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Program to get a Neuton cordless mower for $100 by trading in your old gas mower!!!

post #1 of 8
4/23/09 at 1:52pm
Thread Starter 

Hey All!!! If you live in Southern California you can register with the AQMD (Air Quality Management District) website at www.aqmd.gov to attend upcoming events in May and June (2009) to exchange your working gas mower for a Neuton CE 5.3 ($100), Neuton CE 6.0 ($160), or a Black & Decker CMM1200 ($160) - these are very discounted prices!!! The 5.3 is about $399, the 6.0 goes for about $499, and the 1200 is about $449 retail. The AQMD has been focusing on reducing mower produced air pollution for a few years now and these events are only once per year AFAIK.

It is a "drive thru" event that takes less than 15 minutes when you arrive at the distribution site. The website gives you clear simple instructions on what to bring - but basically when you register on line or by phone, you pick a site, mower model, and the site gives you a time window to arrive. You drive up in the line, they collect your money (cash, check, or CC) and release form, show proof of residence - then their crew takes your old mower and loads a brand new rechargeable electric mower for you... you drive away - done!

So again - to register:
www.aqmd.com
or call (888)425-6247

Registration opened on April 22, 2009 :mrgreen:

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post #2 of 8
4/24/09 at 4:12pm

That's awesome!  (But too bad it's just in Southern California...what about us northerners??)  What a great deal.  Do you know what they plan on doing with the gas mowers they collect?

 

 

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post #3 of 8
4/24/09 at 11:41pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by stins View Post

That's awesome!  (But too bad it's just in Southern California...what about us northerners??)  What a great deal.  Do you know what they plan on doing with the gas mowers they collect?

 

 


Hopefully they will be destroyed (or rather, have their raw materials reclaimed).  I find it oxymoronic that the vast majority of people pollute the air in the name of taking car of their lawn/garden.  My understanding is that there is 10 times as much air pollution created by each gallon of gasoline burned in a lawn/garden care engine (lawnmower, leafblower, ...) than the same amount of fuel burned in an automobile.

 

I've used the same electric lawnmower for the last seven years (having no lawn to mow prior to that), and it finally broke down last week (Black & Decker MM575).  I was able to find a Factory Refurbished one on eBay (full 2-year warranty) for just $100 (plus $30 shipping), they are $200 at Amazon.  In between the breakdown and that purchase today, I had the opportunity to research electric lawnmowers, including cordless and even robotic mowers.  I eventually rejected cordless mowers for their lack of power; the MM575 has the highest power of any corded mower I've run into (12 amps, putting it at 1440 watts or nearly 2 horsepower).  In contrast, the Black & Decker CMM1200 mentioned in the first post runs on 24 volts and I believe draws 24 amps, that comes to 576 watts or about 3/4 of a horsepower.  We don't mow our lawn that often (it's only in the back yard) so the longer grass definitely bogs down the 2-horsepower corded mower, I can imagine the frustration I'd experience with just 3/4 of a horsepower.  They are also significantly heavier (60 pounds versus 40 for the two I'm comparing) and of course about twice the price, often more.  I'm reading from reviews that you'll be lucky to get 5 years out of a set of batteries (more like 2-4), then plan on spending a hefty amount to replace them (a decent fraction of the cost of the mower in the first place).

 

Not trying to talk anyone out of getting a cordless mower, just passing on what I recently learned about them.  The corded mower I've used for 7 years does a decent job, the only downside being the cord.

 

(Hopefully my post won't be considered too off-topic!)

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post #4 of 8
4/29/09 at 4:18am
Thread Starter 

...i have just a small lawn, but big enough that my push mower was a problem for me.  I have a neighbor that just went back to a gas mower due to battery frustration (I found out after-the-fact).  Don't know what model it was, but I think it was a B&D - but not sure.

 

I will review the Neuton (I'm getting the 5.3 model) once I use it a bit.  My mower is the only gas garden tool I have, so will be nice to be all electric.  An extra battery is about $89 - but the mower ususally costs about $400...  It won't pay for itself with it's lack of gas usage - it's more about the emissions.  I believe the statistic is mowing with a gas mower for 1 hour is the same as driving a typical car 300 miles!!!

 

My B&D cordless trimmer has a NiCd battery that I have been using for about 7 years with no probs.  Plenty of power ... still! 

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post #5 of 8
4/29/09 at 4:22am
Thread Starter 

You can check out www.neutonpower.com to learn more about the product and they have all sorts of stats - you can read about these here.  ...and some great FAQ about mowers/lawns/air pollution here.

 

As far as what they do with the old mowers?  They have a picture from one of the events that shows them being thrown into a large bin - obviously not to be used again with how they are handling them - and I believe the statement in the printed brochure refers to them being recycled.  Hopefully that is true... and you can read a little about that here.  :-)

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post #6 of 8
4/30/09 at 5:38pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalSolar View Post

As far as what they do with the old mowers?  They have a picture from one of the events that shows them being thrown into a large bin - obviously not to be used again with how they are handling them - and I believe the statement in the printed brochure refers to them being recycled.  Hopefully that is true... and you can read a little about that here.  :-)


That's great.  I was actually driving past someone about to mow their lawn the other day...and I got a little nervous watching him pour gas into his mower.  I can't remember the statistic off the top of my head for how much as is spilled that way...but I remember it being too much for my liking.

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post #7 of 8
6/12/09 at 6:20pm

I would love for them to do it here in Texas

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post #8 of 8
7/26/09 at 2:12am
Thread Starter 
Stins - apparantly the EPA estimates that more gallons of gas are spilled fueling lawn mowers nation wide yearly than the Exxon Valdez spilled in it's infamous accident!

See my new thread on using the Neuton!
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