Don't just look at alternative mowers to a gas powered one, re-think how you care for your little suburban hellstrip if you're not brave enough to go full-on
xeriscaping.
Get a
reel mower, specifically the
18" Fiskars model, and learn how to maintain it and
sharpen the blades every spring. Still the easiest mower I've pushed in my entire life after five years, the cleanest, the quietest, and leaves the nicest and cleanest cut. On hot days, I can either go out and mow well after 10pm or get up at 5am and I have zero concern about disturbing the neighbors.
If anything's too tall for the blades pre or post-mowing (weeds, rough and stringy wild grass, etc.), keep around a
yoyo and a
stand-up weeder. Using a
landscape edger and
aerators sandals will round out the silent lawncare kit, and will get everything left except the cracks in the pavement and right up against walls or fences.
Using soapy, salty vinegar water can usually tame most of the pavement growth, but I've still not found a good manual replacement for an electric weed eater to hack out those spots or get right up against the walls/fences.
The neighbors thought I was nuts going nearly all manual and no chemicals, but it's cheap, a free home gym, it lets me do yard work any time of the day or night so I'm not stuck outside in the heat of the day, the only energy it uses is my own calorie intake, and it really doesn't take any longer to do than the old powered stuff most of the time.
The only honest downside is if the grass is too wet, and you have a long rainy spell. Reel mowers and wet grass don't get along too well, and you have to wait until it mostly dries out first, or the clippings will bog the mower down. (This is actually a pretty big problem with electric mowers, too.) That's happened a half-dozen times or so to myself over the years resulting in a fair bit of extra effort to re-tame it, and the lawn will get too long to cut in a single pass, or even a double pass, even starting at the highest deck setting. That's where the yoyo comes in handy. Way faster than a weed eater to knock it down to height. Best way to slow the growth, however, is to
leave the lawn longer in the first place, and try not to cut much shorter than 2". Cutting it too short and scalping the ground actually causes it to grow faster. I'll have a mostly green lawn in the heat of summer with very few dry patches because I keep the lawn a bit longer than the neighbors, and I literally never have to water my yard.
You'll also need to rake out or remove the larger twigs and sticks from the yard, but again, it's a similar hazard with electric mowers.
I also deliberately
sew in a lot of clover into the lawn, and it helps encourage the more behaved grass, chokes out most of the weeds if I let it bloom, and adds a lot of nitrogen to the ground without fertilizing. I also
ignore the dandelions, henbit, and wild onions, and
only deal with the real noxious weeds that're hard to mow, grow tall and get prickly. The white of the clover, purple of the henbit, and occasional yellow splash and white puff of the dandelions on the rich green of the clover and grass make for a very pretty yard in the spring, and the bees love it. Then the grass and non-flowering clover mostly takes over in the summer. I don't actively go out of my way to discourage the cow parsley, but the clover usually chokes most of it out. I also just
let the clippings mulch where they fall and don't bother bagging or raking them up.
It's easier to care for, and outside of the occasional weed eater sessions, I'm never covered in anything more than my own sweat, and smell nothing but fresh cut grass when I'm done. No dust, no dirt, no vegetation pulp, no dust masks, rarely even goggles, and I usually can get an easy two to three weeks between sessions, and sometimes a month during the summer with nothing more than a random yoyo and weeding session between cuts. I never have to mess with or stock gas, or mess with extension cords, and I rarely ever even worrying about battery charge. The best part is the equipment barely takes up any storage space, and there's something almost peaceful about mowing a yard in relative silence beyond the soft and rhythmic whoosh-snikt-whoosh-snikt of the reel mower.
The transition can take a bit of work, as can getting used to the new methods and tools, and there will be the occasional mowing session where you'll long for the gas mower just to get it over with... but overall, it's actually easier and far more environmentally friendly overall than even just switching over to an electric mower.