I recently bought a used 20" cut that is a bare bones model. Very lightweight with a 3.5 HP engine and no bells or wistles. I prefer my snapper self propelled but rented a house with a very rough terrain full of pine cones and something called sweet gum cones. I believe the are very hard on the mower blade and there are roots sticking up everywhere. I do not want to ruin my good snapper. Anyways I see similar models for sale at Walmart for around $130 new. They are very lightweight. Or you could check out Sears newer and more expensive rechargeable mowers. Hope this helps.

Hi, I am a big time fan of reel mowing. I am a commercial lawn-care company owner and own a 25" Eastman "trimmer" reel, a 25" Tru-cut reel, and a 20" Trimmer of Fresno homeowner model. I have also owned a King O' Lawn reel which wasn't much to brag about, but still a decent mower. In my opinion, the Eastman is a much more comfortable mower to operate and they last just as long, if not longer than a Tru-cut. Some like the separate drive clutches of the Tru-cut, but I don't find it of much benefit unless you are planning on driving your reel mower to the corner store. In regards to your question concerning the best width of reel mower, I find the 25" models to be the best constructed the best and are most well fit to the rigors of daily, commercial use. The 20" Tru-cuts are very well constructed mowers, just as well constructed as the 25" reels. In regards to whether a 20", 25" or 27" is the proper choice, it is a matter of how your lawn was constructed. If you have lots of holes and slopes, a 20" will probably be a wiser choice because it will scalp less. IF you lawn is relatively flat, a 25" will suffice. I find the 27" Tru-cut to be too large to be justified purchasing. Not only is it 2" wider than the 25", it is heavier=less maneuverability and it is also a little more expensive. The 27" Tru-cuts are for places like baseball diamonds and large institutions. With regards to the question about the roller, once again, if your yard is bumpy, a roller would be a wise choice because it will prevent the front wheels from becoming unbalanced. Generally a roller is not needed unless you are wanting to create a striping affect. I have heard both good and bad about rollers, one bad thing is that they lay down the grass making for not as close of a cut. A good thing is the striping affect and it does not scalp. The rollers are made out of a very durable plastic and will not scratch. About the edging, generally the edging I use is brick set in with mortar. However, the flagstone you describe will work. As long as the flagstone is equal with the height of the lawn, you will be able to ride the mower on it with out any problems. Generally 2" is sufficient to avoid the Bermuda runners from creeping into the beds, just keep it trimmed using a string trimmer, stick edger, or walk behind edger preferably. I would suggest doing some research on basic masonry work, especially that concerning flagstone. I would suggest using mortar to set and joint the flagstone with a layer of landscape fabric and pea gravel. Best of luck on your endeavors and please feel free to ask me any questions.

Ok, I'm gonna touch on a couple of things here. I'm still troubleshooting so bear with me. Your last paragraph clued me in to a possibility. One of the things I see my new employees do from time to time even with powered walking greens mowers is that they will have areas where they miss cutting the grass due to pushing down on the handle of the mower. The way I get them to correct this is for them to slightly lift up on the handle as they are making each pass across the green. This keeps the cutting unit down on the grass surface. Is it possible that you are doing the same thing with your reel mower? As light as it is, it would be easy for you to be inadvertantly pressing down on the handle slightly which would lift up the reel off the ground and when it goes back down it would create the washboard or gouging effect as you move across an area. This would be even easier to do on a downhill slope. Next time you mow, try lifting up slightly on the handle with both hands to keep the cutting unit on the grass surface. The other issue I'll comment on is leveling. You could do your own leveling, just as some others on this forum have done. The link below is a thread from this forum from earlier this year. There are also other threads on leveling from people who did the work themselves and they saw great results. Check it out and see if this is something you think you could do. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg061042369630.html?45

Thanks for your input knuttle. I know this would be a huge expense. Our neighbors across the street just had several very large eucaplytus removed from their backyard (even taller than our gum tree). They had had concerns with branches breaking and landing on their house when Santa Ana winds come around. It took over three days to remove their trees and I can only imagine the cost. The cost alone could be enough to prevent us from taking our tree out. I guess there used to be several gum trees planted in our neighborhood. It seems everyone else has already taken theirs out and we're the last ones to still have one. I will look into the city laws as well. That thought hadn't crossed my mind. Perhaps a good option right now would be to have the tree trimmed. I don't think it's ever been properly trimmed and there are several large branches close to our house. And I will absolutely add "picking up pods" to my kids' chore list. :) At any rate, like I mentioned, we won't be making any definitive decisions this year. We'd like to at least have a full year in our house to get a better idea of the year-round maintenance of the tree before we just cut it down. (And I knew you were joking about blowing the pods down the hill. We'd also like to stay friends with our neighbors.) :)