Well that is a good point, especially if you look at the fact that even though a mower will put out way more smog forming polution in theory (since there's no catalyst) everyone harps on CO2 as the greenhouse gas, and I think I've used 1 gallon of gas in my own gas mower in the whole last year, compared to at least 350 gallons or more in my car.

 

I just sold my house, to move into an apartment across the street from my office, but I did my lawn with a Scott push mower. The day I brought it home from the hardware store, the lady next door bought a conventional mower.

We both paid the same price for our mowers.

But I think about gas being $2.79, and I kinda think I got the better deal in the end.

I left it in the house when I moved. It will probably never be used again.

 

Last Summer's project was to replace both of my lawns. At the same time, I purchased a Brill push mower. I now enjoy pushing the mower every weekend. The added benefit of not storing gas in my garage, no more smelly hands when I am done, and the exercise all add up to a much happier me. When I researched lawn care, I learned that real type mowers are better for the lawn, and since my lawns are small, a push type was a logical choice.

We used to have a mow and blow service, that brought in weeds from other lawns, and cost me $100/Month. Now I have a greener lawn, no weeds, and feel great.

 

A bunch of questions for you reel-mower folks:

how small of a yard is small? I've got a tad under 1/4 acre, pretty flat, but pretty thick.

How do you rate the effort required to operate it versus a push gas mower? How well does it do the job when the lawn is thick, tall, and/or wet- like spring/fall? Do you end up doing a 2nd pass? Or do you just force yourself to cut more frequently?

Are the clippings small enough and not clumpy, such that they could be left on the lawn without looking bad/creating thatch?

 

My front lawn is 600 square feet, and my back lawn 300 square feet, so they are really small. My Brill mower is easier to push than the Honda gas mower I had, because it is very light weight. The Brill uses a non-interferance blade so there is virtually no effort to spin the blade (without grass). The clipping size is very dependent on the length of the grass. At the height of the growing cycle, my clipping can be 3-4" long. As for multiple passes, yes I do this when the lawn is tall, but my wife does not. We leave the clippings on the lawn and they disappear in a day or two. Check out the following website for more info: http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com...ll_luxus33.htm

 

I bought a battery-powered weed wacker from TORO and it's been very reliable. I have a pretty small lawn, so I bought a weed wacker instead of a mower.

 

My next mower will be one of these types. Im hate yard work, but wont pay to have it done. I currently have a White rider, a Murry trim mower and the weed eater. When its time to replace my My White rider, Murry and weed eater it will be with a robo mower of some kind and a battery weedeater.

The rider is way over kill for what I need to mow the lawn. But like I said. " Im lazy" So a robo mower will fit right in

 

the edging and trimming feature got my attention at first. Then I saw the 14" blade. What now takes me 35 minutes with my 22" blade would take nearly an hour with a blade that much smaller.

My gas mower (20 years old) uses less than 2 gallons of gas to cut my yard from March - November. My yard is average size and my house isn't one of those new ones that you can reach out a window and knock on the neigbors door.

 

Finally - a post that I can contribute to! (I don't own a Hybrid. Current vehicles are a Honda Element - which I use to carpool with a coworker 4 days a week - and a Hyundai Elantra which isn't driven all that much since my wife is a stay-at-home mom. Reasonably fuel-efficient cars, but nothing to brag about.)

I have one of the mowers from Friendly Robotics. Specifically, I have the Robomower 500-series. I love it. I bought it online from a wholesaler who had aquired a warehouse-full of 3 or 4-year-old models. It works great. I only have it set up to do my front and side yards, as the back yard is too steep for it. (Beyond a certain angle, the front-end starts to lift up. A safety feature shuts it off, as it assumes that someone is picking-up the mower.)

We named him 'Moe', and he does a great job. The lawn has never looked better. And, it's nice to be able to mow during smog alert days without feeling like a jerk. About twice a week I walk Moe out from the garage, press the green button, and come out 2 hours later to retrieve him (he's on a timer) and walk him back into the garage.

Now if I could just buy a car that would do all of the driving for me........

 

I have the battery powered weed wacker, too. It works great on all but the hardiest weeds. I haven't tried it for edging yet, but I assume that would consume more battery power and decrease the lifespan somewhat.