[bwdbrn1]

I picked this Neuton CE6.2 up a few weeks ago from the son of it's original owner who had bought it new from the Neuton company. From the little bit of research I've done, it seems that you buy these directly from the company. Fellow said his dad's neighbor started doing his small yard for him shortly after he bought it.





When I got it home and checked it over, it did seem obvious that it hadn't been used much, but the batteries weren't any good anymore, most likely from having been improperly stored in the colder winter months her. I found replacement batteries from batterysharks for a good price. This was the same place I had gotten the replacement batteries for the cordless Lawn Boy and Toro mowers I had.

UPS Battery | SLA Battery | Replacement Batteries

The mower is pretty slick in a lot of ways. The batteries are held in convenient cases that slip right into the mower. When you order them from Neuton, you get the batteries put together in a new case, but what they don't tell you is that you can open up the case and replace just the batteries themselves, at a lower cost. From what I'm able to find out, when new, the mower came with the bag, mulch plug, side discharge chute, one battery and the charger. Unfortunately, the mulch plug had gone missing, so I'll have to look into ordering a new one one of these days.



Here's the battery in place under the mower's "hood". You'll notice a couple of wrenches stored in the upper right corner, and the height adjustment lever that adjusts all four wheels at the same time. The little rectangular thing in the upper left corner is the "key" that has to be in place to allow the mower to run.



The original owner popped for an extra battery, and the edger/trimmer attachment for the mower. I've only replaced one set of batteries so far, and they're still charged after sitting idle for more than a couple of months.

The edger/trimmer fits into a slot on the front left corner of the mower. The head of this thing can be turned 90 degrees to function as either a trimmer or an edger.



When turned horizontally, it is supposed to act as a trimmer.



When turned horizontally, it is supposed to act as an edger.



Operation of this mower is about as easy as it gets. There is a switch on the handle that you flip to either mow, to operate the mower blade, or Aux, to operate the edger/trimmer.



Then it's a matter of following the numbers on the handle bar. Slide #1 to the left to unlock #2, then pull back on #2 and away it goes.



Most of the mower is made of plastic, so for sure it's not going to rust out.



I've only used it once myself, and the grass really didn't need it at the time, so I can't comment too much on how it works. My wife used it and said it did an O.K. job, but she prefers our Honda HR215 for it's cut. I did put the edger/trimmer on to try out, but I can't say I was too excited about it. It might work better as an edger than a trimmer because it's either horizontal or vertical, and there's no adjusting the angle other than to change the height of the mower itself.

 

[Ericjr16]

Interesting find!! Neat to have! I wouldn't want it myself. Plastic deck is scary to me!
What is your plans? Sell or keep?

 

[Five Points]

Nice write up B, thanks for taking the time for giving us a review. To bad the grass wasn't ready to mow

 

[bwdbrn1]

I might just use it in the coming days to see how it does in picking up leaves., but come next spring, I imagine I'll be putting it on the market for sale.

I don't know what changes they've made in their mowers, but you can see on the Neuton company's site that the switch on the handle is now different.

Neuton Battery Lawn Mowers - Neuton Battery Lawn Mowers - Naturally smarter mowers and power equipment

One interesting option they offer is a stripping attachment.

Neuton Battery Lawn Mowers - CE6 Striping Attachmt | Neuton Equipment

Did you notice the cute little lizard tread on the tires?

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Somebody really put a lot of thought into the design on that. Looking at the website was surprised one 19" mower they claimed held enough charge for up to 1/3 acre. I've mowed mine with a 19" mower several times and several times more with the old 18" Jake. I have no interest in going back to those days no matter how much fuel it would save unless my three larger mowers including the Deere is out of commission.

 

[motorhead12]

That's an interesting mower for sure! I noticed the lizard tread.

 

[Capstan]

An Elderly Friend of my family had one of those.. I mowed her yard a few times before simply bringing one of my Lawn-Boys over.. It worked Alright.. The plastic "Catcher" was Too small IMO, and the deck width wasn't wide enough (17" I believe or something).

I personally loved the edger attachment.. It made trimming along straight lines incredibly easy.. and the weed whacker wasn't bad either.. :2th:


Cheers
-Stan

 

[Capstan]

I realize the one I used was different to yours..

The one I was talking about was an "EM-4.1" The 4.1 being the voltage the battery runs on I think.. I could be wrong though.

 

[Austen]

Those are interesting machines. That all in one design is cool.

Thanks for the write up and photos, good to see you back too!

 

[bwdbrn1]

Good to be back. I missed not being able to check in.

I'm hoping that the edger/trimmer thing works out. It is a pretty slick idea to have it attached to the front of the mower and use the same battery power to operate it. I've got one of those EM4 mowers from a local small engine repair guy who didn't want it. I hooked it up to the battery on the Lawn Boy, and it powered up, but the handle is in pretty sad shape, so I don't know if I'll put the effort into getting it up and running.

 

[Capstan]

The handle is in pretty sad shape, so I don't know if I'll put the effort into getting it up and running.

The one our friend owned had to have the handle replaced.. It Broke somewhere near the control I think.. I Honestly don't remember though..

-Stan :dunno:

 

[bwdbrn1]

Yep, that little mower is in fine shape except up top where the plastic of the handle attaches to the metal down tubes. They had about 3 yards of packaging tape wrapped around it to sort of hold it together.

 

[Capstan]

Yep, that little mower is in fine shape except up top where the plastic of the handle attaches to the metal down tubes. They had about 3 yards of packaging tape wrapped around it to sort of hold it together.

I seem to remember the handle being fairly cheep... Like Under $60 for the whole thing... Which, For a handle and all the control stuff isn't really that bad..

The EM 4.1's Are really quite nice little machines..

-Stan

 

[bwdbrn1]

I tried the Neuton out with each of the various configurations I have for it. I haven't gotten a mulch plug yet, but did use the side discharge and the bagger.

Right off the bat I was pleased with the way the mower felt to push and maneuver around. It rolled easily and the handle felt solid. The handle also has four different height settings that change easily with a lever that flips forward to make the changes, and it locked into each of the four very solidly.

First I used the side discharge to see how it would throw the light covering of leaves on my front yard. I had mowed the yard not long ago so there wasn't any grass to be cut to speak of, and I had the Neuton set at it's highest cutting height. While it did throw the dry maple leaves off to the side, it didn't seem to have the suction capabilities of my daily driver Honda HR215. If there were leaves just to the outside edge of the deck, it didn't move them, but everything that passed directly under the deck was thrown neatly out the chute. It may have been because I had the deck raised to it's highest setting too.

After going over the front yard with the side discharge, I dropped the height adjustment one notch, and went over the yard again with the bagger. The bag isn't of the heaviest construction, but it was nice in that you could sort of see through the mesh, and actually watch the swirling action of the yard waste being thrown into the bag. I don't know that I'd like to work behind it if it was extremely dusty, though. This time, the mower picked up all but the heaviest material on the ground, and I could actually see the grass at the outer edge of the deck being pulled toward the mower as I pushed it along. The bag is easy to put onto the mower, easy to remove, and emptied easily as well. After doing the front yard, I headed out to the back yard, which I hadn't raked or touched in a while, and the Neuton cleaned up the leaves back there very nicely.

Then I tried out the edger/trimmer attachment. I was a little skeptical about it at first, but after a little trial and error, I have to say I was kind of impressed with it as an edger. First, it has a single line, and the depth of the cut obviously is controlled by the height the mower body is set at. The highest setting doesn't make much of a cut along the edge at all. I tried each of the 4 height settings, and finally settled for the lowest the mower would go. When I did the line along the edge of my driveway, it worked fantastic. The mower was actually on the drive, so it stayed level, but, when I edged the line along the curb on the street, the mower was on my lawn, and the lowest height setting caused some problems because the mower drug along the bit of a ridge that has formed where my yard meets the curb. Another feature of the edger/trimmer is that it only feeds out fresh line when you stop the mower. There is an audible click that comes from the line head when when it stops spinning after you have let go of the switch on the handle that lets you know that fresh line has been fed out. You can also hear it trimming itself to length when you start the edger motor up again, and can obviously see it cutting a clean line along the edge again. Having used hand held edgers and trimmers, it took a bit of getting used to to have the edger mounted way out in front of the mower and using the mower to move it along.

Next I tried it out as a trimmer and I have to say, I wasn't so much impressed with it at that job. Again, it's cutting height is dependent upon the height adjustment of the mower body, and on the Neuton, all four wheels are adjusted at the same time with one lever so you can't adjust the front of the mower to one height and the back of the mower another. In the trimmer setting, the line is at a horizontal plane and there is no moving it about at different angles to get to things you might want to clip off as you could a hand held trimmer.

All in all, I am impressed with this Neuton CE6.2 version, and for someone with a small yard like I have, I think it would be a good choice. I fully charged the batteries when I first got them, and haven't had the charger hooked up to it since. The little gage showed in the "green" area, and didn't move to show a real decrease in the charge in the time I used it. I have to say, though, I'm not sure I'd pop for the edger/trimmer option unless I had a yard that was as flat as a table, and I wish I had the mulch plug to see how it would do as a mulcher.

 

[Austen]

Nice review!

It sounds like you're overall pretty pleased with it, including some of it's other functions as well.

I could see too how the trimmer attachment may not be as practical or easy to use on the mower.

From what you describe it sounds like a considerable option for a small area.