Anyone here have a reel mower?

[zachnsamsmommy]

I've wanted to be more green, plus my little push mower is constantly not working, or choking on the grass and dying, and the like.

I've read quite a bit online about reel mowers, and how the only maintenence (other than hosing it down once you mow) is sharpening the blades every 1-2 years. We have a pretty flat yard, no sticks, and no weeds (other than a little crabgrass). So...we are thinking about getting a Scott's 16 in reel mower from Amazon (since there is no tax/shipping to TN). It is at least $50 cheaper than a new gas push mower.

So...love/hate? Any opinions?

 

[Colleen27]

I love ours. It is old - maybe 20 years or so, I used it when I was a kid - and I know the newer ones are easier to push, but DS11 & I can handle it easily so we haven't replaced it. Its a bit too much for DD7, I think because she doesn't have any weight to put into getting it moving (she weighs about 50lb). It really is low maintanance; in the 7ish years we've had it I don't think DH has ever done anything to it other than sharpening the blade, though we did replace the blade when we first brought it home from my grandmothers rather than try to clean up & sharpen the original.

I see from your sig that you've got little ones, so you might appreciate my favorite perk of the reel mower - I can mow at naptime without waking DD1!

 

[sb4k]

Used ours for a month. Only felt like it worked correctly one time. Every time after that it just seemed so hard to push. Went back to gas. If you lived a little closer, I would offer to sell ours.

 

[minnie1928]

I bought one last fall on Ebay to use on my postage stamp sized yard. I was so excited to try it out this summer, but unfortunately my grass didn't cooperate. I have a small portion (a few feet) where the grass is very stiff and thick...like carpet. The rest of my yard the grass is a thinner blade and very pliable. The carpet like grass cut beautifully with it. However the rest of the yard's grass simply bent around the blades, none of it cutting. I too wish you were closer, I'd let you have it.

 

[Cadiewampus]

I've wanted to be more green, plus my little push mower is constantly not working, or choking on the grass and dying, and the like.

I've read quite a bit online about reel mowers, and how the only maintenence (other than hosing it down once you mow) is sharpening the blades every 1-2 years. We have a pretty flat yard, no sticks, and no weeds (other than a little crabgrass). So...we are thinking about getting a Scott's 16 in reel mower from Amazon (since there is no tax/shipping to TN). It is at least $50 cheaper than a new gas push mower.

So...love/hate? Any opinions?

I have a couple. One is and old gas one that needs work so I do not use it and the I have a manual one I bought just to go around my planting beds. I quit using it though because everytime I did a piece of cypress mulch from the beds would get trapped somehow in the blades and would stop it and the handle would ram itself into my stomach. Anyway it really depends on what type of grass you have. If you have fescue, St. Augustine or centipede it won't do a very good job as they do not cut wide blade grasses very well. They work great on Zoysia and Bermuda though.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

I have a couple. One is and old gas one that needs work so I do not use it and the I have a manual one I bought just to go around my planting beds. I quit using it though because everytime I did a piece of cypress mulch from the beds would get trapped somehow in the blades and would stop it and the handle would ram itself into my stomach. Anyway it really depends on what type of grass you have. If you have fescue, St. Augustine or centipede it won't do a very good job as they do not cut wide blade grasses very well. They work great on Zoysia and Bermuda though.

It is funny that you mention fescue. When I was looking last yr, the guy at Lowe's said it did well with fescue, and bad on Bermuda. Hmmm....I wonder. Of course, I'm sure the guy at Lowe's just wanted to make a sale .

I do have Fescue, and the reviews I read on the Scott's says it cuts fescue well, just to avoid the Brill mowers b/c they do not.

I'm still researching...so any more info/opinions would still be appreciated.

 

[Cadiewampus]

It is funny that you mention fescue. When I was looking last yr, the guy at Lowe's said it did well with fescue, and bad on Bermuda. Hmmm....I wonder. Of course, I'm sure the guy at Lowe's just wanted to make a sale .

I do have Fescue, and the reviews I read on the Scott's says it cuts fescue well, just to avoid the Brill mowers b/c they do not.

I'm still researching...so any more info/opinions would still be appreciated.

I have a Scotts as well but mine is probably 3 or 4 years old so they may have made some improvments. You will be ok as long as your not trying to cute a acres worth of grass