Fiskars 6208 Review

(Rated: 4.4 / 5) Review by Frank Lowery
Noise
Ease of Assembly
Maneuverability
Balance And Handling
Cut Quality
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There can be a real benefit to owning a property with a lawn that is not particularly big. Namely, you do not have to invest in a very expensive power lawn mower in order to keep the grass looking and feeling its best. A manual reel mower can do the job just as well, and it can do so at a fraction of the cost. Not only do manual reel mowers cost significantly less money up front, they also save you money over the long term because you will never have to spend money on fuel, electricity, or maintenance to keep them running well. All they need is a periodic sharpening of the blades once a year or less.

Not only that, but manual reel mowers are a lot more environmentally friendly, easier to use, and quieter than power lawn mowers. They do not produce a single carbon emission, never need oil changes or new batteries, and are a lot smaller and lighter than power lawn mowers. Overall manual reel mowers like the Fiskars 6208 are great for homeowners with smaller lawns.

Review Summary

The Fiskars 6208 is an excellent example of the kind of convenience and performance that a reel mower can provide without costing a lot of money. This mower is designed with your comfort and ease in mind. It has an ergonomic handle, a uniquely designed cutting system, and a cutting reel with five high quality, durable steel blades to consistently provide an even, professional looking cut. It is designed to be much easier to push than other mowers, and it also is designed to have considerably more cutting power than other designs do.

The Fiskars 6208 does have a few drawbacks that make it less than ideal for every type of lawn. Because it is on the heavier side, it is not optimal for older people or those of us who do not have the strength level required to move it around the lawn. It will not handle sloping lawns easily, and will tend to pull to the side along the slope of the hill on them. And it is not optimal for larger lawns. I will go over all of the benefits and drawbacks of this model in the Pros & Cons section. I will also provide a detailed product specifications table that compares this model with two others in order to give you a good picture of how it stacks up against its competition.

Specifications

The Fiskars 6208 is a manual push reel mower with an ergonomically designed handle that should make it a lot easier to handle without the risk of back or shoulder pain. It has a 17 inch wide cutting reel with five durable, heat treated steel blades that will last longer. The cutting reel has a contact free cutting system, in which the blades do not make contact with a rear cutting blade while it is slicing through grass.

The Fiskars 6208 has cutting height options that range between 1.5 and 3.5 inches. The cutting height of the reel is adjusted using a convenient side lever, and switching from one height to another takes about a minute. The manual reel mower weighs 41 pounds, which puts it on the heavier side of the spectrum. It discharges grass clippings out the rear, and an optional grass catcher can be purchased separately. It comes with a 2 year limited consumer warranty.

Description

The Fiskars 6208 is a manual push reel mower with a cutting reel that is 17 inches wide. The wider cutting blade means this mower will be able to cut your lawn in fewer passes. This lawn mower can cut the same size lawn as a reel mower with a twelve inch cutting reel in less than 3/4 of the time it would take with the smaller mower. The Fiskars 6208 has five cutting blades on its reel that are made of durable heat treated steel. The cutting blades are designed to not make contact with a cutting reel at the rear of the mower. This is so that they will remain sharp longer than contact reel blades do and require maintenance like sharpening the reel or back strapping the rear blade less often.

The Fiskars 6208 has cutting heights between 1.5 and 3.5 inches. This is a bit high for a manual reel mower, but it also means you will be able to let your grass grow a bit taller before you cut it without having to worry about damaging it. Experts recommend you never cut your lawn shorter than 1/3 its initial height, and with this reel mower you will not have to worry about doing so, even if you let your lawn get up to nine inches or taller. The cutting heights are easily adjusted with a convenient one-touch lever.

The mower has a unique inertia drive that allows it to deal with tougher varieties of grass like St. Augustine or Bermuda grass without getting bogged down or simply rolling over them. That said, some homeowners prefer to keep these grasses very short, and may find the 1.5 inch height too tall for their satisfaction. The Fiskars 6208 is a moderately priced manual reel mower, and it falls at about the middle of the overall price range for these machines.

Pros

There are several reasons why the Fiskars 6208 is one of the better manual reel lawn mowers on the market today. It is designed with innovative technology that should help it overcome some of the more common problems manual reel mowers run into, such as limited height options, being able to handle tough varieties of grass, or needing maintenance periodically. Let’s take a look at the pros that the Fiskars 6208 has to offer.

1. The inertia drive allows it to handle tougher grasses : The mower has an innovative design the manufacturer calls the Inertia Drive Reel. This development allows the wheels to deliver more power to the cutting reel, and while it takes some effort to get the reel spinning, once it is going it has enough power to allow it to cut through even tougher varieties of grass like St. Augustine or Bermuda grass.
2. It has a 17 inch wide cutting reel : Anything over sixteen inches is on the larger size for manual push reel mowers, and seventeen inches is pushing the ceiling of cutting reel width. The 17 inch cutting reel will allow you to finish cutting the lawn in fewer passes than a reel mower with a narrower cutting reel could do. And fewer passes means less time spent on lawn chores and more time relaxing with your family.
3. The cutting blades need sharpening less often : The Fiskars 6208 is equipped with an inventive Stay Sharp cutting system. This system is engineered to cut the grass without the cutting reel making contact with the rear cutting blade. The blades are also made of precision ground steel. That means you will need to sharpen the blades less often, as they will get worn down more slowly and provide longer lasting performance.
4. The mower is environmentally friendly : This is one of the best advantages to having a small enough lawn to be able to use a manual reel mower like the Fiskars 6208. This reel mower will never produce a single carbon emission, either in your yard or upstream in the power grid. And in addition to the fact that it helps save the environment, the mower will help save you money as well.
5. The cutting reel has several height options : With a height range between 1.5 and 3.5 inches, the Fiskars 6208 allows you to select the cutting height that is just right to keep your lawn looking great and feeling its best. Many manual reel mowers only offer cutting height ranges between 1 and 2.5 inches, which is not sufficient. The Fiskars 6208 offers a wide enough range that you will never risk cutting your lawn less than 1/3 its initial height.

Several of these pros – such as the Inertia Drive Wheel and the Stay Sharp cutting system – are unique to the Fiskars 6208 and its sister models. You just can’t find them on other manual reel mowers. And these features are designed to solve many of the biggest problems consumers find in manual reel mowers, such as their ability to cut tougher grass or the fact that they need sharpening more often. The Fiskars 6208 is a unique machine in its field.

Cons

At the same time, the manufacturers of the Fiskars 6208 were not able to solve every single problem associated with manual reel mowers, and so there are some drawbacks remaining on this lawn mower. In part because of the extra features such as the Inertia Wheel Drive, the mower is heavy and can be difficult to operate, and it still runs into one of the more common problems in reel mowers – namely, getting caught on twigs. It’s also more expensive than other models.

1. The mower is rather heavy for its size : The Inertia Wheel Drive adds considerable weight to the Fiskars 6208. And as a result, the lawn mower weighs a full 41 pounds. That makes it one of the heaviest manual reel mowers on the market today. Some people, especially older people or those who do not have the necessary strength level for this kind of weight, may find this lawn mower rather difficult to operate as a result.
2. It will be difficult to use on slopes : In part because of its weight, and in part because of its overall design, the Fiskars 6208 is rather difficult to use on steep inclines. The weight will make the lawn mower difficult to push or pull straight up and down the face of a hill. And the weight along with the design will make it tend to pull to the lower side if it is being used to go across the face of a hill.
3. The reel takes some effort to get spinning : Once it gets going, the Inertia Reel Drive will keep the cutting reel spinning rather quickly – quickly enough, in fact, to cut through thick weeds and tougher varieties of grass. But it can be rather hard to get it going in the first place. Those of us who have a problem with the fact that this lawn mower is heavy may also have trouble getting the drive system going as well.
4. It will get caught on twigs : Unfortunately, despite the power the Inertial Reel Drive offers, the Fiskars 6208 will get caught on twigs just like any other manual reel mower. This is an unfortunate drawback, because if they solved this problem they might have the most powerful reel mower out there, but it is not uncommon among manual reel mowers.
5. It is a bit more expensive than comparable models : The Fiskars 6208 is more expensive than other reel mowers of the same size, and this is likely because of the innovative design and technology that it has. Other, less expensive models simply can’t offer these features, so if you want them on your reel mower, you will naturally expect to pay more.

As a result of these drawbacks, the Fiskars 6208 is ideal for flat, even lawns, and may be difficult to use it if your lawn is sloping or if you do not have a particularly high strength level. That said, it is one of the few manual reel mowers that can reliably cut any type of grass, regardless of how tough it is. It is also one of the few manual reel mowers that reliably cuts thick weeds.

Product Comparison

In order to give you a complete picture of how the Fiskars 6208 stacks up against its competition, I have a table that compares its product specs with those of two similar models, the Great States 204-14 and the Greenworks 25052. All three are manual push reel mowers, but beyond that, there are several differences.

	Fiskars 6208	Great States 204-14	Greenworks 25052
Cutting Width	17-inch	14-inch	16-inch
Mower Type	Manual Push	Manual Push	Manual Push
Handle	Ergonomic Handle	T-handle	Cushion Grip
Cutting System	Contact-free	Standard (contact)	Standard (contact)
Blades	5 blades	3-spider 1-blade	5 blades
Cutting Height	1-1/2- to 3-1/2-inch	1/2- to 1-1/2-inch	1-1/4- to 2-1/4-inch
Weight	41 pounds	20 pounds	32 pounds
Grass Catcher	Optional	Optional	Included
Warranty	2 years	90 days	4 years

The Fiskars 6208 has the widest cutting reel of the three models, and it is the only one of the three that has five cutting blades on its reel. It is also the only one that has a contact free cutting system designed to keep the blades sharper longer. At the same time it is the heaviest of the three models.

Conclusion

If you have a relatively flat, even lawn, the Fiskars 6208 offers a number of great features that make it a somewhat superior manual reel mower to many of its competitors. It has uniquely innovative technology that is designed to make it a more efficient cutting machine that can cut a wider variety of grasses and require sharpening less often. For lawns with tougher grass or weeds, this can be a great machine to keep your grass looking great all year long.

Conclusion Pros

1. The inertia drive allows it to handle tougher grasses.
2. It has a 17 inch wide cutting reel.
3. The cutting blades need sharpening less often.
4. The mower is environmentally friendly.
5. The cutting reel has several height options.

The innovative technology like the Inertia Drive System and the Stay Sharp cutting system insure that this mower will be able to handle even the toughest varieties of grass, like St. Augustine or Bermuda grass. And you will not have to do yearly sharpening of the blades to keep them functioning well.

Conclusion Cons

1. The mower is rather heavy for its size.
2. It will be difficult to use on slopes.
3. The reel takes some effort to get spinning.
4. It will get caught on twigs.
5. It is a bit more expensive than comparable models.

In part because of the additions like the Inertia Drive System and the multiple steel blades, the Fiskars 6208 is much heavier than similarly sized manual reel mowers. And the Inertia Drive System can be difficult for some people to get going. The mower is not easy to use on sloping lawns, and it is more expensive than similar models.

Final Word

There are a number of issues that practically every manual reel mower has trouble with. Among them are dealing with tall grass, tough grass varieties such as St. Augustine or Bermuda grass, and the need to sharpen blades regularly to keep them providing quality performance. The Fiskars 6208 is equipped with a few pieces of innovative technological design that allow it to overcome most of these problems.

The Fiskars 6208 has a unique Inertial Drive System that allows it to keep the powerful cutting reel spinning very quickly once you get it moving. This allows the mower to easily slice through tougher grasses and weeds without getting bogged down or losing performance quality. It will be able to provide a healthy, professional looking cut to your lawn every time. And the contact free Stay Sharp cutting system ensures that you will have to sharpen the blades on the Fiskars 6208 less often than on other manual reel mowers.

Overall, this is a good lawn mower for homeowners with even, flat lawns, especially those that are planted with tougher grasses or are plagued with weeds or crabgrass. It is a bit on the heavy side, however, so be prepared to put in some work to get it going.

Best Price

The Fiskars 6208 is on the higher side of pricing for most manual reel mowers, but this is a great example of the fact that you get what you pay for. The reel mower is able to overcome a number of problems that other, less expensive manual reel mowers have trouble with. It can handle tougher varieties of grass and will not get bogged down in tall grass or thick weeds. And you do not have to sharpen the blades as much. These are some of the biggest problems that cheaper reel mowers face, so if you are willing to spend a bit more money on a more powerful reel mower with innovative design, the Fiskars 6208 could be just right for you.