My New Toy - A Reel Mower
Even though it’s not April anymore (so environmental stuff is supposed to disappear off the traditional media’s radar), here at RT, why, it’s Earth Day Every Day. 
So I’m proud to show off my new toy, a Scotts Classic 20″ reel mower. That’s right, it’s the modern version of those old-school manual push mowers from back in the day.
Now, I have a gas mower that I’d used in years past, but it needed serious reconditioning since it’s been laying around for a couple years. We’ve been paying our neighbor’s kid to do it while our kids were infants and toddlers. But I’m ready to rock this year, so I took a look at the old mower. It was going to cost a bit to get it back in running shape, not to mention the gas, so I started researching viable alternatives.
I read and saw good things on-line about modern reel mowers, so I thought I’d give it a try.
So far, so good. Advantages:
- Uses no gas
- No nasty pollutants like gas mowers:
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles.
- Even if you don’t care about the environment in general, it just smells better
- I can mow with my kids in the yard– no stones or sticks being launched into kids’ eyes
- No noise pollution, and no more damage to my eardrums– and it allows me to “keep an ear” on what my kids are doing.
- As easy to push as my gas mower
- No $$$, ever, for “reconditioning” like for my gas mower
I hear you saying, “That’s great, you tree-hugging idealist. But what kind of job does it do?”
My answer: good enough. I have neighbors that spend a LOT of time on their lawns, making them look like a putting green. And they’re pretty, in their own way. My goals are a little different: keep it green through keeping it at 3″, and by allowing soil-nurturing things like clover to share the yard. I basically never have to water, don’t spread chemicals on the lawn, and people ask what our secret is.
“That’s a lot of fancy talk, but I need more proof,” you reply. Ok, check out these pics below the fold:
Here’s the lawn “before” shot. The left is my neighbor’s lawn, just mowed, on the right is my lawn, just mowed, and in the middle is a swath yet unmowed by me.
Here’s the closeup of the swath of unmowed grass, and the mowed ones on either side:
It’s hard to tell the difference between the left, power-mowed side, and the right, human-mowed side.
I’m still getting used to it, but it’s doing a good enough job for me. It has occasional, slightly uneven patches, and I can’t use it as a “brush hog” to clear out sections of tall weeds, but otherwise, it fits perfectly for my lawn, beliefs, and lifestyle.
How much time does it take compared to the gas mower?
Just slightly longer. And the only thing that’s slowing me down is, since this is the year’s first mowing, there’s some long spring weeds (little spindly flower things) here and there.
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.
Is it really that functional? I mean there is no cup holder.
nice post. I’m curious about the difference between the new reel mowers and the older models.
Cool. I had one for years when I lived in the city. Lots more lawn, now, but still thinking of going back.
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.
Right– I forgot about the cleaner cut. I think the diff between the older models and the modern ones is they push easier. Better bearing technology?
More precise blades - less blade scrape. Also they’re a lot lighter than the old ones, which were very heavily built.
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.
BTP….I bought that same mower from Amazon a month or so ago. I’ve used it 4 times now and love it. I find that it works best when I do two perpendicular passes, so it takes a bit longer than gas, but since it is nice and quiet I don’t mind at all.
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”.
Ah, the push mower! It’s the purists and the lawn connoisseur’s choice, to be sure. My dad just got me a power mower for a house warming present, so I’m going to stick with that. Besides - and I’m being completely honest here - the smell of gas and grass clippings, the roar of the mower, its all very heady stuff to me that I love dearly. Brings me back to my childhood, cutting my dad’s acre and a half lawn.
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!