New Craftsman gas mower provides a quieter cut

Gas-powered mowers aren't known as shrinking violets. In fact, most of them are so loud you need hearing protection to mow your lawn. But Craftsman has bucked that trend with a new mower that's as quiet as some electric models. The Craftsman 37545, $340, is new to our lawn mower Ratings and narrowly missed Consumer Reports' list of top mower picks. But in a first among gas mowers we've tested for noise, it doesn't require the user to wear hearing protection.

The Craftsman 37545 is a self-propelled, multiple-speed mower whose Briggs & Stratton engine and blade have been engineered for quieter operation. With this neighbor-friendly feature, you might expect it to fall short at mowing, its primary task. But if you mulch clippings, the most common mode for users of walk-behind mowers, you should find its evenness as impressive as we did. Where it did fall short was in side-discharge and bagging modes, though an additional blade in the package should give you slightly more complete, if noisier, bagging in those modes.

We know this because Husqvarna makes the front-wheel-drive Craftsman 37545, whose deck is the same as that on the all-wheel-drive Husqvarna HU675AWD, $300, a single-speed, self-propelled mower. (That mower's blade is the same as the spare blade shipped with the Craftsman 37545; see photo.) In fact, since we tested the Craftsman 37545, the retailer has debuted another quiet mower, the $500 Craftsman 37592, which has the same deck and blades but all-wheel drive. We plan to get that model in soon for testing.

We favor rear-wheel drive over front-wheel because rear drive provides better traction, particularly up hills. Nevertheless, we judged the Craftsman 37545 better than most others for ease of use, which includes ease of starting the engine, operating the blade-stopping controls, shifting speeds, and adjusting the cutting height. We also liked its handling, a score that includes pushing and pulling.

Whether or not you care about waking up your neighbors on Saturday morning, we've got almost 170 mowers, tractors, and riders in our extensive lawn mower Ratings. Be sure to view our buying guide before you hit the dealership, hardware store, or home center.

—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)