Mowers Reviews

Had this mower for 5 years now. It has provided good cutting and bagging for my med/small yard (.45 acres some of which is natural areas).

Like its power and simple design avoiding the complications of self propelled systems. The side bag is a bit of a pain. If you do a lot of bagging, you may want to go with a rear bagger.

Have had to take it in for reparis 2-3 times, replace the front wheels (plastic originals cracked). Most of the paint is peeling off now but it still cuts good. Will buy a Toro next time (at twice+ the cost)

It's been two full years since I wrote the initial review on this mower and it contiues to give excellent service. My lawn is about 1/2 acre so there is a lot of cutting with a push mower from April to Sept. I have changed the oil twice in two seasons but have not chaged the spark plug or the air filter. After sitting in the garage unused for five month this past winter it started after about 3 pulls. Having the priming bulb helps a lot.

My previous mower was a Homlite rear bagger which I paid over [money]. I had the mower for 9 years and had to replace the bag once and the pull cord twice because it was so difficult to start. Compared to the Homlite the mulching Yardman is so much easier to use. During the season it usually starts with two pulls without priming and I don't have to empty the bag. With a 6 HP engine it even strong enough to mulch several big pile of leaves that have collected in the woods at back of my lot.

Last year I purchased an inexpensive mower blade sharpner attachment for my power drill([money] at the local ACE hardware). It does a pretty good job taking out the nicks and maintaining the cutting edge. So far I've not paid to have the blade sharpened. This YardMan has been a very low maintainance mower for me.

If you're looking for a basic, no-frills mower with the power to mulch seriously overgrown grass, this is it. It starts easily, runs well, and I've never been able to bog it down, even when my lawn is starting to look like rain forest. Construction quailty is very solid, and the ball bearing wheels should spin wobble-free for many years to come.

The only limitation is the optional side bag, which I've only used a few times. It gets in the way, clogs easily, doesn't hold much, and is inconvient to empty. If you intend to bag frequently, look at rear baggers instead.

So, I'll give the mower 5 stars, with the suggestion that you skip the bag. END

the mower arrived in a box that had been opened, probably by many people, I don't know. the unit was listed as new, which it looked, as far as the lawnmower itself. the reason it was new was that it wouldn't start. in fact I think so many people had been sucked into buying this unit that the starter rope wouldn't even retract when I started to try myself for the first time. clearly this is false advertising. compound that with the explicit instructions that it cannot be returned and you have a full blown fraud scheme. is Amazon listening? this was a unit listed in the amazon store section, not an item listed by an individual, so clearly amazon should step up and take this back and destroy it when they get it back. this is not helping their image one bit. in fact I may never shop with them again if this gets any worse.

I bought this mower 6 years ago, my son and i mowed lawns for the son to have extra money. we needed a better mower and found this one to be onsale. we liked the rear wheel drive, as we found that with front wheel drives as the bagger fills the weight tends to lift the front, then you have to lift the handle bars to get traction, not with this modle. this mower is the older briggs 6hp and has been worked to death(with proper maintenance)and a lot of parts have been changed or removed but, it is still working and i will buy another one!

After reading reviews I decided to go with this rear wheel drive self propelled mower over the less expensive front wheel drive versions and have to say I am very pleased with everything about this mower. It shipped for free and arrived via UPS in only about 10 days. I would recommend this mower to anyone wanting a quality lawn mower that they want to last for several years.

The Yard Man wheeled string trimmer is a great product when it works properly. However, 10 minutes after I started the mower and began to cut grass, the belt came off. I put it back on but it would not stay on when the mower was engaged. I took it to a certified repair center and they would not repair it under warranty. I paid $20.00 twice to have the belt put back on the mower. Yard man customer service told me that I needed a part to fix the mower and after giving me the part number, told me to go back to the repair shop and tell them to order the part. They would not order under warranty because they told me Yard Man would not pay. I refused to pay to have it fixed because it is supposed to be under warranty. I have emailed Yard Man but did not get a response. I have other Yard Man products and have been very happy with them. I am unhappy with this purchase, but have been uanble to return the mower or get anyone to fix it for me. I'm disappointed because I like to buy "American made" and I expect a merchant to stand behind their warranty. I have disputed this charge on my VISA because I have not other avenue. I would not recommend buying this product through Amazon.com.

I bought this @ Fred-Meyers in Portland,Or. (No Sales Tax)

They ran an ad for 50% off all clearance items, and I found this little beauty sitting on the display rack for a clearance tagged price of 279.99

Yeah... You get the picture.... 140 bucks!!!!

Yee Haw!

I bought this mower because we let the weeds on our one acre property grow too high to mow with a regular mower. This trimmer/mower did the job. The cutting height can be adjusted easily, and everything else about it is accessible, even for a mechanical dummy like me. It not only hacks down the tallest weeds, but if you then back up and run over them again, it will nicely mulch them up, so you don't have to haul off the weed corpses.
The string that comes with this is pretty wimpy and wore out quickly, but Orchard Supply (and probably a lot of other places) sells a tougher string that you can cut to size yourself and save a lot of money.
The oil is supposed to be changed after the first two hours of use. We (I, my husband and our college age son) could not figure out how to drain the oil without getting oil all over the flywheel, etc. So I took it to a lawnmower shop where they PUMPED it out and charged me $... Not too bad, considering that the next oil change is after 50 more hours of use.
I honestly can not find any faults with this machine. It does what it's supposed to do. What more can you ask?

Since I bought the Brill Luxus 38 (see my review also on Amazon) and I am very pleased with it, I opted at a later date for the grass catcher. First, the positives: (1) It is very light weight(mostly nylon with a light plastic bottom). (2) The grass catcher also assembles easy and (3) it can be removed and re-attached without any technical worry...folks this is green technology in its simplest possible form. The negatives are as follows: (1) It really doesn't hold that much grass compared to what you might be used to with a regular lawn mower catcher...and it is held at an angle on the mower that allows a small portion of the grass to slide off; (2) it only picks up about 75% of all mown grass as some of the grass sprays past the catcher (3) the construction is a bit flimsy...the nylon could be easily pierced if one hits a rock or tree branch so be careful. With that said if you really need a grass catcher and you have a Brill then go ahead. The price (around $40) isn't that expensive. Overall, it picks up most of the lawn clippings though again don't expect perfection. I'm glad that I bought it and while it's not flawless it seems to do the job.

The Brill grass catcher is assembled in seconds. It is very easy to hook and unhook from the push mower and seem nearly undestructible. The perfect grass catcher!

Mine lasted about 3 years. Even with careful handling, the nylon is so thin it eventually disintegrates in the weathered areas.

I have a lawn tractor with a 46" deck and this cover fits great. The elastic at the bottom completely surrounds the tractor and will keep your equipment dry in any conditions. My only complaint would be that the nylon is a little thin. You need to ensure that the tractor muffler has cooled or it would easily melt through. Well worth $40.

I just discovered this mower, and despite having a mower only two years old, I'm tempted to switch.

I've been using a Brill for two years, and while the Brill is a superb mower, the Ginge allows you to set your mower about 3/4" higher than the Brill, which makes it better for the grass grown in the country, as opposed to the bent grasses popular in England and Europe. What's more, the Ginge will handle tall grass rather than just bending it over, and it's reasonably priced, too. A good all-around choice.

We have used two types of mowers in the past month and this mower is by far the best. It is versatile and easy to use. It is light enough that you can maneuver it up hills and around obstacles. It cuts evenly and even makes a satisfying sound. It is quite easy to adjust, to cut grass at different heights, and to make sure the blades are cutting properly. Also, we are happy knowing that we are using a mower that is better for the environment and easier on the grass.

I own 3 different lawn mowers since I have my own home. Lawn Boy is my third one. I have been using it for 6 years. It is very reliable. All I do is changing oil and spark plug as recommend. All this year, it gives me no trouble. Unfortunately I don't see this product in my area in so. California.

This mower works beautifully and just as I expected. I have been a loyal Lawn-Boy user for many years. My only reservation is the rear bag attachment can get clogged during heavy use and cost you some time to free it up again. Recently, I purchased this item through Amazon as this product is not sold any longer in my part of the country. I am very pleased with the performance of both Lawn-Boy and Amazon and would recommend their services to anyone.

Visit: http://betsielawnbott.livejournal.com for a blog and updated information on my Lawnbott Evolution.

I received my lawnbott about a week ago and she has been munching away on grass since the first night.

My lawn had the look of a field, and the tall weeds and grass hindered her movement, but she made it through the whole back yard. It now looks as short as a golf course. The front yard was taller and we will have to borrow a neighbor's gas/human powered mower to cut it the first time. I'm renting the house and it didn't come with a mower at all.

Installing the wire was not too difficult, but count on a few hours up front, and then lots of tweaking to get it just right. You will need extra perimeter wire, and extra pegs. The pegs included push down easily but sometimes break when you finally hammer them all the way in.

The metal spiked wheels add traction on slopes but really look great too.

The neighbors were skeptical at first, but after they saw my lawn a few days later they changed their minds.

Like the other review said, the Lawnbott is very small. It looks a lot like a remote control car, and the people who see it when they walk by stop and stare. Then after a minute of watching they say, with amazement, "That's cutting your grass??!"

Lawnbott is small at 22 1/2 inches long, 16 1/2 inches wide, and 10 1/4 inches high and weights 22 lbs. Lawnbott is designed to cover about 3/4 of an acre and traverse 27 degree slopes. Perimeter wire is used to define boundaries for the Lawnbott too operate. The Lawnbott returns to the charger when the battery reaches a certain level. If the blade gets block, Lawnbott must be put back into the charger for it too reactivate. When Lawnbott crosses a perimeter wire, it stops, backs up, and turns right. If it gets caught in a corner, it backs up and does a circular sweep escaping from the corner. Lawnbott will find small patches of grass that it missed. Cutting time is ranges from 2 to 3 hours and recharging around 3 hours. As lawnbott finds sometime to cut, it increases it blade cut rate to 3,200 RPM. As lawnbott mows it calculates the size of the area and resistence of the grass then when it it goes back to the charger it will calculate the next time it needs to come out to keep the yard at optimal height. Lawnbot will determine the next time it needs to cut the grass. Lawnbot has a wet grass detection system, so if the sprinklers kick on, it will return back to the charger. Firmware can be download from the internet on your computer and transmitted by Infrared too the lawnbot central processor. Lawnbot costs about $7 a year in electricity and produces no pollution. Electricity is high quality fuel.

I purchased the McLane at the beginning of last mowing season. For the price, I found the handle grips to very cheap and cuased blisters. I do a lot of yardwork so I found this odd. I purchased some better quality hand grips (bicycle type) and this solved the problem

When the mower was shipped, the front and rear axle were on different settings, so an immediate adjustment was needed to first balance the machine. I have never had a reel mower before, but mowing was not very difficult after that first cut.

I made it 2/3 through the season before the blades got so dull they would just bind. I have very, very thick bermuda grass. I have not taken the time to sharpen the blades yet, but will most likely only use this on my small 70 sq yard backyard of Royal Zoysia. It should do fine on that.

The cut was premium and use was easy. It may be excellent for zoysia but stay away from very thick bermuda.

I purchased the McLane 7 blade reel mower from reelmowersetc.com for $160 including shipping. I have been extremly satisfied by its performance. The mower is extremely sturdy. It is heavier than some other reel mowers, but it is still no more difficult to push than a gas powered mower. It may be a little more difficult to get started, but when you get some momentum it is very easy to push. I have a 4000 sqaure foot lot with a mixture of zoysia and bluegrass, and it takes me about 30 minutes to mow. The mower goes right over small sticks and other debris without any problems.

I did have move the front axel up a notch to raise the cutting height when I recieved the mower. There is a lever to make fine height ajustments, but the front or rear axel can be moved to make large ajustments. The process was described in the manual, and only required one bolt to be removed. The mower was trying to cut too much grass and binding up before I moved the axel up. If you want to cut your lawn very short, you will have to gradually work your way down.

It takes a little time and patience to get used to a reel mower. It doesn't cut grass over 6 inches. This mower's blades are only on inch from one of the edges, but triming is a little more difficult on curved edges than a rotery mower becuase you have to keep moving to keep the blades going. These are just differences in reel mowers and rotory mowers that require you to change your mowing tecnique. I have found that I can now mow just as fast and do just as good of a job as my nieghbors who have gas powered rotory mowers.

I would recommend this mower to anyone considering a reel mower. I don't have expirience with other reel mowers, so I can't make a very good comparison. I chose this model because I read that some of the 5 blade models have problems with thick zoysia. I can say that I am extremely satisified with this mower.

I am a first-time homeowner with a .2 acre lot who has never had to mow a lawn before and I am somewhat satisfied with this mower as a maintenance mower. Nonetheless, I know that I will have to buy a heavier duty mower (I will probably try a 19" cordless Black & Decker) because my lawn here on the north shore of Massachusetts is thick and grows VERY quickly. There is also some slope to certain sections of my lawn making a push mower a bit difficult for someone who is as light-framed and unathletic as myself. However, the mower is good for the small and level sections of my yard and the workout is unbeatable - I am much stronger than I used to be after using this 4 times!

MM-1 Pros:
1.) Light - only 25 pounds. Great for me!
2.) No pollution - neither gas nor noise
3.) Easy to assemble - just screw in the handle in 4 places
4.) Very sharp blades - only need sharpening every 7-8 years. Cuts great on dry not too tall grass. I was able to cut grass up to 5" high after a few passes.
5.) Easy to adjust the mowing height of each of the 2 wheels
6.) It is OK if there are some twigs, etc., in your lawn because you didn't rake it perfectly. The larger twigs may get caught in the mower's blades, but they are simple enough to remove.
7.) My grass seems to like the slanted cut of the reel blades. Sunlawn claims that this slanted cut is healthier for the grass as opposed to the rough tearing of other mowers.

Cons:
1.) OW! Assembling the grass-catcher REALLY HURTS. There are crimped edges that you need to snap over the metal frame and I can not imagine having arthritis and being able to do this. My fingertips were really sore.
2.) This mower is for lawns that are already in great shape and just need to be maintained. However, if it has been raining for a while and your grass has grown really high, you will need a higher powered mower first. As you probably expected, this mower is not for wet, tall grass. The grass will clump and get caught in the blades. Also, the rollers will just glide over the tall grass bending it down, but not activating the blades.
3.) Despite how healthy my grass is, my lawn does not look as neatly manicured as when my neighbor mowed it with his power mower. But maybe that is because I am new at this.

I bought this mower because it was light, did not make a lot of noise, did not require gas and the company claimed the blades would not require sharpening for 7 years. Although I cannot confirm the last point, the mower definitely meets the remaining criteria. I wish I could have bought just this one mower, but I will need something stronger. Well, I'm learning. I do hope this helps other first-time purchasers.

I bought this mower for the typical reasons:

1. Used power mower that I bought a few years ago died.
2. Wanted something light and quiet.
3. The lack of emissions and the "old fashioned-ness" of the thing appeals to me.

Here are the pros as I see them:

1. Reel height is higher than many others on the market. There are a few others that go up to about 3 inches, but their blades need sharpened yearly (see point two). I live in the South, and everybody I've talked to down here says that you absolutely shouldn't mow below 2.5 inches in the hot, dry summer.
2. Blades don't need sharpened every year. Since they do not actually make contact with the cutting bar, the manual says that the blades shouldn't need any care for 7 to 10 years.
3. Very easy to push and extremely quiet as compared to a powered mower.
4. You can mow bare foot! OK, this may not be recommended, but you can do it without worrying about getting hurt. The greatest thing, I believe, about this and other reel mowers is that it's easy to take it out of the garage and mow for 15 minutes when you get home from work. You don't get too warmed up and you continually keep up with the growing grass.
5. Mowed grass, which is ultimately how we rate our mowers, looks fine. There are probably other mowers that will give you more of a manicured look, but you won't be displeased with the Sunlawn.

Cons:
1. You can't let your grass grow tall! Tall grass and weeds simply bend over and don't get between the blades and the cutting bar. My grass grows fairly slowly, but there are some weeds in my lawn that don't. One kind shoots a single seed head up to about a foot in a matter of days. The only option with this mower is to hand pull them or use a weed eater after you've mowed. This is kind of a pain, but it applies equally to all reel mowers. It actually is probably less of an issue with the Sunlawn due to the higher mow height.
2. It is made in China. All things being equal, I would prefer something American made. I'm not a huge Buy Only American person, but I do like to get quality when I invest in something. This mower has the look and feel of something made in China. That's not to say that it doesn't seem to be well made and won't last a good while. I just know from reading other reviews of reel mowers that the Luxus owners all speak to the quality of the manufacturing. I can't really say that this mower has that feel of quality.

Not to dwell on this, but I would think that the Sunlawn folks would have given this more thought. I would guess that the market they're going after would be more than willing to pay an extra 40 or 50 bucks to buy a mower that doesn't have the perceived or real negatives of being built in China. They're already paying as much for a reel mower as a decent low end powered mower. I went back and forth between buying this mower and another that is significantly more expensive due to questions in my mind about its manufacture quality. Had the thing cost $225 and not raised those questions, I would have probably bought it sooner and with more confidence than I did.

All in all, I'm glad I bought this mower and would do so again. I plan to keep it and use it for many years to come!

this is the most enjoyable time i've ever had mowing my lawn. i prefer the way my lawn looks after i finish mowing with my mm-1. i heard that reel mowers don't do well on bumpy lawns. i consider my lawn to be fairly bumpy and haven't had any problems. i decided that if i could mow my lawn without using any gasoline or emitting pollution then that's what i should be doing. i also like the idea that my neighbors in this newly developing suburban community all seem to be surpised with how well this contraption that doesn't require fuel or an engine does it's job. the fact that my using this mower has influenced a few people on my street to make their next lawn mower a non-polluting, earth friendly reel mower makes it worth it.

the two major reasons i bought this particular reel mower instead of a different brand are:

1)i bought this particular mower instead of the 20 inch wide scotts reel mower because the blade on the mm-1 doesn't need sharpening for at least 7 years. the mm-1 doesn't cut as wide of a path as the scotts, but i'm fat and the extra work i'm doing with this mower is good for me.

2) the 2.8 inch cutting height was another selling point. most reel mowers don't cut much higher than 2 inches. while it's true that most grass doesn't NEED to be cut to 3 inches, i prefer mine to be that tall, it just looks better...and it helps hide the bare spots.

just remember, if your grass hasn't been cut in awhile and it looks a bit more like a forest than a lawn, you'll need to go over it with a power mower the first time. reel mowers are for maintaining lawns that aren't over 4 inches or so in height.