This is one of the most common questions with a reel mower. Some people have memories of trying to push a 50 year old, rusted mower, and they want to know if modern reel mowers are easy to push.
As much as I’d love to say a simple “Yes, of course!” in response to this question, it’s a little bit more complicated than that, and requires a longer answer.
A push reel mower is not hard to push under the right circumstances. If you have a lawn that has more grass than weeds and you mow it every week, then you’ll have an easy time with a reel mower, and it will be easy to push.
Compared to other mowers, reel mowers are lightweights. A non-self propelled gas mower is heavy. It will weigh anywhere from 70 to 90 pounds, and you have to push all of that weight around the yard while breathing in fumes and wincing at the earsplitting noise.
A manual reel mower, on the other hand, weighs from 17 to 35 pounds. So although it takes a little bit more effort to make the blades cut the grass, the mower itself is significantly lighter, so the effort involved is pretty much a wash.
Okay, it’s sounding pretty easy. What’s the catch?