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 - Artisan MowingI saw these on sale for Earth Day, but didn't make the decision to buy one until a couple of weeks afterward. This review is for the Scotts 20-inch Push Reel mower, but as the only push reel I've ever owned, this is also partly a review of push reel mowing in general. This mower does generally do a good job of mowing. It is not perfect, particularly with weedy parts of the yard, but it is adequate if you are okay with your yard not looking perfect. In fairness to the push reel mower, my powered mower doesn't yield perfection either. It is quieter than a powered mower. It is by no means silent, but I can wear my .mp3 player and mow. There are no gas fumes, which is also a plus. It's definitely more eco-friendly because it relies on human power. It's a bit more work than my power mower (which isn't self propelled), and it tends to work the upper body more while my power mower takes more leg power. I call this review "artisan mowing" because there is more technique involved with this type of mower. It thrives on long, continuous cuts. You have to be willing to go backwards (which doesn't cut) and sometimes forwards again to get a nice clean cut on some corner areas or other tight spaces. The blades of grass are cut just once, which means that the resulting clippings can gather on the lawn and not look as clean as the mulched clippings from a power mower. The advantage to this, however, is that I don't get a lot of "lawn pesto" on the sidewalks and drive. The clippings do tend to spray out the back of the mower onto your legs, but because the grass isn't being pulverized by a blade it's not annoying or messy. One day I was mowing through clover flowers and felt like I was a float in the Tournament of Roses parade with all of the flowers spraying up around me. Mulch and twigs will get caught in the mower and stop it. It's easy to just rotate the blade back with your shoe and you can move forward again. I did not experience any issues getting the foam handle on the mower - mine came with the foam handle on the mower. I deducted one star from this review because the handle is not very durable and actually quite flimsy. As you turn corners, the handles works its way loose. The mower does have wing nuts, so it's easy to tighten the handle on the fly, but it is annoying. I've found that it helps to back up and hit something at a different angle rather than trying to turn corners with the mower. You have to get the knack for dealing with the width of the cut - it does leave a relatively wide uncut boarder and thus requires both more overlap when mowing the yard and more work with the trimmer afterwards. The mower is much wider than it's cutting path, especially compared to powered mower. Overall, I recommend this mower, but I still need to use my power mower to get a good clean cut from time to time, especially when the weeds are growing fast. It is definitely more fun and less annoying than the power mower, and the extra work is great exercise. Rating:  - Piece of junkDo not buy this product. I chose it because of the cutting width and height adjustments. The thing broke within the first hour of use. Amazon sent a replacement, and that one also broke, although after about 4 months of use. The two-year warranty is worthless, as they won't replace their defective product. This mower has a serious design flaw. The sprockets inside the wheels are made out of plastic. They get stripped by the metal of the blade-axel. Then they are totally worthless. After one breaks then the blade is turned only by the other side, putting more strain on it. It will soon break too. This was two separate units that broke. It's not that I got a lemon. The product is worthless. Reel mowers are very nice. Choose another brand. Rating: - Great lawn mower for smaller yardsThe Scotts 20-inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower does a great job on my smaller yard. I have used it about half a dozen times and only encounter problems when I come across small sticks. The quiet nature and lack of fumes is well worth the the small amount of headache sticks create. Overall a great product. Rating: - Great mower, good work outThe mower works great, although you have to keep up with it. If the grass gets to long, it won't cut it. A great way to workout. Rating:  - Bad factory adjustmentsI liked the whole idea of not paying for gasoline and not having to maintain a power mower. When this mower arrived, I found that the reel was adjusted so tight that it could not even be moved. The instructions said that it was properly adjusted by the factory. It wasn't and after considerable work on my part I managed to get it to work fairly well. It does take more effort to push this mower and I wouldn't advise someone to use it if they are not in good physical shape.
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