Craftsman CMEMW213 20-Inch Corded Electric Lawn Mower Review

The CMEMW213 runs from a 120V wall outlet through a three-prong grounded plug. It has no battery and does not use a battery platform, so there is nothing to charge and nothing that ages out between seasons.

The 13 figure on the box is 13 amps of motor current, not 13 amp-hours. Amp-hours describe a battery, and this mower has none. The mower weighs 20.8 pounds, which is what you lift onto a shelf or carry up a step.

The mower is only as good as the route from the outlet to the far corner of the lawn, so settle that question before you look at anything else. The owner's manual sets the extension cord for a 13-amp load at 120V: 14 AWG up to 25 feet and 12 AWG up to 50 feet, and it does not recommend 100-foot or 150-foot lengths.

The cord has to be an outdoor-rated three-wire type (the SW, SOW, STW, STOW, SJW, SJOW, SJTW and SJTOW family), three-prong grounded, and the outlet or circuit should have GFCI protection. The manual's technique is to start near the outlet and work away from it, never mowing back toward the cable, and to use the knot or retaining-strap method so the mower's own pigtail stays plugged into the extension cord.

To judge your own yard, pace the longest run from the outlet to the farthest grass and count how many times the cord will cross a driveway, path, hedge or flowerbed. If the route is long or cluttered, a corded mower is the wrong format for that yard, however good the machine is. The mower's cordset is a replaceable part, so a damaged pigtail does not retire it.

The 13-amp motor and the 20-inch winged blade are sized for maintained grass and moderate overgrowth. A season's first tall mow goes noticeably faster than with a small reel-style corded mower, and the wide deck means fewer passes across a small lawn.

It will bog in wet, dense or very low-set grass. The manual's troubleshooting points straight at overload: raise the cutting height or slow your pace. The six heights run from 1.5 to 4 inches on a single lever, which moves toward the rear to lower the deck and toward the front to raise it. At the lowest settings the deck can drag and the mower gets hard to push, and the manual's fix is again to raise the height.

The blade is a winged, high-efficiency design, and the auto-brake stops it within about three seconds of releasing the bail. Realistically this is a machine for about an eighth to a quarter acre with a simple outlet route, not a half-acre lot.

The CMEMW213 is a 3-in-1 machine: rear bag, mulch and side discharge. The box holds one push mower, one collection bag and one side-discharge chute. A mulch plug is not on that list, so confirm with the seller whether one is included rather than assuming it.

The bag fills quickly

The collection bag is small. Plan on more trips to the compost pile, and expect the mower to feel rear-heavy as the bag fills.

Mulching and side discharge

Mulching works well in dry, light clippings, but it clumps in damp or heavy grass. The side-discharge chute is oversized and blocks close trimming on the right side.

The front end can lift

The front of the mower can lift off the ground, and the pull of an attached extension cord can raise the front completely off the ground.

The deck, frame and wheels are plastic. That keeps the listed weight at 20.8 pounds, but it is not a gas-mower-grade chassis: rocks can damage the deck, and wheel and motor failures happen in some cases. Treat that as the trade-off of the light build.

The bail handle and the start sequence

The bail handle is stiff and thin, and holding it down for a full session tires the hand and wrist, which can be irritating with arthritis. The start sequence is also unusual: press and hold the button on the switch box, then pull the bail handle, then release the button. If you are used to a gas mower's pull-and-go habit, you may think the unit is broken when it is not.

Folding and storage

The handles fold, but folding uses two thumb screws rather than quick releases, so it takes a little work. There is no onboard cord storage. The lower handle has three positions and the upper handle has three height holes.

Buyers on Amazon most often praise the mower's quality, reliability, light weight, value, grass cutting and power. One customer notes it performs as well as a gas mower, and another mentions it handles tall grass and mulches leaves effectively. The large majority of ratings are four or five stars.

Durability is the weak spot: a meaningful share of buyers report breakage within the first couple of months, and durability is the topic where negative mentions outnumber positive ones. Buyers are divided on maneuverability, with some finding it easy to push and others noting it slows in thicker grass.

The recurring complaints group around the small bag, the stiff bail handle, the front end lifting, hard pushing at low cut heights, the plastic construction, fiddly folding, the oversized side chute, the missing cord storage and the confusing start sequence. The recurring praise groups around easy assembly, easy starting, a weight that is easy to move, a good cut on maintained grass, tall grass and leaf mulching, and no gas to leak or store.

The winged blade is a specific part for this model, so order it by model number rather than assuming a generic 20-inch blade fits. It is held by a 0.71 in (18mm) flange nut with an insulator and a spacer.

The mower's own pigtail cord is a replaceable part. The warranty is three years limited, with a 90-day money-back guarantee.