Toro 60V Max 21″ Super Recycler Review

This is by far the most powerful battery-fueled lawn mower we've ever tested, but that power comes at a cost, with the battery running out before we could finish our large test lawn. It lasted anywhere between a half hour and an hour in our tests, depending on the heat of the day and the height and thickness of the grass. With a 20.5-inch blade, you can mow about 0.27 acres in 30 minutes, walking at a three-mile-per-hour pace. If you have an average lawn size of around a quarter acre, according to Home Advisor, this is a wonderful option. 

Performance Comparison

Mowing

In our tests, the Super Recycler provided the most consistent and high-quality cut among battery mowers, particularly with its high-performance blade in max mode. It adjusts to your walking speed with Toro's “Personal Pace” drive, making mowing nearly effortless. However, in auto mode, the mower can lag in thick grass, leading to a patchier cut. Despite this, the Super Recycler's mulching performance is comparable to gas-powered mowers, leaving few clumps of grass behind. The biggest downside to this, and all battery mowers, is that the quality of their cut decreases as their batteries begin to wind down to empty. 

Evenness

Earning top honors doesn't mean the Super Recycler outperforms the other mowers in every circumstance, though. While it provides the best cut of any battery option we tested, in some instances, the two gas-powered options offer more pristine lawns. That's because the Super Recycler has two blades, a high performance, and an economy option that prioritizes battery life. (The machine we tested arrived fitted with the latter.) It also has two power settings, max and auto. 

In max mode, the blade spins at top speed at all times. In auto mode, it senses how tall and thick the grass is and adjusts its power and speed accordingly. There is a lag when you hit a thick patch, though, and this mode leaves behind a patchier cut. It also tends to clog more frequently in difficult conditions like longer grass or a light layer of dew. 

You can use either mode with either blade. While it takes time to switch out the blades, you can change modes with the flip of a switch. When you're in max mode with the high-performance blade, this lawn mower feels unstoppable, impressing us by singing through foot-tall, damp grass that challenged or flat-out shut down the gas mowers we tested. 

The quality of the Super Recycler's cut decreases a bit with every other blade/mode combination, which is, in order of descending quality — the performance blade in auto, the economy blade in max, and the economy blade in auto. Even in its battery-saving, lowest-quality setting, it's still a pleasure to use. You'll just have a few more tufts and patches left behind, and it still offers the most even cut among the battery options. That is, until the battery starts to die, then the quality decreases. 

Terrain Management

The mower's sturdy, stable, and flex-resistant aluminum deck is heavy enough to hug terrain features more often than it bounces over them, like the mowers we tested with plastic decks. This makes for a more consistent, even cut, which, again, is best with the high-performance blade in max mode. 

Mulching

This mower arrives set up to cut and mulch your grass. That means the blade cuts grass from the stalk, then slices it into the smallest possible pieces and leaves it in place. This has all kinds of benefits, like keeping your lawn cooler, reducing its need for water, and maintaining healthy nutrient levels. It works and looks best when your mower slices that grass up nice and small.

The Super Recycler outperformed every other battery option in our tests, leaving behind fewer blades of grass large enough to rake. This was true regardless of which blade and cutting speed mode we used. When we used the high-performance blade in either mode, its mulching performance was comparable to the gas-powered options in the test. We couldn't find any grass to rake. 

Side Shoot

The Super Recycler does not include an attachment to shoot cut grass to the side. Since this method tends to leave large clumps of grass behind and can plaster it against a wall, a fence, or a passerby, we don't miss it. 

Bagging

In most cases, leaving grass on your lawn is better for it. Bagging your grass is also more work since you have to empty the bag regularly. If that's what you need, though, this mower is good at it. Its large capacity bag holds more grass at a time than other options. The blade also had plenty of power to pack the bag from back to front. (This works better in max mode.) And we didn't have to pause to pack the grass in as we did with several other options in the test.  

Cutting Deck Width and Height

A bigger deck and longer blade means that it will take less time to cover your entire yard. The 21" deck and 20.5" inch blade on this mower cover ground quickly. This is also one of the few mowers we tested that you retrace your previous wheel tracks without leaving a mohawk of grass behind. Having less overlap in every pass makes the chore go that much faster. 

The mower offers nine cutting heights, ranging from 0.75 to four inches. This 3.35-inch range is among the largest in the test, letting you accommodate grass that's been left a bit too long or keep your yard exceptionally trim. However, the mower does tend to clog more often in those conditions. We tested this mower in its middle setting, with a deck height of two inches in the front and 2.25 inches in the rear (this tilt is fairly typical among the test fleet).

Power Performance

The Super Recycler is powered by a 60-volt, 7.5 amp hour (Ah) lithium battery. That gives you 450 watt-hours of power, among the highest in the test. It provides an impressive amount of torque that outperforms even the gas-powered options in the thickest, tallest (around 12-inch grass) we tested. 

Unlike gas options, you do have to stop mowing to recharge this battery when it runs out of juice or have several of them ready to go. Its scores take a hit to account for limited run time and the time required to recharge the battery.

Run Time

The battery lasted 30, 47, and 59 minutes in our three battery tests. The times vary wildly because so many factors influence how long your battery will last. On a humid day, when the temperature was 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and the grass was around six inches tall, the battery lasted a half hour. 

On a cooler day, when the grass was six inches with a few patches of 12-inch grass, it lasted 41.5 minutes. The day lasted nearly an hour; we were cleaning up a large section of patchy, low, and sparse grass, which was a very light load. In half an hour, this mower's 20.5" blade can cover about 0.27 acres if you walk at a three-mile-per-hour pace.

Charge Time

Once your battery is dead, you have to recharge it before you get any more mowing done. This one is slow to charge, taking an average of three hours and 27 minutes in our tests. You can purchase a second battery to double your runtime, but they aren't cheap. And if you have an especially large yard, you'd still be waiting for anywhere from 2.5 to 3.25 hours for the first battery to charge again after the second one wears out. 

Handling

The Super Recycler is exceptionally lovely to use thanks to its responsive personal pace auto drive. When in max mode with the high-performance blade, it never hesitates or slows, even in tall, thick grass. It's seamless, earning a top score. 

The mower responds to the amount of pressure you place on the upper, curved handle, so it glides through the straight sections and instantly adjusts to your pace as you pivot to turn. When it comes to the turns, this mower feels light and easy to maneuver. 

Starting and Stopping

Like all of the battery mowers, this one is a push-button start. Unlike the rest, the button itself is removable. We like this feature as an additional safety mechanism (along with removing the battery) to make sure kids or your distracted self can't turn it on accidentally. 

To turn it on, just pull the bail bar back, make sure the button is in place, choose between auto and max mode, and press down. The mower starts right up. It also stops when you release the bail bar within a second or so, depending on the grass thickness and height.

Ease of Use

Though thoughtfully constructed, the Super Recycler has some design elements that make it harder to operate. Most of its clunkier elements, like setting up and shifting mowing height, are rarely used, which keeps us from getting too annoyed with them. Still, this is far from the most streamlined option in the test.

We'll start with the good stuff. The battery is simple to install and remove, though we did notice the plastic lid that covers it pops open easily, covering the compartment in grass clippings. On the upside, it's also easy to fold this mower's handle over to store it, and you can stand the entire machine on end for an impressively small footprint. It measures 43" long, 23 wide, and 16" tall when sitting on all four wheels. 

What's less simple is adjusting the handle height. To do so, you have to adjust a bumper that's bolted in place. While this is fine for one user to deal with once and leave it, or for multiple users of the same height, it's a pain for a short and tall person to share. We also found, over many, many hours of mowing, that it's nice to be able to move the handle around on the fly to shift the strain on your body or adjust to terrain changes. 

It's also hard to read the battery on the go, meaning that you're often unprepared when you run out of juice. We never found this to be a huge problem, though the mower is significantly less pleasant to push back to the garage when it's not walking itself. 

Our least favorite thing about this mower, though, is its height adjustment mechanism. Each wheel has a handle that can be moved to 9 different locations, either connecting to a small raised prong or wedged in between them.

The system is slow and laborious, and it's hard to see what you're doing, especially in low light.  It's also easy to get wrong, and if the wheels are uneven, the quality of the cut declines rapidly. Most of the other battery mowers in the test let you adjust mow height with a single, easy-to-use handle. We much prefer that option. 

Both of the Toro mowers are among the most difficult to set up in the test, with unclear user manuals and a less-than-intuitive design. It would be less noticeable without the simpler electric models to compare to though, and you only have to go through it once.

Changing Blades, Modes, and Maintenance

Battery mowers require less maintenance than gas options — you don't need to worry about winterizing the engine, checking oil levels, or dealing with small engine repairs. You still need to keep your blades sharp, though. With this particular model, you also have the option to choose the high-performance blade for the best cut or the economy blade to maximize battery life.

Switching the blade is a fairly simple affair. You just need to remove the battery, secure the blade, and remove the bolt that holds it in place This is fairly standard across test models. 

Switching between mulching and bagging modes is as simple as removing the battery for safety,  flipping up the back panel, pulling out the marked plastic mulching plug, and hooking the bag onto the back of the machine. 

Since battery mowers, and this mower in particular, haven't been around that long, we have less to go on when assessing their longevity. We have no reason to suspect this mower will turn south anytime soon, but we certainly have less experience repairing electric motors or finding someone else to than a traditional, gas-powered small engine.

Noise

Louder mowers are less pleasant to use. While battery options are certainly quieter at a distance, we measured the decibels at head height, to mimic your experience. We clocked this one at 74 decibels, the loudest of the battery mowers but quieter than all other powered options. The two reel lawn mowers are the quietest of all.

Since the World Health Organization recommends keeping noise levels below 80 decibels, this mower's noise levels aren't particularly concerning.

Should You Buy the TORO 60V MAX 21" Super Recycler?

We think the Toro Super Recycler is a no-brainer for anyone who can afford it, who's excited about a battery-powered mower, and who has a yard of around a quarter or less. It's also a great option for someone who just needs a push mower for the edges that a riding mower can't reach. This would be an especially nice pick for anyone who finds it tiring to muscle a more traditional, non-self-propelled push mower around. There's a lot of momentum shifting to an electric-based power to slow fossil fuel-related carbon emissions and the associated climate crisis. If you want to jump on board, this is the top option. 

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