Bolens 11A-A44E065 Push Mower With Side Discharge Chute

by Edward Surber
(Westland, Michigan)

Last Summer, a very nice, and high quality Craftsman mower that a relative gave me broke. This wasn't the first break, and I had just put $60 into a new flywheel for it. At the time, I had a shortage of cash, and a surplus of grass, so "trying" more repairs was NOT an option. Me and my wife went to the Lowe's Home Improvement store here in Westland, Michigan to find a suitable replacement.

We decided to go with the Bolens 21" Side Discharge Push Mower, Model #11A-A44E065. There were a few mowers cheaper in price by 10 to 15 bucks, but none that had a bag-less option that still looked sturdy. I found that this mower was EXTREMELY light weight, and was more than sufficient to cut my 1.5 lots worth of grass.

In addition to being cheap, I occasionally forget to mow my lawn, and am unable to catch-up on it until the weekend. This usually results in much taller grass, but the Bolens mower never had any trouble tearing through my jungle. The most impressive thing about my mower is its reliability!

Since I neither have a garage or a shed, the mower spent the harsh winter under a tarp. You wouldn't have known that last weekend when I got it out for the first time! I primed it a couple times, and she started up on the first pull! I wish my truck was that reliable!

I am in love with this Bolens mower, but if I had to name a bad feature, it would be the wheels. To adjust the height of cutting, I actually have to unmount the wheels, and move to other manufacture-provided holes. Honestly, once I assembled the mower, I had no intentions of taking it apart again, so the mower doesn't get any break if the grass is longer! I have used nails that don't take a beating like this mower; if it ever breaks, I will buy another just like it!

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Bolens 11A-A44E065 Push Mower With Side Discharge Chute

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Oct 16, 2011
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Bolens 11A-A44E065 Mower
by: David Knight

I purchased this Bolens lawn mower last year at the beginning of fall. It was on sale at Lowe's for $129.99 at the time. Honestly, I had problems with Bolens products before, so I was quite apprehensive to buy this mower. However, given the price compared to lower end models at other home improvement stores (Home Depot's equivalent was $199), and with a 2 year warranty, I decided to purchase it and give it a try, though my expectations were quite low.

I have to say, I was overall surprised at the performance of the mower. It was quite efficient cutting the grass in both my front and back yards, though in tight spaces I had to switch to my weed wacker (withing about a foot of my wife's garden, around the trees were mainly the area's of concern).

At a 21 inch diameter, the Bolens 11A-A44E065 is not the largest mower, but it gets the job done. It also has four height adjustment settings for your preferred height. The gas engine is a lot more powerful and reliable than I was expecting.

I'm not sure of the technical size or torque of it's engine, but I do know that I have yet to have an issue with it starting right up on the first pull. It has only one speed, but I have not noticed any issues with rpm's increasing or decreasing significantly.

Some issues I've noticed since purchasing this Bolens 21" mower are the overall build quality, it's performance in confined spaces and the fact it's a side discharge means somewhat of a mess. I'll start with the build quality.

I pretty much take care of my mower, store it in my shed out of the elements. But anyone that keeps it outside of their house, depending on their region, could possibly have a severe problem with rusting.

I already have some rusting on the handles and the body of the mower after only a year, and that's keeping in my shed. However, I live in New England, so quite possibly the temperature and moisture extremes of the air could have some effect on that. So the steel construction is not all that great.

The other issues I have is the fact that it's side discharge. This is merely a personal preference, but I'm not big on the grass blowing everywhere. I just wasn't ready to shell out an extra hundred bucks for the rear bag discharge model. So I can get over it. And like I said earlier, as you get closer to large objects or obstructions, it's very hard even with the smaller size of this mower to mow around it.

I find it's best to just pull out my weed wacker in those situations and not risk doing any damage to my house, my trees, my wife's garden or my mower. So overall, I would recommend this Bolens 11A-A44E065 mower to anyone who is looking for a reliable, economical lawn mower that does not want to shell out all that much money and is not too concerned with the appearance of the mower. For the value I have gotten thus far, I can not complain.

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