New electric reel

[Abyss]

Got my Gardena 25v li-ion reel today.

For my yard it is perfect. I have about 700sq/ft of yard and a gas powered reel would just be overkill, and a manual greens mower is a little pricey.

First impression is it's built well, the parts that need to be metal are metal, and plastic where it can be plastic. Only negative I could find so far is that the grass catcher has these clip things that attach to the back of the reel, and then you hang the catcher from them. They just kind of sit there in slots and seem like they'd be easy to lose. I intend on making them permanent.

I was using a manual reel and it would washboard on me, I couldn't get the blades spinning fast enough continuously. This seems like it will do the job. I scalped my lawn down today and it went through the dead growth like butter. We'll see in a couple weeks when I have to get cutting green growth. It goes down to .47" but if you wanted to, it's just a slot with twist knob tighteners and you could extend the slot to drop it even farther.

Can't wait to see how it does

[tnbison]

I purchased an 80V kobalt string trimmer this year(which by the way is pretty impressive, I can do all my trimming and cleaning up of edging on an acre lot easily on a single charge) and was just thinking today that it would be awesome if I could hook up a reel to a couple of the 80V batteries. I didn't think they made such a thing, thanks for posting.

[purepearl32]

Let us know how it goes! I'm curious on this thing...

[tellycoleman]

What is the lowest cut height. I heard they will never go below 1 inch

[Abyss]

It's in mm, and the lowest is 12, which is .47". Highest it goes is about 1.5". You could extend the adjustment slots though going both ways if you want.

[Begotten]

Had no idea this existed. If it works I'll want one.

[Hank77]

Didn't realize they went down to 12mm. I've been on the lookout for an electric reel option, and this popped up when I was looking around last year. It'll be interesting to see how it works out for you!

[Spammage]

Weight, or the lack of it, would be my biggest concern once the turf thickens up. Hopefully it will work well for you.

[Abyss]

Going off of my manual reel last year that I had to cut around 1", and the amount that it made the bedknife bounce, and then scalping the dead growth off it gave me a pretty good feel as to what it will do, I have pretty good confidence that it will go through it pretty well. It feels kind of like its counterbalanced onto the knife bed, and will keep the washboard away. I guess time will tell! So far I've been nothing but impressed

[Hank77]

Just curious to see how the Gardena is holding up so far...

[Abyss]

Hey, sorry I haven't been on here for a while, we had a cold spell come through and it stunted the grass. It was awesome actually, nice green Bermuda lawn and only had to cut it once a week to just even it out (I could've mowed once the whole month probably)

With our latest heat wave, the grass has really taken off, finally going to get to put growth regulator on it.

The reel works awesome, it's nice and thick, and goes through it without a problem. I end up cutting it in multiple directions mainly because I only have like 650sq/ft and want to get every blade. I'm not the bed person to recommend for battery length. With cutting the grass in 4 directions, I get 3-4 mows in before I have to recharge the battery.

Only downside I've found is that the grass catcher isn't very big. It is filled probably at about 1,000 sq feet. Without it on it will kick grass onto your legs, but so does a manual reel so.....

Nicest thing about it is that it sounds almost like a quiet vacuum cleaner, not quite as quiet as a manual reel, but you can easily hold a conversation while mowing. I'm very happy with it, I was dreading having to try to use a manual, and deal with washboarding, and raising the HOC all year etc.

It does the job, it's a little pricey, but if you have an area where a gas powered reel isn't gonna work, this is the next best thing (unless you want to buy a $1300 greens mower).

[Abyss]

Thumbs up all around!