⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Old School Wins!”

I purchased (received) the Great States 415-16 reel mower on July 18th, 2013. Today is August 17th, 2013. I've owned it for 4 weeks at this writing and have used it 7 times.

My front lawn is 45' x 35' and my back lawn was 60' x 75'. Both lawns were in dismal shape, mostly weeds, crabgrass and rocks. My lawn service charged $35 a week to cut the few strands of grass that dared grow.

We decided to renovate the backyard including expanding it another 100' into what was woods (so the backyard lawn is now 60' x 175'). I suspended the lawn service and purchased the Great States 415-16 reel mower to do my front yard while the backyard was being renovated.

I ordered the mower from Amazon late on Wednesday night and with Amazon Prime it arrived about noon on Friday. I had it assembled in less than 10 minutes and proceeded to cut the front lawn.

The cut was serviceable but no worse than the lawn service had been. Years ago (when I did the laws myself) I had a gas powered, self-propelled Snapper that was brutally heavy and poorly selected for my lawns. It took 1-1/2 hours of wrestling an 80-lb mower to do a mediocre job (thus the lawn service). The front yard took 30 minutes with the Snapper while the more agile reel mower takes about 15 minutes. Each time I've cut the lawn with the reel it's been easier and taken less time.

I assumed that I'd have more jams but after the first mow (and removal of most of the debris) it happens once or twice and I do like the fact that when it's jammed you can be sure that something is stuck that you can remove yourself without getting the unit serviced (unlike the Snapper).

The backyard was completed with sod that was allowed to grow out to 6" or more before I mowed it. I had some trepidation about using the Great States reel mower but having decided to permanently stop the lawn service I gave it a try.

I set the cutting height to the highest setting (took about 5 minutes but should take less since I now know what to do) and then it was like giving the lawn a haircut. The reel mower performed beautifully. It was agile around tree bases and cut acceptably close to walls. The cut of the grass was refined and elegant - no tearing. I did find that at this height > 6") I needed to give multiple passes (2) in most areas but needed to do so less the second time I did the lawn. I also found that it gave a more complete cut walking slowly. Grass flipping up, quiet and no gas fumes.

My landscape contractor advised me to use a blower and clear the grassy mulch on new sod. That took about 20 minutes. In all it took 1-3/4 hours the first time I cut and 1-1/2 hours the second (including the blower). I can't compare this directly to the Snapper since the lawn is more than twice the size now but it used to take about 50 minutes with that mower on the smaller lawn. I can tell you that the reel mower's agility and substantially lighter weight (28lbs) leaves me less exhausted. As a bonus I was able to blow the mulch into areas that need it.

My former lawn service quoted me $60/week to mow the new lawn. I believe that I'll be able to do it with the reel mower and blower (I expect to take 30-40 minutes every other week to do the trimming) in 1-1/4 hours on a maintenance basis. I've decided to take the exercise, save the money and do it myself.

Conclusion:
Depends on your perspective but I feel that I now have a medium sized suburban lawn. Having used a powerful gas self-propelled mower and the reel I prefer the latter. It's less strenuous, takes about the same time, cuts better, it's cheaper ($97 shipped to my door including tax), and it's easier and far cheaper to maintain the equipment. I was pleasantly surprised at the high quality of construction on the Great States 415-16. I believe that it will give me years of quality service. My modest complaint is that the handle foam moves around the handle (it doesn't slide upwards though). Very minor complaint indeed.

I used the Snapper with a large, cumbersome, vinyl grass catching bin. I usually had to empty it 6-7 time during a full lawn cut. Using the blower simplifies this and the cuttings from the reel are clean and light so that they blow easily.

I had been researching electric mowers in the belief that I'd need more power or cutting surface but having used an even larger machine (Snapper) without benefit makes me believe that most homeowners in a similar situation as mine would be well served to try a low cost reel mower before investing in more expensive equipment. You may just find, as I did, that the old school reel mower does as good (or better) a job, in about the same time and if you can discontinue lawn service in the bargain your pocketbook will be heftier as well.

Note: My lawn is mostly flat but tilted. There were no issues when mowing from the terrain.

Update 9/3/2013
I adjusted the cutting length to the middle setting (~1-1/2") and did 2 passes (per below) so it took close to 2 hours on the backyard alone but the lawn looks like a golf course.

Thanks to Nelson of my landscape contractor's crew who demonstrated how effective the mower is when mowing slowly, passing both ways (back and forth) and then cutting the following week at a right angle to the previous cut (also back and forth). There were no issues with grass that wouldn't cut because of height or otherwise. On each return row I overlapped the left wheel inside of the previous row. Not fast but very effective.

Keep in mind that this mower only has a 16" cutting swath so you're going to have to cut a lot of 'row's, (at least 100) to do a nice clean job on 50' of lawn, but it's more agile than larger electric or gas mowers.

- NeverBend (Amazon)