Customer Reviews:
 Good for the money August 6, 2003
Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
I am a great fan of manual mowers for small lawns, having found that a good manual mower can in fact be easier (and sometimes faster!) to use than a heavy gas or even electric machine, as well as being a lot easier on the ears and the hands. Manual mowers cut cleaner, too. Sure, they won't chop up leaves and sticks and other yard detrius, but that's what rakes are for. I don't own this mower- a neighbor does- and while it worked very well when he first bought it, it's become increasingly difficult to use over time as the blade dulls and parts rust and wear. If you're going to use a manual mower you've got to pay attention to care, much more so than if you use a gas mower. I recommend spraying all moving parts with a coating of Boeshield (available from Amazon) on a regular basis, for one. And get an annual sharpening. There are two mowers I prefer to this unit. One is the Scotts, which is easier to push, and can be sharpened at home with a simple to use kit instead of paying $50 or $60 at a sharpening service. But my absolute favorite manual mower- and the one I use- is the Brill, from Germany. It weighs 17 lbs, and doesn't need sharpening for 8 years. Maybe Amazon will carry it one day.
Some points about reel mowers June 14, 2005
V. H Lok (San Francisco, CA)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
Ok, most of the reviews here seem to be more like a review of reel mowers vs power mowers. This PARTICULAR reel mower is pretty good, as far as reel mowers go. There are few reel mowers wider than this one, I think it's the "Scott's Classic" which has a 20 inch cutting width. You will find that with reel mowers, a wider cutting width is good, but also makes it harder to push. I find with this mower, I need to overlap as I'm coming back down the lawn. Here are some of my thoughts on reel mowers, that you might consider;
1) Reel mowers only cut if you push it FORWARD. That means you have to turn around at the end of a row. With a power mower, you can just pull the mower back along the next row.
2) You HAVE TO mow more often with this. One problem I had was that I let the grass grow JUUUUST tall enough that a few strands escaped the blade. This resulted in a pretty decently cut lawn with many single strands of tall grass in it!
3) Reel mowers aren't very good for cutting the edges, because the blades sit between the wheels. You'll need another way to trim the sides of the lawn.
4) You have to overlap your cuts, because some grass will just be bent instead of cut, so overlapping the cut as you come back down the row helps to get those missed blades...it also doubles your lawn mowing! SOme people mow "east west" then "north south". Since overlapping makes for the best reel mower cut, it's best to have a pretty wide mower. This mower, at 18" is not bad. Get this mower over it's smaller sibling, the 16" one. Also consider the Scott's Classic mower.
5) It's pretty light and easy to push.
6) It does actually cut your grass. Different types of grass may yield different results though. Most lawns are a mix of grass anyway.
7) Not so great running over leaves...the leaves just stay behind.
I'll be honest. After buying this mower, I went and bought a used electric mulching mower. My situation is that there is a tree that dumps a lot of leaves on my lawn and the electric is better at it. HOWEVER, I do the bulk of my mowing with this reel mower, it's light and has no extension cord (or gas) and does a pretty good job. The electric is for when I've let the situation get out of hand. Given the two, I prefer mowing with the reel mower for all the reasons that are given in other reviews.
Height adjustment is pretty easy. The rear roller bar can be adjusted up and down by unscrewing it's "legs" and moving bolting it on higher or lower. There are 3 holes in the frame, and three holes in the "leg" so you can adjust the height to a decent number of stops. It's best to cut grass fairly high (2-3 inches) so I leave mine at the highest setting.
As reel mowers go, if you read other reviews, you've probably got a good idea of how reel vs power/rotary mowers stack up. This particular reel mower is pretty darn good at a really good price. For the price that those fancy European high tech reel mowers go for, you can get this one and a cheap electric one, or a weed whacker to clean up the edges. The width of this mower is good because it is wide enough so that you can cut a decent swath of grass with each pass, but it's not so wide that it slows the mower down, or bogs you down by trying to cut so much grass.
Oh yeah, with this mower, if you pull it backwards (for instance, you have completed a row of mowing and need to pull the mower back to turn around for the next row going the other direction) it has a tendency to "flip". Meaning that the rear rollers tend to flip under the reel, which requires that you lift the mower up and push it forward to flip the wheels back out behind the machine. This is highly annoying. I mean, I can live with it, but I wish it didn't do that. Maybe a different design would not flip, and certainly a mower with only the two wheels would not "flip". Just an idiosyncracy you should know about.
There is a sharpening kit available for this mower as well. Basically, you paint a lapping compound onto the blades and run the blades backwards via a supplied crank handle.
 A Delight! June 14, 2003
W. F. Spencer (Dana Point, CA USA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
Lawns in my neighborhood aren't half-acre or acre expanses, they're the 1-2000 sqft left over after putting the house on 1/8 acre.Every Saturday, I hear others starting up their power rotary mowers, edgers, and leaf blowers; most have packed it in, in about 15 minutes. I used to deal with the Briggs & Stratton Small Engine Maintenance & Repair Manual, but IT JUST ISN'T WORTH IT! Nor is it necessary, for small areas. American Lawn Mower Company has been making the alternative for quite a few years, an American company making quality mowers "the old fashioned way", right here in the good old USA. Some argue that reel mower's method of cutting off grass blades, more like scissors than a rotary mower's hacking, is better for grass. But I like the quiet, the undisturbed serenity, and even the exercise of giving it a little (not onerous) push. It's easy to use, easy to care for, and does a good job. (A lot of golf courses also prefer to use reel mowers, with a tractor and outriggers of reels to make a large swath.) This one won't get within a couple inches of a wall and, if you have delayed mowing for a while and have some tall, hard seed stalks coming up, it may have difficulty slicing them off. Both make an occasional trim with a spin trimmer (or other means) necessary. But there's just no comparison between the noisy hassles of a rotary mower with the peaceful serenity of mowing your lawn with one of American's reels. It's not perfectly safe (think "running with scissors"), but it is MUCH safer than a powered mower, and probably suitable for older children, or even younger ones while supervised. Note: American Lawn Mower Company also manufactures the Great States brand (a company which it bought years ago) and the reel mower for Scotts (the company famed for its fertilizer & spreaders).
Better than what other reviews had said April 17, 2004
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
This mower was much better than what I ever could have hoped for. I left my 6.5 HP Craftsman mower in Missouri when I moved. I liked that mower, but using this is much better. I may be the motor behind this reel mower, but with only about 25 pounds to push around, it seems just as easy as pushing my old one around that had a motor on it. Handling Hills:
I was concerned before getting it by the reviews that said it may be hard to get up hills. My back yard is level with with the basement floor and I push this mower up the side yard hill to the front yard with ease. It is just that light. Handling Twigs:
I was also concerned by the reviews that said any twig will stop it dead in its tracks. I have alot of twigs, but most are thin. The mower has no problem chopping up twigs up to the thickness of a pencil. And, if a larger twig gets stuck, I just back up and kick it out. Adjusting Mowing Height:
The other thing I wasn't sure I would like is adjusting the mowing height. When I read you had to undo bolts, remove them and put them back, I thought, Oh no. But, removing the bolts takes no tools. If you are familiar with removing a quick release tire on the front of a bicycle, adjusting the mowing height is at least that easy. In any case, it is just as easy as adjusting the height on my old gas mower.
Anyway, I have rarely been so pleased with a purchase. I got this for $90 at Amazon, and that is a great deal. I looked all over for different kinds of reel mowers. The Brill may be better, because it is a little lighter and does not need to be sharpened ever, but I sure did not want to pay 4-6 times as much. As for sharpening, I doubt that I will have to have this mower sharpened as often as I had to have my old gas mower tuned up. As for other reel mowers, they are all heavier. What is so great about this mower is that its light weight makes mowing with it at least as easy as with a gas push mower. The only thing that could be better is for a wider cut, but then you would get more weight, and I don't want that because I have had back and shoulder pain in the past and am of slight build.
AHHHH the joy of mowing the lawn August 7, 2004
LShack
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
I am so happy with this lawn mower. I just stroll around the lawn with ease. As a household of three women, my two daughters & myself we always argue as to who's turn it is to mow the lawn. Now I don't mind doing it. It's quiet, relaxing and most of all easy to push, and I don't have to start it or add gas! It was also easy to put together & coming from someone who can just about hang a picture that is saying something. This mower is great. It's funny my neighbor laughed & said wow I haven't seen one of those in years. Well he'll see it every weekend & it won't wake up the neighbors. It's great.
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