Sorry for bumping an ages old thread, but Michael promised to give his impressions and I do not see them posted here yet.

So Michael, how does the Mascot work? I'm thinking about going the push mower route since gas-powered reel mowers are so expensive and I'd like to cut early in the morning during the summer and a gas-powered mower would just piss the neighbors right off at 5:00am

Sorry!

Works great! I love it!

Manual reel mowers are going to hold you to the 1/3 cutting rule pretty closely. If you let the grass get too tall, you may have to make two passes. This is with any reel, not just the mascot.

Adjustment is easy. Maintainence for me so far has been putting a light coating of oil on the blades and bedknife before and after mowing.

I don't know if I've got the thickest Bermuda in the world, but pushing through the lawn isn't too bad. Not any harder than my gas powered rotary push mower. Up and down hills, I find it to be easier than the rotary.

I think the cut is great, too. A reel cut Bermuda lawn just looks better to me. My lawn looks flatter to me now. No gouge marks like you might get with a rotary. The gouge marks you normally see aren't always from scalping the ground, but more likely the rotary mower blades lifting the Bermuda runners and chopping them off. That was my problem that made me want a reel, and that is certainly fixed.

Now on to the dumb stuff that doesn't matter. I love the way a reel sounds. And the grass looks cool flying out the back.

The added bonus is the conversation factor that a reel brings to the table. People WILL want to stop and talk to you about it. So expect longer mowing times until all the neighbors have seen it, and then you'll only have to deal with the passerbys.

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Oh yeah. My one drawback that I would mention is how close it cuts to stationary objects.

There is about a 3-4 inch strip that is left uncut due to the width of the wheels and mower frame. No big deal if you have a string trimmer.

This is comparable to other mowers on the market, and I would not see it as a deal breaker on purchasing this mower.

Just though that should be noted.

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I love using manual reel mowers, and have both a Sunlawn Lmm-40 and the Fiskars Momentum in the garage !

Thanks for the quick answer. I think I'm going to give it a go if I can find a place to order it. I could use the exercise (and it will be quite a workout in the Arizona summer, even at 5am) and would rather not deal with the hassle of maintaining a motor along with the blade sharpening I will already have to do on any mower I buy. Not to mention, even if I'm dropping $250 on the Mascot, it's $350 cheaper than the cheapest gas-powered reel mower I can find new.

One final question. Have you tried the lowest setting on the Mascot (1/2" it appears)? If so, how does it work?

I ordered mine through reelmowersetc.com. John did as well.

How big is your lawn?

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Michael Wise wrote:I ordered mine through reelmowersetc.com. John did as well.

How big is your lawn?

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reelmowersetc.com is backordered on their Mascot mowers right now. They are expecting the mowers to clear customs on the 3rd, so maybe I will check back.

The lawn is about 2200 square feet.

Yeah, I guess this is their busy time of year.

2200 sq. ft. is perfect.

I think you'll love it.

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Dang! Reel Mowers etc. has the 21" Mascot in now, but still is waiting on the 18". From reading here, the 18" is the better mower just because it's a little easier to handle. Do you still stand by your complaints about the 21" model, John?

Yep... I sure do....

I think it's probably an awesome exercise model... Good for the heart and all..... but the 21" width is just too hard to push through a really dense, thick Bermuda lawn.... Stick with the 18" width unless you *REALLY* want some serious Cardio....

Fescue is no problem at all... except for seedheads and weeds not being cut.... but that's gonna happen with any reel.

Thanks

To make it easier, overlap your rows so instead of cutting the full 21 inch width, 3,4,5,6 inches of the reel are just going over the row you already cut

HanLawn wrote:To make it easier, overlap your rows so instead of cutting the full 21 inch width, 3,4,5,6 inches of the reel are just going over the row you already cut

Good idea, but I already ordered the 18" model from peoplepoweredmachines instead of reelmowersetc. So far, so good. It was odd that I had to ask them to send me information on the order status through email and they sent me a tracking number (meaning they never let me know it had shipped, which online retailers would usually do). But the answer back via email was almost instantaneous, so the customer service seems very good so far, even if their standard correspondence is a little dopey for not sending out a shipment notice like most every other online retailer on Earth.

Should be here Saturday. I think I'll mow my lawn for the first time late Sat. or early Sun.

I posted my mini-review of the 18" model in my massive Yukon Bermuda thread already, but I figured I would post that portion of my update here for relevance.

The Mascot Silent Cut 18" mower came yesterday afternoon. It was pretty easy to put together and everything was done and ready to mow by no more than a half hour after I opened the box. I remember thinking, "Those blades don't look sharp." Evidently, I did not understand that the blades, though flat on the very end (unlike a knife), are very sharp on the edges, where the scissor action takes place. I know this because when I got it outside, it started shredding grass and weeds. I was only mowing patches the first time I mowed, since most of the grass was nowhere near as tall as those spots. I mowed again the next morning lower and got more grass cut.

I have to say, it was very satisfying to watch it shred a bunch of weeds. It only had trouble with the taller weeds that stood in its path (long, grassy ones). It only got stuck on a twig/rock once at a 1.125" mowing height, and the perimeter of my yard has quite a few rocks strewn about and some twigs laying around. I was surprised how easy it was to push the mower, but definitely see how mowing 10,000 square feet with it could be a bear. The narrow cutting path (18") means a whole lot of passes, and the weight of this Amish-designed behemoth wears on you over time. My 2200 square feet didn't really make me break a sweat, but the grass is definitely not thick yet.

Complaints:
-The cutting height (and especially roller height) adjustments are very unclear. The manual has a table that tells you what settings apply to what cutting heights. But instead of saying to adjust the blade height to step 1,2,3,4,5 (as marked on a sticker on the mower) it lists the settings as 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5. Huh? Why is the mower marked with 1-5 settings and the manual brings in this .5 part of the setting? Then the roller setting associated with the height settings. 1 or 2... but there appear to be 4 roller height settings possible on the mower and none of the positions are marked, so how do I know what is 1 and what is 2? Is the bottom setting 1 and the next spot up is 2? Or is the top setting 1 and the bottom setting 2? Is the top setting 2 and the one below it 1? Is the bottom setting 1 and the top 2? The manual could at least make this clear.

-The faceplate. It seems useless and the bolts holding it on are some self-threading jobber that seem to strip out pretty easy and give you this loose-fitting faceplate dangling off of the front of the mower. I'm THIS close to just removing the damn thing. As far as I can tell, it serves as nothing more than an advertisement anyway.

I will update once I'm mowing a thick lawn with it.

glad you like it so far. You should find a way to avoid hitting twigs and especially rocks as they will ding and dull the reel blades, reducing the cutting performance significantly over time. After each use, a quick brushing out of any grass blades using a small hand wisk type brush/broom and a quick spray of silicone lube to all cutting surfaces will keep rust at bay and improve performance also.