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 - SCOTTS 20" PUSH MOWERI had to make a decision; go with a new gas mower and pollute the world more, or replace my 1960's push mower with another one. What to do? Well, I guess I could have gone electric, but you guessed it... I got the Scotts push mower. Electric just wasn't practical for me. So here' goes.... TYPE OF LAWN; My lawn is completely flat with no trees anywhere on the property. The front lawn is approximately 20'x 8' and has plants bordering the house, There are two levels to the back yard that are separated buy a 3' high cement wall, so the mower must be carried down a small flight of cement steps to get to the bottom level. Both levels are approximately 30' x 40'. There is also a 5'x 45' wide strip that goes from front to back. All these segments are well grassed and bordered by fences, house, and cement walls. WHERE & HOW MUCH $$$; I bought the Scotts 20" push mower at Home Depot today (5/21/08) for $129. + tax. This is after being outbid twice on eBay for a slightly used one. ASSEMBLY AND FUNCTION; Got the mower home, un-boxed and assembled it in about 20 easy minutes, and started to push (the handle is the only thing you have to assemble). The grass was soon flyin'. This mower cuts so much better than my old 60's mower, but definitely not as good (as evenly) as a powered mower. If you think one pass is good enough, think again... but it's not that big a deal to go over the few uncut areas again. It actually mulches it a bit if you go over your clippings a second time. It only took me a few extra minutes to get the lawn pretty evenly cut after I made all the normal directional passes. I also had to pick some individual long (6-8" high) grasses by hand because the mower's maw is not high enough, so it pushes these grasses away so the blade can't make contact. Hey, if it saves the environment, so be it. RESULTS; All in all, the lawn looks good, and it wasn't that hard to do. I believe it took under 50 minutes to complete. I think I can live with this mower if it doesn't break or I don't break. NEGATIVES; The handle is held together by 8 carriage bolts with wing nuts. I kept tightening all of them while mowing, but they won't tighten enough to keep the handle from twisting while maneuvering the mower in certain (real-world) ways (like picking up just one wheel). It's fine when pushing straight ahead and turning. It looks like the handle will eventually break if not babied or reinforced somehow. Some of the handle's wing nuts are so close together that I had a tough time getting my fingers in between them to give them a good tightening. They should have spread them out to make it more rigid. ENGINEERING MISTAKE; Besides the flimsy handle, I can also see that the blade could have easily been 3/4" longer on either side. What I'm getting at is that this mower doesn't cut to the edges very well (but it could have been better if they just made the blade a little longer and the wheels a tad thinner). You should expect its edging capability to be no closer than 3-5 inches next to a fence or wall or around a pole. CONCLUSION; Pollute or push... it's a tough call. This mower made pushing worth it for me. If you have a big lawn, you will get a good workout. Perfect for smaller, level lawns. I will update this writing if my mower has any issues. UPDATE 8/13/08- The Scotts mower is still holding up well. I've noticed, however, that the ends of the blades do not cut as well as the center of the blades, thus, making the already poor edge cutting, worse. (It's still acceptable , though). I'm not sure if this is just a simple adjustment. There's 4 adjustment screws that control the angle and pressure of the lower cutting bar which the blades cut against. I will update after I make the adjustment. Rating:  - Its perfect for what it is designed to doI worry about things like the bastardized global economy, environmental degradation, and our interesting government predicament, not my lawn. My neighbors got together and decided to turn in some complaints to the city because my grass had overgrown a little. Again, I don't think it was out of control but I guess I can't complain that these folks had nothing better to do than worry about my grass. Oh well. I should also defend myself by saying that I am a renter. My landlord lives about 60 miles away from me and rarely comes out here. The lawn maintenance is his responsibility and not mine. I finally convinced my landlord to get me a lawnmower and he decided a push reel mower was the best. I silently agree because it forces a little exercise on me, it doesn't require a lot of maintenance, its better for the environment, there isn't an irrationally irritating motor to wake everyone in the city up at 7am on Saturday (like of my neighbors think is acceptable), and doesn't require gas or oil. He originally gave me a $75 budget for this but after reading some reviews I pushed him to spend a little more for this one. The only problem I had with this piece of equipment was that much of my yard had weeds and grass about a foot tall, some dead and some alive. If the foliage you are trying to cut is too tall, the mower will strike anyone who has not used this type of machine as inefficient. I, however, have used these before and knew that some extra work would be required since I had let my yard get out of control. My yard to my a couple of hours. Now it is complete and will be a fraction the amount of time and energy to keep up with. Now I'd like to address a few issues that were pointed out in some other reviews I read 1. It is not designed to do any edging; neither is a gas powered mower. 2. If your grass is too long, it will take a lot of effort to get back "in line." 3. It does not have any functional way for grass removal; so I got a rake (big deal). 4. The proximity of the blades to the wheels and the blades to the guard does not make it easy to get along a curb or around trees; so I use a weed whacker for edging and around trees. 5. You will more than likely have to go over the same spot more than once to get an even cut, you may even have to go two different directions. But the machine itself is pretty light weight and easy to push so I don't think its too difficult at all. I have used regular mowers and push mowers. After considering the pro's and con's, my preference is the push mower. I hate having to buy gas and oil and parts for the motor of a regular lawn mower. I also hate how loud and smelly they are. Not to mention you could cook a steak on a regular mower when you are done. If you're kind of lazy, you don't mind dealing with gas, oil, parts, maintenance, noise, and fumes - buy a gas powered mower. If you don't mind a little exercise the first time out and weed whacking when you are done, go with a push mower. This product does exactly what it is designed to do. If you don't like it, you don't like push mowers... Although I can't speak for those REALLY expensive ones that as a male I naturally wanted to buy; you may like one of those a little better. I could only afford the conventional design. Rating: - Mostly great but two small problemsFirst the good stuff. It requires little or no maintenance. It is absolutely NO harder to push than a gas mower. It is more maneuverable than a gas or electric mower, therefore it takes less time to mow than either alternative mower.(I don't understand why people think it is a major workout or takes so long to mow) It is quieter than a gas or electric mower and it just makes you feel good not wasting energy when you can use your own body's stored energy. OK now the bad things which are relatively minor. 1. You have to constantly tighten the handle screws or the handle will torque. It's a pain but no big deal. 2. After mowing, you have to go back with a trimmer of some kind to get the taller grass and weeds. This mower simply will not cut them. Overall, I must say that I like this mower. Rating:  - Saving Energy Is ExhaustingI tried to do the right thing by buying a push mower, and I really hate the noise of a gasoline mower. Unfortunately, this product was a huge disappointment, and now I am going to have to buy a power mower after all. This mower skips and slides over the grass without cutting, so I have to go over the same spot three times to have any chance of cutting it. Even then it is pretty rough. In the end, it takes three times as long and five times as much personal energy to cut an area half as well. Of course, there is no trouble-shooting guide provided, and there is no hope of taking it to a service place, so the only recourse is to trash this item and waste whatever money was spent on it. Years ago I used to sell Scott products, and I thought they were reliable even if they cost somewhat more. No longer. Now it is just one more piece of junk trying to get by on a company's previous reputation. My advice: stay away from this one. Rating: - Works ok, a few small issuesThis mower works well except for one issue. If any of the grass grows over 4 inches, for instance a weed here and there, the mower will go right over it and not cut it. So what you are left with is a nicely trimmed lawn dotted with really long weeds. This is because it doesn't have the vacuum/sucking force that a motor-mower has. So if you are ok with a little inconsistency, and are not too anal about your lawn, this thing works great. Very easy to push, good exercise, quiet, and thus far, durable.
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