Manual lawn mowers
From robotic lawn mowers to manual ones, completely opposite ends of the pricing spectrum but just as valid depending on your needs and circumstances.
Manual mowers are normally good for use in very small gardens where the grass is regularly trimmed and the terrain is quite flat. It sounds obvious, but because they are powered simply by you pushing them forward they do require a fair bit of strength and energy to use, so they are no good on thick lumpy terrain as the job will simply be too strenuous to carry out.
Using the same cylinder blade mechanism as other cylinder mowers (see above) manual mowers consequently require the same level of maintenance and set up. You could find yours performing poorly if you have not taken the time to set the blade up so that it shears properly against the fixed blade.
Some particular advantages of manual lawn mowers include:
· Low purchase cost – you shouldn't expect to pay any more than $100 for a manual mower, if you do then you have to ask yourself just what it is you are paying for
· Light weight – they have to be operated manually therefore most manual mowers don’t weight more than a few kilos, this can be useful when storing the mower too, as it might be feasible to hang the it on a bracket on the wall of your garage rather than taking up valuable floor space
· Quiet – no motor or engine means no disturbing the neighbours. You could mow your lawn in the middle of the night and it wouldn't upset anyone (not that you’d want to mow the lawn in the middle of the night of course!)
· Eco-friendly – requiring only man power to run also means that you can keep a clear conscience as far as the environment is concerned, you’ll be creating zero emissions, and leaving no carbon footprint.
Aside from previously mentioned points to think about before buying a manual mower, another potential disadvantage is that the open grass collection box design (for whatever reason) tends to be such that the grass is free to escape quite easily, therefore this feature often proves ineffective. A better point of view to take is that, if used regularly throughout the summer months, a manual mower like a robotic one does not need to collect cut grass, rather the fine trimmings can simply be returned to the ground to break down into a fine mulch.
Manual mowers are normally good for use in very small gardens where the grass is regularly trimmed and the terrain is quite flat. It sounds obvious, but because they are powered simply by you pushing them forward they do require a fair bit of strength and energy to use, so they are no good on thick lumpy terrain as the job will simply be too strenuous to carry out.
Using the same cylinder blade mechanism as other cylinder mowers (see above) manual mowers consequently require the same level of maintenance and set up. You could find yours performing poorly if you have not taken the time to set the blade up so that it shears properly against the fixed blade.
Some particular advantages of manual lawn mowers include:
· Low purchase cost – you shouldn't expect to pay any more than $100 for a manual mower, if you do then you have to ask yourself just what it is you are paying for
· Light weight – they have to be operated manually therefore most manual mowers don’t weight more than a few kilos, this can be useful when storing the mower too, as it might be feasible to hang the it on a bracket on the wall of your garage rather than taking up valuable floor space
· Quiet – no motor or engine means no disturbing the neighbours. You could mow your lawn in the middle of the night and it wouldn't upset anyone (not that you’d want to mow the lawn in the middle of the night of course!)
· Eco-friendly – requiring only man power to run also means that you can keep a clear conscience as far as the environment is concerned, you’ll be creating zero emissions, and leaving no carbon footprint.
Aside from previously mentioned points to think about before buying a manual mower, another potential disadvantage is that the open grass collection box design (for whatever reason) tends to be such that the grass is free to escape quite easily, therefore this feature often proves ineffective. A better point of view to take is that, if used regularly throughout the summer months, a manual mower like a robotic one does not need to collect cut grass, rather the fine trimmings can simply be returned to the ground to break down into a fine mulch.