Push Reel Lawn Mowers

So here's my first attempt at a post on this blog. Hope it's at some quality level close to Hannah's.

Mowing the lawn, in my view, has got to be one of the more pointless uses of energy. It's such a Sisyphean task. Let's face it, no matter how hard we try, we're not going to win - the grass is going to keep growing. But, unfortunately, most fascists homeowners associations have rules about this and most of us living in the vast suburban wasteland are required to mow our lawns.

And to make this even worse - gas powered lawn mowers are horrible for the environment as evidenced by the following EPA facts:

• One hour of mowing is the equivalent of driving 350 miles in terms of volatile organic compounds.
• One gas mower spews 87 lbs. of the greenhouse gas CO2, and 54 lbs. of other pollutants into the air every year.
• Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipment – more oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

The only sustainable method of submitting to the lawn mowing requirement is to use a push reel lawn mower.

My initial research showed that there seem to be basically two options for push reel lawn mowers. The American made Scott's Classic Reel Mower - which you can find just about anywhere (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) for about $130 and the German made Brill Luxus mower which you'll have to order and tends to be more expensive (around $230).

The Scott's mower is bigger, heavier, and the blades will need to be sharpened more often (something about the blades making contact with the "cutter bar"?). Also, there seem to be quite a few more quality complaints about this one. The advantage of the Scotts is (in addition to price/availability) that since it's designed for American lawns, it is wider and the blade height is more adjustable.

The Brill on the other hand has non-contact blades that are supposed to almost never need sharpening. This also makes it quieter than the Scotts. The downside of the Brill is size and blade height. German lawns are smaller and are usually cut shorter than you are supposed to cut American lawns.

The lawn mower we eventually ended up purchasing is from a company called Sunlawn which I believe to be a kind of an American version of the Brill Luxus. It's slightly wider than the Brill (still smaller than Scotts) and has a higher max blade height (still lower than Scotts) which is better suited to American lawns while still having a quiet non-contact blade system. Sort of a middle ground.

So far we've been very pleased with it. Florida is pretty ideal for a push reel mower because it is so flat and most suburban yards here are not very large. During the winter months it is extremely easy to use. In summer the grass grows much faster and it is more of a workout to push through some of the tough patches but it is still very usable overall.

If you're going to purchase a push reel mower there are a few factors that most web sites recommend you take into account...

• Width - The thinner the mower - the longer it's going to take to mow.
  
• Cutting Height - The type of grass you have can probably only be cut to a certain height and push reel mowers vary greatly in adjustability.
• Grass Type - I have read in some places that push reel mowers may struggle with certain types of grass (seems zoyshia & Bermuda are typically mentioned.) I have a variant of St. Augustine and have not had any issues.
• Yard Size - More than a half-acre may be too large and time consuming for a basic push reel mower. There are hybrid-electric push reel mowers that may mitigate this.
• Geography - The flatter the better for a push reel mower - if you live on the side of a mountain, it's going to be much more difficult.
  

As I mentioned above - we ended up going with the Sunlawn LM-40. We've had good luck with it so far and I would recommend it.