Depends on the size of your lawn. If you have a little postage-stamp lawn, reel mowers are great. If you have a sizeable lawn (the kind you really need a riding mower for), then you're looking at hours and hours of backbreaking work every week.
The big problem with reel mowers is that they only work well when the grass is already short. If the grass grows too tall (which isn't that much), the mower just pushes the grass over, or gets bogged down in it. So you have to be absolutely religious in cutting the grass on time. I've used reel mowers at a couple of houses I've lived in; they were great when the grass area of the yard was tiny and the grass didn't grow too quickly. But where I am now, there's just no way.
The big problem with reel mowers is that they only work well when the grass is already short. If the grass grows too tall (which isn't that much), the mower just pushes the grass over, or gets bogged down in it. So you have to be absolutely religious in cutting the grass on time. I've used reel mowers at a couple of houses I've lived in; they were great when the grass area of the yard was tiny and the grass didn't grow too quickly. But where I am now, there's just no way.