BLACK+DECKER 3-in-1 String Trimmer/Edger & Lawn Mower, 6.5-Amp, 12-Inch, Corded (MTE912)

This looks like a toy, but it is a great tool if you have a slope or terrace to mow. I have a small in width but steep grass slope in front of my house by the street. It was difficult for me to mow even with my light Greenworks 40 volt mower. I dreaded mowing that 150 ft long slope every week, but not now. This little tool works great and is as easy as pushing a light weight vacuum cleaner around the house. It takes me no time at all and very little effort to complete the job with this. I now also use it to do the two 250 ft long strips along the sidewalk between a wall and sidewalk and the strip between the street and sidewalk around my corner that is very time consuming to do with my regular mower as there are tree roots, a bus stop sign and several other obstacles in the way. There isn't a lot of space to turn around a full sized mower without crashing into the wall or stepping out into a busy street. The job goes very quickly with this little guy as it is so light weight and maneuverable. It converts from mower to edger with no effort at all by stepping on a lever on the back that releases the string trimmer from the mower base, and it goes back in the mower base just as easily. I am surprised how long the spool of string lasts when it is on the mower. However, today as I was using it to edge the sidewalk for the first time in a while I went through string very fast using it as an edger, I guess as the string was hitting the sidewalk. But, using the trimmer as a mower I I have done the front slope and the strip around the corner without edging at least 10 times and still had not used up the spool of string, and it feeds without snags. I have been wondering for years why no one has made a mower base for a string trimmer as the trimmers get heavy and are hard to keep the grass height level without the base. It would be really nice if B&D made a 40 volt trimmer to fit in the mower base too, but I am so happy to at least have this 20 volt lithium ion version for now. A slight problem is that the wheel height which is held by a spring pops back to the lower height easily so I have to be careful that doesn't happen when I bump it up and down over the tree roots and higher sidewalks or curbs. It can be put back in place pretty easily, but it is a slight nuisance. It also would be nice if the height were a little higher as I like to keep my grass higher than this allows. My slope looks like a perfect golf green, but I may need to water it more often. I highly recommend this mower base which fits many B&D newer 12" String trimmers (not all), or buy the two items together and have a great little mower for all those steep or tight places. You will not be disappounted. If I only had a small yard this is probably all I would use. It is so little it takes up no storage space. It is so light an arthritic senior like me or child could use it. The 20 V lithium battery actually last quite long. I purchased a quick charger and have 3 batteries that I rotate as I work, but I have a very large yard and have many areas between garden borders, under trees and bushes and more cramped spots where I use this and leave the larger lawn areas for my regular mower. It saves me a lot of time in those areas. It is a great invention. I hope B&D continues to make it as an option and for some of its other more powerful trimmers.UPDATE: THIS IS GREAT FOR MULCHING AND SHREDDING LEAVES IN THE FALL. IT IS EVEN EASIER THAN USING A MULCHING LAWNMOWER AS IT IS SO LIGHT!! Shreds the leaves in no time and I have loads of leaves to get rid of. The string lasts a very very long time when shredding the leaves too. I hope B&D keeps making this combo. IT WOULD BE GOOD IF THEY MADE a larger one also. IT IS GREAT CUTTING GRASS ON SLOPE AND IS A PHENOMENAL SHREDDER/MULCHER.

I bought this little machine because I have been looking and looking (and looking) for something to mow my tiers with. I purchased a home in April that would have had a monstrous hill, but the previous owner tiered out the backyard instead. I mean there are a lot of tiers. The ones at the top of the hill are generally about 6x30 feet and there are 5 of those with a foot difference in height on each one then there the tiers cut into the hill and those are sectioned in about 5x7 little plots and about a foot difference between them going east and west but there are also 3 foot walls sectioning them off going up the hill. Then there are all of the little tiers that maybe just didn't quite fit or maybe they had some specific purpose 30 years ago, I don't know. There are stairs but they are in pretty bad shape and not really any flat surfaces to get on the smaller tiers.... I'm sure you can't imagine it except to think 'wow, that's a mess'. Yes, yes it is. To make matters worse, there are little patches of flowers everywhere. Oh, and did I mention a few tree trunks and pretty darn big rocks here and there too? I have arthritis in my hands and wrists and cannot hold a heavy duty trimmer for long periods of time. I did buy a smaller, battery operated trimmer but that only got one tier done after about 45 minutes and then ran out of battery - and even then, I didn't have any strength in my hands for quite some time after. So, I've had a friend come and weed wack it all down a few times (not the flowers, of course) but I needed a more permanent solution. All the mowers I found were too heavy to bang up the steps and try to get into the smaller tiers and I wasn't sure how long a mower might last being abused like that. I ran across an advertisement for a little machine much like this one but it was manufactured by a company I wasn't familiar with and it didn't get very good reviews. After some renewed internet searches, I found this one and decided on purchasing it. I have only used it once as I just got it yesterday, but I was extremely impressed with it. It is almost like vacuuming when you use it with the base. I was able to knock out several tiers in about 30 minutes and I loved that I could just snap it out of the base to use it as a regular trimmer around the flowers and tree trunks and just snap it back it in the base. I'd like to say that where there aren't tree trunks or flowers, that it is just one bed of beautiful grass, but alas, that is not the case. It is a weedy area with a few pretty fat, ugly weeds. This little machine didn't even really hiccup or balk at the challenge. It worked like a charm. I hit a few tree trunks, a few rocks, a few holes and found a few weeds that I was sure would just wind up a tangled mess... Nope, it plowed right thru and I think it enjoyed the task. All in all, I'm very pleased with this trimmer. It was easy to set up, it has enough power to get the job done and yet I still feel comfortable using it as both a mower and a trimmer. I will try to remember to update this review at the end of the season, but truth be told, I'll probably forget unless the quality is poor and something goes wrong. If you don't hear from me, you can assume that I still love it!