I think we have used every kind of hose reel, hanger, pot, etc. ever produced. And you know what we like the best? We keep a hose at every spigot and neatly coil it flat on the ground behind a bush each time we use it. Neat, handy, and honestly the least effort, in our opinion. The problem with reels is how heavy they get as they fill up, thus making your arms increasingly more tired as you get near the end of the job. By coiling it on the ground there is no weight on your arms. (The battery powered ones run out of power remarkably fast, and who wants to make a special trip inside to hunt for more batteries that you may or may not have?....This of course, tells you a bit about how organized I am about such details.:)

I just registered here after reading all the posts regarding the fiskars and bermuda at the lower settings. I purchased a fiskars a couple of weeks ago and noticed the chopping look and the grabbing of the grass at the lower settings too. I laid my bermuda 419 in my front yard a couple of months ago and have been trying to keep it at the lowest setting like it was from the sod farm. When the mower does not jam up and stop dead it its tracks I get a rippled look like someone else mentioned earlier. I was going to post a couple of pics but can't seem to figure out how. I have sent an email with pics to fiskars explaining the difficulty with my bermuda and will post a follow up if they can offer a fix. I don't want to have to send it back since I ordered it online and I think it is a nice mower, but if it won't glide through my bermuda, what's the use? Someone mentioned that it needs a roller on the front instead of the two little wheels, what do you mean by that? I also have scott's classic 20" but didn't notice a roller on the front. I have read this explanation somewhere else too, but would like some clarification. Thanks, so far I love the advice given here.

"Not to be argumntative..." You are being argumentative, and uninformed at that. Where are statistics to back up that 99.5% figure? Did you pull that number out of your butt? Althoug a niche market, Tru-Cut, Trimmer, and McLane sell to commerical gardeners and homeowners. Crawling grasses such as St. Augustine and Hybrid Bermuda look better and are more healthy when cut by a reel. Locke is further upmarket such as estates and athletic fields. None is considered a player in the gold course market. From California through the South to Florida reel mowers have a considerably greater penetration. I'm willing to concede that reel penetration is only 0.5% on places like Maine and South Dakota, but since I don't have statistics, I can't argue the case further. Toro, Jacobsen, Gravely, and John Deere are the primary golf course mower manufacturers. Sure their stuff can cost tens of thousands. So do their rotary fairway mowers. But to compare them to a $1000 to $1500 homeowner or light commercial walk behind is misleading and specious.

Have a look here at American Reel. Their lower end models leave something to be desired but the better ones are quite good. I have not been impressed with the 1414-16 5 blade model, the tires tend to skid on wet grass and the the wheels are poorly cast so the drive teeth do not engage smoothly. The 1705-16, a seven blade unit, is much better quality. Here is a link that might be useful: American Reel