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Mill Man
12th June 2010, 01:20 PM
Anyone have experience with push reel mowers? My secondhand gas mower just gave up the ghost and I'm considering a push reel. What are the pro's as well as cons? Thanks.

Ponce
12th June 2010, 01:27 PM
Well, I bought a push lawnmover in a garage sale for $5.00 that was a mess, got it fixed myself and never touched my $285.00 new one ever again......every time, and I do mean everytime, that I start it always starts with the first pull........

Also use a riding lawnmower.

Book
12th June 2010, 01:30 PM
Anyone have experience with push reel mowers? My secondhand gas mower just gave up the ghost and I'm considering a push reel. What are the pro's as well as cons? Thanks.


All we had when I was a kid. Makes much sense if your lawn is not to large.

:)

k-os
12th June 2010, 01:36 PM
Believe it or not, that's what I used at my last house. It was only a 1/4 acre, and all flat land. I loved that there was no chord to pull, tank to fill, fuel prices to pay, fuel to store, or chord to plug in and very little maintenance. Just me, time, effort and the sun.

That's a lot of freedom, but the freedom ends there. You are going to have to mow more often than you would with a powered mower. If you are sick one week, it still needs to get done or the task becomes increasingly worse. It doesn't go over high grass very well. Also, if you have trees, clear the even the smallest fallen twigs before you begin, or you will have to stop every time and untangle them.

If you have uneven ground, I wouldn't recommend a reel push mower at all.

Quantum
12th June 2010, 01:39 PM
No cons, unless you have health problems. Great workout if you have a big lawn.

We have a Husqvarna, and love it.

Steal
12th June 2010, 03:20 PM
Pro's: never have to worry about gas, on fine blade grasses, is actually the best cut (golf courses use them on most if not all of grasses cut, though at various heights and all motor driven) If you take care of it, works like a charm every time.

con's: do NOT let it sit out in the rain, lots of spinning parts that will begin to , well ...not spin. If grass gets too long, is harder to push through and is more work to try and cut up the clippings. As said, un even terrain can be challenging. And last, is a mother to sharpen those blades.

Ponce
12th June 2010, 03:25 PM
No cons, unless you have health problems. Great workout if you have a big lawn.

We have a Husqvarna, and love it.


Quantum? and who is "Husqvarna?", is that the name of the guy from India that pushes your lawnmower???.........the name of mine is Jose Lopez de Sandoval y Gutierres........a very good worker ;D

Gknowmx
12th June 2010, 03:53 PM
Believe it or not, that's what I used at my last house. It was only a 1/4 acre, and all flat land. I loved that there was no chord to pull, tank to fill, fuel prices to pay, fuel to store, or chord to plug in and very little maintenance. Just me, time, effort and the sun.

That's a lot of freedom, but the freedom ends there. You are going to have to mow more often than you would with a powered mower. If you are sick one week, it still needs to get done or the task becomes increasingly worse. It doesn't go over high grass very well. Also, if you have trees, clear the even the smallest fallen twigs before you begin, or you will have to stop every time and untangle them.

If you have uneven ground, I wouldn't recommend a reel push mower at all.


I will second all of what k-os has said. I have a very small suburban yard and I have only used a reel mower for 10 years. I like it a lot. easy to store, easy to clean, easy to handle. However, if the grass is thick, wet, or taller than the mid-point heigth of the reel, it can miss a lot on the first pass; basically the grass just gets pushed over. Also, if your grass doesn't stand up well, it gets pushed over. I tend to clean out the sticks and tall stalks of grass/weeds, then mow in one direction, take my broom rake and lift up the uncut grass, then cut in a perpendicular direction. I takes a bit of tinkering, I admit, and I can take the time to do this for my small yard, but it looks excellent.

The reel mower I purchased ten years ago was not a shabby one. Now that I know what to look for, I honestly can't find what I consider to be a good reel mower. You would think that by this day and age someone would have built one with all the bells and whistles. I haven't seen one.

Here are a few things that I would want:

The reel in front of the wheels, not inside the wheel base. It is difficult to get that last extra bite on the edges.
The reel should either be very large rotational diameter, say 10-12 inches or it should be a two stage with the top reel rotating in the opposite direction through gearing so that it can cut down the high grass
There should be rake like fingers on the front to lift up grass that is laying down and feed it to the reel(s)
The reels should be geared to spin very fast even though the walking speed is slow, this would give a cleaner cut and handle more grass without clogging.

Those are a few things I would like for starters. If someone knows of a brand that has these features I would love to have a link.

madfranks
12th June 2010, 06:42 PM
It's also better for the grass, because it's not as harsh a cut as an engine powered lawn-mower, it's more akin to scissor cutting the grass. We recently bought a push reel mower, and I've noticed we're cutting the grass more often than before because it grows back faster. Like others have said, sticks will cause it to jam so you have to go through your yard before mowing to pick out all the potential jamming items. It's also very quiet, you can mow early or late and not worry about bothering neighbors.

Quantum
12th June 2010, 07:58 PM
No cons, unless you have health problems. Great workout if you have a big lawn.

We have a Husqvarna, and love it.


Quantum? and who is "Husqvarna?", is that the name of the guy from India that pushes your lawnmower???.........the name of mine is Jose Lopez de Sandoval y Gutierres........a very good worker ;D


http://www.husqvarna.com/us/

An old Swedish company...<s>don't know if they still make the push mowers</s>...ours is several years old. "Made in Sweden" was a shock to see on it when we bought it.

WE push it, no "manuel labor" around here.

EDIT: Just snooped around the site...yes, they do:

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/lawn-mowers/54/

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/lawn-mowers/husqvarna-64/

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/lawn-mowers/540/

big country
16th June 2010, 06:28 PM
Don't know how I missed this thread.

I use a reel mower on my yard, though I have a small city lawn since we're renting for the time being. I bought it on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Lawn-Mower-1304-14-14-Inch/dp/B000NHTH0O/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1276737831&sr=8-13

if I was doing more yard I'd recommend a bigger one. It doesn't matter what "name brand" is on it, IIRC nearly ALL reel mowers sold in the US are made by the American Lawnmower Company...but of course the actual product is made in china. Atleast the "economy" line is, like the one I linked.

I enjoy using it, though you can't really get too close to an edge with it. I just took round up to everything I needed to "edge" so I didn't have to buy a weedeater cause I didn't have the money. I don't mind mowing with it. Its kind of peaceful actually, pushes pretty easy if you stay on top of the grass. If you're one that likes to mow it down to the dirt and not have to mow again for 2 weeks you're in for a surprise. I mow twice a week with ours but the lawn stays nice and lush and green.