Lawn mowers come in a wide variety of styles and prices today so trying to find the right machine for your yard care needs can be a real challenge. Trust me, I’ve been there. The owners of our home left behind a pathetic mower which I used a couple of times then decided to replace with something that wouldn’t require hours of labor and produce shabby results.
My quest for the perfect lawn mower began online as I started researching the available models. Before I tell you which I would recommend for a great lawn, I want to go over some of the pros and cons of the main types you’re going to be looking at.
Let’s start with riding lawn mowers. This is actually where I started my search. I imagined it would be pretty quick and easy to mow my lawn with one of those massive mowers. However, you really need a pretty large lawn to get the most benefit from riding lawn mowers. Even then, you’re still going to end up doing plenty of trimming and edging manually if you want a nice looking lawn.
Push mowers are basically the ones where you do all of the work. They are the most affordable and probably the most dependable, but if you have a large yard or if you have physical problems then you’re better off choosing a lawn mower that will do more of the work for you.
That brings us to self-propelled lawn mowers. In this category you’ll find gas lawn mowers, electric lawn mowers, even cordless lawn mowers. Gas lawn mowers are the oldest favorite. Even now when I smell gasoline, I’m reminded of those summer days when I had to cut my parent’s gas with our old self-propelled rotary motor. With the increasing cost of gasoline, the dangers of bringing the gasoline home for the mower, and the general undependable nature of these mowers, I’m not a fan of gas models.
Now electric lawn mowers are a different story. With these mowers, you won’t quite get as much power as you would with a gas model but you’ll have an unlimited stream of energy thanks to your home’s electricity. The downside are those cords and probably a couple of extension cords if you have a pretty deep back yard. You’ve got to watch those cords, too. If you run over one with the mower, you’re in trouble. If you trip on one, then you could end up injured by the mower.
Now cordless lawn mowers do provide the benefits of electric lawn mowers but without the cords. Seems like a perfect solution, right? Not exactly. Cordless lawn mowers just don’t have much battery life in them. Some only last between 30 to 40 minutes which may not be enough time for you to do a quality mowing job.
My favorite lawn mower, however, is the reel mower. If you want a well-manicured lawn mower, then these are your best bet by far. They are available in push models, as well as self-propelled. Either way you go make sure to have the blades sharpened yearly. Otherwise you won’t get the nice cut that is going to make your lawn look fabulous.