Lawnmowers

We currently have a petrol mower (aka temperamental beast).  It's big, it's smelly and it starts only when it wants to.

It's made us think, is it really the best option for our 100 square metres of soon-to-be lawn?

Our options...

Reel Mower / Green Mower / Old fashioned mower

Are we mad for considering one for the new place?  Feels like stepping back in time!  However, with only a smallish area of grass out the back to cut perhaps it's one of the best options.

Let's see...

• Light weight - check
• Cheap - check
• Easy to store - check
• Unlikely to break down - check
• Good for the environment - check
• Quiet - check

Here's a review and a bit more info on them here and here.

Electric Mowers

Hmmm, electric mowers.  Conjures up images of running over cords and getting electrocuted to me but "B" has been chatting to some of his workmates and several of them think this is where mowing is at!  Interested me enough to look into them a little more.

The picture above is of a cordless Bosch electric mower and got some pretty awesome reviews here.  Pretty exxy (although I'm sure you can get cheaper ones but I do love Bosch) and some of the benefits are:

Pros

• Light weight (about 60% equivalent weight of a petrol mower)
• No fumes
• No temperamental start up
• Great finish to the lawn
• Quieter than petrol mowers
• Low operating and maintenance costs

Cons

• About 1 hour battery time (would suit us though, 30 minutes tops for our soon to be back yard)
• Expensive (about $700 for this one)

 4 Stroke Petrol Mower

It's only fair we look into the pros & cons of a 4 stroke petrol mower as a comparison to the above...

Pros

• Perfect for a really large lawn
• Gets through long grass
• Great finish to lawn
• Can be reasonably cheap

Cons

• Have to store fuel
• Loud
• Smelly (fumes)
• More maintenance issues

Obviously there's a load more different types from ride on mowers, roller mowers (for perfect-bowling-green-looking grass) to self-mulching mowers but I think we'll be choosing between a Reel and an Electric Mower.

What type of mower do you have?  Do you love it?  What do you recommend?