Non-Gas Lawn Mowers

My reel push mower does leave clippings. It's best to mow a bit more often if that bothers you. I don't let it bother me. If you let it get too tall, the clippings are longer. Definitely a mulching mower works better if that is a major factor. I never pick up the clippings. However, I do use a broom to tidy up the sidewalk.

I often get comments "that looks like a lot of work", etc. But I can't see driving my car to the gym, taking the elevator up, and running on a treadmill when I can just mow my lawn. Also I can mow a lot faster with a push mower. By the time my neighbor has gas poured in his, I'm halfway through the lawn. No maintenance except an occasional adjustment of blade distance. Brill recommends you do not sharpen. Hmmm. That always seemed strange. The Brill is only 20 lbs. That's sweet. I broke a wheel, called them and they sent a new wheel. Never had any other problems. It's very quiet too. Nothing like the drooooooone of power mowers (yuck!).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 8 2006, 11:02 PM) [snapback]251987[/snapback]</div>

Hah, Honda's beaten Toyo to the punch on this one...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/11/hondas_new_hybr.html

eyeguy, did you mention that you were military? Is so, do you share your green thoughts with the folks that you work with? I was Army for 7 years and found most folks in my units (actually, they were all dudes) paid little attention (at best) to these sorts of issues. Getting people to recycle was a serious bitch, and of course, the vast majority of new vehicle purchases were large trucks and SUVs. My fellow NCOs were the most on that count. It was like an arms race with each E7 out doing the last. All I could do was shake my head.

 

Yeah, it's really too bad. The Air Farce should be commended for being the country's largest buyer of green energy. You guys are doing a lot, whether joe snuffy (do they use that term in the USAF?) knows it or not. So, there is hope.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 8 2006, 12:09 AM) [snapback]251301[/snapback]</div>

Well this topic got me to thinking. The net result is that I ordered a Brill Luxus 38 yesterday from peoplepoweredmachines.com. We have a relatively small, flat yard so it should be fairly easy with a push mower. And the Brill sounds superb - just 16 pounds, quiet, etc. The gas mower is going into retirement.

 

I've been using a Toro Cordless Recycler for about 5+ years. It lasts a reasonable amount of time (I think around 45 mins to an hour) on 1 charge and it's much quieter than a gas mower. Plus, you don't reek from the gasoline after mowing.

Highly recommended!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 8 2006, 12:09 AM) [snapback]251301[/snapback]</div>

I got a little cheapie, American something, for half price on clearance at Lowe's. It works great! The only complaint I have is that it gets caught on small twigs very easily. Otherwise, it works well, and believe it or not, is no more of a workout than a regular push mower (with no self propelling motor).

Totally worth the money. As a bonus, I can listen to my iPod at a decent decibel level while mowing AND I don't have to worry about it waking up my toddler from his nap...

 

[attachmentid=3478]<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 8 2006, 12:09 AM) [snapback]251301[/snapback]</div>

Have you considered rabbits? Quiet, good little grass trimmers. Require water, some shelter from elements, and protection from free roaming dogs, cats, and other predators. When overpopulation becomes a problem they are pretty nice tasting.... But if you want something that can defend itself quite nicely a goat comes to mind, 1/4 acre is all it would need for food, if it were bred then you could have the added bonus of goat's milk, goat's butter, goat cheese.
Seriously I prefer an electric mower over a hand push mower any day. I don't care for self-propelled gas mowers. I use my lawn mower pictured and a cheap gas mower for the stuff he doesn't get.

 

How about the electric robotic lawn mowers?

http://www.friendlyrobotics.com/robomow/mowers/

I've done some reading on those before, they seem pretty interesting. The higher end model you can basically just put out in your yard and plug in the docking station and program a schedule into it and it does all the mowing on schedule and returns to the dock automatically for charging and to wait for the next scheduled job. I think they have little flags or something you can put up too so it doesn't run over something...? Anyway, looks pretty neat, I think they have some demo videos on there somewhere.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tomdeimos @ May 8 2006, 11:37 AM) [snapback]251598[/snapback]</div>

I'm in the asphalt construction and sealcoating buisiness and we use a lot of small engines on our equiptment. My experience with Briggs and Stratton is that they usually only last for 1 season under heavy use whereas a Honda will last for around 5 and use half the gas. I think B&S just didn't want to admit they don't really know what a catalitic converter does :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 16 2006, 09:45 PM) [snapback]256639[/snapback]</div>

Jaaayyyysus Christ!! That rabbit's dynamite!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ May 17 2006, 11:52 AM) [snapback]256885[/snapback]</div>

It's a vicious bunny!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eyeguy13 @ May 7 2006, 11:09 PM) [snapback]251301[/snapback]</div>

I went through the same process about 3 years ago and ended up buying a corded Black and Decker. I looked at the cordless but then decided that the most environmental choice would be to eliminate the battery and deal with the cord. After a few uses it became second nature and now I'll never go back to gas. IMHO if you have outdoor outlets I'd recommond the cord, if not then a battery is the next best thing.

The push reel has never gotten much attention from me because I frequently let the grass grow too much between mowings.

 

I use an American reel mower. Got it at Ace hardware. This is my second mowing season with it.

Pros:
*No gas. No gas to buy, transport, store, pour (spill all over) or smell.
*No engine. No spark plugs, oil, filters or any engine parts that need maintenance. And no pull rope to break.
*No cords or batteries.
*Low (almost no) maintenance. With so few moving parts, a simple design and sturdy build, there just isn't much to do.
*Quiet
*No fumes
*In my opinion, the lawn looks better than with a rotary mower.

Cons:
*It doesn't pull itself and you can't ride on it.
*It doesn't mulch. Not like a closed deck rotary anyway.
*You can bag with it, but the bag gets heavier making the mower harder to push as it fills.
*The amount of lawn you can mow is limited by how long you can push for.
*The higher and thicker the grass, the harder it is to push.
*Tall wispy stalks (like the seed stalks on Indian grass) get bent over as much as cut. You'll only get 60% or so in pass. Maybe less.
*It doesn't mow when you pull it backwards, only pushed forwards.
*Sticks. A reel mower is not a wood chipper. You'll have to pick up more sticks, or just kick them around, than with a rotary.

The reel mowers do not give the lawn the same mowed look as rotary mowers. Instead of looking fresh mowed, it looks like the grass is not tall. It looks as if your grass just grew short. I think it looks better, more natural.

If you have Dallis, Johnson or Indian grass (or any wheat looking grass) with tall wispy seed stalks, the reel mover will not cut them as well as a rotary. It does great on St Augustine and most of the other random grasses and weeds mixed into our lawn. You have four options to deal with wispy seed stalks.
*Get rid of that grass and weeds.
*Mow over it two or more times in different directions.
*Get a reel mower with as many reel blades as you can. The more the better. The reel blades are not the sharp parts. The cutting blade they pass over is. More reel blades though gives more swipes per pass.
*Just live with it. That's what I do. A few wisps sticking up doesn't bother me.

Understand though, you do not have to mow over St Aug more than once per mow. The reel mower cuts great on most everything in the lawn. My neighbor tried it on his Bermuda and it did fine there too.

The mower is not hard to push. True, the higher and thicker the grass, the harder it is to mow, but it still isn't really hard. We had a mild winter and are having a warm and wet spring. Our back yard took off like mad with winter rye and chic weed. I mowed it down from ankle deep with no problem.

The owner's manual says I'll only need to sharpen the cutting blade once per season, if that much. Maybe only once every few years. On the American, the wheels can be taken off and put on backwards. Then I can put on some lapping compound and just push it up and down the drive way a few times to sharpen. It can be done with a flat file too.

The reel won't get bound on every little stick. Especially if you set it on the highest setting. Mines passes right over a good many sticks. Even when it does catch a stick, I just nudge the reel back with my foot and carry on. And really, you're not supposed to mow over a lot of sticks with a rotary either.

All in all, I'm happy with the reel. It's easy to use, worry free and does a fine job.

 

How about some goats?

 

Advice from the perspective of a Briton now living in the USA.

If you have a small yard:
Use a manual push mower or electric mower. Or if you don't care about the look you can even use a weed whacker (I have an electric).

If you have a large yard:
Move. (Or turn your yard into a garden.)



Of course, there's always this:

Artificial Grass by waterlessgrass.com

 

i had a cordless 48V lawnmower that could also be plugged in for extra power. It had up to 60 minutes run time advertised, my lawn required 45 minutes and the mower could not handle it. I had to mow the front lawn one day and the back the next day. I also couldn't use the power mode as you need lots of really expensive extension cords as the cheaper regular garden extension cords just tripped the circuit breaker. The electric mower had a bag but had so little suction it couldn't handle the leaves in the fall, so I'm back to the evil gas mower.

I sold it to a guy in texas who loved it because he used his riding mower for his giant yard and used my electric mower for touch ups on areas he couldn't get to with the riding mower.

Bottom line, electric lawn mowers aren't for everyone, but for some people they are absolutely perfect. I need the power of gas for my yard size, to handle the leaves in the fall, to not get bogged down by wet grass in the morning, and I enjoy changing the oil. I still use corded edger, rechargeable trimmer and corded blower.

Reel mowers are a lot of fun, but the cost to sharpen the blades once a year is more than the cost of gas, oil, filter and blade sharpening for one year of a gas mower.

 

I have an acre of mostly hilly land. There's no way a non-electric mower would ever work for me. Even using my John Deere riding mower, it still takes almost 2 hours to mow.

In the fall, I use a 14-hp "Little Giant" fan to blow off the leaves; luckily, I have woods on 3 sides of my property the leaves can be blown on to. In my garage I have a gas-powered rototiller, hedge clipper, power washer and snow blower. I'm making use of all that technology has to offer. I simply don't have the time nor the physical endurance that many of you seem to have.

From some of the postings here a sense of "holier than thou" self-righteousness seems to be prevelent since they are not using that evil gasoline. Hey, that's fine for you; in fact I'm getting the sense there's a lot of undercover Amish wannabe's here.