Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 57
 Much better than Scots Classic May 15, 2008
Sean Brunnock (Lakeland, FL United States)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
When the nylon gears (?!) in my Scots Classic reel mower wore out, I tried the Gilmour. As far as I know, it's the only other 20" wide reel mower.
What a difference the ball bearings make! It rolls more smoothly and effortlessly and the blades do a much better job of trimming my St. Augustine lawn.
 happy grass June 8, 2008
Anthropologist at large (Boise Id)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I purchased this item with some hesitation based on concerns raised by other reviewers at Amazon. So here's what I've found.
1. Fescue. I have drought tolerant fescue grass, not bluegrass. So I was worried about how well it might cut my lawn. It cuts fescue fine.
2. Noise - well, I think you have to put this in context. My gas mower is very loud. The Gilmour is very quiet relative to my gas mower. It does not cut silently, but it is loudest when the grass is shortest (on cross cuts to pick up stray blades). My wife sat and read a book while I mowed, and didn't seem disturbed. The gas mower drives her inside.
3. Sticks. My yard is surrounded by trees that drop branches and twigs. I raked them up for my gas mower (they dull the blade whether they stall the motor or not) and raked them for the push mower, same way. Small twigs fall too low to be an issue - bigger one's you don't want to cut.
4. Time. It takes me more time with the push mower than gas. But I suspect I'll get faster as I get the hang of it.
5. Catcher. The catcher works good but when the grass is tall it doesn't throw it in there, and you have to periodically move the grass back into the catcher away from the blades. Of course, on tall grass gas mowers can have issues too.
Overall, my reservations were unfounded. On the question of where it was made, the answer (from the carton) is China. If you find something made in America, let me know.
There are some real benefits.
1. As others have said - no more smell. I don't have to close up my house before mowing to keep the fumes out. No fueling, oiling, cleaning the green sticky gunk from the blade, etc.
2. No more green shoes. This mower doesn't chew the grass up - the freshly cut grass does not stain white shoes, there is no gunk to clean.
3. My grass looks happier. I think this derives from the no green on my shoes observation.
 Total piece of garbage June 13, 2008
Joseph G. Noonan (Prospect, CT)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
What a complete piece of garbage! I cannot believe I wasted money on this! The mower arrived and when I went to assemble it, there is a hole missing from the handle! Now I've got to drill a freakin' hole in the thing, which totally ticked me off. I then went to use it and it just bends the grass over and doesn't cut hardly anything. I went over an area where the grass was about 3 inches and it just didn't cut it. What a waste! I am so mad I could spit!
 Not nearly as good as the Scotts 20" May 10, 2008
Adrianne (Detroit, MI - US)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
This reel mower missed more grass than the Scotts 20 inch reel mower, and made a loud screeching noise when being pushed--not exactly the peaceful, one-with-nature experience most buyers of reel mowers seek. The best part about it was the grass catcher (Scotts 20" doesn't have one). We are returning it; now if only we can find a way to order just the grass catcher...
 Great mower for the right lawn May 30, 2008
M. Harber (Florida, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I just purchased this mower from Amazon.com and have used it once on my lawn and cut a test strip on my neighbor's newly sodded and very lush lawn. Our lawn is very weedy- in fact, it needs resodding. Grass lasts only a few years here in the Florida panhandle and needs some coddling. The grasses that will grow well here are thick, fibrous, creeping grasses like cntipede and t. Augustine. If they get very long, power mowers can feel the strain. The weeds here grow incredibly fast and some are very tough to cut. While my gas mower does well enough, it still misses some of the weeds. So, the reel mower was facing a challenge. After multiple passes, the weeds were still standing and I had to resort to the gas mower to finish the job. I'm talking about spotty, under 6" tall stuff on nearly bare ground, not dense growth. The reel mower cut the patchy grass smoothly. The strip I cut on my neighbor's new centipede lawn was very smooth and neat. I will definitely need to mow more frequently with the reel mower to keep the weeds under control.
As for the mower being noisy, I didn't think it was excessive at all. My gas mower is WAY louder. The self-sharpening feature and the scissor action give it a knife-on-steel sound along with a fairly pronounced clatter. The mower is very easy to assemble, less than 10 minutes. It takes little effort to push, and can be maneuvered with ease. I don't think this mower is any more tiring to use than my very heavy and bulky self-propelled mower. The ratchet action wheels drive the blades only in the forward direction, so there is no resistance to backwards movement.
I have read in some of the other reviews about difficulties with jamming and poor cutting. This mower has a blade acjustment feature that might relieve the cutting problems and much of the noise. The accompanying instructions, while barely adequate, do address this feature. I had no significant problems with jamming except with clumps of debris from the flower beds left on the lawn, and these jams were very easily cleared. Cutting height is easily adjusted, too. I appreciated not having dust and grass all over my legs as I do after using the gas mower. The reel mower is very compact and very light weight. It could certainly hang on the wall.
The grass catcher never needed emptying on my trial runs- it empties itself! The bag is actually a suspended tray that fails to retain anything tossed into it from the blades. The rest of the mower seems to be well-constructed and I think it will remain sound for years.
In summay, if you have a decent lawn with few tough weeds, this mower will do a very nice job with relatively little effort. In fact, I found it no more tiring than using my bulky self-propeled mower, especially in tight spots. Add to that the mower's low cost, lack of any need for $4.00/gal gasoline, and it's relatively quiet, clean, low-maintenance operation, and you have a winner- for the right conditions.
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