manual/reel lawnmowers? - Page 2

[djenya]

We have the Scott reel mower as well. It works great as long as you mow your lawn every week. My son was born last summer right after we bought our house and my husband (who had never mown a lawn before) had a hard time with it, but I love it. The only problems I have had are with weeds - the tough grasslike weeds that grow really quickly and the dandelions with thorns here - it doesn't cut them well and it's easier to just do them by hand.

[DaMajha]

Originally Posted by djenya

We have the Scott reel mower as well. It works great as long as you mow your lawn every week. My son was born last summer right after we bought our house and my husband (who had never mown a lawn before) had a hard time with it, but I love it. The only problems I have had are with weeds - the tough grasslike weeds that grow really quickly and the dandelions with thorns here - it doesn't cut them well and it's easier to just do them by hand.

We live on a hilly little area, so I struggled with our manual mower, finally had to give it up and let DH do it himself. But, I agree with you, I had to pull weeds by hand, it just wouldn't cut them for some reason.

[TinyBabyBean]

We have one. It works fine on grass. Does not cut weeds at all. It may need to be sharpened but from what I have read you should not have to sharpen thse things for years. We have only used ours about one year and this has been a problem with the weeds still standing since day one.

Overall I love it though! It is earth friendly and that is for me.

[CrunchyParent]

Oh, I have to send DH to this thread. He has been obsessing over reel mowers as the weather warms up. He's chomping at the bit to get one.

[sareva]

I borrowed a friend's Brill to test out on our lawn -- not large, but bumpy and St. Augustine grass. I'd never mowed a lawn before, so perhaps I was doing something wrong (or let the grass get too long), but it didn't work well for me. My landscape guy, who runs an organic lawn service, had warned me against one, and his assessment was correct. It kept jamming up in the grass.

That said, during the runs where I could get it to work well, it was soooo satisfying. I really wanted it to work for us. If you decide to get one, definitely keep in mind that you can't let your grass get too high. And don't go too slow -- try to keep a good pace.

I would definitely look into a Brill, along with the others at HD and such. It is more expensive, but it was really nice. I could see it lasting forever.

Sarah