Different Types Of Reel Mowers
The first lawnmower that has become the standard for our time is probably the rotary mower. But the first lawnmowers were not rotary mowers but coil. Edwin Budding invented the very first lawnmower reel in 1830. Unlike the modern rotary mowers that we are used to, reel lawn mowers do not actually have a motor, they simply rely on a sharp blade and teh power of the user – that’s me and you!
While the blades of a rotary mower usually spin parallel to the ground in order to cut the grass, the blades of a reel mower turn at a perpeniduclar angle to the ground. The reel mowers are without doubt the most eco friendly way to cut your grass, they’re also safe, low noise and usually much cheaper than motor powered rotary mowers.
There are however some drawbacks to using a manual mower such as this, the most annoying in my opinion is the amount of time they usually getting stuck. You name it all the reel, manual mowers I have used get stuck with grass, twigs or other pieces of debris lying around on the grass. Unless you have a very small grass area for cutting you are likely to find using a reel mower a frustrating experience. Although you should also remember the very obvious health benefits of building up a sweat whilst mowing the lawns.
But if you are enviromentally conscious and a reel mower is just unpractical, then the new breed of electric rotary mowers are probably your best bet. They are clean and efficient and most of them are much quieter than petrol mowers althought there are exceptions ! The biggest nuisance with electric mowers is definitely the cord. Whether you are trying to dance around it, avoid cutting it or merely trying to stretch to that far corner the cord can be really annoying. I’d say if you have a lawn more than about 1/3 of an acre it will be not realistic. However now many of the major manufacturers are making battery charged mowers – the best ones I have seen have been in the Bosch range with their lithium technology.
