Push Mowers: Are They Best For Your Lawn?

Making a large household purchase can feel daunting to even the most seasoned homeowner. With the seemingly endless number of options available to consumers in nearly every product category, it can be difficult to determine what type of products will work best for your home’s needs.

Selecting yard work equipment raises the same issues, and selecting a good lawn mower feels like a challenge if you aren’t sure what type of mower would best suit your lawn. For example, push mowers can be an excellent, lower-cost option for homeowners compared to their riding mower counterparts, but a push mower isn’t the best option for every type of yard. Before deciding to purchase a push mower, homeowners should make a few considerations before swiping the credit card.

How big is Your Yard?

Push mowers can be great options compared to riding lawn mowers for homeowners with smaller yards. Although the user will invest some time pushing the mower throughout the entire yard to get the job done, it can still be accomplished in a quick, reasonable amount of time while providing the grass with a quality cut.

The average battery-powered push mower can be used to mow a whole average-sized, suburban lawn — roughly one-fifth of an acre —on a single charge. Attempting to mow a larger lawn may result in multiple annoying pit stops to allow the push mower’s battery to recharge.

What is The Landscape of Your Yard?

Size isn’t the only physical aspect a potential push mower buyer should consider about their lawn. Ideally, a push mower is excellent for mowing smaller, flatter areas rather than hilly ones.

A lawn with hills can be challenging to mow using a push mower, depending on the type of drive the user’s push mower has. For example, a push mower with front-wheel drive is ideal for land with obstacles that require quick turns, such as around flower beds or lawn decorations. While this is a useful feature to have, it doesn’t help much on a hilly lawn. In this case, the user would need to select a rear-wheel-drive push mower to navigate steeper areas.

Although the rear-wheel-drive push mower will prove easier to handle on inclines, the user will still be physically operating the machine up and down the hills. The machine will be able to handle the terrain, but the user will also need to exert more energy to guide the mower up and down successfully.

What mower is right based on Your Personal Health?

Homeowners with health limitations understand the importance of monitoring physical activity and avoiding overexertion, especially on hot summer days. Using a push mower involves more physical activity to move the machine along and get the grass trimmed. On a hot day, choosing to mow with a push mower could be a recipe for disaster for a homeowner dealing with health limitations that worsen under strenuous conditions.

On the contrary, homeowners looking for ways to increase their physical activity levels by adding additional exercise to their day may enjoy operating a push mower. According to CalorieLab, an hour spent push-mowing a yard results in a little over 300 calories burned, but an hour spent on a riding mower only results in burning a little over 100. Being able to complete a household chore while also increasing calorie-burning levels is a win-win situation for users looking to add more exercise into their usual routines.

What is Your Budget for Repair and Maintenance Costs?

Typically, push mowers cost less than riding lawn mowers to repair during their lifetimes. The reason is simple: A smaller machine with fewer parts simply has less to maintain over time.

However, like riding mowers, push mowers also exist in a variety of brands, materials, features, and more. Gas and electric-powered push mower models run similarly in price. The true price differences appear when selecting the quality of push mower. Choosing a cheaper, low-end push mower made with lower-quality materials may seem like a smart buy in the beginning, but if the lower-quality materials begin to fail, the buyer is left to foot the bill for replacement parts and repairs.

Opting to buy a higher-end push mower will result in a larger up-front cost, but the products are more likely to last. Also, more expensive machines tend to have longer and more protective warranties to assist the buyer in the event of a malfunction.

Resources— Briggs & Stratton, CalorieLab, Sears, Popular Mechanics

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