review models. However, this time, we deal with dual blades that offer better cut quality, superior mulching, and bagging capabilities. That’s why the Twin Force mower suits even large lawns. Dual blades are reinforced with a dual brushed motor. The cutting width is 20 inches.

Users have 5 manual cutting positions, which is less than in the previous Greenworks mower. However, the difference is redeemed by exclusive SMARTCUT Technology that automatically adjusts height for power or runtime based on the thickness of your grass. So, in fact, you can forget about manual adjustment at all. The max height is 3 3/8 inches, and the minimum height is 1 3/4 inches.

The model perfectly suits homeowners with the largest lawns as it’s designed to cope with up to 1/2 acre – an unbeatable record of our review. An enlarged bag for 14 gallons of grass only proves this fact.

Let us also briefly mention the common push button start, optional 4-wheel construction for maneuverability (the wheels are absolutely identical to the Greenworks 25022), bright green design, and plastic/metal materials.

When it comes to dimensions, this product feels slightly bigger but significantly more lightweight. It weighs 42.5 pounds and measures 29.2 inches in length, 20.66 inches in width, and 19.5 inches in height.

Main Differences Between the Models

We’ve examined all characteristics of each product, including unique technologies, dimensions, and certifications with warranties. To summarize, let’s briefly focus on the main differences that directly influence the performance:

Buyer Guide

These machines are also affordable and long-lasting, but the price for different models varies depending on the quality and scope of work that the model can do.

Also, the user experience must be considered.

Still, you need to choose the best machine that fits your budget, and this can be done by factoring in the following:

Blade Quality

The main maintenance work in a lawn mower involves sharpening the blades.

Generally, blades in these lawn mowers come in 2 main configurations: rotary mowers and reel mowers.

The blade is fitted on a vertical hub in rotary mowers, which allows the blade to spin around a vertical axis.

On the other hand, in reel (also called cylinder) mowers, the blades are assembled on a horizontally-oriented hub. When it rotates, it creates a cylinder-like effect as the spinning blades push (sometimes even throw) the grass at a high velocity onto a stationary cutting bar, which slices the top part of the grass.

Most electric lawn mowers are rotary mowers. As expected, the sharpness of the blade in rotary mowers greatly affects the quality of mowing as opposed to the reel mowers, which can still operate relatively well even with mildly blunt blades. For this reason, it is very important for the user to sharpen the blade once in a while.

Even so, repeated blade sharpening causes the blade to lose some of its mass and even become brittle and prone to breakage.

The key disadvantage of rotary mowers is that blunt blades need to spin at an incredibly fast rate so that they can gain enough momentum that allows the blade to cut the grass when it impacts it (grass). This requires the electric motor to draw in more power hence increasing the rate of electricity consumption.

Likewise, the cut grass appears shredded and has rough cuts on their top edge, which quickly dies as it is exposed to the sun, causing the top edge of the lawn to be discolored.

Grass Clippings

Pieces of cut grass tend to stick to the blade, and as it turns, the blade throws these grass clippings around the blade housing (cutter deck housing), which ultimately interferes with how smoothly the blade spins inside the cutter deck housing.

Furthermore, grass clipping stuck on blunt blades causes the blade to only shred grass, hence adding more clippings onto itself (blade). Ultimately, the blade becomes clogged, and grass cutting can even grind to a halt.

Generally, high-quality mowers handle grass clippings using 3 mechanisms: bagging, mulching, and chuting.

For chuting, the mower has a chute (a vertically inclined open slot) in the cutter deck housing through which grass clippings can fall off from the interior of the housing.

In bagging, the grass clippings are thrown into a bag located at the back of the cutter deck housing.

In mulching, the mower incorporates a special cutter that cuts the grass clippings into fine slices, which then fall off onto the ground as a finely-cut natural fertilizer. This enhances the lawn grass growth and development into a beautiful and luxuriant lawn while cutting down on the need for fertilizer hence ultimately reducing the cost of lawn maintenance.

Ease of Use

The length of the field that can be mowed down by a corded lawn mower is limited to its cable length.

Therefore, the longer the cable, the better (though this depends on the length of your homestead lawn). Still, long cables are prone to becoming tangled, and in the most serious case, being pulled under the cutter deck housing where it is cut by the blade.

Cordless models never face such problems. However, here, the runtime is crucial as your mower may die too fast.

Secondly, you need to check if the handle height can be adjusted so that any responsible member of your family can use the machine.

This also relates to weight maneuverability as heavy mowers are difficult to operate, especially if they have short handles, as this requires you to manually generate lots of torque when navigating corners.

Blade Height Adjustment

The cutting blade and its drive system are housed in the cutting deck housing. This spacious housing is designed to allow the blade to descend down or be lifted up, hence adjusting the height of the cut grass.

The owner performs this blade height adjustment using a height-adjustment lever, which interacts with the blade through a plastic lift mechanism.

Motor Power

The motor drives the cutting blade via a crankshaft. This minimizes the loss of torque thus ensuring that almost all the power generated by the motor is used to drive the blade.

Grass Cut Quality

Unlike fuel-powered lawn mowers, electric mowers do not vibrate when in use as the motor assembly is housed in a vibration-minimizing housing. This allows mowers to produce grass that has less serrated edges as compared to engine-powered mowers.

However, the density of serrations in the cut lawn increases as the blade gradually loses its sharpness in a corded lawn mower. This leads to poor grass cut quality.

Another factor that affects cut quality is blade length, as a long blade possesses more momentum, which allows it to cut down grass in a more energy-efficient fashion as compared to mowers with short blade lengths. The blade length also determines the width of the lawn mowed at any particular moment, also called cut width.

Maintenance

Apart from blade maintenance, corded and cordless lawn mowers require one to spray non-stick lubrication oil inside the cutting deck housing.

Lawn Incline

The terrain of your lawn also affects the performance of your electric lawn mower as most mowers can support a gradient of up to 15 degrees.

Conclusion

These lawn mowers are suitable for residential lawn owners, gardeners, and lawn maintenance specialists.

To do so, you need to check the energy supply type, blade quality, how the mower handles grass clippings, and the blade height adjustment features.

Also, the user experience must be factored in alongside its motor power, grass cut quality, and maintenance needs, as well as determine whether it can work well in a sloped lawn.

These simple but crucial rules will help you identify the best electric lawn mower for your lawn needs.

Further reading and references: