Scotts Outdoor Power Tools 2000-20S 20-Inch 5-Blade Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower, Green

If, like me, you're tempted to make the change from a gas mower to a reel mower, keep reading.While most of the reviews on Amazon are positive for this mower, the one-star reviews made me nervous, especially since I have a fairly large lawn to mow. After my experience with the first mow last night, I can tell you not to worry.Performance: My lawn was a little higher than normal, so it was a good test for mower. The cut was clean and efficient. It took a couple of passes to realize I was leaving a strip of unmowed grass if I tracked my progress from wheel indention to wheel indention in the grass. The blades stop an inch or so short of the wheel, so you will need to overlap somewhat. I experienced very few problem areas that required multiple passes. A real plus was there were no clumps of grass left behind the mower. With my gas mower, I would typically need to go deal with a couple of grass clumps with the lawn as high as it was. Sticks were a minor problem: most of them went under the reel but the few that stuck up, did get caught and stopped the mower in it's tracks -- even very small sticks. If you have a wooded area to mow with lots of branches, think twice about a manual mower. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about one being launched as a projectile!Comfort: Don't be fooled by it not having a motor: it is noisy and you will have a difficult time hearing anyone while you are pushing it. That said, it doesn't hold a candle to the noise of a gas mower. With the high gear ratio of the blades to the wheels, it takes an intial umph to get the reel moving (I couldn't do it very well one-handed) but momentum is on your side once you're on your way. While it is much lighter weight, I think it is a tie with my gas mower on ease of pushing. The mower will throw cut grass all over your feet. Since it is thrown with so little force, you don't feel it and I noticed the wind was blowing much of it to the side before it even reached me.Intangibles: It felt good to mow the lawn completely under my own muscle power. There was much less noise, the noise stops as you turn around to start the next row, and you don't smell like exhaust when the mowing is done. While I worked up a good sweat (about the same as with the gas mower) it was a very different feeling (and smell) than you get with a gas mower.Overall: I would highly recommend. This model with a 20" swath, is larger than most of the ones I've seen around town. It probably makes it more difficult to push than a narrower one but I would only see that as a factor if you were quite petite. Oh, don't bother ordering the sharpener that Amazon tries to pair with the mower...it cuts perfectly out of the box and the manual states it shouldn't need to be sharpened for a number of years with normal use.****UPDATE*****After using the reel mower for the remainder of the summer, I have a few additional points to add.Pro1) Mower continues to cut well and I have not been tempted to switch back to my gas mower.2) I will mow a small patch if I only have a few minutes because there is so little hassle in using the mower.Con1) It helps to have a weedeater for the taller weeds that will never cut, no matter how many times you make a pass.2) The foam handle has basically disintegrated. I wrapped it with duct tape before it completely fell apart and it everything is OK.3) I've had some problems with the mower engaging with the wheel. Some times the wheel will rotate but the mower will not engage. Doesn't happen often and usually happens when starting out. I've not tried to investigate the problem or contact Scotts for support.Overall, I would lower my rating to 3 stars for the product for the handle and blade engagement issues. However, I don't see myself ever going back to gas.

After cutting my lawn with a gas-powered mower last summer, I wanted to simplify things. I really don't want to stress over spark plugs and oil and gasoline, and hoping that my engine will start when I pull the cord. All the maintenance. We already have a car for that. I wanted something I could understand, that worked well. This does the trick. I honestly look forward to cutting the lawn now. It's a fun experience. I like the 20-in width because you tend to overlap as you travel back and forth across your lawn anyway, so it's great that you don't have to do as many passes as you would with a narrower mower. I like not having to make sure I have enough gasoline to cut my lawn, especially as gas has increased in recent months. The only fuel I need is in my body. Our lawn is mostly level, yet this does give me a bit of good exercise, though nothing too extreme at all. What I lose in machine-propelled front-wheel drive I make up for in a healthier heart. I'll take it. This is much quieter than an electric or gas-powered mower, so I am able to cut grass at 7:00 a.m. before it gets very hot or the day gets busy, and not bother anyone. The first time I used it, my wife didn't even know I was outside her window cutting grass. I'd been reading up before my purchase, and I learned that a reel mower is better for your grass due to its cutting method, working much more like scissors rather than a rotating horizontal blade that tends to leave the tips of grass brown and leaves behind a trail of “hay” unless you use a bagger on your mower. With several blade height settings that are as easy as popping a little handle out of a notch and then back in around the wheel, it's also possible to cut the grass much shorter like golf course style than other styles of mowers, if that suits your needs. I share an unfenced lawn with my neighbors, so personally I use a higher blade height in order to match what they've cut already with their electric and gas mowers. Many people have said that you need to use a reel mower much more often than a gas-powered mower, but that hasn't been my experience. If I cut any sooner than weekly (~30 minutes), I find that there's very little that's ready to be cut. I'm guessing amount of rain and sunshine and grass type are factors in this, though. All in all, I'm really digging this retro mower lifestyle. Stress-free. Yes, please!