Pros:

• Quad wheels allow it to stand up
• Comfortable hand grips
• Nice design

Cons:

• Heavier
• Plastic wheels

For seniors like my parents, I recommend the Sun Joe MJ800M Reel Mower. This reel mower has a nice ergonomic grip with padding that makes controlling the mower super easy. The padded handle is designed to “give” a little when squeezing and pushing and overall requires less hand strength to operate.

I also love that the Sun Joe MJ800M reel mower has four sturdy wheels that allow it to stand up straight. This means no bending over to pick the mower up. Plus, it stores similarly to a vacuum. This stops my elderly parents from leaning over to pick up a heavy mower and prevents them from trying to pick it up and store it on a hook on the wall.

What to Look for When Buying a Reel Mower

A traditional rotary lawn mower uses a flat, spinning blade that cuts grass like a machete chops tall grass in a field. By contrast, a reel mower (sometimes called a cylinder mower) functions more like a pair of scissors. Blades of grass are caught and cut between the spinning reel (the curved metal that resembles a strand of DNA) and a fixed horizontal blade called the cutting bar. The resulting clean, precise snip makes for healthier, more attractive lawns. That’s why reel mowers are frequently the machines of choice for golf courses.

Reel mowers have a reputation for being “old school”; quite frankly, it is well deserved. However, reel mowers have many qualities besides nostalgia that give them relevance in the highly technological age we live in today. Reel mowers don’t require any external power source, are inexpensive and require very little maintenance.

“The advantages of a reel lawn mower include a superior quality of cut and the ability to mow at very low heights, such as golf course putting greens,” says Bob Mann, Senior Director of Technical & Regulatory Affairs at the National Association of Landscape Professionals. “The chief disadvantage is that they are very difficult to maintain, requiring daily adjustments to cut correctly and require highly specialized and very expensive sharpening equipment, making their use cost prohibitive.”

The most important feature when looking for a reel mower is getting one with the right height adjustments. If you have taller grass, you need a reel mower with a height of up to four inches so that you can appropriately allow your grass to thrive. Another factor is the number of blades. More blades (six to 10) are better for shorter grass, giving a fine cut. Fewer blades, such as four to five are better for taller grass. Here are some other things you should look for when making a reel mower purchase:

• Cutting width: When it comes to how much time you spend mowing your grass, cutting width is a huge part of the equation. Wider is better to reduce cutting time and make fewer passes. With reel mowers, cutting width also means more resistance and a more difficult push.
• Weight: Weight is truly a double-edged sword with reel lawn mowers. It makes the mowing experience heavier when you have more weight but also helps the mower make it over bumps in the grass. I prefer mowers with a bit of weight.
• Usability: Having a comfortable, easy-to-push reel mower is an absolute must. Once you get started using a reel mower, it can be a super pleasant and satisfying experience if the mower has the right features.

Why You Should Trust Us

My partner and I have tested over 100 lawn mowers at The Lawn Review. From zero-turn mowers to robot mowers and everything in between, we have tested just about every mower on the market. We’ve reviewed battery-powered mowers by walking them around in my neighborhood until they’ve died (which was miles). I’ve also done side-by-side comparisons of robot mowers in my yard to see which ones provide the best cut and can handle difficult terrain. Furthermore, I’ve mowed hundreds of lawns as a former owner of a landscaping company. Needless to say, I know a thing or two about mowers. Additionally, I reached out to Bob Mann, Senior Director of Technical & Regulatory Affairs at the National Association of Landscape Professionals for his insider opinion.

How We Found the Best Reel Mowers

I picked these reel mowers for testing for a few reasons. For starters, many of these are from really high-quality brands like Fiskars. Fiskars have made super strong lawn and garden tools for generations. Other brands are extremely popular, like Sun Joe and Earthwise, and sell an absurd amount of inexpensive, quality products on Amazon.

These reel mowers are all generally the same size and have many of the same features, making a side-by-side comparison and ranking system relatively easy. Each mower has a handful of distinct features that make it suited for a specific yard type, personality type or grass type.

FAQ

Do you sharpen reel mower blades?

Yes, reel mower blades generally need to be sharpened every year.

Are reel mowers hard to push?

Reel mowers are not hard to push if the grass is maintained at an appropriate height. They are a good workout and present some opposing force, but they are not difficult to operate. One way to combat the increased difficulty is to mow more frequently to keep the grass short and easy to cut. 

How long of grass can a reel mower cut?

Reel mowers can cut grass up to four inches tall. To cut taller grasses, the height adjustment needs to be at the maximum end of the range and the lawn needs to be cut more frequently.