Front throw reel power reel mowers such as Trimmer, Tru-Cut, and McLane will cut to with about 1" of the left side. The chain drive and sprockets on the right side keep them about 3" or 4" away.

A reel will cut St. Augustine better and with less grass blade damage than a rotary mower. I lived in Los Angeles and owned a series of 20" and 25" Trimmers, as well as a number of 20" McLane's. A clean, low hours Trimmer or Tru-Cut may be a better value than a new McLane.

Personally, I would not recommend either the 17" powered McLane or the 17" manual McLane. However, the 20" is a good machine for homeowner usage. Trimmer 20" and Tru-Cut 21" are positioned and priced more for the professional market, but make excellent homeowner machines and will last longer and provide better service than the McLane.

Lastly, although this is bound to generate a number of different opinions, I always kept my St. Augustine much lower, about 1 1/2", to retard thatch build up, and because I favored a very smooth, putting green look.

It's all moot for me now, as I live in Jersey, have a mix of fescue and rye on about an acre and use an older Bolens hydro with a 42" rotary deck.

Good to see a man with a proper lawn and "I care" lawn maintenance.
Todays lawns are generally far too large, but if children play on them(football,baseball) then it is good.
I have seen old reel type of trimmers( a wheel on just one end), but it is still a lot of work..

We don't have many Lowe's here yet, so I searched for a picture of it. Looks a lot like the Scotts "Classic", which is made by Great States. If you're not happy with the durability of your Lowe's mower, I don't think anything from Great States is going to be an improvement. FWIW, I felt the same way about the Scotts I used for two summers. Just didn't hold up all that well, I thought. Keep in mind that your blades/bed knife contact each other all the time. If you haven't been sharpening your mower at least annually, it's dull. I ended up with a Brill and am quite happy with it, but I don't have St. Augustine grass, either. And you're right about the quality of the cut. Reel cutting is unmatched by a rotary mower. That's why when you go to places where the grass = money (like golf courses and ballparks), they use reel mowers.

As for trimming, I think your alternative will be a long-handled grass shear, like this one. My father had one with wheels; don't know if they still make that model. I've about had it with my electric string trimmer; for as much as I need to trim, I'd be just as well off with one of those. Might have to check it out come end-of-season.

Thanks, guys. I did some research and could find only Locke brand power reel mower that cuts upto 3" high and claims to get 0.5" close to edges. Trolling through this forum it seems a Locke is an overkill. On manual mowers I am intrigued by Sunlawn MM1 as it cuts higher than Brill and claims the same advantage of not having to sharpen (no contact). Reading reviews on Amazon about Sunlawn, it seems it is a chinese make. I am willing to fork money for a quality product (sturdily built), and not particularly on saving a few bucks (I learned my lesson with the Taskforce mower). Has anyone used a Sunlawn MM1 here?

I was thinking of buying a reel mower, mainly cuz I live near wet lands and have alot of little animals that dont have enough brains to jump out of the way. So it takes me all day to mow my yard with the motor mower, I keep stopping to check the area for baby frogs, remove them, even baby bunnies. The noise dosent seem to scare them. Also, I was wondering if a reel mower would have less impact on my allergies and asthma. I wont hire a landscaper cuz they would run over small animals not be careful. Any comments? Suggestions?

Go ahead and use a power mower. Think of it as improving the gene pool!:-)

Think of it as improving the gene pool!

:-o

Seriously, you do have to wonder about the survival instinct of a creature that will not get away from a power mower. Frankly, as much as I am a fan of reel mowers in the right circumstances, it apparently won't make much of a difference here. You won't mow any slower with a reel mower, so if the critters are not getting an early-warning signal from a noisy power mower, they aren't going to fare much better with an almost-silent reel mower. Maybe the one benefit I can think of is that the reel mower will stop as soon as I do, so you buy yourself maybe a foot or foot-and-a-half (in distance, not on the critter :-o ) of stopping space. Would that would be enough?

As for impact on allergies and asthma, I don't know as a reel mower would be significantly better than a power mower with a bag -- except that you won't have to deal with gasoline odors (if you're sensitive to those). In fact, since reel mowers usually cut a narrower path than power mowers, you might find you're outside longer than you used to be. If grasses and the like are your allergic trigger, that may not be a good thing. But at least you won't be swirling around a small cloud of grass/weeds/dust out the open chute of a power mower.

Reel mower trivia time: Sears once developed a rechargable electric reel mower called the 'Reel One' (no kidding - this was when they called their gas mowers 'Eager One'). They went so far as to start the promo for it but suddenly it disappeared and not another word was spoken of it. I don't think they ever actually sold one. I always thought something like that would be perfect for small lawns. I had a tiny city lot at the time and would have jumped on that mower.
The problem with any reel mower is blade maintenance, which takes a specialist and special equipment to sharpen it.