They need to be reliable, economical, functional and highly effective in order to satisfy your every gardening need. This is why I have put together this best reel mowers guide to help you on your way to lawn mowing bliss.
With everything from ride-on mowers to robotic mowers (an experience I’d rather forget to be honest) being available you might think that the traditional reel mower design is now out dated, but it’s never been so relevant.
My own reel mower has never let me down; always being there when I need it, ready and waiting to eat through overgrown blades of grass and rarely ever needing to be serviced or repaired.
Reel mowers owe their success to several factors including:
This buyer's guide is designed to cut out any unnecessary information and provide you only with the details you REALLY need to know about reel mowers. From small, domestic yards to larger commercial gardens you will be able to find the best reel mower to suit your needs.
Technical specifications, price, functionality and hands-on experience are all going to be factored into our comprehensive overview of a wide range of mowers covering every budget and preference you can think of.
We will also highlight what you should and should not look for when purchasing the best reel mower. By the end, you’ll know exactly which option will best suit your needs; are you ready to get your hands dirty and mow your way through the best reel mowers money can buy?
Let’s get to it!
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Pruduct Name | Our Rating | Prices |
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Best Reel Mowers Over $100 | ||
Best Reel Mowers Under $100 | ||
If you want to have the best push reel lawn mower on the market and you don’t mind spending a bit of money, here are two great options worth considering.
If you are looking for a classic design, push reel mower the Scotts 2000 model provides you with the fuel savings of a manual mower paired with the wide cutting width of a power mower.
Scotts model boasts a unique rear wheel design to help reduce drag and improve manoeuvrability.
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Our Rating
At a very reasonable price of around $110 this mower can suit any budget. This classic push reel mower by Scotts boasts a wide 20-inch mouth size which gives you the cutting power and size of a motor powered mower, without the pollution, emissions and costs.
You can enjoy complete control over the height of your grass with the Scotts 2000 reel mower. It incorporates an easy-to-use, quick-snap height adjusters that deliver fingertip control over the blade height for precision lawn cutting. Adjustable from one to three inches, they easily fit into nine different height slots and stay securely locked in place thanks to quick-snap technology.
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This mower is pretty high spec for a domestic, manual reel mower and certainly doesn’t leave you wanting more! With its 20inch mouth size and 9 grass heights to choose from this mower is a steal at the price.
For those who love innovation and style in the products they buy, the Fiskas 18-inch Staysharp Max Reel Mower is your perfect garden accomplice.
This reel mower boasts a unique combination of advanced technologies making the mower 60% easier to push than other reel mowers – a highly advantageous aspect of this model.
The onboard InertiaDrive Reeleffectively delivers twice the cutting power of a standard reel mower too – this kind of power isn’t to be sniffed at for the price.
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For an eco-friendly, reel mower, you can’t really do any better than this. It is without doubt the most effortless and convenient way to mow a lawn I have ever experienced.
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The innovative technology incorporated into this mower is what makes it a top performer. The InertiaDrive reel and the Staysharp cutting system make this mower one of the highest spec manual mowers you can get for the price. I love how accessible it is and I enjoy the workout it provides when going uphill.
The next products are the more affordable reel lawn mower that Amazon has to offer.
If you have been searching for a nifty little budget reel mower for small yards then you will love this reel mower by the American Lawn Mower Company. For a budget price this mower is compact, won’t take up any space in your shed and is capable of getting the job done.
The mower has a 8-1/2-inch diameter high impact, polymer wheels with a 4 blade reel and a 14-inch cutting width. It’s also super lightweight at only 19 pounds.
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Our Rating
Perfect for keeping those smaller lawns trimmed and tidy the American Lawn Mower 14" reel mower is made with tempered alloy steel. It delivers a reliable cut and operation is easy.
A handy tip before using this mower for the first time is to oil the moving components to ensure a smooth break-in. The height of this grass cutting lawn mower is easily adjustable so you can achieve the blade length you want without much fuss.
What’s more it is also great for cutting narrow strips of turf along any sidewalks. With it being so light (only 20 pounds, probably a bit less) it is easy to manoeuvre which makes it a good mower for the older generation too.
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Precise, compact and lightweight, the 14 Inch Deluxe Hand Reel Mower is great for those smaller, domestic lawns or yards that make a gas or electric mowers look somewhat out of place and hugely unnecessary.
For fewer than 100 bucks, what more could you really want in a reel mower? It’s about $30 less than all the other reel mowers available on the market. Sometimes the best things come in smaller packages.
This mower has the smallest price tag in the buyers guide but the 18-inch mower still packs a hard punch nevertheless. This reel mower comes with a collection bag allowing you to keep your garden free from waste as you mow.
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Our Rating
I love the fact that for the budget cost it comes with a grass catcher so you can easily collect clippings while you mow, helping to keep your lawn clean and tidy - it’s really a welcome and unexpected feature at this price point.
Because I always like to put back into my garden (I’m also a keen recycler) I like to detach the grass catcher to mulch clippings, so my soil can benefit from all the nutrients which means more plants and flowers!
What stands out about this mower is it's ergonomic design with comfortable foam grips on the handle, which really does make the job easier. This mower is so quiet when in use it's virtually silent so you won’t disturb the neighbours. It’s an eco-friendly mower, which produces no fumes, emissions or mess – this means no stress.
It is ideal for small lawns or areas that require some special attention. At only 34 pounds it’s still lightweight (although not the lightest on the market) making it nice and easy to manoeuvre.
The 9-position dual lever height adjuster allows you select how high you want grass to be cut from 0.75 to 2.5 in. The 5-blade alloy steel reel seems to be pretty durable and the cutting action slices through grass like a pair of scissors.
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Ideal for light or medium duty yard work and for around the $60 mark, this mower does a fine job of cutting the lawn. It’s simple yet effective. For cutting the grass it's fine, for anything else it won’t deliver but really what can you expect for the price?
BLACK + DECKER have produced a 3-in-1 trimmer which comes at a rock bottom price and may end up being the only tool you need to look after your garden.
It’s a corded electric mower that comes with a trimmer/edger and mower detachable mower deck, spool of trimmer string, auxiliary handle, guard and operating instructions.
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Here’s for something a little different! From highly reputable brand BLACK +DECKER this is the ultimate budget 3-in-one mower.
This mower may look simplistic and traditional from the outside but it easily converts from mower to trimmer and to edger with ease. It has you covered from all angles allowing you to just have one device for all your gardening needs.
The good quality gear drive delivers consistent power in most grass types and the design also features adjustable height and pivoting handle positions. It also boasts two deck height adjustments (from 1.6 to 2.4 inches) and an automatic feed spool that ensures continuous work without bumping.
This mower is ideal for homes with small yards of up to 1,200 square feet. It’s also good for those yards and gardens with small inclines or particularly difficult-to-reach areas. What’s more, this model (MTE912) is the corded version (with 6.5 amp motor), but it's also available in a cordless version so you can choose the right option for your yard.
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Again, because of the low price of this product it's very hard to fault it on a serious level.
The 3-in-one mower offers all the bells and whistles you need to mow your lawn and trim those weeds. Very light in weight it is easy to operate and can remove the stress from having and storing multiple garden tools.
After reading through this buyer’s guide, you should now have a great idea in regards to not only what’s out there, but which reel mower model is going to suit your needs adequately. Gardening is a very personal thing, and by extension, so are mowers.
You’re going to be spending hours of time per year with your chosen model, so you need to carefully balance all of the pro’s and con’s outlined above and decide which cons you can live with in the pursuit of the best set of “pro’s” to suit your individual gardening needs.
You might feel like spending lots of money is unnecessary and feel physically fit enough to tackle your lawn using nothing but your own pushing power, in which case the most basic models featured here will definitely suit your needs.
On balance, you might want to make your gardening life a little easier - after years of laborious gardening, it might just be time for you to opt for a little motorised help and spend a little extra money on one of the more advanced models.
There’s really no right or wrong choice here - it’s all about making the choice that suits you the most and will allow you to get the very best out of your garden.
At the very least, you should choose the mower variety that’s going to allow you to enjoy being in the great outdoors the most.
Lawn care should be a joyous activity after all, or at least; standing back and seeing the end result should. This is why you need to make sure you choose the most enjoyable means of getting to it by selecting any one of these fantastic mowers.