home improvement: Gilmour 20-Inch Reel Mower with Grass Catcher
I was a little skeptical that a reel mower could work well in my SW Florida yard of drought burned scrub. I had let the grass get pretty long since it had been a month or so since I had mowed due to the severe drought we are experiencing. Some spots in the yard are bare sand where the grass has died completely yet there are other spots where the grass is very long and wiry.
OK, to be honest I was thinking I had screwed up by buying the reel mower since the results at first were dismal. The reel mower just mostly pushes really long grass over instead of cutting it. I got the old self propelled Toro out and sheared down the neglected mess. It was after that when I decided to give the reel mower another shot that I learned what a gem this mower is.
When taken to task of routine mowing of grass that is not overgrown this Gilmour reel mower does an amazing job. I didn’t bother with the bag attachment since it sees too small to be very useful. I managed to cut my whole lawn faster then I can do woth the Toro self propelled machine. The reason is that I could cut at a faster ground speed and never had to stop, empty the bag, and then restart.
The reel is louder then I expected but not so much that it bothers me. The mower is easier to push then I expected so that is a big plus. The cut is much better then I expected since I don’t have what most would consider “grass” in my yard. I don’t use weed killers because I believe they will give my dogs cancer so the result is a lawn that is populated by lots of different kids of weeds ad several varieties of grass mixed in. As long as you don’t let the weeds stems get too high the mower will cut everything. The result is a nice flat green lawn. The mower will miss a few blades here and there but over all I’m happy with it. I’m pleased with my purchase.
PS: another big positive for me using the manual reel mower is that it doesn’t seem to affect my hay fever allergies at all like the power mower does. If you have grass allergies like I do, give one of these things a try. Mowing with the power mower is just miserable for me when the sneezing starts. All this and no money spent on fuel!