Alright, time for my final review of the Milwaukee M18 mower. tl;dr: it did not live up to the hype for me, it was more difficult to operate than it should have been, it has several design flaws, and I was disappointed in Milwaukee's handling and it damaged my trust in them as a brand. All of this especially given due to the price point, just under $1,200.
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I want to preface this by saying I like to do a lot of research, especially on big buys like this one. I am coming from a Honda HRR from 2016. I literally spent weeks researching this one... I compared several different models (both gas and electric) from Toro, Honda, and Milwaukee. I watched lots of YouTube videos. I scoured forums like reddit and The Lawn Forum, searched in Facebook groups focused Milwaukee tools or lawn care, and on occasion even reached out to users to see how they liked their M18 mowers now.
The YouTube reviews on the M18 mower were overwhelmingly positive. The only critical flaw a YouTuber I could find that was pointed out was about the thumb lever for the self-propel being awkward and not adjustable. The forums didn't have much to say about the M18 mower. And the users I reached out to on Facebook to get an update either didn't respond, or gave a generally positive review.
Over the past two years, I've been slowly moving from the DeWalt platform to Milwaukee just because they had more tools and attachments for outdoor power equipment. I wouldn't say I'm a fanboy or a loyalist for either brand, I just like stuff that works. I had pretty good experiences with Milwaukee so far though, so I was excited to bring the M18 mower home from Home Depot. With this and the reviews I read, I expected to maintain ownership of this mower so I immediately unboxed it, took the blades to Ace Hardware (my preferred Milwaukee/Toro dealer) for sharpening, and chucked the cardboard boxes after assembly.
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My first impressions were positive with how light the machine was and how quiet it was. But I quickly identified some items that I considered to be design flaws:
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Battery life was ok, if I used the standard mode I could easily get both the front and back mowed on one charge (about 5k sq ft). On turbo/"high lift" mode I could get MOST of the front and back mowed in one charge. I could just go and get one of my lower-capacity batteries to finish up that mow. If I had to double-cut either the front or back, then no way -- I'd have to finish the next day.
So I tried figuring out ways around it for a few weeks but I just couldn't make it work and kept getting disappointed. So I e-mailed Milwaukee via their website with the same exact points as above (some of the items I actually copied-and-pasted from the e-mail into this post!). I didn't hear anything.
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One day, Milwaukee made a post on their Instagram about their M18 mower. I just made a short comment under it about how I was disappointed in the mower. A random user -- looked like an electrician -- asked me for more details. I brought up the points above briefly and they were pretty bummed about that since they were interested in the mower as well. I even admitted that some of my feedback might be nitpicky because I am into lawn care and what's important to me might not be important to anyone else that isn't into lawn care.
The next day, Milwaukee's social media team DMed me for my contact information to reach out to me after seeing my comments. I sent them all of my info and said someone would be in touch with me the next day.
That same day, someone replied to my comment on the Instagram post and asked what my issues were. I responded that I posted my grievances in the comments up above since I didn't want to re-type it all on my phone. That user said no you didn't and said either I deleted it or Milwaukee hid my complaints. I viewed the comments on that post with a different account, and sure enough my first comment was visible but the comment with my actual feedback was not visible.
I was pretty disappointed it happened that way. I understand that a company doesn't want negative feedback on a post where they're trying to sell something but from my standpoint that is really dishonest of them and demonstrates a lack of integrity. It has permanently damaged my trust in Milwaukee as a company. Now I understood one of the reasons why I found very little critical feedback of the M18 mower.
As promised, a Milwaukee CX Technical Support Advisor got in touch with me the next day. I answered her questions and provided more detail. These exchanges went on for a few days.
The representative thought the issue with the self-propel locking up might have been a safety mechanism. While she admitted "it will not fix 2/3rds of the pain points" I had experienced, she could provide a prepaid shipping label to send it to a Milwaukee service center to check the mower's self-propel issue. She also considered sending me a new set of blades to try to fix the cut quality issue, but since I took the blades to a Milwaukee dealer for sharpening on day one, she admitted she wasn't confident that this would fix it. I asked how long the turnaround would be since I don't have another mower, and she stated they try to make a two-week turnaround. I asked if I could just send it to Milwaukee for a refund, and she said "Milwaukee Tool is unable to cut a check or refund to end-users."
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Look, I hate returning things. It's wasteful and it usually hurts someone in the transaction. To me, it's a last resort. But I was really disappointed with the mower in general, the representative was completely honest that these are issues that will likely persist, and the way Milwaukee hid my honest but polite feedback had just really soured me on the brand and I didn't want to deal with this $1,200 problem anymore.
I went to my Home Depot to talk about returning it to them, even though it's been used and I don't have the boxes anymore. I explained my issues. The associate said they would take it back and they'll return it to Milwaukee since it's still in the return window (90 days for electric tools, 45 days for gas). Even though it's a giant corporation, I felt bad that my store might lose money on the return. She said they'll probably still receive a credit from Milwaukee for the sale. I said I'll clean up the mower and bring it in a few days later.
So I brought the mower in a few days later and someone else helped me with the return. The guy was convinced this mower was a special order and that the store doesn't sell these. I guess they don't sell very many of them? I showed them my receipt in the Home Depot app and they popped my receipt number into their register to process the return and as soon as he saw the receipt total on my original purchase the guy literally said "oh my god" because he couldn't believe this mower cost $1,200. I think he agreed at that point that my complaints were valid for a mower at that price point.
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So they took it back, no other questions asked, and I feel lucky to have been able to return that mower for a full refund and wash my hands of that problem entirely. I've since switched to a TimeMaster, which, yeah... I'm cracking nuts with a sledgehammer for a TimeMaster on a 5k sq ft lawn. But I know what I'm getting. It's a reliable machine with a good quality cut with a machine design that's been refined and proven over several iterations.
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As for Milwaukee, I'll continue to buy tools from whichever manufacturer makes the most sense to me, and I'm still straddling Milwaukee and DeWalt platforms. But it's hard for me to deny that Milwaukee supresses critical feedback on social media and a lot of "reviews" of Milwaukee equipment are from influencers who are bought and paid for and have since noticed that many of these influencers no longer mow with the M18 mower. I wonder now if those forum and Facebook users I reached out to that didn't respond for an update ended up dumping their mowers.
I want to preface this by saying I like to do a lot of research, especially on big buys like this one. I am coming from a Honda HRR from 2016. I literally spent weeks researching this one... I compared several different models (both gas and electric) from Toro, Honda, and Milwaukee. I watched lots of YouTube videos. I scoured forums like reddit and The Lawn Forum, searched in Facebook groups focused Milwaukee tools or lawn care, and on occasion even reached out to users to see how they liked their M18 mowers now.
The YouTube reviews on the M18 mower were overwhelmingly positive. The only critical flaw a YouTuber I could find that was pointed out was about the thumb lever for the self-propel being awkward and not adjustable. The forums didn't have much to say about the M18 mower. And the users I reached out to on Facebook to get an update either didn't respond, or gave a generally positive review.
Over the past two years, I've been slowly moving from the DeWalt platform to Milwaukee just because they had more tools and attachments for outdoor power equipment. I wouldn't say I'm a fanboy or a loyalist for either brand, I just like stuff that works. I had pretty good experiences with Milwaukee so far though, so I was excited to bring the M18 mower home from Home Depot. With this and the reviews I read, I expected to maintain ownership of this mower so I immediately unboxed it, took the blades to Ace Hardware (my preferred Milwaukee/Toro dealer) for sharpening, and chucked the cardboard boxes after assembly.
My first impressions were positive with how light the machine was and how quiet it was. But I quickly identified some items that I considered to be design flaws:
- The mulch plug. It's literally held in by the friction of the rear door. On the first mow it wiggled and let clippings pour out and collect on the rubber flap. After about the third mow it finally "sealed up" with wet grass clippings collecting in the deck. That's the only way it was resolved. If I cleaned the deck out, it's the same issue again since that maintenance task would have broken the "seal".
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- When I decide to bag instead of mulch, grass clippings then come out of the TOP of the bag and collect on top of the bag. Most of them still collect in the bag but it's still just a dumb problem to have. No good way to fix this.
- I was excited to have one lever to select the deck height on all 4 wheels, but good lord that lever is unnecessarily and obnoxiously large. I don't think many of us use this lever often enough to make it so, uh, accessible. It sticks out so far and it was always getting caught on things like chain link fences or retaining walls. I had to change the way I mowed and be more cognizant around the edges and both of these things slowed me down.
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- There is no variability of the speed when using the paddles on the handlebar for self-propel. You're either going 0 or the speed that's on the speed selector and there's no in between, like if you're negotiating a curve or a corner. The speed is either too slow or you feel like you're chasing the machine to catch up with it. It also makes the mower "jump" when you start the self-propel.
- Especially when trying to navigate and maneuver in corners, the self-propel makes me feel like I'm negotiating with a terrorist. The M18 mower does not like to perform in short bursts like these small areas. I engage the self-propel but it doesn't want to go anywhere. And 75% of the time when I need to back up, for some reason the rear wheels lock up and I'm dragging the wheels through the grass, trying to maneuver the space. I have to stop, move it forward manually a little bit, stop and wait, and then pull it back. It makes corners unnecessarily difficult and becomes a time suck in areas where there's lots of objects to navigate around. It slowed me down tremendously and in these corners it was a little tough on the turf.
- By far, my biggest and most consistent complaint has been the cut quality. On day one, I took the blade that came with the M18 mower to a local Ace Hardware to have the blades sharpened since they were not already sharp from the factory. Still, there are plenty of "stragglers" -- blades of grass that don't get cut by the M18 mower and stand tall and proud. To mitigate this, I overlap the passes more than I should, which ends up taking more time. And on about half the mows I end up doing two passes -- one at a higher height and the other at a lower height to try to cut everything. The M18 mower still doesn't cut everything consistently. This is using high lift mode and standard mode, it still doesn't make a difference. It looks like garbage and has become a huge time suck to get it looking decent.
Battery life was ok, if I used the standard mode I could easily get both the front and back mowed on one charge (about 5k sq ft). On turbo/"high lift" mode I could get MOST of the front and back mowed in one charge. I could just go and get one of my lower-capacity batteries to finish up that mow. If I had to double-cut either the front or back, then no way -- I'd have to finish the next day.
So I tried figuring out ways around it for a few weeks but I just couldn't make it work and kept getting disappointed. So I e-mailed Milwaukee via their website with the same exact points as above (some of the items I actually copied-and-pasted from the e-mail into this post!). I didn't hear anything.
One day, Milwaukee made a post on their Instagram about their M18 mower. I just made a short comment under it about how I was disappointed in the mower. A random user -- looked like an electrician -- asked me for more details. I brought up the points above briefly and they were pretty bummed about that since they were interested in the mower as well. I even admitted that some of my feedback might be nitpicky because I am into lawn care and what's important to me might not be important to anyone else that isn't into lawn care.
The next day, Milwaukee's social media team DMed me for my contact information to reach out to me after seeing my comments. I sent them all of my info and said someone would be in touch with me the next day.
That same day, someone replied to my comment on the Instagram post and asked what my issues were. I responded that I posted my grievances in the comments up above since I didn't want to re-type it all on my phone. That user said no you didn't and said either I deleted it or Milwaukee hid my complaints. I viewed the comments on that post with a different account, and sure enough my first comment was visible but the comment with my actual feedback was not visible.
I was pretty disappointed it happened that way. I understand that a company doesn't want negative feedback on a post where they're trying to sell something but from my standpoint that is really dishonest of them and demonstrates a lack of integrity. It has permanently damaged my trust in Milwaukee as a company. Now I understood one of the reasons why I found very little critical feedback of the M18 mower.
As promised, a Milwaukee CX Technical Support Advisor got in touch with me the next day. I answered her questions and provided more detail. These exchanges went on for a few days.
The representative thought the issue with the self-propel locking up might have been a safety mechanism. While she admitted "it will not fix 2/3rds of the pain points" I had experienced, she could provide a prepaid shipping label to send it to a Milwaukee service center to check the mower's self-propel issue. She also considered sending me a new set of blades to try to fix the cut quality issue, but since I took the blades to a Milwaukee dealer for sharpening on day one, she admitted she wasn't confident that this would fix it. I asked how long the turnaround would be since I don't have another mower, and she stated they try to make a two-week turnaround. I asked if I could just send it to Milwaukee for a refund, and she said "Milwaukee Tool is unable to cut a check or refund to end-users."
Look, I hate returning things. It's wasteful and it usually hurts someone in the transaction. To me, it's a last resort. But I was really disappointed with the mower in general, the representative was completely honest that these are issues that will likely persist, and the way Milwaukee hid my honest but polite feedback had just really soured me on the brand and I didn't want to deal with this $1,200 problem anymore.
I went to my Home Depot to talk about returning it to them, even though it's been used and I don't have the boxes anymore. I explained my issues. The associate said they would take it back and they'll return it to Milwaukee since it's still in the return window (90 days for electric tools, 45 days for gas). Even though it's a giant corporation, I felt bad that my store might lose money on the return. She said they'll probably still receive a credit from Milwaukee for the sale. I said I'll clean up the mower and bring it in a few days later.
So I brought the mower in a few days later and someone else helped me with the return. The guy was convinced this mower was a special order and that the store doesn't sell these. I guess they don't sell very many of them? I showed them my receipt in the Home Depot app and they popped my receipt number into their register to process the return and as soon as he saw the receipt total on my original purchase the guy literally said "oh my god" because he couldn't believe this mower cost $1,200. I think he agreed at that point that my complaints were valid for a mower at that price point.
So they took it back, no other questions asked, and I feel lucky to have been able to return that mower for a full refund and wash my hands of that problem entirely. I've since switched to a TimeMaster, which, yeah... I'm cracking nuts with a sledgehammer for a TimeMaster on a 5k sq ft lawn. But I know what I'm getting. It's a reliable machine with a good quality cut with a machine design that's been refined and proven over several iterations.
As for Milwaukee, I'll continue to buy tools from whichever manufacturer makes the most sense to me, and I'm still straddling Milwaukee and DeWalt platforms. But it's hard for me to deny that Milwaukee supresses critical feedback on social media and a lot of "reviews" of Milwaukee equipment are from influencers who are bought and paid for and have since noticed that many of these influencers no longer mow with the M18 mower. I wonder now if those forum and Facebook users I reached out to that didn't respond for an update ended up dumping their mowers.
