Flymo Hovervac Hover Mower 28cm
- 900W Motor
- Plastic safety blades
- 10m cable
- 15 ltr collection box
- 28cm cutting width
Flymo Hovervac Hover Mower 28cm Reviews
Every review I read said, "For tiny flat lawns" and that is exactly what I had. The blades are a bit cheap and you end up emptying the cut-grass basin every 3-4 minutes. But it worked perfectly for my little lawn and I have no complaints. Not for a lawn any bigger than a lounge.
I bought this for my mum as she has a very small lawn and a storage box rather than a shed so size was the main priority and this fitted that bill perfectly. For under fifty pounds (from a DIY chain on their discount weekend) it's a reasonable buy but I wouldn't pay much more than that as it's basically a Flymo Microlite with a small grass collector bolted on.
Once out of the box, you just need to connect the handle which is a bit fiddly but soon you are good to go. This unit is very light and easy to push around your lawn but the performance is not great. The collector does not collect all the grass and the finish is more backstreet barber than Toni & Guy, lets put it that way. However if you're handy with a strimmer or shears etc, trimming the edges of any lawn makes a big difference to the finished article. The cutting width is only 28cm and uses small plastic blades (of which there were 4 spares provided) but the cable is a fairly decent 10m, ok for small gardens. If you're a bit clumsy you're unlikely to cut the cable or shoot stones into the kitchen window with this due to the weak motor and plastic blades.
I would recommend this mower only if you have a very small lawn and lack of storage space, otherwise go for a wheeled Bosch Rotak which are a different gravy and recommended for Lawn Rangers everywhere.
PROS
Decent length cable
Safe and easy to use
Inexpensive
CONS
Does not collect grass well
Does not cut particularly well
No cutting height adjustment
OVERALL 4/10
Flymo *used* to make light, affordable hover mowers which actually worked on uneven and large lawns. This no longer seems to be the case.
The build quality looked good on first inspection and assembly is a snap - you only need to put together the handle.
My first concern about the actual build quality was realised when I saw that the blades are made of plastic and flymo provide about 10 spares. Hmmm. That says only one thing - they break, often.
I've got a reasonable sized lawn and the grass was probably about 1cm to 2cm high. My lawn is a bit uneven here and there, but would be considered flat enough for a kick about with a football.
I got the mower assembled and fired it up.
To say the hover was weak would be an understatement. It lifted possibly 2mm off the grass and as my grass was 1 to 2cm high, I had to really push the mower to get it to move. After 3 minutes, I'd cut about 2 foot square. I also hit a tiny stone with the blades and on examining them, noticed one was already on the verge of breaking.
I got the mower from B&Q the weekend before. Luckily I was able to exchange it for a Bosch rotary mower, which worked like a charm.
Bottom line, unless you've got a tiny very flat lawn, avoid at all costs.
