Craftsman Eager-1 Push Mower

by Leonard Shires
(Houston, Texas)

I own a Craftsman, Eager-1, 4.5 Horsepower push lawn mower and I live in Houston, Texas. The grass that I mostly cut is Saint Augustine grass, and it grows the fastest in the summer time when we have put fertilizer on the grass. Summer time can be above 100 degrees on a regular basis. Even with the high heat, the Craftsman Eager-1 works extremely well. It gives the grass a nice clean cut and is able to handle the Saint Augustine grass pretty good.

I have had the lawn mower for well over six years and the motor is still running well. Another great thing about the lawn mower is that the motor is pretty efficient on fuel consumption. I have a pretty big front and back yard, and I only have to refill the lawn mowers’ tank every other time I have to cut the grass. This is great for the summer time when I have to cut the grass twice a week.

The lawn mower also has adjustable wheel settings so you can change the elevation of the desired cut. The only times that the mower hasn’t met my standards is when I've cut grass that is more than 5 inches. The Craftsman Eager-1 became sluggish, and the mower sounded like it was about to die on me. This has been a recurring theme over the years. This becomes extremely frustrating when I am trying to get the yard mowed before it gets too hot.

Yet, the mower can only do so much and this effectively doubles the time it takes me to mow because of how slow I have to go. Instead of going the speed that I want to go when cutting my grass, the Eager-1 lawn mower forces me to only go as fast as it can go. Also, the plastic wing nuts that hold the handle on the mower came loose. When I went to tighten them up, so that the handle would be steady and not shaky, they broke into pieces. I was then forced to replace the plastic wing nuts and use big screws to tighten the handle again.

I bought the Craftsmen from Lowes about six years ago. It has been a great lawn mower, but perhaps a little under powered at times. But, most of the time it performs well. It has performed the best just casually mowing the yard.