diff --git a/napalm/eos/eos.py b/napalm/eos/eos.py
index 32cd33418..312a0c347 100644
--- a/napalm/eos/eos.py
+++ b/napalm/eos/eos.py
@@ -85,25 +85,6 @@ class EOSDriver(NetworkDriver):
         re.VERBOSE,
     )
 
-    def _determine_syntax_version(self, ver_output):
-        """
-        Determine cli syntax version from "sh ver" output
-        Syntax versions:
-            1: all EOS versions before 4.23.0
-            2: all EOS version 4.23.0 and higher
-        :param ver_output: list of lines for "sh ver" command output
-        :return: int: cli version
-        """
-        regexp = re.compile(r"^Software image version:\s+(?P<version>\d+\.\d+\.\d+)")
-
-        for line in ver_output.split("\n"):
-            m = regexp.match(line)
-
-            if m and EOSVersion(m.group("version")) >= EOSVersion("4.23.0"):
-                return 2
-
-        return 1
-
     def __init__(self, hostname, username, password, timeout=60, optional_args=None):
         """
         Initialize EOS Driver.
@@ -181,8 +162,9 @@ def open(self):
             # does not raise an Exception if unusable
 
             # let's try to determine if we need to use new EOS cli syntax
-            cli_version = self._determine_syntax_version(
-                self.device.run_commands(["show version"], encoding="text")[0]["output"]
+            sh_ver = self.device.run_commands(["show version"])
+            cli_version = (
+                2 if EOSVersion(sh_ver[0]["version"]) >= EOSVersion("4.23.0") else 1
             )
 
             self.device.update_cli_version(cli_version)
diff --git a/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.json b/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..092d29bce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+    "memTotal": 3954980,
+    "uptime": 200478.31,
+    "modelName": "DCS-7150S-64-CL-R",
+    "internalVersion": "4.21.8M-2GB-13902577.4218M",
+    "mfgName": "Arista",
+    "serialNumber": "JPE00000000",
+    "systemMacAddress": "00:1c:73:00:00:00",
+    "bootupTimestamp": 1588135848.0,
+    "memFree": 2558364,
+    "version": "4.21.8M-2GB",
+    "architecture": "i386",
+    "isIntlVersion": false,
+    "internalBuildId": "5af75062-ded5-4c99-8f44-daa88aa4414d",
+    "hardwareRevision": "01.03"
+}
diff --git a/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.text b/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.text
deleted file mode 100644
index 9e8d32728..000000000
--- a/test/eos/mocked_data/show_version.text
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-Arista DCS-7150S-64-CL-R
-Hardware version:    01.01
-Serial number:       JPE00000000
-System MAC address:  001c.7327.07e0
-
-Software image version: 4.22.4M-2GB
-Architecture:           i686
-Internal build version: 4.22.4M-2GB-15583082.4224M
-Internal build ID:      523a3357-484c-4110-9019-39750ffa8af5
-
-Uptime:                 3 weeks, 1 days, 2 hours and 1 minutes
-Total memory:           4009188 kB
-Free memory:            2515256 kB