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" The growth of exurbs means that more guys have more grass to cut. The question is: What kind of mower to buy? Not which brand or model, but which style? For 2 acres, a ride-on seems like a no-brainer. For a quarter-acre, the same model would be absurd and clumsy. But many homeowners are stuck in between. My own 0.7 acres of grass is a heckuva lot more than my dad ever had to deal with, but it&amp;#039;s not the Augusta National golf course, either. What I cared about most during a summer-long test were speed, ease of use and a price tag of less than $2500. Here are the results.   Lee Valley Reel Mower Deck: 20 in.Price: $145   Sound level: 82 dBA**Peak heart rate: 174 Average time: 68 min. Bottom line: Great for triathletes-in-training -- and perfect, tiny lawns.Frankly, it&amp;#039;s ridiculous for a property my size.   Once, men hunted with stone weapons, then trotted home to mow the savanna with reel mowers. This archaic, human-powered technology still has its strengths. At a run, it was faster than the walk-behind mower. It was the most maneuverable and lightest machine, and the easiest to store in a crowded garage. The sweat level was high, but it scored well on moral superiority: No emissions, little noise, and the only fuel to buy was Gatorade. Big complaint: It rolls over weeds without cutting them -- a real drawback at my place.  Cub Cadet Model No. CC-997ES Deck: 21 in.Price: $470   Sound level: 90 dBAPeak heart rate: 140 Average time: 104 min. Bottom line: The go-to machine for smaller lawns and budgets. For larger spreads, there&amp;#039;s a real speed penalty.   This machine was most like the mowers of my suburban youth -- except that it started like a dream, propelled itself at up to 3.8 miles per hour, and mulched the clippings. It was light, fast and surprisingly powerful. The downside was the pace. It was slow compared to the other engine-powered machines, and the deck was roughly half the width. The upshot: Mowing took 50 to 100 percent longer. But it cost almost two grand less than the tractor -- enough to finance years of after-mowing brews.  Better Outdoor Products Quick 36 Mark II* Deck: 36 in.Price: $2195   Sound level: 98 dBAPeak heart rate: 140 Average time: 60 min. Bottom line: The choice for wannabe lawn contractors, or anyone with a big jigsaw-puzzle lawn.   This semipro monster was the baddest-looking machine in the test -- and the one my nephew just had to try. So, it wins the Tom Sawyer whitewashing test, a big plus. Bad points: hand-tingling vibration and a hard-to-operate lever, which have been fixed, according to the company. If that&amp;#039;s true, this mower&amp;#039;s tough to beat. It goes places a tractor can&amp;#039;t. It&amp;#039;s fast. And it&amp;#039;s powerful. Don&amp;#039;t ask, but one day it ate 6-ft. weeds and, uh, saplings like they were fairway carpeting. That&amp;#039;s right, this beast basically mowed the woods.  Husqvarna Model YTH1848XPT* Deck: 48 in.Price: $2400   Sound level: 99 dBAPeak heart rate: 118 Average time: 62 min. Bottom line: This is the test&amp;#039;s hero of low-sweat mowing--and the best for big lawns with simple geometry.   I didn&amp;#039;t want to like the lawn tractor as much as I did -- it&amp;#039;s so decadent. But it was the only mower that let me go straight from lawn to dinner, no shower required. And driving is simply more fun than walking. (Or trudging.) The wide, 48-in. deck helped mightily in the speed trials, where I&amp;#039;d expected the Quick 36 to dominate. But the tractor was the hardest to maneuver. There were odd corners where it just couldn&amp;#039;t go -- and I had to resort to the Cub Cadet to finish the job. That felt like cheating. * Since our test these mowers have been replaced by newer -- but very similar -- models. ** According to federal workplace regulations, long-term exposure to sound levels exceeding 85 dBA can damage hearing -- so unless you&amp;#039;re using a reel mower, wear protection  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/how-to/a1631/4216335/>