Features:

  • Quick, adjustable cutting Height of 0.5"-1.75" For a clean, even cut every time
  • 14" Cutting width, 4-blade ball bearing reel, and 8.5" Composite wheels
  • Blades are made of quality, heat-treated alloy steel for staying sharp longer
  • T-style handle with cushioned grip and lightweight design for comfort; easy, tool-less assembly
  • Clean and quiet way to maintain your lawn; requires no gas or oil
One thing I already love is the fact that you don't have to worry ...

This is waaaay easier to push than my heavy gas mower. Did the grass in the same amount of time, maybe less! One thing I already love is the fact that you don't have to worry about rocks being thrown up at you. This mower cut my uneven lawn like it was butter, and nice and quiet, and I didn't have to go over it more than once. What I noticed is the gas mower bucks around anytime you hit little pot holes (thank you silly family dogs). For some reason, the reel mower doesn't flop around when a wheel dips down into a little pot hole. It just glides smoothly over everything. And it gets closer to fencing and raised beds than then gas mower and was super easy to turn directions with it. I did A LOT of research on reel mowers and looked at reviews both in Amazon and online before I purchased this one: what I took into consideration was product weight, parts replacement and availability, warranty, sharpening, jamming issues due to sticks or tall grass, part component quality, item cost, etc. I was actually disappointed that I finished my .20 acre lot in less than 5 minutes. I was hoping it would give me a decent little workout. :-) Seriously, this is like pushing a toy around, didn't even break a sweat in 86 degrees at 5:00 pm.

I was stunned how easily this moved

I’ll update once I’ve had it for awhile but today was the first day. Putting it together was easier than I expected - took about 10 minutes and that includes lowering the “mower deck”. It’s barely spring here and I didn’t think there was enough grass to mow but since I’d put it together I decided to give it a shot. I was stunned how easily this moved! I did the entire fenced dog yard in 20 minutes. This space is generally free of sticks and debris (as long as I poop scoop first) so there was no issue with that. Clean cuts, quiet, and definitely faster than I’d expected. So many reviews talk about “small yards” - what does that even mean? My dog yard is about 6,000sf. Super happy with this and even thinking about using it for some of the hilly and muddy areas of the other couple acres of lawn. Edit 05/28/18: With the grass a little thicker, it now takes me about 30 minutes to cut the dog yard. I get a bit of a workout and my Fitbit says my average heart rate was 130. I wouldn’t recommend this for someone who isn’t moderately fit.

A great mower for flat, unfussy yards

I bought this a year ago after doing a lot of research on various web sites, and it's met all my expectations. I get a good work out using it to mow the yard, so I can feel as if I'm killing two birds with one stone. It isn't too heavy for me to push (I'm an average-height, lighter-weight woman), and I don't have any trouble repositioning it at the end of a row. I also love how little space it takes up in the garage. I've found the reviews I’ve read about reel mowers in general were right about a few things: 1) They’ll choke on twigs, pieces of mulch, walnut shell halves the squirrels leave behind, etc. So you have to be patient about having your momentum stopped while you pick out whatever it is that’s gotten stuck on a blade. 2) They work best on a yard that’s relatively level. 3) They’re much quieter than a power one. 4) They aren’t going to give your lawn that manicured look you get with a gas or electric mower (see photos). I get around this by hiring a lawn service to come mow and edge once a month or so. Finally, using a reel mower on grass that’s too tall may bring one of Eddie Izzard’s monologues from “Glorious,” to mind: “We had the big lawn mower. It was much better than my grandad's. It was a Pushmi-pullyu, related to the cleaning equipment. My grandad had that little triangle of lawn. Hod-de-de-de-de. Hod-de-de-de-de. Hod-de-de-de-de. The grass would go, ‘Oh, for f***'s sake.’ Hod-de-de-de-de. Hod-de-de-de-de. ‘Stay down, lads. Stay down. It's just an air raid. No problem.’ Hod-de-de-de-de. He'd flatten the lawn out. Put it away. They'd go ‘f-thum’ as he was walking away.” I’ve been happy with my Great States reel mower. I’ve used it almost every week for a summer and a half, and I haven’t had to sharpen or adjust the blades yet. The company was very responsive when I needed to replace one of the fasteners (these should be hand tightened each time before mowing because they loosen up and may fall off as the mower is used). Instructions for assembly were clear enough for this non-technical, non-mechanically-minded person to follow, though I found that attaching the handlebar to the mower was a two-person job because I didn’t have the hand strength to do it myself. The rubber padding on the handlebar is starting to crack and split (see photos), but that’s probably to be expected. If I were to buy another reel mower, I’d buy a Great States again because I’ve been happy with the quality of the one I have, but I’d buy a wider one. I chose the narrower model because I was concerned about the weight and maneuverability of the wider model. But I’ve discovered these mowers aren’t heavy or awkward, and the need to overlap the rows when mowing means I don’t get the full 15 inches of blade width with each row. However, I anticipate the mower I bought will last a long, long time. Photo 1: The left half has been mowed with the reel mower, the right half (the neighbor's yard) was mowed with a power mower a few days before Photo 3: The left half has been mowed with the reel mower, the right half hasn't been mowed yet Photos 2 & 4: The wear on the rubber padding after about a season's worth of mowing

Love love love it!

Let me start by saying I am a 60 year old woman, 5 foot nothing, with a back issue and a knee issue. And I have about an acre to mow. It is not flat. I was fed up with gas mowers that won't start and repair men who say they'll come fix it but don't. Out of frustration, I decided to take a gamble and try a reel mower and boy am I glad I did! I chose this particular one because it had great reviews. One of the concerns I had was whether a reel mower could handle a yard as big as mine. Well, it handles it like a champ and in many ways better than a gas mower by virtue of it being so lightweight and compact. And I'm nowhere near as tired when I'm done. My other concern was whether I could handle mowing a yard as big as mine with a reel mower. Turns out I handle it like a champ too! The first time I used it, I threw my knee out and had to quit. But that's because I started out walking really fast with it because I thought I had to in order for it to work. As I was limping across the yard slowly I found out that wasn't true. So after spending a little time with an ice pack on my knee, I went back put and finished mowing, this time at a comfortable pace. It takes a total of two hours to mow my yard so that gives me four 30 minute workouts a week. I expect to lose some weight with this little mower too. Added bonus! LOL The mower was well packaged and came out of the box easily. The only assembly required is putting together the handle and then putting it on the mower. No tools are needed. The handle is in three parts and the instructions say to put them all together before mounting handle to mower. However, I wasn't able to squeeze the end of the handle over the posts on the mower. I ended up taking the bottom part of the handle back off and mounting it to the mower and then reattaching the top of the handle to it. I'm feeling very empowered by this little mower and definitely recommend it!

Great product!!

I've used this item once and will update as I continue. Several reviews have stated that it will not cut grass that is too long; it simply pushes the grass over and won't cut it. Kinda true, but you can get past it with some effort. The best remedy I've found is to get the mower going pretty quickly before you hit a large patch of grass. You may have to go over these rough spots 2 or 3 times to get it completely leveled. My lawn is also uneven. Like, don't drink wine and try walk through it uneven. But this did just fine - as well as an actual lawn mower. As far as how low the mover will cut... my lawn now looks like a golf course. You can adjust the settings, but I chose a lower cut. You may break a sweat using this, but that's part of why I got it; it's a good workout. Overall, definitely recommended for a small yard.

FANTASTIC MOWER!!!

This is a FANTASTIC MOWER!!! I've mowed my lawn several times, and it does a great job. I'm so glad I decided to get a reel mower. Here is what I like about it: 1) It is much easier mowing the lawn with this than with the gas mower I used to have, it's so much lighter and easier to push. I'm disabled and have a very hard time doing yard work. This makes it just a little easier. 2) Quieter than a gas mower. Does not rile up my dog and make me go deaf. 3) Does not throw grass and dust up so my allergies do not flare up as badly when I'm mowing the lawn. 4) Cut grass falls gently back onto lawn 5) Super low maintenance! No gas required, no engine to break down, just spray with WD-40 occasionally and you're good to go! Here are the potential downsides: 1) Taller grass may require several passes to cut evenly 2) Tall weeds will bend under but are not always cut by the mower. After mowing the lawn, if you have tall weeds several will stick up prominently in your yard. To me this is actually an advantage, however, I want to kill the weeds not mow them and this just makes the weeds easier to spot. I settled on a buying a reel mower and almost bought a Fiskars from Lowe's. I'm so glad I checked Amazon first, this mower was less than half the price of the Fiskars and it works so well I just can't imagine what would justify the extra $140 to go with the Fiskars instead of this. As an added plus, I bought this as an Amazon Warehouse deal that was described as Used- Very Good but when the item arrived it looked brand new! I highly recommend this mower.

Love this thing

Love this thing! I've never had to mow a lawn before, so I can't really compare how well this works on my particular lawn compared to a gas or electric mower, but I do love that I don't have to fuss with oil changes or troubleshoot electrical issues. It's very effective and gives a sharp and uniform cut, even on slightly sloped/bumpy ground and tall grass (my lawn was about a foot high for the first mow). It was very simple and quick to put together; the only troublesome part was snapping on the e-rings. I ended up using a hammer to lightly tap them into place. It took an hour to finish the whole lawn the very first time, and now with weekly maintenance it takes just 15 minutes. I highly recommend this if, like me, you have a pretty small yard. It does get stuck on twigs and such (very easy to remove from the blades though), so you'll have to clear away all of that first.

Pleasantly surprised with this mower!

I purchased this mower after looking at reel mowers for several years - we had one when I was a kid, but I was hesitant to buy one because the one we had cut terribly. However, we are really committed to being environmentally friendly, and I was really tired of the corded electric mower we've been using for years. After using this mower for a few months I really am happy I purchased it! The mower was easy to put together - my 7 year old and I did it in about 10 minutes. It cuts well, is easy to push, and is very quiet. My kids (ages 7, 10, and 11) can all use it fairly easily. It does cut some of the weeds fairly well (especially clover), but does not cut the tall stuff like dandelions and those things like little skinny wheat. We are going to treat for weeds and I think that will take care of the problem. It cuts a wide swath - almost as wide as our electric mower. And no annoying cord to constantly rearrange or confess to the husband when you accidentally mow through it! My only complaint about the mower is that the foam cushioning on the handle started to peel off after the first use. We've probably used the mower 7 or 8 times, and it's almost all peeled off. I'm not sure why they bothered putting it on there in the first place, but the mower works fine without it, so I'm going to peel it the rest of the way off and use some handlebar tape in its place.

If you are ready to go REEL then this is the mower for you!

If you already know you want to switch to a reel mower you can stop reading and buy this one. Heavy quality, has worked smoothly for an entire season so far. Great price. Classic design that doesn't need improvement. If you use an electric or gas mower and are still trying to decide if you want to switch, we did this year and are ready to sell the gas mower. Pros: so quiet, so easy to just start mowing, takes up less space in garage, so easy to stop and start mowing if you need to move things out of the way or take a break, scissor cutting mechanism gives a cleaner look to the freshly mowed lawn - it doesn't look butchered as it does with a power mower, it looks very natural. Cons: only cuts while in forward motion so this makes it kind of a pain working into corners and tight spaces, never cuts everything, especially taller weeds like onion grass strands - often had to go around with string trimmer and clean up, cutting width is narrow, absolutely must keep up with grass, you can't let it get too long or you won't be able to mow. A funny aside for you - one of my neighbors ran into me one day and not sure how it came up but they said "but you are a vegan, right?" and I said, "No, I'm an omnivore." to which they replied "oh, but we see you out there with that manual mower . . ." Apparently using a reel mower = being a hippy = being a vegan. So just be forewarned! LOL.

Affordable, compact, lightweight mower

I was a little concerned when I purchased this due to some of the negative feedback including: difficult assembly & adjustment, handles bending due to light weight, inability to cut long grass, and possible quality control. I was very pleasantly surprised. Assembly & adjustment: One reviewer mentioned that you needed to be mechanically inclined to assemble. This is simply not true. The actual mower is assembled, you just put on the handles. Instructions are very easy to follow. You get 4 pieces of aluminum tubing, 3 bolts and washers, and 3 plastic wingnuts. You literally put 3 bolts into the handle (one bolt is 10 mm smaller and goes up top which is clearly indicated) and snap the assembled handle onto the mower securing with a couple half washers. It took me under 2 minutes to assemble. Adjustment is via 4 flathead screws. Mine came calibrated perfectly but calibrating would take a couple rounds of trial and error. If you purchase this device and have no physical impediments you can be mowing your yard in under 5 minutes. Flimsy handles: I did not experience any issues with this. Handles are heavy weight enough to deal with the light-moderate amount of pressure I applied while mowing. Long grass: My patch of grass was horribly overgrown. Lawn was probably 8-10 inches with some tall weeds. The lawnmower would occasionally get gummed up in the grass and I would just pull it back and go over the same patch. It cut cut the grass well with 2-3 passes. Some tall weeds would just get bent down. I can just pull those though because they have thick stems. Quality control: I did not experience any issues. Overall, this is an excellent mower at the price. I only have a 30 x 20 patch of grass making this ideal. I would not want to use this as the only mower for an acre. It would take forever. I was able to do my patch of grass in about 15 minutes. I would recommend this to anyone who has a smaller lawn who doesn't need to get a gas powered mower.

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