Has anyone ever used a push-reel mower with a grass catcher attached? How well did it work?

I think your condition is similar to mine when i was looking to buy a new mower. I finally went ahead with the Black & Decker CM 1936 as it offered replaceable batteries which would make possible mowing my 1/2 acre lawn. It has a mulch catching attachment which serves me really well. Sometimes to increase the fertility of the soil, you might consider allowing the cut grass to fall on the lawn itself.

A friend of mine has the Gilmour RM30 20-Inch reel mower and let me borrow it a few times. It comes with a grass catcher and it worked pretty well for me. I wanted to try it because I thought about switching to reel mowers. It's got an open top so it's not going to catch everything, but it will get most of it. It's got pretty good reviews, too.

They work pretty well, the down side is they are harder to push, and you have to mow two to three times a week, because if the grass gets too tall forget it they are impossible to push through the grass.

Also you might have to file the blades every year or two to keep them cutting like new.

A huge portion of us grew up with those. They worked just fine and were great to teach children (like me) how to cut the grass. And we did it every week.