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When I bought my house I wanted to find a mower that was simple, cheap, and nearly maintenance free so I bought a corded mower. I'm not sure the square footage of my yard but I can do it with a 100 ft 12/3 extension cord. It worked quite well considering but I eventually gave in and bought a gas mower. After using the gas mower for a while I gave it away to someone after it started having problems.

I made up my mind that I didn't need or want a gas mower. I haven't ever had much interest in maintaining and tinkering with small engines so I went back to the corded mower. If the grass is a little long you have to mow very slow so it doesn't miss stuff. I also mow away from the house and the cord. However the first few strips you have to do with the cord on the other side. The sides are also time consuming to feed the cord around for such a small area. Also most people think mowing over the cord is a problem but that is much easier to avoid than sweeping over hidden dog piles with it

I started shopping again for a alternative and purchased a fiskars reel mower. I couldn't believe how well this mower worked. It will make you sweat but I could mow the yard much faster than with the corded mower. My only complaint is that it pushes over and doesnt do anything to dandelions or other weeds that grow faster and taller than the grass. Also I don't want any chemicals on the yard. So I now I use both depending on how wild things get until I can mow. I'm actually thinking of adding clover to my front yard to help crowd out some of the others weeds since I've read it gets along very well with grass. Not sure how the neighbors would like that but has to be better than dandelion city. This could make my yard more reel mower friendly.

I have been reading reviews on battery powered mowers. I wouldn't mind buying a new battery every few years if I could recycle it but after reading reviews customer service from all the manufacturers is almost non existent. Sometimes the batteries turn into a dud or the deck cracks just after 30 days and you are out your money.

I was also looking at robo mowers. They seem to work ok but they do require tinkering which may not save you time or work. There has been a lot of chatter about the Bosch Indego and I'm curious to see some reviews on it. The neato vacs seem to work quite well and maybe we will see something work as well to mow the yard.

So any ideas or should I stay with my corded and reel mower for now? I don't particularly like mowing the yard but oddly I've found some enjoyment on my quest for more efficient ways to complete this mundane task.

WELCOME TO LMF!!
I have a lot of clover in my backyard (in the spring and summer). I would never want it in my front yard. It gets so ugly when it turns white, and you have to cut it really short to get the "flower" (white) part off. Just my opinion. But I do hate dandelions, also! As for which mower, I have some doubts with the robotic mowers. First of all, I think you have to set up a boundary for it so it knows where things are. Also, it mows kind of randomly. It gets to the edge and then just takes off in another direction. I guess if you have it out long enough it will get all of the lawn, but it would be awkward having patches of grass it didn't mow yet. I would stick with the electric and reel mower because you can mow your lawn at one time, and then be done until the next week, unlike with the robotic mower, where though you wouldn't have to do any work to mow the lawn, it would take longer. (If you want to mow your lawn before a party I would use the reel mower because if you used the robotic mower there would be no guarantees it would get everything in time!) That is just my opinion.
Good luck with your quest and ask us if you have any questions.

thanks for the insight. The Bosch is supposed to mow in more of a set pattern and be substantially faster than the other robo mowers. It also still uses the wire. Its not released in the US yet so not much info. The robo mowers battery and blades are also very expensive and seem to require quite a few repairs. I think they just need a bit more fine tuning and some quality control.

If I don't do clover I may put down corn gluten meal. It keeps weeds from germinating. I would like to get my lawn so I can almost always use the reel mower. Still reading reviews about dud batteries and that has almost completely turned me off from them.

The electric forum is a bit quiet on this site.

sporkk said:

thanks for the insight. The Bosch is supposed to mow in more of a set pattern and be substantially faster than the other robo mowers. It also still uses the wire. Its not released in the US yet so not much info. The robo mowers battery and blades are also very expensive and seem to require quite a few repairs. I think they just need a bit more fine tuning and some quality control.

If I don't do clover I may put down corn gluten meal. It keeps weeds from germinating. I would like to get my lawn so I can almost always use the reel mower. Still reading reviews about dud batteries and that has almost completely turned me off from them.

The electric forum is a bit quiet on this site.

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Yes, I agree, robo mowers could use some more fine tuning! One option you could do is totally get the yard down to dirt, and start fresh, it will be ugly at first, but I see all these knew houses with the nicest grass ever! Mind you, it would be very ugly having dirt for a yard at first! Good luck!
P.S. Yes--the electric forum is fairly new, and also fairly quite. If you post something in it though you will get a response, though.