'Are there any tricks to make mowing easier with a gas unit?'

Great mower. I think Personal pace (Sensa Speed) is ideal for someone who has never had a power mower.
1) Every time you get gas from the gas station, put STA-BIL in it. This way your fuel will stay fresh and protect the fuel system from gum and varnish.
2) The mower will be shipped without oil - at least it's supposed to be. Use a name-brand SAE 30 HD in the Tecumseh engine. This weight oil is what is recommended and will cover you from 32 degrees F up past 100 F. Change the oil every 25 hours of use or more often.
3) Buy a new replacement blade and install it. Take the original blade to a mower shop/dealer and have it sharpened and balanced. Keep it in a good place near the mower and install it when the new blade starts looking dull, then take that blade in for sharpening, continuing the rotation.
4) Any time you pick up one side of the mower to work underneath, always pick up the side with the carburetor. The oil fill/drain is on the other side. Before working under the deck, always pull off the spark plug wire.
5) You have to keep the deck (blade housing) clean. This is an ugly job but it pays off big time in mower performance. Don't use metal tools to scrape it.
6) The air filter is critical. I would put a new one on right away and replace it every year.
7) Keep the mower clean. I wash mine every so often - just wet it, spray on a good detergent and hose it off. You can use a soft bristle brush on difficult areas.

If an owner's manual doesn't come with it, download one from the Lawn-Boy site.

A trouble area with this engine is possible clogging of the fuel orifice - the engine gets hard to start and quits running. This is easy to fix and most anybody can do it. let us know if you have any trouble with it. You can search the site for the way to do it.

I assume you'll be cutting St. Augustine at 3.5" or so. Since this grass doesn't grow very thickly, you should have no trouble mulching it. If you try to mulch tall, wet grass you might make a mess of it. You shouldn't cut more than 1" off the grass at one cutting. If it gets away from you in wet weather, you may have to discharge it then come back and bag or mulch later.
The 10685 doesn't require much maintenance but you should pull the rear wheels and clean/grease the wheel bushings and axles and the drive gears. This should also be done once a year. I find the front wheels like grease, too. For these I use the spray liquid white lithium grease available everywhere.

Another happy 10685 owner...

The Sensa Speed took a few days to get accustomed to since I had used Snapper's SP Lever for so many years (15+), but now that I've been using the 10685 for 3 years, it is 2nd nature and actually I found the bail mechanism on a 2cycle 'M' series a bit weird recently...

Very nice mower, and coming from the Snapper's tired engine, the Tec6.5 was a pleasure to mow with... Lots of power, and starts on the 2nd pull every time.

I took the mower to a Lawn Boy Master Dealer yesterday for a complete check up. I am sure it will come out of there in tip top shape.

Last night I mowed the lawn using the mower for the first time. It is so easy that when I got through I did not feel tired the way I did after using the electric mower I had. The wheel height is at 3, which cut the grass at a nice length; not too short. The thing used a whole tank of gasoline. What is the capacity of the tank?

'The thing used a whole tank of gasoline.'

This mower is typically very easy on gas. You must have about an acre to cut. Look in your manual for fuel capacity - I think it's about a quart, so you should be able to mow it four times on a gallon.

It has been a year now and still going strong.