This 16-inch reel mower from Great States covers a good sized swath of grass and has a reasonable weight, making it a versatile choice for a wide range of lawn sizes.

With a 16-inch cutting width, it trims a wide area that will allow you to mow a small yard in a reasonable amount of time, though you’ll need to overlap each pass if the grass is higher than 4 inches. Its 10-inch wheels roll smoothly over a flat yard, and its five blades make a clean cut. We also like the flexibility you get from its cutting height: It offers five positions from a ½-inch, up to 2-1/2 inches.

Keep in mind: Two of the most popular reel mower brands, Great States and Scotts, are both produced by the same parent corporation, the American Lawn Mower Company. As a result, many Great States and Scotts reel mowers have nearly identical specs and features. Case in point, the Scotts 415-16S reel mower features the same deck width, cutting height, and build quality as this one. We expect that the prices and availability of these products will shift from time to time, but both models will give your yard a close cut.

Key Specs

With a narrow 14-inch cutting width, small 8.5-inch wheels, and slight weight of 19 pounds, this Scotts model is one of the easiest reel mowers to push. It’s small—comparable to our “mini” pick—so it’s best reserved for small yards and trimming narrow edges near garden beds and landscaping features.

This model has an edge over most small reels (literally): Most 14-inch mowers have only four blades, but this one has five, so you can expect it to cut long grass more effectively than its similarly statured counterparts.

Unsurprisingly, its maximum cutting height is short—just 1.5 inches—but it is capable of handling grass up to 4 inches high. Small mowers like this are relatively niche, but this is the right model to fill that role.

As with our top pick, note that there’s a second version of this mower, the Great States 304-14, which offers the same design and features, but ditches the Scotts branding. We picked the Scotts version in this case because the Great States model is slightly heavier, but they are more or less interchangeable. Most people shouldn’t notice a difference between the two.

Key Specs

The Fiskars StaySharp Max adds a modern flare to old-school lawn mower design, with features that allow it to cut better and more efficiently. Fiskar’s “InertiaDrive” reel uses a chain drive that transfers power from the wheels to the blade reel, reportedly doubling the power of its spinning blades so it can cut through denser types of grass, including Zoysia and Bermuda. It’s certainly built for taller, tougher lawns, cutting down grass that’s up to 5-1/2 inches tall (most mowers top out at 4 inches.)

The StaySharp Max also features a cutting system that keeps the blades sharp for longer, eliminating the need for frequent manual sharpening. With its broad, 18-inch cutting width, you can cover ground quickly. It also offers a larger-than-average variety of cutting heights, with settings that range from 1 to 4 inches. The price of innovation, aside from the high price tag, is apparently weight: This is one of the heaviest reel mowers we considered, so be prepared for a workout.

Key Specs

If you don’t mind its heftier build, this extra-wide 20-inch American Lawn Mower reel mower cuts more grass on each pass, so you can finish your mowing faster. While it weighs more than the average reel mower at over 28 pounds, it’s equipped with rear wheels that help to support it. It also comes equipped with a rear bagger attachment to carry your clippings, so you have less cleanup after the fact.

While cutting lawns fast is advantageous, we wish this mower offered a wider range of cutting heights. It only cuts to between 2 and 3 inches, which is on the high side for some warm season grasses. If you don’t need to cut to an extra-short length, though, going wider and heavier should save you a little time.

Key Specs

If you need your lawn cut very short, but the mere thought of pushing a reel mower around the yard makes you tired, there are a few self-propelled cordless electric reel mowers which move forward and spin the cutting cylinder automatically.

With a modest 15-inch mowing reel, this Yard Force model cuts at four heights, ranging from 0.5- to 2 inches. While the narrow width and lower max cutting height limit it to small swaths of grass, the mower's compact size does make it easy to store.

Like an electric lawn mower, it collects grass clippings in a 12-gallon rear bag for easy disposal or mulching. That said, it falls short of an actual electric lawn mower in some ways: For example, it lacks speed controls, so you need to follow its pace, but it provides a rare balance between the simplicity of a reel mower, and the comfort of a self-propelled electric one.

Key Specs

The Craftsman 1816-18CR gives you the option to collect grass clippings as you mow with its detachable grass catcher. It weighs a manageable 24 pounds, but you can expect the mower to feel heavier as those grass clippings pile up. The mower features a four-wheel design to add stability, so you aren't holding up the weight of the mower, and increasingly heavy bag, as you mow.

With its 18-inch wide deck, you can cover a lot of ground with each pass. This mower also has a broad height range of 1 to 3 inches, giving you more options when cutting your lawn. If you like the bagger but have a smaller yard, Craftsman also makes 14-inch and 16-inch versions of this mower.

Key Specs