Great States 16-Inch Push Mower

by Chloe Hamill
(Paden, Mississipi)

My fiance and I moved from a small apartment in the city to a little cabin in Paden, Mississipi, with a nice patch of grass out back. After we literally lost an entire car tire in the grass because it was so dense, we decided to purchase a push mower.

We found one at Wal-mart that we liked. The Great States 16" Push Mower was in our price range, was small enough to store on our porch, and seemed like it would get the job done. We brought it home and sat on the kitchen floor putting it together. The set up was actually very simple and straight forward- it took us about 20 minutes to get it up and running.

On the first run through the lawn, mowing was a huge pain. This mower is an old fashioned push mower, so it's not particularly powerful. It took three or four pushes before the blade caught everything, but it did get the grass nicely trimmed. My fiance and I have both given it a try and really enjoy the work out that comes from mowing the lawn the old fashioned way.

The pros of this model are definitely the size, easy handling, light weight, and easy assembly. I'd probably feel comfortable letting a 10 year old mow the lawn with this mower, and it stores really easily without getting in the way.

It's great for small lawns that don't need constant mowing to keep trim. Our lawn is what I would consider medium sized, and it's mostly made up of softer wild grass, non chemical treated, and some stray dandelions and weeds. If you're powering through the tough grass the first time, this mower will give you a work out, but for your basic manicured lawn, it's pretty effortless to use.

It's really great for edge work because it's small and light- my father in law actually likes to borrow ours to get the area around his fence because it's so much easier to use than his standard motor lawn mower.

Another plus- because it's not motorized, the blades aren't spinning 2000000 miles an hour, so they can't kick rocks at you.

The cons are that it's not super powerful. If you have really thick or tall grass, it will take hours to get it all down. The blades on the mower can't power through tree roots or rocks, so it's really strictly for grass.

Over all, the mower meets our needs perfectly. It will probably work best for small to medium lawns- I definitely would not want to try and do an entire mansion patch with it. If your lawn is wild and full of brambles or weeds, this mower is NOT for you- get a weed whacker or a power mower.

But if you're just looking to trim the patches of grass in front of your apartment, or something to trim the hard to reach stuff, this model is probably perfect for you. We bought ours for 99 dollars, and it's great for the price.