Lawn mowers, Reel vs Push.
 

I'm looking at buying a new lawn mower in the next few days and am looking at the reel type mowers. I've only used the push type before, and wonder how well they work. I do like how quiet they are.

Or is this another one of those things like depowering a steering rack, where it sounds cool but once you've done it you want to go back.

Buy a Honda, never look back.

I've had one, and I loved it. The only reason I got rid of it was because I transferred to somewhere that I had no lawn, or place to store it. If I decide to go with a push mower, the Honda Civic is at the top of the list.

But I kind of like the idea of a virtually noiseless mower.

I'd rather deal with noise than having to propel my mower.

If your yard is small enough to push a reel type mower through it, then it's small enough for a cordless electric mower.

You can find 40V mulching + bagging mowers with over an hour run-time on a charge

A co-worker got a 16" reel mower when he moved in his new home last month, it takes him 2 1/2 hours to mow 1/4 acre every 4 days (spring in Indiana), his excitement about a quiet no pollution mower is fading fast, we joke that we will fertilize his yard one of this nights to keep the grass growing at this rate LOL

Never considered an electric mower. I hate dragging cords around, and I figured the rechargable ones were either not strong enough, or wouldn't hold a charge long enough. I'd hate to have to replace the batteries after only a couple of seasons.

Has the technology come far enough on those to make them a viable option?

How big is your lot / long it takes you to cut it?

I picked up a battery operated mower last year. I've cut for 2 hours with it and it didn't show any signs of dieing.
I really like it, but you can't bag with it. Because i'm in Detroit, and everything is well kept and nice i like to bag my lawn. So i'm actually selling it today for $50. If i didn't care to bag the lawn i'd keep it. It's really quiet, and i can go cut at the ass crack of dawn before it gets to be 95F outside in the summer. That was the best part.

It's not a huge lot, maybe 1/4 acre. I like the idea of mowing early without pissing off the neighbors. Maybe I'll scour Craigslist for one. I have a hard time justifying over $300 for a mower, even if it is quiet.

I picked up my battery mower off CL for $25 *not working*. I replaced the 30a fuse, and it worked great. New batteries are $80(not sure when they would need replacing) for the one i got, so it's really not that much. Plus they are extremely simple, simple circut, easy to work on. Sold it to a friend for $50.
If one pops up, it shouldn't be to expensive.

I love your avatar by the way.

Thanks, I've always liked that picture.

I wish CL was a little more realistic up here. People in the area don't seem to understand depreciation. Everyone buys the cheapest lawn mowers at Home Depot, uses them for 2-3 years, and tries to hock them for $20 less than they paid for it new. Hell, trying to find any lawn mower around here for less than $150 that isn't broke down is a chore. I've gone to see a few in the last week, and in the ad they "work just fine" but when you get there, it smokes, won't start, and the blades are look like they were trying to mow granite.

This, exactly. Buy one of the cheaper Sears/Craftsman ones for $300. Change the oil once a season, and it'll last you for 25 years, easy.

I got rid of my nearly 30 year old Snapper because it was so hard to start (wife couldn't get it running from cold) and got the Sears gold one. Starts so easy it's almost scary. Runs quieter, burns no oil, and even stretches the gas further (can you measure mileage on a mower?).

Reels will take you twice as long. You'll be hot and sweaty while the neighbor is long finished and enjoying a cold one. You can't bag (if you'd ever want to), and you can't run over sticks (jams). You have to keep the blades sharp or they tear the grass which is hard on the lawn. If it's even slightly wet, they will clog up.

There's a reason most people don't use reel mowers; they suck.

for small lawns an electric mower is a great idea. i used to work for an outdoor equipment company and the most popular thing we sold (brush mowers, lawn vacuums, wood chippers) was a little electric mower.

check these out - Walk-Behind Mowers | DR Power Equipment

I wouldn't bother with anything but a gas mower. But I don't give 2 shits about noise or pollution.

Quite the salesman, aren't you phillyb? Those things are pretty damn awesome. I like the idea of it producing lift to make the grass stand up before cutting. 16000 rpm seems pretty fast for a mower.

I think I'm leaning more towards the electric versions. I hadn't thought about damp grass, and a reel type doesn't sound fun in that.

If you have an actual 1/4 acre of grass... do yourself a favor and just get a riding mower. Maybe it's me approaching 40yrs old, but I'm finding myself more and more saying "fuck it" when it comes to money vs. time. I used to have all the time in the world and would use lots of it to save a few bucks... but fuck that now.

You can get new riding mowers at Home Depot for $800'ish on sale (or refurbished or returned) that are worth every penny. Good thing about riding mowers being marketed as "lawn tractors" is that they do more than mow... pull a dump wagon or aerator. If you've got a place to store it, there's no reason to spend $400 on a Honda push mower when you can get one of these... might even convince the wife to go mow now and again:
Ranch King lawn mower
White Outdoors Riding Lawn Mower
(REDUCED) Craftsmen Riding Lawn Mower

Srsly? $100
Riding Mower

lol. it's been a long time since i would have made any commission out of a sales "pitch" but yeah. those things were super popular. my dad has one and fucking loves it.

maybe i don't understand how big/small 1/4 acre is.

I just wish I got a rwd mower to drift around with.

sidecar for the cats?

they are too scared of the outside. i tried to get one to grill with me last night but she wasnt having it.

1/4 acre of actual grass is 20 minutes with a cheap push mower. I've got 1/4 acre total, including house and driveway, front yard is 4 minutes, back yard is closer to 10 minutes. I would have absolutely nowhere to put a riding mower, as my 2-car garage actually houses 2 cars.

push reel mower is sucksauce unless you live on a golf course and mow every 3 days.

I borrow a neighbors beat down black and decker (every frigging house has one on my block, seriously, there were 5 of them on my street and my street is 7 houses).

It works well with a cord reel and aside from a lack of power when dealing with extremely long grass, it's been fine. he got it free. can't argue with that price.

Having used a reel mower throughout my childhood, there are a few "features" to be aware of when considering one.

- type of grass

Thick St. Augustine grass would be a no-go for most reel mowers. Thinner, weaker grass should be no issue. But there's also:

- frequency of mowing

You'll have to stay on top of it with a reel mower. Forget being able to fudge it a bit, you'd better be on schedule or you're going to be hating life and/or having to borrow a push mower to mow down the bush that the reel mower can't handle so you can try again next week.

- dampness?

Just like with a push mower, damp grass is a chore for reel mowers. Only instead of the engine bogging down and powering through, it's you supplying the added grunt.

- PT

This can be good or bad, depending on the individual. You will exert yourself more with a reel mower, and it will take longer to get the job done.

But... you can throw in your earbuds and "work out" in relative quiet compared with a push mower. You also won't have to buy gas or oil, or ever worry about it not starting, etc. Of course, these little bonuses don't really make it the convenient choice.

I'm beginning to think that a reel mower is out of the question. I do like to get up and mow early, and the dew on the grass might make the reel more than I want to deal with.

So in regards to the electric type, what amperage is considered "enough?" They seem to range from 12-30 amps, but obviously get far more expensive the further up the line you go.

I would imagine amperage in an electric lawnmower is probably like RAM for a computer: Buy as much as you can afford. Multiply amps by voltage to get watts, which is a much more useable number for your purpose of comparison. Remember, watts is the same type of measurement as horsepower. I would take a 20 Amp x 40 Volt lawnmower any day over a 25 amps x 24 volt lawnmower.

Cutting width should also be a consideration, I'm going to suggest that you don't want a 12 amp x 12 volt = 144 watt motor turning a 20" blade.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367953826

Forget "grunt"... reel mowers require traction to get the reel spinning. If you're slipping over wet grass, you aint cuttin nothin.

I like my real mower. Kubota B2100. Handles a 5' bush hog with no issues even on steep, rocky slopes. Rocks, bricks, limbs, what passes for trees in W. TX . . . history!! It's fun to buy diesel too. Helps me compensate for driving a Miata.

LOL at reel mower.

Back in 2003 or so, I bought a house in Maineville, OH. Typical small suburban lot, average-sized front and back yards.

I also wanted something quiet and fume-free. I did a bunch of research and purchased some specific reel mower that was supposed to be extremely well-made and reliable. When I received it, it did in fact appear to be finely crafted and of high quality, but at least on the grass I had in that neck of the woods, it just didn't work for shit.

I then purchased an electric mower, and absolutely loved it. Can't recall with certainty the brand, I suspect it was a Black & Decker. (It was orange, I do remember that.) It was also corded, as battery-powered mowers weren't quite up to snuff back then. Had plenty of power to get the job done, and cable management was no problem at all. My years of working as a grip for televised football games made it obvious that, before you begin, you need to lay out the cord in a simple criss-cross pattern, arranged such that as you move away from it, you will always be pulling new cord away from the bundle without ever crossing over (It's possible that an over-under figure 8 lay might have also worked, but those do sometimes tangle unless you have a grip specifically working the coil itself.)

If you can even still find them, I'd suggest buying a corded electric. A well-built one should outlast two or three gas-powered mowers (of similar price), whereas with a battery-powered mower, you'll run into a problem five or ten years down the road (depending on the battery chemistry) where it's no longer operating up to snuff, and replacement packs have long since been discontinued.

black and decker lawn hog.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367962069

You can probably find a half dozen on craigslist for $50 and under.. which honestly you can haggle lower. blade chips, wobbly wheels, you name it defects that you don't even care about become negotiating points.

parts are readily available cheap.

Yup, that looks like the exact one I had. Very well-built, fairly quiet (not totally silent, but the movement of the air by the blade made more noise than the motor, by far), powerful enough that it rarely got bogged down (it's not like a gas engine where you have to re-crank it after it stalls,) and very light-weight and easy to maneuver.

Funny thing is that it attracted quite a lot of attention from the neighbors, most of whom had never seen one before (these were pretty much brand new back then.) And I even made converts out of a couple of them.

When I sold the place a couple of years later, the lady who bought it was extremely insistent that "you're leaving the mower with the house, right?"

A high percentage of my clients are what you would call green. One of them had a reel mower, and for kicks and giggles, I took it for a whorl.

One of the things I noticed is that it would not make a clean cut in one pass. I presume it was the fact that the reel is not geared fast enough compared to a gas powered reel. However, I was not cutting the usual fine bladed grass that reel mowers are typically designed for. I have no idea how big a difference that makes.

Either way you slice it, there is no way in hell I would be using a reel on a regular basis considering the other mowing options out there.

I too used one of those same B&D electrics at our old rental house around the same time period (03-04) back when we lived in the city. The thing worked surprisingly well!

Pictures of mine.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367977579
Batteries.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367977579

Huh. Those look like standard 12v SLAs.

What sort of run time do you get out of it, and how's the performance? Given that my only basis for comparison is the one B&D I used to have (rated 12A @ 120V = 1.4kW), I'm trying to envision what appears to be 24v @ something around 30Ah (720 Wh total capacity).

On the plus side, that battery pack is very easily replaceable with any off-the-shelf SLA that's even close to physically fitting in the same sized hole.

Took the easy way out.
 

Well, I went to Menard's this evening to look at mowers. I tried a few reel types, and just from feeling them on nice smooth floors, I don't think that's what I'm looking for. I wound up picking up an MTD 3-way with a Briggs & Straton motor. They didn't have a very good selection of electric mowers, but I need to get the lawn mowed tomorrow before the rain comes (Wife's orders.) I'm still going to keep an eye out for a good electric one on Craigslist though.

It has a 30a fuse. I'm pretty sure they've been replaced. I got 2 hours out of them easily with no dieing or slowing down.

Do those deep cycle well?

Interesting.

If it's fused at 30A, then it's probably running about half that in normal operation. And if those batteries are in fact 30Ah (I'm guessing based on their physical size) than that would mean 0.5C, which would be the two hour rate. (coincidence?)

This would put it at 360 watts, or about 30% as much HP as my bicycle. :D

That's pretty cool. I must admit that I never even tried a battery mower when I got mine, I just figured they'd be shit (again, this was 10 years ago) and went corded.



SLA (Sealed Lead-Acid) batteries of that type, as a broad generalization, tend to be better optimized for deep-discharge application than their automotive cousins, simply as a factor of their intended application (motorized wheelchairs, emergency lighting, UPSes, etc. This is mostly a factor of the mechanical construction of the battery (plate thickness relative to surface area).

Lead-acid batteries in general are less well-suited to deep-discharge applications than nickel- and lithium-based systems, however they do enjoy the benefits of a relative graceful degradation curve and an extremely low price. It's hard to rate the lifetime of an SLA battery simply because its capacity diminishes so linearly (unlike lithium batteries, whose capacity remains fairly flat for several hundred cycles and then quickly starts to plummet.) Typically, batteries like the ones shown are rated for 200-300 full cycles. And replacing them is cheap and easy. If I've correctly guessed the size, then you can find replacement units from any battery wholesaler for around $70-90 each.

I'm not sure what kind of charger that mower came with, but this is one area in which the life of SLA batteries can be greatly effected. Within the e-bike community, some folks are still dedicated to SLA, and report achieving vastly better-than-rated lifespan by the use of fancy de-sulfating pulse chargers. But even without that, you can improve things by using a simple microprocessor-controlled charger which actually follows an "ideal" charging profile, rather than just a float-style charger (often nothing more than a transformer and a couple of diodes.) Some info on SLA charging here: Charging Information For Lead Acid Batteries

This is also true.

I was always under the impression that reel mowers were for those 3' "lawns" between the sidewalk and curb, and that's it.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6...713a970b-320pi

Interestingly enough, the above picture is of faux grass, apparently it's expensive to keep grass green in Southern California summers.

I use a Reel mower. Then again my "yard" is about 10' x 15'.

If it were my choice (the wife calls the shots on the house/landscaping since she bought the house before I met her) we would not have grass at all.

It's also discouraged by the water board. In some areas, you can actually get a tax credit for not having a lawn.

(This annoys me since, as an apartment-dweller, I also have no lawn and yet I receive no tax credit.)

You also have no property taxes. Why would you get a credit for taxes you don't pay?

If you got a problem with the gas engine noise why not just do a big exhaust on it from a scooter or a motorcycle or something?

Personally if i was to go electric I'd do a diy remote control lawn mower. This is gas but you get the idea. Ever seen robot wars? :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1368093325

If there were no property taxes, his rent would be significantly lower. All tenants pay property taxes, it's merely rolled up into a single larger payment called "rent".

I see a lot of renters around me with kids, who are barely making ends meet. I suspect that they vote "yes" on school levys because they have kids and they don't think they pay property taxes. If only they knew, I think our last school levy would have gone from 51% yea/49% nay to 35% yea/65% nay. I don't know the facts on renters/voter percentage, but these are my suspicions.

I also see a reduction on my property tax bill labeled something like "homeowner residence" - it's basically a property tax reduction on my property for living in the house that I own. I suspect that this means that a property which is rented out does not receive this discount, and thus the renter actually pays higher property taxes than I, a homeowner, do.

Screw that, I want a roomba for my lawn.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...wXdQxrBz37VDbg

http://cdn.husqvarna.com/dimage.axd/...x-3879a433.png

http://cdn.husqvarna.com/dimage.axd/...480/56618d.jpg

I dont know lawn roomba would be cool but i dont trust it outside. Wouldnt want that 400-500 shit to get stolen.

If you can afford the lawnba, you live in a neighborhood where you aren't worried about it getting stolen. The price for the base model is $2700.

Hmm nvm then lol i'd rather build my rc battle bot for that amount of money and have some left over for a borg for my car.

I like mowing my lawn, why have a robot do it? I alos find myself weeding, and I've already spent a crap ton of money on plants, soil, and pots this year.

I pay them every month, in the form of my rent check. The property manager takes a percentage, and passes the rest along.


Sidebar: Even with all of the safeties built in, I am amazed that any manufacturer is willing to produce and sell consumer-grade automatic spinning blades of doom which are designed to be left un-attended in an environment filled with puppies, small children, etc.

This is the sort of setup that mass-tort attorneys dream of.

Don't get the lengths to which people go to avoid mowing the lawn.

If you have a small lawn, use a push gas mower, move fast and treat it like extra workout.

If you have a huge lawn, buy a ride-on mower and sip a beer while you drive around.

If you have more money than time, hire a service.

Bing bang boom.

Because... white people.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1368201820

Saw this on facebook
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1368474850