It's that time of year again, although the rain's a bit much sometimes, but when the sun does come out, drying up the rain, incy wincy spider.... Sorry, drifting there:. No, when the sun does come out it's time to spruce up the garden, cutting the grass, weeding the soil, cutting the grass and trimming the edges. And it it the last on that list that I am going to tell you about at tool that helps trim the edges of you beautifully managed lawn, that tool being what some people, including myself, call a 'strimmer' but is actually called a Flymo mini trimmer.

When I was given the box that it came in I was not too impressed, mainly due to the fact that the box itself was only just bigger than a shoe box, ( I have big feet). But when I opened it up I realised that it had to be put together before use, which was a matter of slotting the top handle section to the bottom part, then fixing the black cutting guard onto the bottom, twisting it gently into place.
That was all it took to put it together and once done it was ready to trim the long grass around the edges of my lawn.

This strimmer itself is made of a sturdy orange plastic casing, as you'd expect from Flymo, and is designed to be easily held so that you can trim your garden without the need to have massive muscles.
The trigger is housed underneath the top handle, which is curved in such a way that gripping it is so comfortable indeed, and a gentle pull, or squeeze of the trigger fires the motor into action, taking a few seconds to find its feet
It has a 210mm cutting diameter which is powered by a rather tasty little 230 watt motor. Over the spinning area, where the accidents could possibly happen, is a solid semi circle of plastic which acts like a guard so that accidents don't happen.
On the underside of the cutting guard there is a small metal rod which, according to the destruction manual that came with the strimmer, is there so that the line is always the same length. In other words, when the line spins around it 'whacks' against this metal rod and the line snaps off.
The only thing I'm confused about is that there are three holes in the plastic mound that this metal rod is on but the rod itself seems to be stuck fast in the holes it's in. I've tried everything but dynamite to get the metal rod out without damaging anything. So I've left it as it is and have simply got used to how long the line actually is.

It's very light indeed, weighing just over 2kg in fact, and can be used one handed in most cases, plus it has what they call a 'twin line spool' which apparently gives a 'more balanced and efficient cutting performance'.
I do have to say that it's not tall, being only about 830mm from cutting base to handle grip area, so if you are then there's a chance that you may end up with a bit of a bad back.

The orange coloured cable is 6 metres long, which isn't much but as extension leads cost a dime a dozen, so to speak, extending the cable is no problem at all really; so I can't moan about the 6 metre length.

There is a bit of noise coming from this, but this is more a spinning/humming noise when it is strimming, although when you first pull out the line and press the trigger, if the line is out too far then it will catch on the little metal rod that is under the guard and there is a rather impressive, and a little unnerving, 'cracking' noise and the line snaps away. This noise is normal so don't be frightened, but do be careful as the piece of line that is cut off will fly somewhere, so have the strimmer aimed away from anyone and as close to the ground as possible.
The only other noise is when you're strimming away and cathc something like a twig or a stone, or maybe a hedgehog; then there will be a bit of a noise as the line tries to slice through what ever it's touched.

NOTE:

This one is a manual fed system and not the automatic system, so to make sure the line keeps feeding out you have to manually pull it out.
The spool, which has the wire wrapped around it, comes out of the bottom by pushing at two little catches, one either side of the spool, which then releases the spool itself. And putting it back it done by simply sliding the spool over the latches until a click is heard, letting you know that it has locked in position.


My opinion...

This one may not be the most 'technological' of strimmers, being as simple to use as a butter knife, but if it's the edges of your lawn that you want trimming then forget technology and go for simplicity... go for this one, especially as it cost less than a night out at your local Carvery, (depending on where you live of course).

It's not tall but as it weighs less than a new born baby, (almost), it can easily be held in one hand so there's no need to be bending over to try and steady this strimmer in order to get a good trim on your bushy area, (stop it... you know what I mean ladies).

I do have to be a lot more careful when using this, not in a 'cut my skin to pieces' sort of careful, more as in the fact that as the line itself is cut shorter that the guard covers when I want to get closer to things like sheds and other 'none moveable objects' in the garden, I have to use the none guarded side of the trimmer which means that the line can, and does, 'whack' what ever I'm trimming against, this then takes a few slices out of what ever it hits. But, after a bit of practice, I can get to with in a gnats whisker of the shed now without touching the creosoted wood.

So what is the price of this orange trimmer.. (and no, it doesn't trim oranges? I said orange because of the colour... just to clarify that fact. If you try and trim an orange with it there will be some mess to clear up after wards, especially if you try it in your kitchen).
Anyway: the price of this strimmer is a mere £20.00, or there abouts; which is good value for money in anyone's eyes.
It does exactly what it's supposed to do and it does it without any hassles, leaving you to enjoy the peace and quiet of your garden for longer once the jobs done, (That is unless you have the type of neighbours who believe that their music and swearing should be heard by everyone around them... you know the type! All mouth and no class at all: most areas have at least one household like that....: drifting again).

In all, flymo have done it again with this one. They have thought hard about how to make life easier for people and have done a great job in bringing out this light, yet powerful, strimmer.
Hats off to flymo; but can you come up with a remote control version sometime soon?

© Blissman70 2012