Makita XML06PT1 36V (18V X2) LXT® Brushless 18" Self-Propelled Commercial Lawn Mower Kit with 4 Batteries (5.0Ah)

Keep in mind that I just got this thing. This is not a review based upon years of experience with the mower, just a first impression review. My old mower was an awesome old school snapper and I loved it. That is what I am comparing this mower to.The design elements of this mower are all excellent. The wheels all have sealed cartridge bearings on them. Sounds like a little thing, but it speaks to a larger thing. Everywhere you look on this machine, you see solid mechanical engineering everywhere (and I would know). The way the bag fits, the way that the mulching plug fits, every detail is sweated on this thing. Even the drive mechanism acts like it has a differential allowing it to smoothly turn corners without fighting you, speeding up or slowing down. Little things are only little things until they become a problem and then become a big thing.One of the things I really like is that the drive mechanism can be used with the blades are stopped. This allows you to get it up a steep gravel drive without kicking gravel everywhere and taking the nice sharp edge off your blades.Yeah, there are a few picadilloes here and there that I personally might have done differently or whatever, but most of these are simply changes that really don't make the system better, but just different. Preference items that are just basically opinions. Things like the battery cover doesn't stay up by itself while you try to get all four batteries out of it. I realize they made it want to fall down so it would keep things clean inside and also keep it from being left up. Once I realize I could pull the batteries and line them up on the bag hatch, I realized that I agree with their design. Things like that. The 1% stuff.This thing is heavy, and I mean HEAVY. The box says 99lbs, and about 1lb of that is packaging and containerboard. Clearly the crew that designed it went to the Harley Davidson school for Mechanical Engineers. When it finally fails, you can use it to help anchor your boat in the harbor during a hurricane.You can carry on a conversation with your friends while mowing. Kind of strange in that way. When you put it on quiet mode, it doesn't go all beast mode when you hit some thick grass, but stays at the lower speeds. It is louder than a box fan, but it is quieter than an idling pickup. If you have chickens, they will still irritate you as you mow the grass just like they irritate you when you are walking by the pen.I paid some seriously long green for this mower, but this thing quietly screams quality. I suspect that by the time I get my money out of it, nobody will be wanting a review of an ancient mower that time will have forgotten. If it is like all of the other Makita tools I have (some are 20 years old, some are nearly new), I might just expire before this thing does. All I know is that this thing really impressed me coming out of the box.Heck yeah I would empty the checkbook again on another one of these if I had to. I would still whine and carry on about the cost, but I would likely end up giving myself an attaboy later. This thing is pretty cool.

I like that the LXT battery power system in this unit is used by over 270 Makita products. The mower itself was easy to assemble, is reliable and easy to use. an 18" cutting swath is a little smaller than usual, and the lid to the battery compartment doesn't stay open when swapping batteries in and out (which is a bit annoying). I also like that this one has an aluminum deck--it's not made of plastic. Unfortunately, it's not collapsible, so it does take up a fair bit of space. As for the batteries, the ills they suffer from are typical of any battery system--extreme temperatures may sap their performance quicker, and really heavy cutting can put a load on the system, draining it more quickly as well. All in all though, I'm happy with it.

This lawn mower is the best mower I’ve ever used. I only need two of the four batteries to cut my yard. Thus, I only need half of the battery charge that is available. It maneuvers around bushes and trees with ease and is light weight.The first time I cut my front yard a guy drove by. He stopped and declared, ‘That is the quietest mower I have ever heard.’ He is right. It is. I recommend this mower to everyone.Why bother with gas, oil, spark plugs, air filters and pull cords. Put in the batteries and start key, push a button, pull the safety bar, and go.

Ok, so… I’m a Makita fan. I bought into their ecosystem and have an unhealthy number of their tools. As such, I was excited to see that they entered into the electric mower space! I mean, they know batteries and motors, so, why not? I saw that most reviews seemed positive, and that was all I needed and bought the thing without hesitation. It arrived, was easy to put together, etc. I excitedly got out to mow and… got about 15 minutes in before the batteries died. My grass was pretty tall, but nothing that other mowers had any trouble with in the past. I had some more batteries and threw those in and got almost through my very small back yard. So the hard truth about the mower is it has flaws. One is that the mower collects grass above the spinning blade. If the yard is moist at all, this becomes a productivity killing show stopper. You’ll push the mower and within - no joke - 30-40 seconds, you’ll start to hear the mower take on a sound that is basically a harmonic of the blade. When that happens, you’ve got to let off the engage bar and a ton of grass falls down, freeing up the blade to spin again. In the manual (which you read after you buy the machine), it very clearly says not to use in moist conditions. I live in the Pacific Northwest. There are several months where it’s moist. I’m not talking dew dripping on the grass, or even visible drops anywhere. If you’ve run your sprinklers, or it’s rained within the past 3-4 days, no mowing. The flaw that makes this an issue is that the clippings chute becomes super clogged because it’s not curved like a funnel but has sharp edges (like an A/C vent where it meets the wall). So you get into this start stop thing. This is with my height setting on 3. I CAN set it on 6 and it doesn’t clog as quickly, but I then have to mow my lawn more frequently, and that’s more than I have time for. The other thing isn’t so much a design flaw as much as a failure to understand the real world conditions in which the product will be used and a failure in marketing to mention the conditions for which this mower WOULD be a good fit. The first part of that is people don’t have the luxury of waiting for their lawn to be completely moisture free for a few reasons. In summer, you’ll kill your lawn if you completely dry it out. People only have certain time slots that they can mow and it’s not always ideal and it’s not always the weather in which we would like to mow, but it’s the time that we have and that’s that. Second, from marketing, it should not be marketed to people in the PNW and should say that it’s not recommended for the area. Otherwise, people get pissed because they bought a mower that performs poorly and isn’t the use that it was designed for. I went through 7 sets of batteries this morning. 7. I have 6 6Ah batteries and 2 two batteries chargers. I mow about a quarter acre. It simply doesn’t have the power to deal with my lawn and the conditions in which I mow. For context, today it’s about 83. I mowed at around 11a after my sprinklers stopped at 6a. It is a fully sunny day - a rarity here - with no clouds in the sky. And the mower still choked. I would say that the mower is good for specific use cases.1) If you have a small backyard and don’t mind mowing frequently.2) You live someplace absolutely arid.3) You don’t need to have a lawn that is relatively trimmed low and don’t mind taller grass that you mow frequently.If that’s not you, skip it.

Directions say mow only grass? You have to mow whatever is growing in your yard.Makita tools are my preference for dependability. I hope they never drop their standards. All the tools use same types of batteries for keeping ALL ones tools going and being purposeful. Great results for happy life…happy wife.