Lawn Mowers

Black and Decker Rechargeable cordless Electric.

Nate

 

Toro cordless electric mulching mower. I've had it for seven years - replaced the battery once. It works perfectly. Unfortunately, I don't think it is sold anymore.

 

We are trying to reduce the size of our lawn by planting other types of groundcover species and adding landscape features such as rocks.

In the meantime, however, we use a basic Black and Decker electric mulching mower (with cord). One of these years, we might downsize to a human-powered pushmower, but our lawn has to get a little smaller first.

 

Scotts Reel Mower from Home Depot. I sweat like a pig using it, but it's good excercise and use neither electricity nor fuel

 

Good for you, Manny! Until this summer, I've been using a reel mower for almost 35 years -- started on it as a kid, and never went to a power mower.

However, to my shame, I've given up on the reel mower this year. Oh, I'd continue doing it if I had my druthers -- I love the quiet, and the thing is so light and easy to maneuver.

However, it's those :cussing: dandelions! They grow extremely quickly, and my reel mower is no good at all with anything taller than 2-3". So I was always borrowing a neighbor's power mower.

Did what Marg did -- bought a corded electric Black and Decker mower. Friends with the rechargable unit said that (1) they were pretty heavy and (2) the battery tended to run down for their lawns. The corded B&D has been relatively quiet, and OK in terms of ease of use.

But I still miss my reel mower. :cussing: dandelions.

 

I don't have grass in my garden...

 

Good for you Manny! That's the kind of stuff that can make a real difference (no pun intended!).

I used to have 1.5 acres of lawn with quite a few trees and mounds. I had a 12 hp riding mower, a small push mower, and a weed-eater. It took me all day to mow the lawn.

Now I live in an apartment. Contractors mow the (tiny) front lawn, and plow out the snow in winter. I don't have to do anything. I miss my 4-acre farmstead, but not the work of maintaining it.

 

Yanmar 1500 diesel tractor with a 48" brush hog. I have 6.5 acres to maintain. I tried to run it on biodiesel, but it seemed to be very prone to overheating on it.

Oh well, I can mow my entire property twice on one tank of fuel.

 

What I'd love to find somewhere is a push mower that -- instead of a reel -- spins a blade like a normal lawnmower (parallel to the ground, slicing grass off at the top), fast enough to cut stuff.

Don't know if it's practical, though.

I did some web searching, and found a reel mower made in 1940-something that had a bunch of little shears at the top of the reel mower that would cut grass. Apparently it didn't work well, or wasn't sold well, because it disappeared soon after.

I've always heard very good things about the Brill (sp?) reel mowers; but their web page mentions that they don't cut tall grass and weeds either. Drat.

 

A Sears electric with 100 feet of 14 ga. 3-wire extension cord (ugh).

 

Another thread, on extension cord winders for a corded mower.

In the end, I just got a $5 heavy-duty plastic thingie (technical term) that you wind the cord around. All the auto-wind ones either weren't sturdy, or were more expensive (and required more setup work) than I wanted to get into.

 

When we eventually get a house with a yard, we're getting a reel mower too. It's nice to see other like-minded people here.

 

More about my Black and Decker Cordless Rechargeable Electric:

#1. It's powered by wind. Really. I get my electricity from a wind farm, so breathe easy.

#2. I owned a reel mower at first and it sucked. I spent more gas driving it all over town to get it fixed than if I owned a Honda mower.

#3. There are only three mowers I would ever own:

-Small: (great for my .2 acre) Black&Decker cordless electric $450
-Medium: (up to 2 acres) Honda mower with Xenoy Deck, Hydrostatic Drive, and most importantly: A BLADE BRAKE CLUTCH. $750
-Large: (how big do you want?) Dixie Chopper! World's fastest lawnmower. Time is money... $5000 (or more, depending on model...)

 

BTW, if buying the B&D cordless, get the weed wacker too:

B&D cordless electric trimmer. $100. Works great.

(Not suitable for you? Go straight to the Tanaka straight shaft, it's CARB and EPA approved for low emmisions).

Need an edger? Get the hand push model from Home Depot. Must stay on top of it, though. For occasional or professional use, get the Tanaka TLE-550. It's truly awesome. The way I see it, spending the least amount of time running the machine to get the job done likely uses less fuel and emits fewer emmisions. (Hard to say for sure).

Nate

 

I've been using a Sears Craftsman electric with rear bag discharge that I bought new back in 1994 also with about 100 feet of 14 guage wire. It has done a great job since then only needing to replace the blades twice since new. Being a rear bagger, the handle didn't flip over for cutting in the opposite direction.

Prior to that I had a side bagging Sunbeam electric for six years that did have the flip over handle. I got it for $15 at a moving sale.

 

A horse, now, would mow your lawn, fertilize it at the same time, and use the free biomass to provide you with free transportation. And they make good pets.