Sun Joe iON 40V Brushless Cordless Lawn Mower Review

Up until recently I wouldn’t have been interested in reviewing a cordless lawn mower, but with the new battery and motor technology that is available, my interest in them had piqued. Could they finally compete against their noisy gas filled brothers? It just so happened that Sun Joe contacted me and asked if I wanted to review their new 40V Cordless Brushless Mower, so I had to say yes. I wanted to see for myself if their time to shine had come.

First off, who is Sun Joe? I had never heard of them before, but it turns out they make a lot of electric tools. They started as Snow Joe in 2004 with the goal of making an affordable snow thrower for $100. Since then they have expanded to cordless snow blowers, and now cordless mowers and other landscaping tools under the Sun Joe name.

In anticipation of the mower coming, I let my grass grown longer than usual. I didn’t want the test to be easy. For the first time I couldn’t wait to mow the lawn. When the mower arrived I quickly pulled out the battery and threw it on the charger. The Sun Joe iON uses a 40V 4.0Ah battery and I knew it was going to take longer than a typical 18V battery to charge. It ended up taking a little over 2.5 hours to charge.

I went back to unpacking the rest of the mower so I could move on to putting it together, which didn’t take long at all. It comes 90% assembled, and all I had to do was use 4 large screw-knobs to attach the push handle. Once together I was kind of shocked at how well the mower looked and how solid it felt. Honestly, I was expecting less from a mower that is mostly made of plastic. Setting the deck height is really simple to do. A single lever adjusts all four wheels at the same time, and you can choose between 6 positions.

After the battery had finished charging I was ready to put the Sun Joe iON Cordless Mower to the test. With the battery installed, turning on the mower is as simple as pressing a button and pulling back on the bar-lever. It was funny hearing the mower running for the first time, it sounded like a gas mower except a much much quieter. I normally use ear plugs when cutting the grass, but there was no need for them here.

Cutting my grass went better than expected. The mower uses a smaller 16” blade (gas mowers use larger 20+” blades), so I did have to take more passes, but the mower is so light that it is really easy to push. The bag on the Sun Joe iON is also smaller than what I am used to on my gas mower, but that didn’t bother me, it just means you have to empty more often. The plus side is that when you do need to empty the bag, it is lighter.

On the bag there is a little flap that will close to let you know when it needs to be emptied, but I more-or-less went by feel. I was able to complete both my front and back yard on a single charge, but your mileage will vary. Variables include grass height, cutting height, and grass thickness. My grass is a fescue blend, which is relatively thin compare to some other varieties.

To make sure the Sun Joe iON worked on thicker grass, I took it over to my neighbor’s house and let him use it on his St. Augustine grass. It is a much thicker variety, and it also happened to be long at the time. The mower did struggle a bit on his grass, but it did end up getting the job done. I don’t think we would have been able to get both his front and back yard on a single charge though. I imagine that if you have time to cut your grass regularly, it should be able to handle even the really thick stuff.

My neighbor was really impressed with how well the mower was able to pick up the grass. Even when the bag was getting full, it would continue to pick up grass and stuff it inside the bag. Emptying the bag also seem easier; I don’t know if it is because it is smaller than what is typical, but we didn’t have to stick our hands into the bag to empty it out.

Overall I am very impressed with the Sun Joe iON 40V Cordless Mower. It uses a brushless motor that requires no maintenance, so the only thing you have to remember to do is to charge your battery. If you want to expand on the system, Sun Joe has other products that use the same battery including a chain saw and a snow blower. Unless you have a jungle in your yard, this mower could be a replacement for that loud annoying gas mower; your neighbors would thank you. So will I go back to my gas mower? Probably not. BUY - Amazon