It is easy, when thinking about push reel mowers for visions of our grandpa struggling to push a heavy and cumbersome old mower around the lawn on hot summer afternoons.
However, the truth is that push reel mowers have come a long way since your grandpa’s days. They’re a lot easier to push than you might think, the blades are razor sharp and they look great.
So, lets take go head to head. Push reel mowers vs their more powerful cousins the gas mower and see where that takes us. What are the pros and cons of push reel mowers?
Price
Perhaps the most obvious place to start is cost. A push reel mower typically costs less than $100. Anyone who has shopped around for a mower knows that if you want a decent one you may end up paying several hundred dollars.
And that’s just the start. Once bought, a push reel mower requires nothing further spent on it. Modern reel mower blades are very sharp and may only require sharpening once every two or three years.
Gas mowers on the other hand won’t work without gas. So, there is an on-going cost associated with even using a gas mower. On top of that you will need a gas can to store spare fuel and oil to keep the engine properly lubricated. Not large sums of money, but they all add up.
Environmental Impact
One of the big reasons why people like push mowers is the very low environmental footprint they have. Once bought, the impact on the environment of a push mower is the sum total of zero (unless, of course, you count cutting grass).
This is not so for gas mowers. The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that running a new gas lawn mower for just one hour emits volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides into the air that is equivalent to driving 11 new cars for the same period.
If you care for the environment this fact is difficult to ignore.
Maintenance Requirement
There’s not actually much to a push reel mower. A wipe down of the blades after use, a little oil to keep the mechanism smooth and every now and then a bit of blade sharpening. Push reel mowers are not going to require you to know something about engines, or take up much of your time tinkering to get going. No. These small human powered tools are simple and easy to operate and require almost no ongoing maintenance.
Anyone who has owned a gas mower in the past will know this is not the case for their machines. Fuel, oil, dirty rags, fiddling with the choke and working hard to get the damn thing started. They may be more powerful than push mowers, but you definitely pay a price for that power with ongoing maintenance.
Noise
This one is self-evident. A gas mower is a gas-powered engine on wheels. There is no getting away from it, they can be noisy, even with sound dampening features the noise from a gas powered mower is unmistakeable.
Push reel mowers on the other hand, while not completely silent will not even disturb the neighbours. They do make a gentle whirring noise as the cylinder rotates and the blades cut the grass, but it really is a pleasing noise rather than an intrusive one and certainly not one anyone would complain about.
Safety
This is a big one. It is pretty obvious that the potential for a serious accident to occur when using a push mower is considerably lower than those that might occur from gas mowers.
It is thought that lawn mower accidents are the leading cause of amputations for children in the US a fact supported by a University of Missouri study which showed that there are 75,000 injuries every year from mowing accidents, with at least 10,000 of them harming children.
Not something easily overlooked and a real concern to any family with a garden.
Lawn Health
The blades on rotary lawn mowers rotate so fast that they rip off the top of grass blades rather than cutting them neatly. These tears often result in a browning of your lawn grass following a mow and may mean the grass is more susceptible to disease.
Push reel mowers on the other hand neatly slice through the grass blades leaving a nice clean cut. The cuttings are small and fine and when left on your lawn will end up mulching down and providing much needed nutrition to the remaining grass.
Gas mowers also hoover up grass cuttings with a powerful vacuum. This can dislodge some grass roots and result in small grassless patches which are susceptible to invasion by weeds.
Many push mower owners will attest to this, swearing that they think their lawn looks much better using a push reel mower than it would if they used a gas equivalent.
Capability
In the interest of balance, it should be noted that push reel mowers are not better than gas mowers in every circumstance.
Long Grass
Push mowers really don’t cope well with long grass. If you forget to mow regularly, especially during the growing seasons, it can take a lot more effort to bring your lawn back under control. Gas mowers on the other hand can deal easily with slightly longer grass, even up to five inches in length.
Time
Push reel mowing will take longer. It may be a more pleasant pastime, you may feel that you are getting some exercise while doing something useful, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that you are likely to spend longer push mowing your lawn than you would have if you had used a gas mower.
Lawn Surface
Push mowers work best on nice flat lawns. They do not cope as well if there are lots of undulations or the surface of your lawn is uneven. They also do not cope well with debris on the lawn, such as twigs or stones. This means that push mowers are not really suitable for the wilder areas of your lawn, or perhaps those areas overshadowed by a tree.
Size
Push mowers work well on small, well established lawns. The reality is that if you have a large backyard you may well find that a push reel mower is simply not practical as the simple act of mowing the lawn would take up all the time you had plus any spare time you might have allocated for other yard work.
The Bottom Line
Owners of push mowers tend to love them. This is rarely felt by owners of gas mowers. But, needs must and although push mowers have many advantages the fact of the matter is that their disadvantages, if they relate to you, will take the decision for you when choosing what is the right mower for your lawn. Take a look at our push reel mower reviews if you are thinking of purchasing one.
With its unique role in directly stimulating sensory neurons related to itch and contributing to inflammation and barrier dysfunction, IL 31 is the bridge between the immune and nervous systems while directly acting on structural cells in the skin how to get nolvadex Table 19 Efficacy of Docetaxel Injection in the Treatment of Patients with Gastric Adenocarcinoma Endpoint TCF CF n 221 n 224 Unstratified log rank test For the hazard ratio TCF CF, values less than 1
Great article.
Hi there, I enjoy reading through your article. I like to write a
little comment to support you.
Great goods from you, man. I have understand your
stuff previous to and you are just too great. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you’re
saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and
you still care for to keep it sensible. I can’t wait to read far
more from you. This is actually a tremendous web site.
Excellent site. Lots of helpful information here.
I am sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious.
And naturally, thanks for your sweat!
Terrific post however I was wondering if you could
write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Appreciate it!
Keep on working, great job!
Remarkable! Its truly awesome piece of writing, I have got much clear idea about from this piece of writing.
Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help
with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some
targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very
good gains. If you know of any please share. Cheers!
You should take part in a contest for one of the finest
websites online. I’m going to highly recommend this website!
Very good post. I am facing many of these issues as well..
Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website,
how can i subscribe for a blog site? The account helped me a acceptable
deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided
bright clear idea
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your website by chance, and I’m surprised why this
coincidence didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while
you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog web site?
The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted
of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept
When some one searches for his required thing, therefore he/she wishes to be available that in detail, so
that thing is maintained over here.
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted at this web site is
genuinely fastidious.
Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from
somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump
out. Please let me know where you got your design. Appreciate it
What’s up to all, how is all, I think every one
is getting more from this site, and your views are pleasant in favor of new users.
It’s awesome to visit this web page and reading the views of all friends
about this piece of writing, while I am also keen of getting familiarity.
Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was
curious about your situation; we have created some nice practices and we are looking to exchange solutions
with others, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Hello to all, it’s actually a good for me to visit this
website, it consists of useful Information.
Currently it sounds like Expression Engine is the preferred blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?
That is very interesting, You’re an overly professional blogger.
I have joined your feed and look forward to searching
for extra of your magnificent post. Additionally, I have shared your web site in my social networks
Whats up this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted
to get advice from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!