Personally I use a gas powered, self propelled, mulching lawn mower.  Pretty common features today but state of the art at the time I acquired it.  The model I selected touted a variable speed self propeller, which took some time to figure out.  The neighbors surely thought I was a health nut on that first couple of uses.  I didn’t realize the self propel handle was the variable speed control, not unlike the gas pedal in your car.  The first couple of times I used it I just held the handle down – as I was used to doing from my older, worn out self propelled lawn mower.  The result was that the lawn mower pretty much ran across the yard at jogging speeds – me jogging behind to keep up.  I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but I don’t think anyone fell for it

Regardless of the model of mower you’re looking for, I strongly recommend you select one that has an attached bagger for the cuttings.  If you are the type that doesn’t bag your grass, then you’ll probably want to put some money aside for yearly dethatching and aerating – because your lawn will need it.  The lawn mowers with bags cost a few dollars more, but they’re well worth it.  If you don’t bag your grass then you’ll be left to contend with all those clumps strewn about your lawn.  That’s ok if you don’t mind getting out the rake (yikes) or yard vacuum (yes..) to finish the job.

For certain types of grasses reel lawn mowers work best.  There are even mulching, cordless, electric reel lawn mowers with bags now available.  It’s a marriage in heaven actually – as reel low mowers are typically used on very finely trimmed lawns – the last place you want to leave trimmings.  Reel type lawn mowers are good at finely cutting Bermuda, Zoysia, St. Augustine, Fescue, & Bluegrass. 

The electric reel lawn mowers are the latest technology arrivals and can run for as long as 1 hour on a single charge.  The cordless electric rotor models can handle areas up to 1/3 acre on a single charge, which is impressive.  Even if you’re lawn takes too long to get done in one mowing before having to recharge, they can recharge very quickly – 60% or better in 4-6 hours typically.  A workable solution would be to mow the front on day 1, the back on day 2 possibly.  It’s so much more environmentally friendly, less messy, and most of all much less noisy than a conventional gas mower.