I have done a guest post over at Re-Nest about the old Reel Mowers. No longer are they a thing of the past!Honestly, if you haven’t used a Reel Mower in years then you don’t know what you’re missing! The advancements in the design and manufacture of them is light years ahead of the “olden days”. They are easier to push, easier to use and better yet, they are a great alternative to petrol guzzling noisy lawn mowers!
Check out the post here – Get Real with Reel Mowers!
Did you know that according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles? That is a lot of pollution just to cut the lawn! Have you ever considered the old reel mower? It actually helps you get fit, reduces air and noise pollution and, don’t forget, it keeps that lawn perfectly manicured! But forget pushing your grandparents’ old rusty mower around… these new models are sleek, sharp and a breeze to use.
One problem – you can’t buy a good quality one in Australia. If someone knows – please let me know. I can’t find the Easun NaturCut (featured) anywhere in Australia.
Sure you can go to a big-chain hardware store and get a push reel mower, but they are of poor quality. Nothing like the ones being discussed in the article/s.
So MyGreenAus – where are these in Aus?
Hi Brian,
Good Call – I have been searching the net for a fair while now for some actual valuable information about our options in Australia. The article I wrote was originally intended for the US site RENEST but you have a valid point… what are our options here back home!!
Okay – so bear with me: Yes, I know you are not interested in the big-chain hardware, but I will link it regardless:
Flymo Push Mower:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_flymo-push-mower_1129.aspx
Also direct from FLYMO their range of reel mowers, they don’t sell direct online but you can email them and ask for a nearest supplier:
http://www.flymo.com.au/node2417.aspx?nid=16704
Here is another review of the Flymo H40 push mower
Ozito also sell a hand powered mower:
http://www.ozito.com.au/productinfo.aspx?prodid=LMP-301
I did a quick ebay search too:
A seller is selling a second hand ozito push mower: Ozito Reel Mower
Deals Direct have a hand mower – but it appears to be out of stock, but was a GMC mower:
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/5-height-hand-mower/
Al-Ko have a push mower available:
http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=49211, but I did a search on the company site and it wasn’t listed but they have showrooms around the country, so you could contact them and ask directly. Al-Ko Website
Talon Tool is another brand that is sold in Australia:
http://www.talontools.com.au/pages/lawn_mowers.htm
I also read that Aldi’s at some point sold a push mower branded Gardenline, but that is all I could find about that!
So from all this research I do think there is a gap in the market for reel mowers in Australia. Definitely a lack of online resources for these products and also most brands don’t even sell online.
if only we did have access to some of these American brands that have been listed in the Re Nest article, I tried to find any of them available in Australia and then find proof of it, and boy that was HARD.
This is the best I could come up with Brian, but if anyone out there, manufacturers or resellers know more and can help shed some light for us, please LET US KNOW!
Firstly, thank you for the fantastic post Beck.
In regards to the online availability of Push Mowers… I have good news! You can now purchase AL-KO Push Mower through the recently launched AL-KO Garden online store (www.alkogarden.com.au). The link to our push mower and catcher combo is http://www.alkogarden.com.au/products/ms380cstmp38box.
I hope this helps!
Regards,
Emile Theodore
E-commerce Coordinator
AL-KO International Pty Ltd
Hi Emile,
Thank you so much for letting us know about these push mowers! I know people have been looking for them and now being able to order online would be a huge help.
Thanks for letting us know – this looks like a great product!
Has anyone out there used an ALKO mower to give a review??
Beck
Sorry, none of these suggestions would pass as a decent reel mower. The labels and paint is different, but they all use the same plastic one-way catch gear hidden inside the wheels. This part wears out quickly in any real use (see part G301336 on page 4 of the AL-KO manual HERE https://www.alkogarden.com.au/attachments/Product/14133/ms380cstmp38box.tag.manual.pdf?ts=1318816346) .
I can also confirm that the handlebar assembly breaks easily on the Flymo – maybe on the others too. I find these offers more of an insult to those of us who really use reel mowers.
I think Brian hit it bang on when he said “you can’t buy a good quality one in Australia” – they are all China garbage. Too bad MTD forbids Wolf-Garten from selling their mowers in Australia anymore
Crap for choice confirmed, sorry guys.
Nice article, just not for Australia.
Shame that the parts don’t last longer. I would love to know more information about replacement parts from the manufacturers and what kind of life can you get out of each mower? I think this is a huge opportunity in the market at the moment for Australian made reel mowers. Clearly there is a market!
I did a quick search on the brand “wolf-garten” and found a reseller in Australia but unfortunately they do not have any push style mowers available. http://www.wolf-garten.com.au/ maybe if you are interested in purchasing one, you could contact this group on email and see if they are able to sell some here.
For everyone else who wants to see what the Wolf-Garten brand looks like check it out here: http://www.wolf-garten.org/index.php?id=665&no_cache=1
Thanks for your comments Ben, I hope we can get some more information on the products in Australia and if anyone has had any luck tracking down a Wolf-Garten, let us know!
I talked to the dealer who has the website here. Thats how I know you can’t get them. Turns out, Wolf-Garten is now owned by another company that forbids sale of Wolf-Garten mowers in Australia so that they don’t compete with other products from MTD.
I suspect the majority of people who try reel mowers and have problems just assume it was a dumb idea to start (especially after feedback from their mates), and just go back to a powered machine “like the rest of the street” and buy what the Australian mower dealers are really trying to sell anyway. They never realize that the reel product was inferior to begin with, and the entire Australian market is a setup to drive everyone to a specific status quo.
Well, I’m looking into an option to have metal aftermarket parts cast/machined, but most users are probably not this serious.
Hi Ben,
Thanks for clarifying all this for us.
It is really disheartening to hear that they won’t sell into the Australian market and don’t want to compete with MTD.
I have memories of 25 years ago pushing a very old reel mower around my grandparents front lawn in Bentleigh, Victoria! It was a rickety old machine but my grandfather lovingly took care of it and it is still with my family today! Not the easiest thing to use but certainly has a lot of sentimental value.
I do think a lot of people have very bad experiences with reel mowers and then opt for a petrol mower. It is a real shame (no pun intended)
Hello Ben,
Thank you for your post.
AL-KO’s 38HM Soft Touch Push Mower is covered under a 2 year warranty, outside of warranty period, the part you have mentioned is made available to all of our customers as a spare part.
If you would like to discuss this further,
please feel free to contact me via the details below.
Regards,
Emile Theodore
E-commerce Coordiantor
AL-KO International Pty Ltd
(03) 9767 3700
http://www.alko.com.au
I would dearly love to get a reel mower. On the internet I’ve been eyeing the Remington rm3000, the Scotts Classic and the Greenworks 250xx range. Particularly the ones with the wide cutting height range as I’m only renting and the next place I live might not have the same type of grass. I’ve just recently sown in some Arid Smartgrass and since I’ve only got a small unit I don’t need anything powered. However two items are a concern and are preventing my buying one.
1) The Arid Smartgrass I’ve sown is a tall fescue type grass and needs to be cut around the 5cm+ mark. None of the reel mowers I’ve seen available in Australia go near that. The US models do – but the shipping costs to import to Australia – even just from sites like Amazon – is at least 100% (usually more) of the product cost (so at least doubling the cost).
2) I’m living on a very restricted budget. It’s not like reel mowers are complicated and bulky pieces of machinery. I just can’t understand how they can ask for over $100 for it.
So when my local hardware store has only the one model available (versus the multitude of powered mowers), and they are asking $140 for it when it cuts to maximum height of 3.5cm, there’s just no way I’m buying.
I guess I’m stuck with borrowing my dad’s whipper snipper – which I really didn’t want to do, considering using it will result in a less clean and probably uneven cut. But – already available and no-cost-but-the-fuel whipper snipper vs paying $250+ to import a reel mower that will cut to the desired height – guess which way I’m leaning.
I tell you what – given the low amount of options available to Australian consumers in the reel mower area, if there was someone out there with the inclination to spend their time putting these machinese together, they could have quite the little cottage business on their hands – just from people who want more range than the one model in their local hardware store, or people who are searching for something that cuts to a better height.
Hi Erica,
Thank you for your comments and I totally agree that if someone locally in Australia was interested in either:
a) manufacturing Aussie made reel mowers here or,
b) importing a wide range of reel mowers and set up a nice online business with reasonable shipping (Australia Post… are you listening! REASONABLE shipping)
I expect they would do a very nice business. The market in Australia does want this product and, of course, with the right marketing you could showcase these products outside of the original niche!
Just another side note, we do have Emile Theodore from ALKO occasionally popping around to check out the site, so maybe she can advise if their mowers reach the height you are after.
Thanks for the reply Rebecca.
I did check out the Al-ko site and was duly impressed by the swish presentation video they put together for their ‘soft touch’ reel model. Unfortunately it only cut to 3.5cm >.< (bugger)! If it weren't for that one point I'd have bought it.
Still, I left a message on their site asking if it were possible to modify their model so it cut a bit higher. Who knows – maybe they'll be interested in furthering their design to cater for a broader customer base. (Hint hint Emile ^^)
The men in my family are pretty handy. If the height could be modified with a few extra brackets or some such thing it would be doable…
Will have to wait & see ^^.
…The thought occurred that perhaps raising the cutting height might be as simple as replacing the wheels with ones that had at least 1.5cm bigger radius – but then in the pictures of the soft touch there’s this little wing thing at the back, just behind the wheel that would seem to prevent this modification…
That could be an idea! I am not sure of the Soft Touch specifications but let’s hope Emile spies these comments and lets us know!
Erica,
I have an AL-KO Push mower myself. They are a fantastic push mower – IMHO the best push mower on the market.
The cutting height is OK for me but i can see where your issue lies.
My suggestion would be to modify the height adjustment bracket on either side of the mower and also increase the size of the wheel proportionately.
Regards,
FA
I have a Brill Razorcut and it has been going strong for 3 years it is now ready for a re-sharpen of the blades. Very easy to set up the cut heights. I have to mow around 400m2 of Santa Ana couch. the grass deflector and catcher work brilliantly. I emailed Brill direct and then they put me in contact with the importer of their product range here in Australia who ordered a unit for me at a price similar to if I had ordered online from OS. If I have an issue it is that if my Santa ana gets too high it is difficult to cut. So i have to revert to a petrol mower for lowering it a level that the Brill cuts best. the grass looks better with a reel mower cut.
That is fantastic that you were able contact the importer to get a competitive rate!
I found this youtube review of the Brill Razorcut 38 online if people are interested too – http://youtu.be/bP5Sj4qAsEU
One thing I will say if you haven’t used a push mower before. Be prepared to walk ( lots ) as one pass on the grass is not normally enough I have found and you will have to mow more often.
In the youtube clip watch the guys face he is pushing with some force, as it will not cut without some sort of resistance back on you and make sure that there are no things that will bind up the blades as the cutting action will stop and the wheels will slide.
Dean, and Grant, I understand ALKO are the Australian agent is this still not correct.
Hi Trevor, I’m not sure if that is the case, I might have to contact them and find out.
Hello Dean, just wanted to find out who the Australian agent is for the Brill Razorcut mowers?
Cheers
Grant
Hi,
Found a link for the Brill Razorcut on Amazon that they will ship worldwide.
http://www.amazon.com/Brill-78371-Razorcut-15-Inch-Mower/dp/B0013M2MBE
You pay the extra $ but you get a quality product.
Hope this helps.
Great link Max! This is definitely a big help for many people, plus the reviews on Amazon are a great to find out if this is what you want.
Thanks!!
No worries! There’s also this aussie site which sells the Fiskars Momentum which is apparently the bee’s knees.
http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/fiskars-garden-tools/push-reel-mowers.html