Spring's coming, lets cut the grass! (Flymo Vision Compact 380)

Member Name: solamarie

Product:	Flymo Vision Compact 380
Date:	08/02/06 (2260 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cuts neatly, collects the cuttings

Disadvantages: Bit on the heavy side

Once upon a time I had a lovely lightweight flymo, very plain, easy to use, it cut the grass to a smooth velvety lawn and I loved it, long ago I had a car that burned to death and afterwards remembered that said mower was in the back at the time so that was the end of that and the quest of a decent mower began.

Every few years I go to the shops and get me a new mower, not quite sure what happens to the old ones but possibly my son has something to do with it. Ah, there was one that my son in law used and blew up, probably not his fault but subsequent mowers haven't been as good as that one. That was about seven years ago and this year my son moved into a house with a large lawn and borrowed my mower…. the one that hung on a nail in the shed, it was a flymo, and worked reasonably well. It didn't come back and it didn't come back so one Sunday a couple of months ago I hotfooted it to B & Q and bought me a band new mower. There is a long story attached to the buying of the mower, but as it concerns a pair of secateurs you won't read it here.

Over the last ten or so years plastic blades have become very popular for mowers. I agree with the concept of safety and they are great if you have a neat square of lawn with little or no debris lying around and no tough tufts of grass or weeds to cut. I had one once and blade after blade broke. It took a whole packet of blades just to get the lawn cut so I knew from that experience that I needed a metal blade.

2005 has been a very dry summer here on the south coast and I haven't spent a lot of it cutting the lawn because most of it has been sparse and tufty and dead looking. This hasn't worried me because I haven't had a lot of time and I knew once the autumn rain came the grass would green up nicely. Well, suddenly I realised this morning that we have had the autumn rain, the sun was shining brightly and the grass was not only green but rather long.

We have been restructuring the garden somewhat so first I needed to remove all the odd bits and pieces that somehow get on the lawn while I'm not looking and then get the mower out of the shed. This one is too big to hang off the nail on the wall so sits on the floor; I lifted it out thinking not for the first time that it is heavier than the earlier ones I owned.

So, what have I got?

I bought a Flymo vision compact 380 and remember well bringing it home and taking it out of the box. There were several pieces but this didn't faze me at all, I just attached the handle to the base and put the blade in place. No problem, maybe a little awkward but I have had some practise.

The second time I used the mower I couldn't find the lead and grumbled a bit then used the one from the chainsaw which is compatible, half way through cutting the lawn I remembered that the lead winds neatly away on the top and felt a bit silly that I had forgotten that. So this time I unwound the lead, plugged each end in and away I went.

My lawn as I wrote earlier is a bit tufty and pretty uneven so the top half was hard work, I pushed and pulled and puffed and wondered why it doesn't hover like the old ones used to.

This lawnmower being 13kg in weight is heavier than the older ones and this weight is increased as you mow because it blows the cuttings upwards into a box. Then compacts them so the box holds twice as much as most hovers that collect the grass as well. This is a real bonus when the grass has got a bit long as you don't leave damp cuttings all over the lawn and raking the lawn is very good exercise but not for me.

Further down the lawn is more even and of denser grass and over this the mower glides across rather than hovering, but is much easier to use.

It took me almost an hour from start to finish and the lawn looks nice and neat, short enough and fairly smooth, so I am pleased with the mower even though it isn't the best I have ever used.

Now for the details of the mower.

The flymo vision compact electric hover mower has a hefty 1700-watt motor, which means it can tackle most lawns even if they are rather large and a bit uneven.

The metal blade is 38cm long and will cut through even really tough grass and weeds, if you hit a stone or two as I do then this easily comes off and can be sharpened again and again. Not like those plastic blades that break at the first little pebble and have to be renewed.

Having a reel up storage place on top to put the lead away means you never lose it, so long as you remember or look downwards and see that it is there.

The blade can be adjusted for four different cutting heights, from 12mm to 32mm, and I haven't a clue how short that is but can tell you it goes from leaving quite a lot of grass to almost shaving it and leaving bare ground in places.

The grass box holds 40ltrs of grass, it compacts this and is easy to lift out and empty, either dump it in your compost bin or do what I do and spread it over the borders, lightly forking it in to feed the ground. A tip though, don't do this if you have applied weed killer to your lawn recently because then all your plants would die off. You can also use lawn cuttings for a mulch round plants to conserve the moisture in the soil, but if you put too thick a layer down it heats up and may burn the surface roots. The grass box has a clear plastic window in the top so you can see when it is full, this is useful if the lawn is huge and you manage to fill it up before finishing the lawn.

There is a 1 year manufacturers guarantee that comes with the mower, so if you buy it at the beginning of the summer and use it once or twice weekly then you will have got a good amount of use out of it before this runs out.

Where do you buy it? and how much does it cost?

You can buy these mowers at most D.I.Y. outlets, B & Q and Focus Do it all stocked them in the summer. The price is around the £130.00 mark, I paid £20.00 less because it was on special offer when I bought mine.

Nowadays most of the smaller hover mowers have plastic blades and our garden seems to literally grow stones, so they aren't for us. This hover mower is a little heavy on uneven ground but as we are slowly levelling the garden by raising the lower end of the lawn and filling it in then it will be easier as time goes on. It isn't that noisy, it cuts well enough for me and once I go and wind the lead back up and put it away I will be pleased that the job is done.

The answer to my question in the title. Is it too much for a mere woman? Well, not quite, considering how the garden slopes and how uneven the lawn is, but it did make me work whereas the original hover mower that burned in the car I just swung around and it did the job fine. I am glad I bought it and it should get many years use here.

I know many people, including my neighbour have those sit on and ride about type mowers, but for me cutting the grass is something that I enjoy on a calm day when it isn't raining and I like plodding around the garden admiring the plants that I have grown.

Electrolux, which is a company I have faith in, makes Flymo, their products are generally good quality and reasonable priced.

If you are interested or want to find out more about this model then I include the website below.

http://www.flymo.com/node80.asp?prodid=673&im g=

There isn't much detail on the website and I can't see how long the cable is but I think it is about 15metres, which is about 50ft I think, I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for reading this, Sue :o)

Summary: Simple grass cutter which colldects the cuttings as you go.