I wouldn’t tell anyone not to find a way to lower gas consumption, but personally, I can run my mower two or probably three times on my patch of grass on a single gallon of gasoline, so I suspect I’ll look elsewhere for savings.

I’m much more interested in bringing natural plants and non-grasses back to my lawn as a means of environmental improvement. Lawn grass is a fairly weird suburban invention of the last few decades. I’m hoping to spend the next several years creating a more natural space and landscaping something cool to show off to my friends!

One thing for anyone considering one of these is that you REALLY need to stay on top of things. In researching models - and in my monthlong experience - it does not handle long grass very well. It tends to just push it over rather than cut. Gone are the days of me going 3 weeks between mowings, but that’s ok cause I needed the extra push to get out there more often.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this for anyone with a “city lot”.

Another thing is that I could mow the grass a lot lower with a reel & still have a healthy lawn.

You do have to be careful not to let the grass get too long, or the reel won’t cut it. Then you’ll be walking over to your neighbor with your hippy tail between your legs asking to borrow his gas mower…

I’ve been thinking about getting one, and keeping the gas mower for emergencies.

With the reel mower, I’m finding that if I slow down a little for those areas with the weedy flowers, it cuts them better & faster than if I whiz over them.

Areas without them, I can walk just as fast as with a power mower.

You can pick up a used one at a garage sale and have it tuned up, too.

Two more advantages: better exercise, and a better cut. Reels slice the grass instead of ripping it - it’s a cleaner cut that results in less water loss.

nice post. I’m curious about the difference between the new reel mowers and the older models.