Reel Mowers, Advantages and Disadvantages
If you really want to save yourself money in more then one way and get your daily exercise all in one go, then a reel mower is the right type of mower for you. However a reel mower is not for everyone. But if you want to eliminate the cost of gas, along with most maintenance costs, the cost of a larger lawn mower and get a full body exercise while your at it, then a push lawn mower is for you.
Yard Characteristics
The first condition is that your yard should be fairly flat. If your friends joke about your “landscaping” when you don’t actually have any, then a push mower may cause problems. The blades will not cut as low to the ground as those of power mower and on an incline it will be even harder to push and will be inefficient. You also want to make sure large weeds or large grasses don’t over grow your lawn. You stand little to no chance of cutting your lawn with them. Fast growing grasses also give you a disadvantage as you will have to mow them very often since reel mowers are so inefficient at cutting tall grasses. Your lawn should also be fairly small as it becomes very tiring very fast when your cutting the grass.
This is the ideal yard for a reel lawn mower. Flat, short grass and with little weeds.
Mower Characteristics
Push lawn mowers will significantly cheaper then their automatic counterparts. So while a riding lawn mower can put you back a few thousand dollars a reel mower will only cost between $80 and $230. Reel mowers also use different cutting mechanisms then automatic mowers. The blades swoop vertically rather then horizontally so while very efficient at keeping the grass short, tall grasses stand little chance to be cut. This is definitely a drawn down. On the plus you no longer have to pay for gasoline. There will be little difference in the quality of a mower of 80 dollars and one for more. They will have no nifty features or major differences other then cosmetic ones. With less moving parts maintenance on the mower will be little to none. Its weight will be around 20 to 40 pounds, a lot less then it’s counterparts. Without any automatic mechanical parts the machine will also run a lot quieter then normal push mowers.
Advantages
- Cheaper
- Requires no fuel
- Low maintenance
- Closer, more even shave
- Lightweight
- Non-polluting
- Allows for you to get some exercise
- Safer
- Good for lots smaller then 7000sq. ft.
- Silent
Disadvantages
- Takes longer to cut lawn
- Not good for large lots
- Works poorly on weeds and grasses over 8 inches
- Works poorly on inclines
- Requires a lot of work to cut
- May require multiple passes to cut grass
- Not as fashionable as other lawn mowers