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210 of 216 persons found the following review helpful.
An splendid choice!
By Shannon Matteson
Forgive the length of this review – it is intended to be what I was looking for (comprehensive information) before I purchased my own.
If you’re paying attention and have the right wrench, it shouldn’t take more than when it comes to 5 or 10 minutes to assemble. Adjusting the blades takes another five minutes. Then you may get started playing with it. I say playing because this isn’t work. It’s too much fun to be work. Strange, but true.
I learned quickly that the ease with which it is pushed through and cuts grass depends proportionately on how much of that grass’s height you cut at one time. Reviews and exploration say that you must never cut more than 1/3rd the grass’s height at a time. They tell you it’s for the health of the grass. It is also for the health of the person pushing the mower. Get the mower set too low, and it’s not very easy (or fun) to push. Get it set too high, and it’s super easy, but not one thing happens. Get it set just right, and there’s light resistance, and it’s going to town.
A good idea is to set it to cut off amid 1/2″ and 1/3rd of the total grass height for the initial pass, whichever is more. Then keep letting down the cutting height 1/2″ to 1″ at a time and keep making passes until you get a lot of resistance pushing it when you lower it any further. Then, wait a couple days, and go out again and mow at the height you had trouble with previously. Keep doing this until your grass is where you want it. From there, it’s a breeze to keep up with.
I can’t believe I was paying $70 a month to have an individual come in and mow my lawn when I could have been using this. It’s so simple and easy!
Here’s my assessment. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best:
Is it easy to assemble? Yes. 9/10. Just follow the simple directions. The only way to make it requiring little effort would be to have it come pre-assembled, but they don’t do that because it makes for a much littler box if you assemble the handle yourself.
Is the handle comfortable? Yes! 10/10. The design allows you to hold it in respective dissimilar ways. I like keeping it in such a way that I am gripping the vertical percentage of the handle, which is much more natural, comfortable and surprisingly, less fatiguing than a horizontal handle.
Is it easy to adjust the blades for perfective cutting? Yes. 7/10. It might take a lot of fine tuning and fiddling to get it just right, and I found this somewhat mixing up at one point. But when you see your lawnmower slicing paper cleanly without the blades touching, it’s gorgeous impressive and well worth the effort. Which, by the way, you only have to make once a year.
Is it easy to adjust the cut height? Ridiculously. 10/10. Just reach down and adjust a knob on the right side. It’s not even hard to move the knob! No wrenches necessary. It in a literal sense takes with regards to 3 seconds.
Is it easy to adjust the handle height? Very. 9/10. (Just be careful not to drop the cotter pins when you’re doing it.) You may adjust it super low for the very short, all the way up to comfortable for the very tall. I am 5’8″ tall, and the commended position 3 is where I like it. My 5 year old cousin may use it when it’s set to Position 1. (Yes, it genuinely is that easy to push when the grass isn’t overgrown.)
Is it easy to push? When adjusted decently for the height of the grass, yes. 9/10. Even if you are little framed and spend your life sitting at a computer doing not one thing but typing, you will be capable to use this mower somewhat easily. The only exception will be if the mower is being pushed through a very deep carpet of grass, which it is weight will make a bit more difficult to do because of a tendency to sink into the grass bed.
Does it do a good occupation in one pass? Yes. 9/10. While you will get more grass that gets cut if you make a second pass, even at the same height, it’s not necessary in most cases unless the grass was very tall to get started with. If the grass is more than 2 or 3″ higher than the cutting height setting, but still low sufficient for the machine to mow, a second pass in the opposite or a perpendicular direction is worthwhile. The initial pass does almost all the work. When I mowed my grandfather’s 1 acre yard, I made one pass, period. He was very impressed with how well it cut through even the thick stuff in one pass, without requiring a second pass at all. So was I.
Does it cut tall weeds? Usually. 7/10. If the weeds are not more than in regards to 6 to 8″ taller than the cut height, and pointed in the right direction (usually straight up or toward the mower), it will ordinarily cut them but may need multiple passes. Taller weeds must be pulled out by hand. I have been pleased with how well it handles 6 to 8″ tall weeds in one pass even when set to cut at 1.25″.
Is it quiet? Yes. 9/10. It’s almost – but not rather – silent. Front wheels squeak numerous on mine. When the height is set properly, it may be more or less louder than you might suppose when going through thick spots. Almost silent going through thin spots, or for the duration of a second pass – unless you’re mulching the former pass’s heavy clippings. I was capable to mow an inch off my grass at 9:30 PM without any of my neighbors ever noticing.
Is it a good workout? Yes. 10/10. Not effortless, and not too hard when decently adjusted, this mower will unquestionably make you work up a sweat (I was mowing in still 70 F air after dark and sweating a moderate amount), but at the same time, it likewise won’t make you feel exhausted unless you have it set to cut too low. And because of how quiet it is, you may mow when it’s cool. I have mowed my grass at night or in the evening on a few occasions, and it makes it much more comfortable to mow than in the heat of the day.
Does it handle clippings well? Very. 9/10. The clippings might genuinely bog down the machine if the grass is thick and you undertake to cut too much off at once, or make too a great deal of passes in the same day while letting down the machine with each pass in overgrown grass. That’s why it’s suggested that you mow, wait a couple days and mow again a little lower: gives the clippings time to dissipate. As for dispersal, I may not tell where they go after mowing, except when they get in the driveway. They just… disappear. Literally. I love that.
Do the blades stay sharp? Yes. 10/10. This mower will only require sharpening each 5 to 10 years, according to the company, but I am not sure I may see the blades requiring sharpening in anything less than 8 years, after taking a close look at how this thing is made. Honestly, I wouldn’t be amazed if it went for a lifetime without calling for sharpening.
Is it good for huge (1+ acre) lots? Yes. 7/10. If you are not attempting to mow too much off in a day, and you don’t mind spending a lot of time mowing the grass and getting a heap of exercise, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be capable to mow multiple acres with this in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, the more spectacular your lot, the more obstacles, and the higher/thicker your grass, the longer it’ll take. It took me in regards to 75 minutes to mow my grandfather’s 1 acre yard, which is 99% St. Augustine grass with a house and moderate number of obstacles. One acre a day at that rate, or possibly one in the morning and one in the evening, would make short work of even a four acre plot. But I may see where a riding mower would be standard with more than an acre, since you genuinely need to mow once or twice a week to keep grass beneath control with a push mower.
Is it fast? Yes! 9/10 I was very impressed with how speedily I was capable to mow my yard. It happened so fast I was disappointed, because I was having so much fun doing it. In fact when I mowed my grandfather’s lawn, he told me I finished his entire lawn more quickly with the Momentum than he could with his riding lawnmower, which very much amazed me.
Is it maneuverable? Quite. 8/10 It’s easy to maneuver, but the front wheels do not turn, so you have to lift them up to turn the machine on it is back wheels. It does become a bit challenging at times when space is at a premium, such as next to a fence or in a corner, but it is no more difficult than any other push mower, powered or not.
Is it good for edging? For a lawnmower, yes. 8/10 I haven’t had any trouble with edging on concrete driveway edges when I overlapped the mower on the grass and the concrete. It’s good along barriers if you keep it straight and steady and keep the fence to your left. Then again, who tries to edge with a lawnmower? That’s what weed eaters are for. I may trim the grass to within 2″ of my fence without a problem as long as I keep the fence to the left and the mower straight.
Does it handle dissimilar types of grass well? Yes! 10/10 I used it in assorted dissimilar types of grass and weed: Bahia, St. Augustine (Floratam, etc.), Zoisia, Crab Grass, and Bermuda grasses, as well as a type I can not discern (wide, hairy leaves) and thick clover and dollarweed. It performed flawlessly in each. In fact it’s even posing no difficulty to use in healthful St. Augustine grass because that type of grass is stiffer, which makes for a perfective match to the scissor action of the mower.
Is it fun to use? Yes! 10/10 So much fun that I mowed my own yard three times this week (during winter) and went over and mowed my grandfather’s 1 acre yard. Then I mowed my uncle’s yard, and snuck over to mow the back yard of the bank-owned house besides mine. It’s in all likelihood more fun for me than it would be for most people because I work for myself, and I spend all my time in my office, so getting outside is a treat. Still, there’s something strangely and unceasingly satisfying with regards to seeing the grass pour out the front and just disappear, all without much effort. Kids seem to take delight in using it too.
Would I buy it again? Absolutely. 10/10.
Is it a good value? Yes! 10/10. So far, I am very pleased with it’s build and performance equated to what it cost me. Presuming that it lasts me only 10 years, it actually only costs $20 a year to own. However, I to a complete degree suppose that it will last something more like 80 years, making it’s cost per year (if we element in blade sharpening once each 10 years) with regards to $5 per year. That means that if I cut my grass twice a week, it costs me 4.8 cents per cut over it’s approximated lifetime of 80 years. Compare that to the $20 or $30 I was paying someone else per cut previously, and it’s not precisely hard to see the value.
Would I commend it to others? Absolutely. 10/10. Get one for yourself, and get started enjoying your lawn mowing. Seriously. I only wish I’d had this when I was a teenager!
How does it compare to other push reel mowers? It is without doubt or question the best-in-class. 10/10. The ever popular Scott’s 20″ (6/10) can’t hold a candle to it. That mower is almost a nightmare to use, adjust and maintain in comparison, amongst the full-contact blades that make for more resistance, resharpening each year, more noise while mowing, troubles with the handle and much less easy adjustment of the mower. The Brill RazorCut 38 (9/10) is a very good mower, and comes close, but is only when it comes to 15 inches wide. There is plainly not one thing that matches this mower in it’s class.
Bottom line: I’m not one to actually much care how “green” a solution it is. The “green” motion is outstanding and all, but has become too politically motivated in a lot of ways for my taste. I’m a pragmatist. What I like is that it’s built well, works well, is easy to adjust, quiet, pleasant to use, does a good job, gets me out of the house, gets me galore sunlight (when I mow for the duration of the day!) and good, but not unreasonable exercise, saves me a lot of time and cash buying gas, peril from storing gas, cleaning from getting gas on me, time and cash having the mower serviced, cash paying an individual else to come mow a 1/4 acre lawn with a riding lawnmower when the grass is only 2″ tall to commence with, blah blah blah, yada yada yada. In short, it’s a distinctly superior solution from a rigorously practical point of view, whether you’re thinking green or not.
Do you want one? Yes you do. 10/10. Go git ‘em.
UPDATE 03-01-2011: I have learned that set to less than when it comes to 3″ cut height, pinecones once in a while jam it. At 1.5″ to 2″, it starts catching larger sticks. At 1.25″, it starts catching on littler sticks and may nick usual garden hoses. At 1″, it catches on acorns and will on occasion scalp your lawn if it’s not utterly flat. Places where cars park, in soft soil may become uneven like that. The most utile cutting heights seem to be among 1.5″ and 2″, unless the lawn is overgrown. Probably most humans would be happiest with 2″ cut height.
Every time I use this thing, I love it more. I think the only way I could be happier with it is if it had been given to me for free.
UPDATE 04-15-2011: Still thrilled. The amusement factor of using it has balanced out at “I’m cutting the grass”, but when I do use it, it makes mowing the grass a genuinely relaxing experience. People stop and marvel, and not a single soul may believe how well it works. It’s a outstanding way to meet neighbors. I also find it more and more irritating when I listen my neighbors cutting their grass with gas powered mowers now. I wish they’d get a clue when it comes to reel mowers.
66 of 66 people found the following review helpful.
I get enjoyment from cutting the grass again
By T. Jones
I’ve been using this mower for a few months and so far I’ve been loving it. No noise and no more fumes. Its nice to be capable to cut the grass while talking on the phone or listening to music. I may cut the grass early in the morning before it gets hot without disturbing the neighbors. The mower adjusts from 1″ to 4″ so I may cut my fescue at 3-3.5″ which is higher that my old gas mower could cut. This mower weighs around 35lbs or so, which makes it much heavier than other reel mowers on the market. However the flywheel and the extra heft allows you to effortlessly push it through thick grass. It doesn’t invent that perfective cut like a gas mower, so you will have a few stray blades that didn’t get clipped, but it cuts the blades so cleanly that it is closely like somebody cut the grass with a pair of scissors 
I’m astonished at how well it cuts without stressing the grass. My old gas mower is forsale on craigslist and I don’t think I’ll ever own another gas mower. My yard is roughly 1/4 acre with a reasonably steep hill in the back yard and it only takes with regards to 10 mins longer to cut using this mower than my old gas mower. The only downside is that this mower doesn’t handle overgrown grass very well. You will have to set it to it is most eminent setting, and make multiple passes, so be sure to cut regularly.
PROS:
- No Noise
- No fumes
- Can cut higher than most gas mowers
- Only reel market on the mower that may go as high as 4″
- Adjustable handle to suit your height
- Much lighter than a gas mower, so requiring little effort to push on inclines
- Cuts grass into confetti/ribbon strips for easy grass-cycling
- Transports effortlessly (handle speedily detaches using 2 cotter pins)
CONS:
- Very difficult to cut overgrown grass
- Difficult to cut wet grass.
- No way to gather clippings which could be an issue if you have a lot of weeds.
- Would be requiring little effort to turn and handle dips if rear wheels were larger.
- Doesn’t cut tall/bendy weeds well. They bend under the mower and pop back up.
Spring 2011 Update:
This mower has made me a victim of my own success. The yard looks better than ever but I now have to cut 3 times each 2 weeks to keep the grass in check, and if we’ve had rain, my tall fescue is on steroids and I get a real workout.
My grass cutting time has increased as tall leggy weeds have popped up in the back yard. They bend and go underneath the blade and pop right back up. So I have to back up assorted times to get the head of the weed in the mower just right to cut it. My front yard has few weeds, so this isn’t a problem. However it is a real pain in the back yard. This will get better as the turf improves. However if you have more weeds than lawn, a reel mower might be very frustrating.
38 of 38 persons found the following review helpful.
Best mower I have used
By Andrew Simon
I have had various reel mowers (scott’s, etc.) and found the Fiskar momentum to be the best by far. I have applied it for two seasons and it proceeds to roll effortlessly and cuts evently with little effort. It is heavier than other reel mowers and somewhat less maneuverable due to the 4-wheel design. It is perfective for my small, flat yard and my grass is very healthy. Highly recommended.
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