Customer Reviews

Great States 404-16 16-Inch Standard Push Light Reel Lawn Mower With T-Style Handle

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently moved to a rental house from an apartment building. There was no sheltered outside space to store a gas mower, and after reading reviews on Amazon, I got this one. After mowing, I just carry it down to the basement.

Set up is a snap. It took me literally 5 minutes and then....thats it! Just mow!

If your grass is rather long, you will have to do it twice the first time to get everything. The cut is not a perfect uniform cut, as you would expect from a gas powered mower. When done, the lawn looks like it was mowed a couple days ago. As other reviewers said, you will have to do some trimming, as the mower leaves about a 2 inch gap between the wheel and the cutting reel. I picked up a little cordless electric trimmer for that duty.

Beware! If you do not want attention from your neighbors don't buy this mower!!! Within 2 times mowing, I had met most of my neighbors, and also figured out which ones were jerks and who the unruly kids in the area were. You will attract attention with your brand new "antique" mower.

I bought a home a few months ago and only had the chance to mow a few times with my gas mower a before the motor went on it. It was about 20 years old, so no real surprise, but obviously I needed to get my lawn mowed. I ran out to a local supply store, and decided on a reel mower since this way my girlfriend would be able to carry it up the steps from the back of my house where the garage is to the front lawn just in case I was away.

This was the only reel mower that they had, and being impatient that day as the lawn was about 6" long, I just purchased it and went on my way. After using it for about 10 mows, I've noticed some good and bad...

Good:

-Blades seem VERY sharp. I've even dinged a couple large rocks with it and they still cut evenly.

-I've had no problems with an "uneven mow" as the other reviewers noted. My strategy for this is to re-mow about 1/2 the track that I've already mowed. My lawn looks beautifully freshly cut using this method.

-Lightweight is great. I was away on business for 2 weeks and my ~110lb girlfriend had no problems carrying it up the 8 steps from my garage to the front yard. That being said, all reel mowers are lightweight, so I don't think that this is particularly good or bad for this model.

Bad:

-The 3+" gap that doesn't get mowed between the wheel and the blade is definitely annoying. I used to bring out the weed-wacker about every 3rd mow just to edge the sidewalks, while I now have to just about every mow since the uncut gap between the rocks around my landscaping and the rest of the lawn is so obvious. Admittedly, I don't know if this is a standard issue with reel mowers or not.

-You can only raise the mower to about 1.5-1.75". I never considered this before, but after doing resarch, regularly mowing your grass to under 2-2.5" promotes clover and weed growth. When I first got the mower, my lawn had a clover patch here or there, and a few random weeds. Now they're much more prevalent. I'm also not sure if it's actually possible to get it up to the 1.75" mark. The way that you raise and lower it depends on two plastic pieces holding the "adjustable roller" in place, and when I adjusted them out to the furthest they would go, the roller fell off a couple times in the middle of mowing. I have them set to one mark in now, which holds the roller steadily in place, but I have a feeling it's only at 1.5" now.

Everything considered, it seems like the mower has high quality parts, but there are just a few design considerations that were made on it that would push me to recommend a higher model. If I were to purchase a new one, I'd probably go with the 815-18 for the whopping $20 more. I have a feeling by the end of the summer I'll be buying the 815 and selling the 404-16 on Craigslist.

Update - After 2 more weeks of use, I now have crabgrass all over the place, almost covering my entire lawn. Research tells me that it is crabgrass "germination season" and one of the best things you can do to prevent it is to cut your lawn 2.5-3", so I blame the mower. If you're in the North East where crab grass and clover are problems, I definitely wouldn't recommend this mower.

Great product. Had been using an old Black and Decker reel. This one is MUCH lighter. I don't have a garage or tool shed so mower must be hauled up and down the basement stairs. I can lift this with one hand and easily transport it. I am a total ding-bat with written directions and was able to assemble this in about 10 minutes which means the average person could do it in 5 minutes or less. Mows well and makes a crisp, happy sound. I am now mowing my grass twice a week instead of once because it is so pleasant with this tidy mower.

This mower cuts about half of the blades of grass it runs over. After three uses, the foam handle grips have begun to rip. If you want a great workout and don't care about how the lawn looks, this is the mower for you. And really... foam handle grips? What were they thinking?

I bought it hesitantly after debating the merits of a reel mower for a long while. I was a bit worried it would end up taking up space in my basement. It won't.

I wanted a reel mower as an ecological supplement to my John Deere lawn tractor and my Honda self-propelled push mower. I figured I'd use the reel mower to take care of the level middle part of the lawn (the easy part) and use the other two to get the rest (the uneven parts, the rutted parts, the hilly parts). It turns out that in the 3 months since I bought it I haven't used the John Deere or the Honda *at all*. The reel mower glides right over (and into and out of) the ruts that the Honda used to get hung up on and that the John Deere would scalp the tops off, and pushes effortlessly up the hills. It takes just a little longer to mow the whole lawn with the reel mower, but not if you figure in the time it would take to go out and buy gas and *then* mow the lawn. Furthermore you don't have to check the oil, air filter, or spark plugs. It's a low-energy machine, so it doesn't kick up dust and launch rocks. There's almost no noise and absolutely no exhaust fumes, and it's extremely light and easy to push. It makes mowing the lawn actually kind of fun. I suppose though that once the leaves start falling I'll have to go back to the other mowers.

Maintenance advice: I highly recommend wiping the blade reel edges and cutting bar edge with WD-40 after each mow. Or use motor oil or vegetable oil or candle wax: *something* to prevent oxidation. Otherwise a thin layer of rust will form. The rust will grind off quickly the next time you mow, but you've just lost that 1/100th of an inch, and some of the cutting edge, off your blades.

Read all the information on the web before you buy a reel mower. The worst thing you could do would be to buy one and then be disappointed with it, and then discourage others from trying one out.

Id rate it higher except I cant seem to get it put together to even use