Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 22
 MM2 experience July 8, 2007
Tan Rebel Lawyer (McKinney, TX United States)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a review for the MM2, not the MM1. I'm posting it here because of similarities.
After buying a reel mower on almost a whim at Lowes, and being amazed at how easy and simple it was, I was sold on the concept of the reel mower. Unfortunately, after going through 4 of those, each one working great for a while, only to have the gears strip after little use, I realized I needed to upgrade. I tried the Great States (same as American Lawn Mower Company) 7 blade reel mower (7 blades because of Bermuda grass). The place that sold it to me, failed to provide a manual, but I found one on the internet. I realized later, after injuring my shoulders from pushing the mower, and working ridiculously hard, that the reel was not adjusted properly when it was sold to me. The reel is designed to cut paper, and it would not cut paper (unlike the Lowe's mower, which did cut paper). The reel was spinning freely, which means it was too loose. I returned it to the shop also, and they said it was bent, and could not be fixed so that it would cut paper. Instead of exchanging it for another one, I got my money back, because of dissatisfaction with other aspects of the Great States/American Lawn Mower mower. The handle places the hands in a narrow grip, which makes it hard to push at times, and led to painful shoulder injuries. The grips on the handle slipped, and added frustration to an already miserable experience. Still, I knew there had to be a better way, and still believed in the concept (and not for environmental reasons, although a surprising amount of pollution is averted). I simply knew that a properly designed reel mower could give a superior cut over a rotary mower, made sense for a small yard without a lot of branches, and was ridiculously easy to store ... almost like putting up a broom or a vacuum cleaner, not to mention the lack of maintenance and noise. So after researching on the internet, I bought the Sunlawn MM2 mower. It is sweet. After taking it outside the first time, my 13 year old daughter asked to use it to mow the lawn. A neighbor asked how I did that. Imagine a teenager asking to mow the yard. )) The Sunlawn comes with an optional grass catcher, which I haven't used yet, and don't plan on using except in the fall prior to overseeding with winter fescue or rye grass. Assembly was a challenge because the instructions are typical ... poorly written and illustrated. The key to both problems encountered was to change the height of the mower cut to easily place parts properly. The Great States/American Lawn Mower reel mower costs less than the Brill or the Sunlawn mowers, but in this case you get what you pay for. The grip of the Sunlawn and Brill mowers is wide, like it should be. The Great States handle is ridiculous, and is not ergonomically correct. FYI, Brill and Sunlawn have many similarities, which why I mentioned Brill, even though I only own the Sunlawn. Amazon has poor delivery times of the Sunlawn, so I cancelled my Amazon order and bought it from Peoplepoweredmachines ... had the mower within 5 days! )) This truly is the way to go for a small, relatively level lawn, with no branches.
 Not impressed, but I'll keep it September 17, 2007
Christopher T. Gregson (Redwood City, CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I recently bought the MM-1 and I've used it about three times now. I've been a little disappointed by the MM-1, but I've reluctantly decided to keep it.
Five years ago, I bought a Brill, which I absolutely loved. What an amazing piece of engineering! The build quality was fantastic and I've never had a single problem. I decided to replace the Brill only because we just put in a new lawn and the Brill's maximum cutting height is a little too short (1.8").
The Sunlawn MM-1 was a natural choice for a new mower. Unfortunately, it's fallen far short of the high bar set by the Brill. Here are a few of my complaints:
-- The Brill has a really sturdy handle that attached securely to the mower. The MM-1 handle feels about the same, but the screws used to assemble the handle don't seem to fit that well. In addition, the clips used to secure the handle to the mower broke off within 10 minutes of assembling the mower. I managed to rig something to keep the handle in place, but the build quality seems to be very poor.
-- The Brill blades are so expertly fitted to the mower that they spin at lightning speed under the pressure of a hose. The MM-1 blades don't move as smoothly and they stick under the pressure of a hose. The cut quality seems OK, but it's a little more uneven than the Brill.
-- The Brill has a neat handle made of black molded plastic that is incredibly good-looking and sturdy. The MM1 has a cheap-looking foam cover that will definitely not be as durable.
-- The MM1 also has funny flap that you attach to the back of the mower in order to get the grass into the catcher. I really hate this thing, and the Brill doesn't need one. There also seems to be an issue with the tolerances of the screws used to secure this flap -- they just don't fit very well. One is a little too tight and I can't get the screw all the way in. The other is a little too loose and it fell out once while I was mowing the lawn.
I was in love with my Brill, but I'm pretty much indifferent to the MM-1. It does the job, but it's not a work of art.
In the end, I decided to keep the MM-1 because:
-- It cuts high for a reel mower and the advertised height of 2.8" seems to be about right. The lawn is healthier and looks much better at this height. The cut quality is decent if you mow every week.
-- It's light-weight and maneuverable.
-- I don't want to sharpen the blades every year and I'm banking on Sunlawn's claim that the blades will not require sharpening for 7 years. The blade quality looks pretty good, so they may hold up.
I am just very disappointed that the MM-1 doesn't match the Brill in terms of build quality or user experience. It's not even close. If I could find a Brill with a cutting height of 3", I would buy it in a second. I support what Sunlawn is trying to do, but they've got to do something about their product quality, and fast. Without glowing reviews on Amazon, I don't think I'd buy from them again.
Fabulous machine-- turns lawn mowing into something to look forward to June 30, 2007
J. Roman (Minneapolis, MN USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've had this mower all season, and mowing the lawn has quickly become one of my favorite activities-- with my old gas mower, lawn-mowing was a chore. In fact, my friends have also discovered the joys of my Sunlawn and will often stop by just to mow. It's a great way to get outside, enjoy the weather, and meet the neighbors. Also, it's so quiet that I can mow at any time of day/night. The only downfalls are that 1) the handle is uneven (there was no way to assemble it so that the handle did not slant to the right or left, but this really only bothers me in an aesthetic sense), and 2) it does not cut dandelions if they become too tall (but an electric Black & Decker Grasshog 12-Inch 18-Volt Cordless String Trimmer/Edger #NST2018 will take care of what the mower misses). Also, I know other people with Brills that are just as happy with them as I am with my Sunlawn. The machines are nearly identical. I should also note that my lawn is relatively small; however, given how easy the Sunlawn is to push, I believe I would continue to use this mower even if I had more lawn to mow.
Not Completely Satisfying October 20, 2007
B. Jorgensen (McLean, VA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Although this won't be a strongly negative review, we did return the Sunlawn mower. We used the mower 5-6 times with varying results. The mower worked well when the grass was dry and the user was tall (I'm 6'0" and had the best luck). If the grass was slightly wet, it made for a ragged cut. We tried adjusting the height (which was easy to do) and leaving the grass taller seemed to work better, but not completely. My wife and older son, being somewhat shorter, had a much harder time using the mower--needing more frequent back-and-forth motions to cut the grass. My younger son (at 4'9") could not get it done at all. The mower was supposed to suppliment our battery-powered mower (on our 1/2 acre of grass), but if the kids couldn't use it, it wasn't worth it to us.
 Sub-par manufacturing & customer service January 5, 2008
BM
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this product in May 2007. I have an average quality 2,500 sq ft midwestern lawn.
The MM-1 is light, easy to push, and much quieter that a gasoline powered mower. You don't have to mess around with oil and gas. It cuts the grass, instead of being torn by a typical rotary style moter. This is better for the health of your lawn. Also beneficial is that the clippings are deposited back onto the lawn. You just need to be aware of the limitations of this and any other reel mower - they will not cut long (over 4") grass. This means that during the spring I'll typically have to mow twice a week, and once a week during the summer.
I do have some issues with the quality of this mower. It is advertised as having a resharpening frequency of 7-10 years, due to a non-contact cutting system in which there is a 0.002" gap between the reel and the bedknike. I have found that it is not possible to adjust it to this gap consistently across the length of the bedknife on all 5 of the reel blades. If the gap is too great, the mower will not cut the grass as well. Too close, and the mower will probably require sharpening more frequently and be more difficult to push. I just don't think that the mower is manufactured to tight enough tolerances to get this optimal gap "across the board". I'm a little skeptical about the 7-10 year sharpening frequency. I adjusted my mower the best that I could, but I found that I get the best quality cut by mowing the lawn twice, with the second cut being 90 degrees to the first.
I had a couple other quality issues. After 3 months of using this mower, a tab on one of the aluminum castings that is used to retain the handle broke off. I notified Sunlawn (more on this later) and in the mean time applied some vise grips to what was left of the tab to retain the handle so that I could continue mowing. A couple of weeks after this, the handle also broke (This was not related in any way to my vise grip fix). I also notified Sunlawn about this.
I tried contacting Sunlawn by phone, but they are impossible to reach this way. I wrote them an email when the tab broke, and they promised to send me some new casting that were made of a stronger material. After 2 weeks, I still had not received anything. At this time, I followed up with another email and said that the handle was now also broken. About 1 week after that, I finally got a reply and was told that I would be receiving a new mower, and that I could send the old one back to the factory (shipping paid by Sunlawn). I received the new mower a few days after this, but it still had the same style casting and handle. I've only used it a few times before the end of the season, but I'm interested to see if I'll have the same problems next year, since the manufacturing issues haven't been corrected. Once the mower is out of it's 2 year warranty, I'll probably have to fix the issues myself as they arise.
All in all, the mower gives a decent cut, but I think that Sunlawn needs to improve the quality of the product and their customer service.
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