This page might be helpful. http://www.reelmowerguide.com/index.html

I would recommend the new Sunlawn MM2.

You may need to fashion a heavier roller if you want to accentuate the stripes, but IMHO, this is the best reel push mower. Cuts to 3", non-contact design, does not jam easily. Easy assembly.

The only caution is you neeed to cut frequently with push reel mowers for best results.

Ron

It sounds like you and I have the same tastes.
The UK has an excellent climate for growing fine fescues and colonial bent. Those grasses can be closely mowed to around .05" Mowing them short creates the putting or bowling green appearance. Having a reel mower helps but you will not find reel mowers in the US like the ones in the UK and the ones in the US are too expensive IMO. Forget about trying to import one as it's cost prohibitive and nobody will want to ship it.

You can grow these grasses but during the somewhat short period of time in between unbearably cold and unbearably hot, you can mow these types of grasses short.

I grow similar grasses, creeping red fescue and creeping bent and use a manual reel mower and a Snapper 19" rotary which is the only rotary mower makerketed in the US that will cut to a half an inch. It can be adjusted quickly for mowing the other grasses I have taller. You can get an optional bag kit which I have. Good equipment to start out with considering your close-mowing season may be short. I've tried a TruCut gas powered mower for a couple of weeks and was happy with it but I couldn't justify buying one for my small yard. Compared to every other residential yard out there it looks enough like a putting green to me and everyone else so who cares.

Grass less than .75" doesn't stripe all that noticeably and to do it you need a lot of weight and the universal rollers you can attach to mowers suck - don't waste your money. The snapper does some degree of striping on it's own. Subtle stripes that last about a week if there's no rain. Maintain the grass higher in the summer then that's when you have stripes.

In my back yard I grow tall fescue and KBG. I don't recommend cutting either one of those short. KBG can tolerate close mowing but it is not dense enough and grows way too quickly so it doesn't really lend itself to that close mowing. Using a reel mower on tall fescue or KBG and mownig high is not going to accomplish what you want. 'Twill look nice but it's not going to be a bowling green.

Correction:
The reel mower I tried was a McClane not a TruCut.

I love my Craftsman reel (rebranded McClane), it's at least 17 years old and still cuts like brand new.

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My lawn is Bermuda and the reel cuts it down to .5" with ease. I don't get much striping but I do get a nice tight cut and thick looking grass.

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I appreciate the well thought out responses. It sounds like going with a power reel mower might be overkill for a yard of my size. Coupled with the fact that cutting very short, especially in the Summer probably isn't adviseable here unless I wanted to water every day (which I don't) and the power reels do not cut high, I guess they don't make sense for me.

Does anyone else recommend any of the other manual reels or concur with the recommendation for the Sunlawn MM2? I've seen the Brills praised as well as posts from their detractors. I like the idea of something simple and not using gas, but if a manual reel mower is more "quirky" or "eccentric" than functional then I'd rather not waste my money.

If you regularly use a manual reel to cut at 2" or above, I'd love to hear from you. I still am not certain of what type of grass I have, but I know it isn't a bent variety. During some casual conversation, I was told most lawns around here are Kentucky Blue or a mix that does contain Kentucky Blue.

Ron,

Im in Chicago too and use the Scotts mower for my
yard. It cuts up to 3" which is ideal for me but
unless you're prepared to mow at least a couple
of times a week in periods of heavy growth I wouldn't
consider it. If that works for you though then
I'd recommend it. My tastes don't run to the ballpark
strips you're talking about, looks great but Im not
willing to do the work, so I wouldn't know how the
Scotts works with that.

I have the Scott's 20" and it works great, no problems. Lightweight. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: amazon

Try it an the worst that can happen is you don't like it and have to return it to place of purchase for a complete refund. Save your receipt.

Just don't give up real quick. You have to make the necessary adjustments to it and adapt to mowing a little differently.
The scotts 20 normally gets good reviews althouth it has two big complaints and that's that it is noisy and also that it doesn't cut low enough for those of us that mow low. But it is the easiest to find, sold at any home depot and it does allow you to cut higher, that 3 inches that you can't do with other reel mowers.

Can somebody tell me about how much a power reel mower costs these days? I E-mailed McLane for a quote but so far nothing?

They have prices on the McLane web site:

http://www.mclanemower.com/reelmowers.asp