Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this mower a little over a year ago, and after just one year of use I must give this mower the thumbs DOWN. Before it broke it worked fairly well. Yes, it is much more pleasant to use than a gas powered mower -- when it's working. Yes, it cuts the grass more cleanly than conventional mowers, when the blades are sharp. In everyway it is superior to gas mowers for mowing small yards, but this particular mower is poorly designed and cheaply made. This mower uses a plastic gear to connect the wheels to the blades and make the blades spin. In a relatively short time (for me it was season of normal mowing) the interior of the plastic gear will be stripped by the metal parts that connect to the blades. If your lawn is perfectly flat and you mow religiously it may last longer than one season. With a little tinkering the connection can be fixed temporarily. Although, you will probably be tinkering with it everytime you mow. The handle looks like it's made from aluminum -- not a good idea for something that is under the constant stress of pushing, pulling, and turning while you are mowing. The handle on my mower broke. The metal simply fatigued from the stress of mowing and broke off at the thinnest point. Finally once the blades dull, mowing becomes significantly more difficult. My blades dulled in less than one season. From what I have read about reel mowers they should only need to be sharpened every few seasons. I can't stress enough, this is all after one season of normal use. I have a small lawn in the suburbs -- nice grass (not weeds), very flat w/ few inclines... I must be a sucker because I'm looking for a new reel mower (but it will be a different brand).