Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 hover mowers - bad concept September 4, 2008
ive used two examples of this mower and both times a nightmare. a number of major problems are created by the concept of hovering.
1. the mower wastes energy on hovering rather than cutting. this is silly as wheels could do the job for free. this means they can seem underpowered compared to conventional rotary electric mowers (which do small lawns very neatly and quickly).
2. the down draught of air pushes grass away from the blades rather than drawing them upwards to be cut like normal mowers. this is a basic conceptual problem and accounts for ppl saying they have to make several sweeps to cut all the grass blades evenly.
3. the downward air pressure pushes grass, leaves and other debris away from the mower instead of drawing them into the collection box if it has one. collection of ugly debris is a major aspect of lawn care and not to be overlooked. ive used ones with collection box and it doesnt collect much. leaves just shoot off in all directions !!
4. they are pretty heavy when not in operation as they have no wheels and heavy motor. wheeled electric LMs are not exactly heavy to push around. you are forced you to carry them so making the 'hovering lightness' concept pretty ironic.
5. they have no directional control, so you cannot give an attractive straight lined cut. this is exacerbated because they do not 'lay' the cut grass in one direction to give stripes. this results in a plain and not very good finish at the best.
6.they are very tiring in operation. due to not cutting well in a straight line, you are forced to swing the mower in awkward arcs. this is VERY tiring movement, and much harder and much less efficient than pushing in a straight line.
7. they do not respond well to changes in level. wheels track the contors of the lawn, so enabling the mower to negotiate rises and dips before the blades. the hover needs a level surface to hover over and does not like angles. the cowling will just bump into a slope as the edge meets the rise. trying to push uphill will push the cowling into the lawn as the mower stays horizontal.
8 no hight control so you cannot cut shorter than it will hover, and it cannot be raised to make cutting long grass easier. you are limited to one height. if it has a collection box, the level actually alters as it gets heavier as someone else noted. this is ridiculous!
if you needs a small mower, just get a wheeled, electric rotory mower than a hover mower. its much easier and you'll get a much better looking lawn.
chinese made disposable mower May 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Heavy, useless on damp grass, useless on unlevel lawns and finally went up in smoke. If it's made in china it's not worth buying. The next mower for me will either be a Bosch or, if they've gone Oriental too, a hand push job. Avoid Flymos like the plague.
Chiropracter's delight. May 3, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
TOTALLY UNFIT FOR PURPOSE - I bought a Hover mower expecting it to be light and easy to move around once it was switched on. Having used the Compact 380 for the first time today I think it may well be my last. Even when it is switched on it is far too heavy and hard to manoeuvre around on my flat lawn. It comes with two rollers on the front which are totally inadequate to move it around, even on flat concrete. I don't even know why this mower has a collection box for grass as it only collects about 25% of it. My previous mower was a Flymo Compact 400 which lasted 10 years before the motor burned out. I wish I had spent the money on replacing the motor - it may well have lasted me another 10 years.
From new to landfill in under 3 years... what a waste! May 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my parting shot, I'm writing this for the sake of the environment. I'm looking for a new mower. This is the old one that broke today, its just over 2 years old. Its caused us no end of trouble. All of the comments previously made are true. Its cumbersome, heavy, covers you in grass, the way it sucks up grass....sucks, its broken under warranty and been repaired once since. Its also created a huge bald patch in the middle of our lawn when it got in a strop. And today its gone up in smoke.
The next mower we buy will not be a Flymo, very disappointed.
It's now landfill.
Flymo's Most Rubbish Mower September 2, 2007
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I hate being negative, but this has got to be the worst mower I have ever used. It replaced a Flymo 350 machine which was really good. In total contrast, the VC380 is extremely difficult to manoeuvre - it doesn't really hover, it doesn't cut the grass - it just beats it to death, the collection box inlet blocks up if you even look at it in a funny way, it clogs up underneath and inside and is extremely difficult to clear the bits of grass that get wedged inside. The only good thing about it is the cable reel system. Don't buy this until Flymo has redesigned it (hint, hint). I only gave it 1 star because you can't give no stars at all.
|
