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We tested to find whether you get enough performance from this self-propelled walk mower to justify that price tag.

Milwaukee Tool has been earning some hype for its long-expected 2823-22HD battery-powered lawn mower. As it should. The brand is pitching the machine squarely at landscape professionals and making some pretty substantial claims: it delivers instant torque and full motor speed without ramp up–essentially a mow-on-demand capability. Milwaukee also says the 2823-22HD resists stalling and gives you high ground speed and cut quality. Oh yeah, and it costs $1,000.

Because of that four-figure price and the fact that the company is tailoring this lawn mower for landscapers, we wanted to put those claims to the test—and provide some context that might help you determine whether this machine is right for you. Landscaping today is all about high productivity while not sacrificing a well-mowed surface. Landscapers need to pull a mower off the trailer, get the lawn mowed, trimmed, and blown off, and move everything back on the trailer–sometimes in minutes. Profit margins are slim in this work, and its rapid-fire nature makes it hard on equipment and contractors. Many people in the business refer to it as “mow and blow.”

But do any of the attributes that Milwaukee engineered into this mower for contractors apply to you? Maybe. Given what this mower costs, however, it’s important that you examine that question carefully before you plunk down your hard-earned money.

Let’s say you have a sizable lawn to mow. What you’re looking for is a durable mower with lots of run time. Maybe you’re a remodeling contractor or a house flipper and you need to keep grass at your construction project under control. What you need is a tough mower. Maybe you do maintenance and odd jobs and have the occasional lawn to mow. You don’t pay much attention to the machine or its cut quality or anything else about it; all you need it to do is work every single time you hit the On button.

Does the Milwaukee mower fit for you?

Yes. In the three scenarios we outline above, we can say that the Milwaukee should work well. On the other hand, so will a lot of other mowers. Maybe they won’t work as well or be as durable, but they will work.

So why the Milwaukee? That’s a good question. If you opt for it, you need to have the budget and prize sheer capability. Let’s get into the specifics.

Milwaukee’s motto is “Nothing But Heavy Duty.” We’ve tested the company’s products for decades, and we can attest to that as fact, not hype.

But what does that marketing phrase look like in terms of the 2823-22HD? The mower is quite literally heavy. With both batteries on board and its bag in place, it weighs 84.6 pounds. Its blade motor is massive, as are its two 12-Ah batteries. Each one weighs 3.2 pounds. The mower has a steel deck with a rolled edge and a 1⁄2-inch-diameter steel axle, on which is mounted the drive motor-gear assembly.

We put the mower to work on our test area where the grass was normal height (about 6 inches) but extremely coarse, dry, and tough, with far more thatch in it than it has normally. That thatch is due to a summer’s worth of mowing with commercial mowing equipment set to mulch the clippings back into the grass. Literally, the test area was plugged with grass clippings.

On a hot and windy July morning, we went to work. Here’s what we found.

Claim: Instant torque Verdict: True. There’s no ramp up of motor speed here. From the moment you start this mower, you’re ready to cut. Be prepared to step away quickly from the starting line because this mower will plunge ahead and you better be able to keep up with it. In fact, we’d advise that you set the speed dial (with options 1 through 5) to a middle setting that will help you find your pace and cut quality before turning up the ground speed. Otherwise, at top speed, the mower vaults forward so quickly you may inadvertently lift the front wheels (pop a wheelie, if you will).

Claim: One-hour run time Verdict: True. We mowed 10,890 square feet of grass (nearly a quarter of an acre) in less than an hour and also ran a bagging test. We think Milwaukee’s time rating is realistic under normal mowing conditions. If you have to bring a lawn with knee-high grass under control, you should expect less battery life. On the other hand, this is one of the few battery lawn mowers we’ve tested that strikes us as being capable of handling a job like that. If you’re just trimming the tips of the grass, we wouldn’t be surprised if this mower will cut for more than an hour—maybe even much more.

Claim: Exceptional cutting, bagging, and mulching Verdict: It depends. Before we get too deep into the specifics of how this mower performed mulching and bagging, we need to discuss a unique feature on it, one we’ve never seen before: a “high lift mode” setting. Press the button with a blade icon on the left side of the handle and increase the motor and blade speed for improved mulching and bagging. Using the setting, however, depletes the battery charge more quickly. We think this is best saved for the most severe conditions such as thick, wet grass or when bagging leaves in the fall. Like most battery mowers, the 2823-22HD’s blade speed increases automatically when you run into thick patches of grass. For all but the most severe cutting conditions, that feature is enough.

Our mowing conditions were so harsh that they did not permit us to completely verify cut quality. This Milwaukee will leave a nicely mowed surface. Our test grass was dry and brittle, more liable to break than cut. So like with any mower, we had to adjust its mowing height and especially its ground speed to suit the grass. We emphasize speed adjustment here because this Milwaukee is extremely fast—the fastest self-propelled lawn mower we’ve ever tested.

In our first cut at full speed, the 2823-22HD plowed ahead so readily, we had no feedback that it was struggling at all. But its cut quality was terrible. We raised the mower deck and kept the ground speed at its top setting (5) and tried it again. The cut improved, but we still weren’t satisfied with it. Finally, we left the mower at its height setting but dialed back the speed by a notch and a half (about at 3.5). At that point, we produced an acceptable level of mulching and finished appearance. This is the same tradeoff and adjustment that you would have to do with any mower, gas or electric.

In terms of bagging, we can say that the mower bags very well. We made four 145-foot passes with it and found the bag was full to the point of the grass in the back being compressed.

Final analysis: This is a versatile, fast-moving lawn mower. To us, its strong suit isn’t so much that it leaves a good cut quality and mulches well. Lots of mowers do that. This one performs those tasks and has a high degree of adjustability due to the quick control you have over its deck height, ground speed, motor speed, and, of course, whether you’re mulching, bagging or using the side discharge chute.

For your money, you also get the complete set of mower features: single-point deck-height adjustment, tall rear wheels (10.25 inches in diameter), a pair of LED headlights (mounted on the side of the deck), and a fold-flat handle that lets you store the 2823-22HD on end, standing upright. Finally, the high-quality bag and its robust frame lift straight up through the handle for easier dumping.

The 2823-22HD mower is expensive, but it’s a lot of machine. It offers good cut quality, mulching, and bagging, excellent ground speed, and a high degree of adjustability. Whether the market accepts a $1,000 walk-behind mower remains to be seen. But this mower could push the boundary of features in a product category in which it’s hard to innovate.