We’ve made it through our annual second and third waves of winter here in Utah, and spring is finally upon us. With warm weather comes fast-growing grass that becomes an unsightly mess within a few weeks. This ready-to-be-maintained grass was the perfect opportunity to test the Toro 60V Recycler Battery-Powered Lawn Mower.
Initially, I wasn’t sure that a battery-powered model would have enough oomph to be considered one of the best lawn mowers available. I had recently discovered the splendid convenience of the Greenworks Pro 80V Leaf Blower and was surprised by its wind-blowing power. Perhaps the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower would pack the same punch with its battery-operated engine.
I tested the Toro by mowing my father’s overdue-for-a-haircut lawn and mowing my own twice, all within three weeks. My dad’s house has a decent-sized lawn – it generally takes me about half an hour to mow. My backyard is relatively small, a few hundred square feet, and can be mowed in about five minutes, but my front lawn is rather long and takes me about 10-15 minutes to get through. Both lawns had grass patches wildly overgrown, with grass over a foot in some patches. I was impressed that I could mow both yards on a single charge. I was also impressed with how quiet the motor was. It leaves some grass behind as you mow, but continue reading the full review below for the full story.
Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower: Key specs
Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower: Price & Availability
The Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower has a list price of $629.00 from the manufacturer’s website. It can also be purchased online at Ace Hardware and Lowes for $679.00.
Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower: First Impressions
After I unboxed the lawn mower, I was amazed by how simple the design was. You don’t see hoses, cables, air vents, and carburetors making up the engine. Instead, the engine is a block with a small plastic hood (which had a small crack when it arrived) that opens for the battery. It’s a simple and clean design.
Setting it up was as simple as the design. All that was needed was to unfold the handle, put it in place, and install the blade control bar (the bar you hold with your hands as you mow). After charging the battery and placing it under the hood, the Toro was ready to mow. It was an easy setup.
I would suggest that you check to ensure the tires are securely fastened to the mower with a socket wrench. When I started mowing for the first time, after the second pass, one of the back wheels fell off. As bad as that sounds, simply putting the wheel back on the bolt and tightening the nut with a socket wrench fixed the minor issue that probably happened while in transport.
Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower: Design
As I mentioned, I transported this lawn mower to and from my house to my dad’s and back. I don’t have a big car, so this was only achievable thanks to the folding handle. You simply pull out the two locking tabs towards the base of the lawn mower handle, and you can fold the handle over the engine. This makes it convenient not only for transport but also makes its footprint rather small for storage.
There are two handle positions for mowing. The tallest one seems better for those over six feet tall. For reference, I am 5ft 9in tall. In the second setting, the handle felt comfortable for me.
The lawn mower weighs over 80 pounds, but you wouldn’t notice it by pushing it. Its self-propelled feature does a great job of taking the burden off the user when pushing the lawn mower.
Quick story for you. Before this battery-powered lawn mower arrived for testing, I decided to get my gas lawn mower ready for the season. Of course, after pulling the cord 200 times, it wouldn’t start. I had to drain the old gas from the engine and remove and clean the carburetor. Get new gas and pull the cord another 20 times to get it to start. Then, the engine revved unevenly for a few minutes while it warmed up. It was a real pain to fiddle with everything to get it started. Fast forward to the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower. Here’s how the starting process went: I held the handle and pressed a button, and the lawn mower started. That’s the end of the story. It made me feel silly that I’d been messing with a gas engine for so long while this was so simple to get running.
The wheel adjustment is simple enough, but it does take a bit of force and effort to pull the tabs back and adjust them to the desired height. You’ll also want to consult the manual for a breakdown of the wheel height adjustment, as there aren’t any height indicators on the lawn mower. Plus, it isn’t easy to see whether the back and front tires match height.
The mower has a 60V lithium battery, a charger, and a collection bag. The bag easily settles onto the lawn mower and can be removed simply by pulling up on the metal handle.
Score: 4.5/5
Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower: Performance
The Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower had me smitten by its easy start-up, especially considering what I had gone through with my gas-powered engine days before. It was now time to see how well the mower performed.
One of my biggest worries was that it wouldn’t have enough battery power to finish a job. Although the specs from the manufacturer say the runtime is up to 40 minutes, with normal use, I got about 50 minutes of runtime before the battery finally went kaput. I would stop the timer when I would empty the bag and start it back up again when I began to mow. I could mow my dad’s and my yard on a single charge.
On the other hand, the manufacturer states that the charge time is 150 minutes or two and a half hours. The battery charged me fully for three hours and 40 minutes. That’s a long time, especially considering the Ego Power+ LM2135SP 21-inch Lawn Mower only takes about an hour to charge.
During operation, you can hear the motor do its own thing in terms of power. It will lowly hum when cutting shorter grass and rev up louder to cut taller grass. It does this to conserve energy when unnecessary and throttles up when extra power is needed to get through tall grass.
During operation, I was surprised by how quiet the engine was. Right near the motor, the decimeter clocked 86 dB, and by my head, where I was standing during the operation, the decimeter clocked 77 dB. The latter is quieter than noise from traffic. With an engine this quiet, you could mow your lawn early in the morning without driving your neighbors crazy.
I noticed as I mowed that the mower was leaving some grass trails behind. This is usually an indicator that the bag is full. But I would empty the bag and notice it would only be half or two-thirds full. This happened every time I emptied the bag. My theory as to why it was leaving grass behind is that since the engine tries to operate at a lower power, it doesn’t have as much suction. When the chute gets a little clogged with grass, it leaves the rest behind because it doesn’t have the suction power to push all the grass through to fill the bag up completely. It was my only gripe with the machine, and overall, I was impressed with its performance.
Score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy if…
How does the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower compare?
The Toro has a wider deck than the Husqvarna Lawn Wxpert LE-322, but the Husqvarna offers more control over engine power and battery-saving operations. The Toro is truly a push-start-and-go design, which is great for those looking for something simple to set up and use. It couldn’t be easier to operate in that regard.
Compared to the Black + Decker BEMW472BH lawn mower, the Toro again has a much larger deck of 22 inches compared to the 15-inch B+D deck. The Black + Decker is about 40 pounds lighter but doesn’t have a self-propelled mechanism like the Toro.
How I tested the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower
I tested the Toro 60V Max 22in Recycler Lawn Mower by mowing my lawn and my father's lawn twice over three weeks. On the first mow on both properties, there were long, uneven grass patches.
I also tested the battery life by using the machine as normal and timing how long it took for the battery to die. I also timed how long it took for the battery to recharge completely. Finally, I tested how loud the battery was by using a decimeter app on my phone and placing it near the engine during operation and by my ears during operation.
