The grass was coming out of dormancy. Our Ryobi cordless electric
mower was dead. Ryobi'd left the biz, and the only new battery
available was an expensive, jury-rigged affair. So it was time for a
new mower. Prices on new B&D cordless mowers are outrageous, but the
electric had spoiled us for quiet and fumeless mowing and we just
couldn't see going back to gas.

The idea of a push mower intrigued me. As a practicing
environmentalist and lover of good food, I like the fact that instead
of gas or electricity they burn tacos and Italian cream cake. They're
obviously dead quiet. But my research turned up no 'reel' (cough)
consensus for our situation. Our back yard is wooded creek bottom and
a prairie restoration, and at most one corner gets a weed whacking
once a year. So we had only the front to consider. The front is
large-ish and sloped, St. Augustine under oaks with a dozen understory
trees and several flower beds, i.e. a mowing nightmare.

Lowes had the highly-rated 18" American Lawn Mower reel mower at only
$99, and with a 15 day return policy. It sits in our garage now.
http://tinyurl.com/8ids

Our opinion is very positive, but I'll start with the downsides....
Sticks. Running over a stick with this thing is like hitting a brick
wall. Even smallish sticks. My first run must've looked pretty
funny, me cruising along then suddenly almost flying over the
handlebars. Secondly, tall growth tended to bend instead of being
cut, necessitating hitting it from more than one direction... not good
if you only mow when you can't find the dog (our excuse: first mow of
the season :-) Lastly you can't cut any closer to the curb than the
wheel can run, which means more work with the edger.

That said, we *absolutely love* this thing. It's incredibly light and
agile... effortless to maneuver and a breeze to push. Once we picked
up a winter's worth of our oaks' self-pruning this became the easiest
mower we've ever used. The SO and I each waited impatiently for our
turn to wheel through the grass, which is astonishing given we like
mowing only slightly better than minor dental work. Good way to meet
new neighbors too... everyone who walked by in the hour and half of
putting it together and trying it out stopped to ask about it, a
couple opening up with childhood stories.

Can't wait to get out again and play with it again. :-) Will report
back as the season progresses.