Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Review

We tested 24 different lawn mowers across gas and battery platforms and discovered some impressive facts about the current state of OPE. The Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower comes from one of the lesser-known brands. Redback is a Frictionless World brand out of Westminster, Colorado. It sits alongside Dirty Hand Tools, Vinsetta Tools, Trophy Strike and RanchEx. Does their higher voltage lawn mower deserve your consideration? Let’s find out!

Pros

• Effective 1-point height adjustment
• Killer value at the current sale price of $219.99/$314.99
• Impressive power under heavy loads

Cons

• No speed control on the self-propel drive
• Slow charging
• Mower must be engaged before the self-propel feature works
• Loudest battery-powered mower at 88 dB(A)

Performance

Want more information than we’re providing here for how we tested and scored these mowers? Check out our cordless mower shootout!

Cutting Power

The Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower dominates in the power category. There’s a trade-off for that, and we’ll talk about it shortly. For the time being, know that the Redback 120V doesn’t mind being thrown into the taller grass.

We started out testing our mowers under no load to see what the baseline was for each model. The Redback 120V started by cranking out a no-load RPM of 2804 and a blade tip speed of 170.9 mph.

In practical terms, we’re more interested in how a mower performs under stress. So, we simulated a lighter load/maintenance cut situation. Here, we saw the Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower ramp up the power just a bit to 2805 RPM and 171 MPH. That’s absolutely fine when you’re making your weekly maintenance cut, but it’s hardly the total mower domination that we promised.

Then we threw our mowers under heavy load, and the Redback 120V’s brushless motor really came alive. With a 29.6 MPH increase in blade tip speed, the Redback 120V mower topped the entire battery-powered group with at 200.5 MPH. Only EGO posted a higher RPM, but Redback’s slightly larger blade diameter gave it a higher tip speed.

When it comes to cutting overgrowth, Redback’s ability to call on class-leading power sets it apart from other cordless lawn mowers.

Cutting Area

Let’s get this out of the way upfront: Redback claims that they get up to 60 minutes on a charge. We saw 28 minutes with no load and just 23 minutes on a maintenance load. If you go with the 2-battery kit, you can get much closer to the hour mark.

Circling back to the subject of the “trade-off” we talked about earlier, here it is: you might get some excellent power out of the Redback 120V lawn mower, but it comes at the expense of runtime.

As it stands, 23 minutes worth of walking at a consistent 2.5 mph gets you a total area of 8,644.17 square feet. To put into more practical terms, it’s only about 0.2 acres and that doesn’t account for overlapping your lines.

Of all the battery-powered lawn mowers we tested, this one cuts the least amount on a charge.

This brings up questions about battery efficiency. With a 120V (108V nominal), 3.0Ah battery, we’re looking at 324 watt hours (amps x nominal volts). With our 8644 square feet of cutting, that breaks down to 27 sq.ft. per watt hour. Most of the mowers we tested cut 60-70 square feet per watt hour, with a few stragglers turning out around 45-50. This is far and away the least efficient mower/battery combo we tested.

Noise Level

The Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower is also the loudest battery powered mower we looked at. Truth is, there’s at least one gas power mower that runs more quietly (the Honda Commercial model we tested runs at 86 dB(A)). Still, 88 dB(A) really isn’t terribly loud in the grand scheme of lawn tools. Your neighbors will still appreciate this over a most gas engines.

Feature Set

Self-Propelled Drive

The self-propelled drive presents itself as sort of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it does have a self-propelled feature. On the other hand, it doesn’t have a walking speed adjustment.

This is a curious decision by the brand, especially considering they’ve set the pace slower than I like to walk. Using the self-propelled Redback 120V lawn mower, I felt like I was constantly fighting the urge to push the mower along to get it to work at my pace.

In the end, I’d probably rather have this feature than not have it, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

Steel Deck

The steel deck on this Redback 120V lawn mower is a step up for durability. You sacrifice a little bit of weight by using a steel deck instead of a plastic/poly one, but since the mower does the hard work of pushing itself, that weight isn’t as big of a deal.

Height Adjustment and Range

The self-propelled Redback 120V lawn mower uses a single point height adjustment. It ramps up the convenience factor since you don’t have to go around to each separate wheel and set the height four different times.

This downside to this system is that it can create weak points along the wheel bases. But the system here is pretty effective and the steel deck helps keep the frame rigid.

As far as cutting heights go, Redback gives you 7 different cutting heights to choose from. They range from 1.75″ to 4.250″. This range ought to be able to handle all but the shortest grass species comfortably.

Handle Positions

We usually like to see 3 different handle positions available, but the Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower only gives us 2 to choose from. It’s far from being a deal-breaker and our entire team found one position or the other to be comfortable.

Discharge Options

Mulching bagging, or side discharging clippings are all viable options with this mower. The mower comes with everything you’ll need to perform any of these functions.

Value

The Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower presented a solid value when we first got a hold of it at $462 for the kit (regular price is $599.99). It includes the 120V, 3.0Ah battery and charger. It also comes with a 5-year warranty on the tool and a 1-year warranty on the battery.

Redback is running some crazy-low deals right now, though. At of today (August 21, 2019), they have the 1-battery kit we tested for $219.99 and the 2-battery kit for $314.99. If you’re wanting to test the cordless lawn mower waters, you’re not going to find a much better deal than that.

The Redback 120V line extends beyond just this mower as well. There is another 120V push mower, string trimmer, hedge trimmer, leaf blower, pole saw, and chainsaw on the same line as well. It looks like all of these have some serious discounts going on right now.

The Bottom Line

The Redback 120V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower finishes our shootout in 11th-place, though we’d still say its a pretty capable mower under the right circumstances. You’ll definitely need a smaller lawn (under 1/4 acre) or bump up to the 2-battery kit if you have a 1/4-acre+.

If you fit into those criteria, here’s what you have to look forward to with the Redback: a powerful mower that you can pick up for dirt cheap. It also comes with a great warranty.

Redback 120V Self-Propelled Mower Specs

• SKU: 106491
• Power Source: 120V  3.0Ah battery
• Blade Diameter: 21″
• Idle Speed: 2800 RPM/3300 RPM
• Cut Height: 1.10″ – 3.35″ (1.75″ to 4.250″ by our measurements
• Cut Positions: 7
• Wheel Size: 10″ (rear), 7″ (front)
• Runtime: Up to 60 minutes per charge (using two batteries)
• Shipping Weight: 68.3 lbs.
• Warranty: 5-Year Limited Warranty; 1-Year on battery
• Price: $599.99 $219.99 (1-battery kit), $799.99 $314.99 (2-battery kit)