Best Reel Mower

What makes the best reel mower for your lawn?

The best reel mower matches its cutting width, blade count, and height range to your grass and yard size. For a small, level, fine-bladed lawn kept short, a sharp 16 to 18-inch, five-blade reel gives a clean scissor cut, near-silent running, and almost no maintenance. Match the machine to the lawn and a manual reel outshines any engine.

Everything below is based on published manufacturer specifications and aggregated owner feedback, not first-hand lab testing. The picks lean on brands that have made reel mowers for generations — Fiskars, the American Lawn Mower Company (paid link) and its Great States (paid link), Scotts, and Earthwise (paid link) sub-brands — so parts and support are easy to find.

How reel mowers compare at a glance

The table below lines up the picks by the three attributes that decide reel-mower fit: cutting width, blade count, and the grass types each handles best.

What cutting width should you choose?

Cutting width decides how many passes the lawn takes, so size it to your yard, not the biggest number. A 14-inch reel is ideal for courtyards and strips; a 16-inch is the all-round home choice; an 18 to 20-inch reel finishes a mid-size lawn in fewer laps but is heavier to steer. Anything approaching a quarter-acre of fast-growing grass is really a job for a powered machine — weigh it on our reel mower against a powered rotary comparison.

How many blades do you actually need?

Blade count sets cut fineness: five blades suit almost everyone, seven blades give a manicured finish on short turf, and four-blade reels trade smoothness for lighter pushing and slightly taller grass. If you want a putting-green look and will mow twice a week, choose seven; if you want the easiest push on a normal home lawn, five is the practical answer.

What cutting height range should a reel mower offer?

Look for a reel whose height range spans the height your grass type wants, with enough room at the top for the fastest-growing week of the season. Fine warm-season lawns sit happily around three-quarters of an inch to two inches, while a top setting near three to four inches adds a useful margin for spring flushes.

The budget 14-inch reels typically stop around 1.75 inches, which suits a putting-green-short lawn but leaves no headroom if growth gets ahead of you. Mid-range 16-inch reels usually reach about 2.5 inches, and the Fiskars StaySharp Max stretches to roughly four inches, the widest range here and the reason it copes with a broader grass mix. A wider height range does not let a reel mow tall grass like a rotary, but it does let you raise the deck in high summer to protect the lawn from stress and drop it again as growth slows. Match the range to how short you actually keep your grass, not to the highest number printed on the box.

Which reel design cuts with the least effort?

Momentum-drive reels push the easiest through short bursts of thicker grass. Fiskars' StaySharp uses an inertia drive and a rear roller so the reel keeps spinning and the height stays even, which owners repeatedly credit for handling grass that stalls cheaper reels. Traditional geared reels are lighter and cheaper but load up faster on damp or tall lawns. Whichever you pick, keeping the reel sharp matters more than any feature — see our push and reel mower guide and lawn mower maintenance notes on backlapping.

How do the top reel mowers differ in build and drive?

The main build differences are the drive type, whether the mower has a rear roller, and the blade count, and those three things separate a forgiving reel from a fussy one. A momentum drive and a rear roller cost more but make the cut easier and more even.

The attributes worth comparing across the picks are set out below.

• Drive type — a momentum or inertia drive, as on the Fiskars StaySharp Max, stores energy in the spinning reel so it carries through short thick patches; a plain geared drive stops the reel the instant you stop walking.
• Rear roller — a roller steadies the cut height and leaves the light stripe some owners like, and it reduces scalping on uneven ground; budget reels such as the Great States 415-16 omit it.
• Blade count — five blades suit most lawns, while the seven-blade Earthwise 1715-16EW lays down a finer finish on short, dense turf at the cost of more effort.
• Wheel size — taller wheels, like the 10-inch pair on the Scotts 2000-20, roll more easily across a bigger yard than the small wheels on compact reels.

Weigh those against your lawn: a level, fine lawn rewards blade count and a roller, while a bumpy yard rewards a forgiving drive and larger wheels.

Do you still need a powered mower as backup?

Many reel-mower owners keep a string trimmer or a small powered mower for the jobs a reel cannot do — tall spring growth, weed stalks, and the first cut after a holiday. A reel rewards a short, frequently mowed lawn; if yours grows fast or you travel a lot, read the battery lawn mowers guide before committing to manual only. Safety still applies: pick up sticks and stones before mowing so the reel does not jam or throw debris.

How do you set up and adjust a new reel mower?

Set up a new reel mower by assembling the handle, setting the cutting height, and adjusting the bed knife so it just contacts the reel across its full width. That final adjustment is what turns a boxed reel into one that cuts paper cleanly, and it takes only a few minutes.

1. Bolt the handle to the mower body and tighten every fastener, since a loose handle makes the reel wander.
2. Set the cutting height on both sides to the same value, measuring from a hard floor to the bed knife so the cut stays level.
3. Turn the bed-knife adjusters in small, equal steps until the reel lightly touches the bed knife along its whole length.
4. Spin the reel by hand and listen for an even, soft contact rather than a hard scrape or a gap at either end.
5. Test the cut on a strip of newspaper held to the bed knife; a correctly set reel slices it cleanly from end to end.

Re-check the bed-knife setting after the first few mows, as new parts bed in and the contact can loosen slightly.

What are the most common reel-mower buying mistakes?

The most common mistake is buying a reel for a lawn that is too tall, too coarse, or too large for one, then blaming the mower when it folds the grass. Reels reward a short, fine, frequently mowed lawn and punish nearly everything else.

The errors that lead to disappointed owners are worth naming:

• Ignoring grass type — a reel that is perfect on Bermuda or zoysia will ride over St. Augustine and tall fescue; check the fit on our push and reel mower guide first.
• Buying too wide — a 20-inch reel looks efficient but is heavy to steer around beds and scalps bumpy ground, where a 16-inch is easier to live with.
• Skipping the bed-knife adjustment — many "dull out of the box" complaints are really an unadjusted bed knife, not a blunt reel.
• Expecting it to mulch leaves or cut weeds — a reel jams on twigs and rides over weed stalks, so keep a trimmer or blower for those jobs.
• Letting the grass get ahead — miss a week in peak growth and the reel cannot catch up in one pass; raise the height and take it in stages.

Avoid those five and a reel mower is one of the most satisfying tools in the shed.

How much should you budget, and what is the cost of ownership?

Budget for the mower itself and very little else, because a reel mower has almost no running costs. A basic geared reel is the cheapest way to cut grass, a mid-range 16 to 18-inch reel costs more, and a momentum-drive model like the Fiskars sits at the top of the manual range.

What you pay for as you move up the range is drive smoothness, a rear roller, wheel size, and blade count, not raw power. After purchase the only ongoing costs are a tube of lapping compound every season or two and the occasional replacement bed knife or wheel bearing, all inexpensive and widely stocked. There is no fuel, oil, filter, spark plug, or battery to replace, which is why a reel has the lowest cost of ownership of any mower over a decade of small-lawn use. If your lawn is on the edge of what a reel handles, spend the saving on a second-hand corded or battery lawn mower for the tough cuts rather than on a bigger reel that will still struggle with tall grass.