Looking to buy a new lawn mower, how difficult are these to use? And how often does it need to me mowed with one of these. Not a large yard at all, but not looking to have to mow multiple times a week either.

Would it be easier to just pony up and buy a gas mower?

The frequency of mowing should depend on the grass, not the mower.

If I had a small lawn, I'd buy an electric mower. Screw gas.

I don't want to have to deal with the cord. And for the price of the battery ones, I would just assume buy gas.

The problem with reel mowers is that if there is anything like twigs or other things on your yard, it will not go over them and cut them. You basically can only work on a yard with no trees and will have to walk it to get anything else like bits of trash or dog stuff off. I use to borrow a neighbor's powered reel mower to use on my yard AFTER I had mowed it with a rotary, but I had St. Augustine and the improvement in looks wasn't like it was with his Bermuda.

Gas mowers aren't any problem as long as you buy the canned gas at the store. DO NOT run untreated station gas in your small engine. Yes, its more expensive short term but not long term with treatment expense and less waste. Gas goes bad in about a month but the cans last a while longer.

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Gas mowers aren't any problem as long as you buy the canned gas at the store. DO NOT run untreated station gas in your small engine. Yes, its more expensive short term but not long term with treatment expense and less waste. Gas goes bad in about a month but the cans last a while longer.

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This isn't nearly as much of an issue with the 4 stroke mowers as it is with 2 stroke trimmers and saws.

i have backyard that is the size of second bedroom. the front yard is maintained by a company as part of our HOA dues.

i have a cheap scotts reel mower. i would not use it on anything bigger than my yard. it could be a situation of you get what you pay for in my case. but, fortunately, it is not a big deal to go over spots multiple times.

I have a Fiskar's reel mower for our Palisade's zoysia. If the grass is too high it can be a PITA and have to do each row twice. I also have limestone gravel around edge of yard. Have hit some gravel pieces which dulled blade. I sharpen at least once a year.

As far as electric mowers go, I have the WORX WG788 19-Inch 36 Volt Cordless 3-In-1 Lawn Mower With Removable Battery & IntelliCut and I love it. (insert man card joke for having electric mower here)

Seemed like I always had bad luck with normal gas mowers, and this has been great. Battery is about the size of a car batter, I can mow my front/back yard twice on a single charge, and it's self propelled. Quieter than a normal mower as well. We have rather thick St. Augstine. Lot size is 10,000 sqft.

Or just buy some fuel treatment and your gas will be fine. Probably one bottle will last you about 2 years. You don't want a reel mower unless you know how to back lap and change a bedknife.

If you don't want to mow multiple times a week you are most likely going to be disappointed with a reel mower.

They bind easily and if the grass is tall it will require multiple mowings. The benefit of a reel mower is only obtained if you are very meticulous with the maintenance of your yard.
If you are looking to save money, buy a used gas mower. There is absolutely NO need to buy the overpriced canned gas. I've run pump gas in my mower for 8 yrs and it still runs like a top. Never given me any problems

If you are that worried about the ethanol content you can treat your gas for far less money than buying that canned gas. But really there is no need at all.

Ive got some variation of St. Augustine in my yard. Ive got clover like weeds growing all over it, and some areas that are not able to grow due to the shade from large old trees creating somewhat of a canopy.

My questions are:

How do I get the weeds out of there? There are a lot.
How can I get the SA to come back full and healthy? Should I start mowing it now very short and keep it run down for awhile (2 months? 3 months?) and then let it start to grow out taller?

Is there anything I can do to get the grass to grow where there is a lot of shade or am I just SOL?

Cutting St. A short is a death sentence for it. The absolute wrong thing to do. St. A probably wants to be on the 2nd highest setting of most mowers. Needs plenty of water. If you do that, it will kill most other grasses or weeds.

But I don't think anyone should be planting St. Augustine any more. When (not if) Texas has water problems like California and you will have a dead lawn.

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The problem with reel mowers is that if there is anything like twigs or other things on your yard, it will not go over them and cut them. You basically can only work on a yard with no trees and will have to walk it to get anything else like bits of trash or dog stuff off. I use to borrow a neighbor's powered reel mower to use on my yard AFTER I had mowed it with a rotary, but I had St. Augustine and the improvement in looks wasn't like it was with his Bermuda.

Gas mowers aren't any problem as long as you buy the canned gas at the store. DO NOT run untreated station gas in your small engine. Yes, its more expensive short term but not long term with treatment expense and less waste. Gas goes bad in about a month but the cans last a while longer.

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Canned gas at the store for a regular gas mower?

I have never bought canned gas. I am on my second Honda in 15+ years and it runs fine on regular 87 octane gas. It doesn't go bad in a month.

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Cutting St. A short is a death sentence for it. The absolute wrong thing to do. St. A probably wants to be on the 2nd highest setting of most mowers. Needs plenty of water. If you do that, it will kill most other grasses or weeds.

But I don't think anyone should be planting St. Augustine any more. When (not if) Texas has water problems like California and you will have a dead lawn.

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Have you seen Travis lately?

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Gas mowers aren't any problem as long as you buy the canned gas at the store. DO NOT run untreated station gas in your small engine. Yes, its more expensive short term but not long term with treatment expense and less waste. Gas goes bad in about a month but the cans last a while longer.

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I've never heard of anyone buying canned gas at a store.
I've been running station gas in a my cheap Craftsman mower with basic Briggs & Straton Engine for 10 years now without a problem.
Gas will last about 4-6 months untreated. Add some Sta-bil and it will last a year.

Picture this....my grandparents had a corded electric mower and Mamaw loved to mow their small yard. Papaw would hold an umbrella over her and hold the cord too and away she would go! They loved one another dearly but got lots of laughs when people saw them mowing.

My parents had a reel mower and it was heavy and took lots of attention to detail to mow decently. If the grass was too long or damp is was a huge mess to deal with even with painting the blades with cooking oil before I mowed!

I started with a Fiskar's, then moved to a corded electric. I finally got irritated with their combined downfalls and bought a Toro.

The reel mower was great when we had a tiny yard, but as mentioned above, you've gotta be regular with your mowing.

I bought a corded electric way back when and never had any trouble with it. They're a good way to go IMO.

My yard is... maybe 1,000 sqft and I use a Scotts 14" reel mower and a Black & Decker 40v Battery electric weed eater.
Having a tree isn't bad, I use the weed eater around the base BUT! Mulch is a killer.
I have the wood kind of mulch and it 100% just stops the blades. Full momentum to dead stop. So, I find myself picking up most big chunks of wood before mowing HOPING I don't get caught up.

But honestly, it is really easy! Plus, it's quiet, green (if you're into that), and basically self fertilizes.
I'd recommend a reel mower and electric weed eater for a small yard.
However, don't by a 14"... get at least an 18" reel. My 14" works fine but I do wish it was a little wider. (No that's what she said)

And for the weed eater, the battery lasts forever! I bought a B&D combo kit with a trimmer and blower, I use both and still have at least 25% battery left.

I buy canned gas for my weedeater, but never for the mower...

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Cutting St. A short is a death sentence for it. The absolute wrong thing to do.

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I wouldn't go anywhere near a reel mower if I had St. Augustine. Just a miserable experience that I learned first hand.

I'm really tempted to get a reel. I live on a small lot and currently have a B&D 36V battery lawn mower that's fine for the lot size (my past yard was 2+ acres and I love being able to mow/trim in less than 30 min now) I have Bermuda and some of my neighbors have reel mowers and their lawns look so much better but they spend a lot more time with the reel. You can only get so low with a normal mower without getting circular marks in the yard and the folks with rotary mowers have very low, beautiful, and weed free lawns that look like carpet.

The canned gas you get at Home Depot or Lowes or wherever is really intended to be used for things like a 2 cycle weed eater or edger. The ethanol in regular gas tends to eat up the rubber and seals on the older engines. I think most newer engines are built with ethanol gas in mind.

Sta-Bil or Seafoam fuel stabilizer will make regular fuel last over a year without laquering up on you. And both will allow regular fuel to be used in smaller engines like weed eaters without any problems.

I used to have a Neuton electric mower when I had a smaller lot. I had an extra battery and would use one for the back, the other for the front and weed eating.

The Neuton at the time (and maybe still) was the only one that had an attachment for the front with a rotatable head weed eater. I could edge my sidewalk and weed eat the base of trees, edge of flower beds, etc.

It was freaking awesome.

The only problem was that it didn't cut well when the grass was slightly damp as it wouldn't pull the grass up where the wheels had run over it very so I'd have to hit some areas twice. It was so light weight thought that it didn't matter.

I mow my back with a Jacobsen greens mower and my Front with a TruCut reel. Unless you have time to deal with the maintenance, stick to a rotary.

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I'm really tempted to get a rotary. I live on a small lot and currently have a B&D 36V battery lawn mower that's fine for the lot size (my past yard was 2+ acres and I love being able to mow/trim in less than 30 min now) I have Bermuda and some of my neighbors have rotary mowers and their lawns look so much better but they spend a lot more time with the rotary. You can only get so low with a normal mower without getting circular marks in the yard and the folks with rotary mowers have very low, beautiful, and weed free lawns that look like carpet.

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I think you mean you are tempted to get a reel mower. A rotary mower is the standard mower that most people use.