Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 90
 First product I will recommend to others April 24, 2007
Ravi (VA, USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I never write reviews of any product - they rarely impress me. But this is first time I ever felt that I should write a review.
I used to mow my small 3K SqFT lawn with a gas mower and I could not take it any more. I was skeptical to buy a reel mower. But being a mechanical engineer and with good grasp of how things really work - I signed up to but this mower.
Took it out of the box assembled with in 30 minutes (I spent 20 minutes putting the foam sleeve on the handle bar - use silicone grease to make it in 5 minutes) rolled it out onto the lawn and just started mowing. It was that easy. Since this was the first mowing of the season the grass was as tall as 6 inches in some places. But couple of passes took care of it. I took a little more time (20%) - but it was ok with a light mower like this.
I wish I had bought this instead of my gas mower in the first place.
However there are few points to remember before you buy this mower (not really a show stopper)
1. Watch for sticks on the lawn .if they get stuck just reverse the reel you should be good to go
2. Need a little elbow grease if you have a rolling lawn like mine
3. No safety guard on the reel - keep the kids away from playing with it .The blades are really sharp and they are all over the place
All the green talk apart - this would be one less noisy thing in your life.
This is second best this I ever owned - first was my bicycle :)
Note: A lot of people do not comeback and update their reviews with any issues and ideas during the use of a product - this is bad. I will update this edit with my experience after the end of the mowing season.
Very good - a nice breath of "fresh" air June 30, 2005
B. White (Yukon, Oklahoma USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
After a friend bought one of these, I was intrigued so I asked to use it to mow both my front and rear lawn. It was a bit of a workout (that's a good thing) and I was so impressed that I bought one for myself to replace my standard gas mower (22" Briggs & Stratton). So, it came a few days later and took all of 10 minutes to assemble (just the handle).
Other reviewers have stated some of the things below, but I will too (from my perspective).
- this unit (and other reel mowers) are really a breath of fresh air. No fumes to mess with.
- this is not for the ego-challenged suburbanites who pride themselves on the $500 gas "Cadillac" mower and buy computers based on Megahertz rating. I will leave it at that.
- this unit cuts incredibly fine if the yard was properly cut beforehand (not mowing for the first time all year at 4" height could cause a problem). No grasscatcher needed at all.
- I live in Oklahoma with almost all standard Bermudagrass, which grows at a rapid pace in summer with our 95-degree days. I find I have to mow a little more often with this mower, which is no big deal since it really is quite relaxing to use.
- After using this mower twice and not having used a gas mower for over 10 days on my lawn, I was *really* impressed by how much greener my Bermudagrass was. Seriously. It seems the "chopping" of the gas mower (which would leave nasty circle sometimes) was less healthy for my grass than this reel mower's cut, which seemingly mulches the grass clippings and seals the blades themselves. A quick Google search on some horticulture sites confirmed that reel mowers are the most healthy way to mow a lawn (for any grass).
- I have to overlap rows to ensure I get all blades cut. I generally overlap about 1/3 of the mower's wdith to ensure each pass gets cut about twice (roughly).
- Another reviewer said that just after mowing with this mower, it will not have the pristine, "just cut" look a gas mower usually provides. This is true - there are no "tracks" to indicate to others that the yard was just mowed. Umm, for me I have easily gotten used to having a much more greener yard with a total and whole "cut look" than having 20-inch tracks throughout the yard. Once you get used to it, it's not an issue. After I get done mowing, the yard is pretty darn close to perfection (as in a gas mower cut), and looks "whole".
- I cut my Bermudagrass at the lowest-height setting (1/2") and my yard looks fantastic at that setting with proper watering and fertilizing very few months.
- The foam handle makes this mower extremely easy to handle and use, and it does give a decent aerobic workout if it takes 30 minutes or so to mow. Very nice indeed. I've never had a self-propelled gas mower either, since I view yardwork as exercise and not "armchair quarterbacking".
- Instead of continuing to pollute, I bought a rechargeable blower and trimmer and now can completely take care of my yards without any gas pollution whatsoever. Can't say that for my neighbors and their guzzling SUVs and huge and noisy gas mowers.
- Don't want to continue bashing gas mower "people" (because I was one for a long time), but try one of these and make a change. If you take care of your lawn with a gas mower now, the transition to this reel mower will be simple and more than likely, you'll enjoy mowing again.
- Can't stress this enough - like many reviewers have said, spray the blades with WD-40 after every mow and the next time you will have a well-oiled machine (no pun intended) with perfectly sharp blades, which will mow extremely quiet. I have mowed once at 7:30am (was bored) and did not wake a soul in my neighborhood since this thing was so quiet (much less noise than a rechargeable trimmer). Nothing is quite as bothersome as sitting on the deck in a backyard with a nice *beverage* and being deafened by a gas mower starting as soon as you begin to relax.
That's it. I have started conversations with neighbors already who can't believe I am using 100-year old technology to mow my yard, but they all come away impressed with the cut and my explanation(s). I am keeping the gas mower for now, but it will probably go away soon. Some things in life are best enjoyed simple when everything else is so complex, and this is one of those things.
 simply doesn't work well June 9, 2003
Kevin Miller (Kirkland, WA United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I really wanted to mow the yard without using gas. Unfortunately even multiple passes fail to cut all the grass. The front of the mower pushes down taller grass and prevents it from cutting it. I have to borrow my neighbors gas mower when the lawn is long and then besure to mow twice a week to make this work. Unless you have time to mow often, consider carefully.
 What a pleasant experience! November 8, 2003
Steve (Kihei, Maui)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
After researching push reel mowers at various websites, I settled on this mower after trying to buy a Brill Luxus 38 on e-bay and various other people powered type websites. The high shipping charges to us here on Maui forced me into buying the American 1815-18 locally at Lowe's for $106 (the Amazon free shipping offer only applies to the mainland. To Hawaii it's $45).It turns out that buying the 1815-18 instead of the Brill was a rather decent compromise. While this mower is about 10 pounds heavier than the Brill, you'd never know it from pushing it in the yard. The property I'm mowing is a relatively small amount of yard space. The lot is 7500 sq. ft. with an 1100 sq. ft. house. The property has some pretty decent slopes so there's some corner negotiating and uphill pushing to deal with. The grass around the house ranges from a small amount of zoysia to seashore paspalum to some other motley variety that I haven't been able to get rid of. It took about 2 mowings (a week apart) to get the grass into shape so that the cut looked consistent from area to area. Up until this time, I'd been "mowing" or rather "hacking" with my old Stihl brushcutter. Prior to buying a reel mower, I was concerned because various reviews about reel mowers address the fact that reel mowers don't handle twigs or stones very well, etc. Here's what I'm finding... I've got the mower set to cut at the lowest height it can. I've not experienced any problems with small stones that are "embedded" in the soil because they are below the cut of the blades. However, a few twigs that were sitting on top of the grass DID stop the mowing process cold. So - back up, move twig, continue. No worries. Negotiating corners is actually easier than the old gas powered mower I used to use back on my acre in Oregon. Yes, there is a strip of unmowed grass along the edges where the reel mower can't reach, but the gas mower couldn't reach that either. I can either bring out the old brush cutter every couple of weeks or use manual grass shears to get that stuff. Oh, believe the reviews that say you have to sometimes cut the same area several times from different directions.
The nicest part about the mowing experience now is that I'm not generating huge amounts of noise in this highly congested neighborhood. As a result, I can mow anytime I want. I don't have to "suit up" in work clothes before mowing. Although the instructions specifically advise against it, I've been able to be out in the yard barefoot while mowing under a quiet Hawaii sunset. The only downsides of the mower for me are the cumbersome height adjustments. You have to remove two bolts, rearrange their position and then reinsert the bolts. Not a big deal though. The other concern is that I'm not sure of the long term durability of the plastic rollers that help control the height adjustment. Overall though, I consider this a good purchase.
Different and great May 4, 2004
Allen Greer (Grapevine Texas, USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
I've been using the 18" American reel mower for 4 months now and I have learned a few things about using this type of mower. First, you do need to mow more than once a month. If your lawn is larger than a 1/2 acre and/or you believe that grass should be cut 1 time per completion of the lunar cycle, this is not the mower for you. What you thinking? There is an inverse relationship between the desire to mow only when it is a foot or so high and the quality of your lawn. Anyway, for the majority of us this mower will work fine. I found that if you lightly spray the blades with WD-40, the mower is much easier to push. Also, a reel style mower does not lift the blades of grass with suction as a power mower does. This lack of suction leaves a lot of debris untouched, such as leaves. So you may still need to either rake every 3 months or so or use a power mower. The reel mower does not leave the lawn with that "Just Mowed" look. It just is not going to happen, no matter how many passes you make. The lawn will look as though it was mowed 2 days ago as soon as you finish mowing. The sooner you accept this, the better. Finally, this mower does provide some great exercise. Although, I found that with the WD-40 trick it is easier to push than a powered mower, you do have to make twice as many passes to get similar results. But in the end if chose that mower, you are doing so because you are a bit of a free thinker, and maybe you do not what to keep up with Jones' and there f***king power mower.
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