Thanks For YouR Reply. As I Mentioned IN My OP, I Am Aware Of The Fiskars MOwer. However, It Still doesn't Fit All MY Criteria. I Realize It's A Tall Order But I'm Wondering If Anybody Here Might Know Of A MOwer That Comes Close. I Am Not Having Issues With The Ability To Cut PeR Se. It Is Sharp As It Is Brand New. The Thing With Reel Mowers Is That You Need To Walk Fast To Build Momentum And Make The Reel Spin Fast. This Is A Challenge For My Lawn For Reasons I Already Described. I Know Rotary Mowers Are More Abundant But Chose To Go With Reel Mower Due To Space Issues And I Wanted To GraSs Cycle For The Health Of My Lawn, Save Time And Money From Bagging. It Also Provides A Cleaner Cut Due To The Scissors MoVement As Opposed To ShEaring With A Rotary. But To Get An Overall Manicured Look After MOwing I Have To Make Several PassEs And Do Quick SHort StOkes Back And Forth To Get The Reel To Spin Really FaSt. I Believe All These Issues Will Be Resolved With An Electric Reel MoWer. Hope That Explains MY Situation Better For You.

Drake, does your mower have the blade brake clutch? You can tell by looking at the top of the engine, is the starter handle there or is it on the handle bar? If you have the blade brake clutch model then it will start with the blade dis-engaged (starter handle down on the top of the engine and not on the handle bar) When starting the mower without the blade engaged excessive smoke from the drain down oil in the crankcase and choke posititon will come up through the hole in the deck that the muffler outlet pipe uses to discharge the exhaust under the deck because the fan action of the blade is not pulling it out the grass discharge port in the deck. For this reason I put a spring clamp on the blade brake bail (top bail on the handle) to hold it down (engaged position) while starting and warming up the engine. When I first got my M I too saw smoke coming up around the engine and thought that something was wrong, however it was not. After a few minutes of running the smoking stops and all is normal, with the blade engaged I don't get the smoke around the engine at start up as the blade air mixes with the exhaust and dilutes the smoke. Smoking at start up is normal for most all two-cycle engines. I hope this helps.

If the subject wasn't so serious, I guess I would find some of the responses amusing. Trotting out stories about what you and your friends did as kids is totally immaterial to the PROVABLE statistics that get recorded by hospitals who treat injured children every year. So what if you did what you did 60 years ago? Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe.... you and your friends were lucky? As I kid, I was lucky too. I've cheated death too many times to remember. So....I'm not talking about the "lucky" kids like you, me and your buddies. I'm talking about the unlucky kids who have to go through life with two arms missing or a leg missing. The OP is old enough to figure it out for himself. Everything a person does on a daily basis comes with an element of risk. We wear a seat belt to reduce the risk of injury should we be unlucky enough to be in an accident. We wear bike helmets, hockey helmets and motorcycle helmets to hopefully keep us from death or becoming a vegetable on life support. Accidents are NOT always our fault. To suggest that child injuries happen because of stupid decisions made by stupid adults is the height of arrogance. Talk to anyone who has been in an accident and ask them this question. "At one point, you were doing what you were doing and you felt totally safe and comfortable, yes? So, can you tell me how long it was between feeling safe and comfortable and the moment when you realized that an accident had just taken place?" 99% of the time, they will tell you that is was a split-second. They will tell you that they were doing all of the right things at the time but they never saw what was happening or they never saw it soon enough to prevent what ultimately happened. So if the above makes me a PC hot-air soap boxer but I manage to prevent the OP's grandchild from being hurt, then I have no problem with that title. Guys like you come on these forums and essentially preach unsafe practices to novices and then try to use terms such as "American culture" to justify it. But if the unthinkable happens to one of the OP's grandchildren, will you be around to help pick up the pieces? Hell no! You'll still be on forums like this one spouting the same sort of neanderthal advice without a seconds thought about a little thing called consequences. Every forum has guys like you. Sad really. People look to these forums to get good advice but are forced to try and decide who's knuckles still drag on the ground and who walks totally upright. As for the X-300 suggestion, the OP is in search of a NEW machine with a warranty, not some well-worn unit that someone else got the best years out of and is now dumping it. For a property the size stated and the tasks outlined, any decent LT will do the job. There's no need for him to own a garden tractor.

Thank you all for the information, suggestions and also the various links. I now think I have enough information to be confused and undecided. For what it is worth, initially I was leaning towards the Coronet as it has all my desired features and looks like a well made machine. The smaller Snappers also would provide what I need. The Ariens really looks well made and have all the features but the smallest cutting width is 42 inches and I need something around 28-30 inches. Thanks for posting the picture of the Deere and I expect it would be a good buy...........especially for some one who had the skills and interest in maintaining it (I have neither) but thanks for the offer. I have always been a huge fan of Honda products/engines. Unfortunatley I discovered that Honda is out of the riding lawn mower/tractor business so the only thing available is used. There are a number of them available on E-bay but they all must be picked up and most of them are toooooo far away. The one that you guys provided a link to for E-bay is within 3 hours where I live so I may just give it a shot. I expect I would be happy with it and if not it is a far cry from a $2-$2.6K machine/mistake. Again, thanks for being friendly to a stranger and I do appreciate the responses. Jim