I can hear the grass grow (Flymo Microlite)

Member Name: otalgia

Product:	Flymo Microlite
Date:	22/05/08 (573 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inexpensive and lightweight

Disadvantages: Not the hardiest of mowers

Oh no!

It's that time of year again, the sun shines intermittently through broken rain clouds, kids in the street kick footballs against your windows and set your car alarm off and even worst the early morning light means that your child gets up at 5am and proceeds to wake the entire house. Add to this list hay fever, vicious wasps and barbeque smoke washing hanging on the line and celebrate that the great British summer is approaching!

Worst than all of the above the lawn has grown to heights that could be used for the set of the next Indiana Jones movie and requires its first cut of the year.

With time on my hands and unable to deter the wife's enthusiasm by using the well versed excuse of 'I'm unable to mow the lawn dear its raining and I don't want to electrocute myself" I approached the task with an anxiety and stress.

Our previous mower had been despatched to mower heaven at the end of the last summer, the motor had burnt out and repair costs were comparable to buying a cheaper new mower. I needed a new mower, preferably on the cheap as mowing the lawn was a bi-annual event.

After a ten minute visit to the local DIY store and £39 lighter I was now the proud owner of a Flymo Microlite. It was inexpensive, produced by a well known manufacturer, had a years warranty and was light (you could tell this by the box weight). It also fitted nicely into the boot of the car.

On arriving home and undertaking the compulsory cup of coffee I undertook the task of putting the mower together. I was pleased that assembly was straight forward - simply tighten a couple of wing nuts of the handle and master the technique of inserting the small plastic cutting blades into the rotating motor spindle and your ready to go.

Personally I find that the biggest problem with electric mowers, compared to their electric counterparts is that the power cable seems to always undertake movements of a suicidal snake and continually try to jump under the cutting blade. To protect myself from electrocution and my house wiring from short circuiting I also purchased a little RCD breaker socket which will cut-off (technical term trip) your electric should the mowers lengthy orange cable decide to end its life. The second method to avoid chopping the wire is to throw the cable over my shoulder and walk the mower like a dog at crufts.

So the stage was set, the mower armed and in front of me the 7 inch swathe of green swaying grass blades. The battle was about to begin.

Turning on the flymo was easy as the on off lever is parallel to the handle so you simply hold the power on ergonomically as you move the mower.

The first thing you notice with the Flymo is its levitation, not so much Hovercraft more like an egg on a Teflon frying pan. I found that moving the mower in a left to right swinging motion, almost like an aerobics workout, had the best effect. Because the grass was so long, and still slightly damp I needed to take frequent breaks to rake and pick up all of the cut grass. It was at this point I wished I'd not been so miserly with my cash and bought a mower with a built in grass collection box. That said, 20 minutes later, and 1 blade replacement (after hitting a mound of mud and snapping the blade) the task was finished.

Storage is good to and not too imposing. A couple of holes drilled in the garage wall and the flymo can quite unobtrusively hang there until its next outing, possibly this year. I pray for rain!

So what's my verdict?

Undoubtedly the mower was not built to tackle the forest of grass that I had bestowed upon it yet it managed the challenge successfully. The motor did get very hot due to non stop use and I discovered that the blades can break relatively easy if they come into contact with hard foreign objects such as mud mounds, rocks or the neighbour's cat (only kidding!). Replacement blades are quickly fitted and easily available for purchase. The power cable is a reasonable length too which is helpful. The noise levels were slightly quieter than my previous mower, quiet enough to talk over and shout 'cup of tea please' to the muted ears indoors.

For the elderly more green fingered folk out there with flat and well maintained lawns then this is an ideal purchase as it is low maintenance and relatively easy to manoeuvre. It's not the hardiest of mowers out there, but you get what you pay for, in this case a no-frills basic orange lawnmower.

Summary: Cheap no frills mower