I wonder how you keep it steady? I imagine it hovers basedon an airflow, which leads me to believe it much bounce up and down. It must be almost impossible to cut your grass so that it is all the same length. You would end up with high tufts of grass and low clear cut sections.

you're probably right
that's why it's been around for 40 years

Speaking of new products, I just picked up a box of Kleenex Expressions, the new, hip oval box with modish patterns. I love them! I've been waiting for an attractive tissue box for years!
http://www.kleenex.com/us/oval/product.asp

Re: Kleenex's oval boxes

[blinks] wow, those really are pretty nice for tissue boxes. if i had a decor that would be ruined by a normal tissue box [smirks at self], i would actually buy those.

We had one of these when I was a kid. It worked great if you had a nice flat lawn. However, our lawn was decidedly not flat, with hills and angles and all sorts of stuff. The Flymo was a total pain in the butt for that type of lawn.

flimoze rock. mowing the lawn can actually be fun. and it's only a problem when you start spinning huge arcs with it and endanger the electric cord. whoops.

The Brits don't have a corner on the market: http://www.hovermower.com/

I like the design of those oval kleenex boxes too, however, I don't like the practices of the company! Kleenex uses ZERO percent recycled and post-consumer materials, which means they are cutting virgin forests to get their tissues on the shelves. I can't believe there are still companies out there that don't use any recycled fibers! I'd rather support the ecofriendly companies who are least trying. Here's a link to a shopper's guide from the NRDC to help choose a greener product:
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/tissueguide/walletcard.pdf

(Sorry this had nothing to do with a lawnmower...)

"you're probably right
that's why it's been around for 40 years"

There are consumers who prefer form over function, so you never know.

I had a Flymo for several years.. It didn't really "hover" (just like there aren't really UFO's.. ?..)but it definitely glided across the lawn when I helped it along- I think I was in fact lifting it but it is indeed lightweight and never caused me any backpains despite the lifting. No problem of uneven cutting because, as I said,it wasn't really hovering, just gliding with my help at grasstop level. I don't know about rechargeable, mine was limited to the length of a huge extension cord (which came with it, matching orange color too)and at least once I did get carried away and "glided" it over the cord - cutting it! It can't get anywhere near corners because the blade is centered in that large plastic "gliding saucer".

NEVER buy a Flymo - they are useless!! - they are great if you have a perfectly flat lawn and you trim it every couple of days - that way you are only taking off less than an inch of grass each time

If you have an uneven lawn or you leave your grass to grow more than an inch then they are not for you - they will no longer hover properly - they will just blow the grass flat thus preventing the blade cutting it and it will take you hours to complete a lawn as the blade bit is only about 2 inches long - if your garden tends to be wet they will jsut chew the grass rather than cut it - nightmare!

I have used these before and I would never recommend them to anyone other than an obsessive keeper of a bowling green

re: tissue box comment back a bit...

Sounds like another advertisement post by a paid surfer.

RS, I thought the exact same thing. The comment was:

"Speaking of new products, I just picked up a box of Kleenex Expressions, the new, hip oval box with modish patterns. I love them! I've been waiting for an attractive tissue box for years!"

"New hip, oval box with modish patterns?" Someone in advertising wrote that.

Does kleenex really stoop to advertising in comments on blogs? ick.

RS and sam, I totally agree. Kleenex doesn't look much better to me now seeing as there are not-that-expensive 100% recycled alternatives and if I cared enough about what they looked like (recycled ones come in plain white now, yay!) I would just get a tissue box cover, which seem to come in legitimately cool designs if you care about that stuff.

PS kt thanks for the link. And I used a push mower for years with no problems at all and never had to worry about cutting the cord. Good exercise, too ;)

I have had a hover mower for 5 years - and I have had none of the problems which have plagued Violetsrose - I'd recommend them to anyone. Cheap, very light, take up v little space (I store mine indoors) and they get the job done (I do have a tiny lawn - but it copes fine with length, I'm no obsessive).

I had a Flymo when I lived in New Zealand, and it was awesome. We had a small flat suburban lawn, and it worked really well. The coolest thing, in my opinion, was that you don't have to go straight back-and-forth. Instead you can go in circles and arches and whatever you want. It was fun. (I ran over our extension cord, too, and with 220V power, that's even less safe than in the US. But still! HOVER mower!!)

I see Home Depot is now an official sponser....why not Kleenex?

There goes the neighborhood

I don't have a lawn mower or a hip box of Kleenex. :(

Flymo mowers are USELESS - they hover over a flat surface - so if your lawn isn't flat they wont hover - if your grass is longer than 2cm then they wont hover properly - the cutting blade is about 2 inches long so it takes forever to cut anything of any size and the blades are plastic and break continually - it doesn't cut the grass but chews it up leaving you with bare patches - I would NEVER buy another one and warn everyone I know off them

If you have a beautifully manicured, perfectly flat, tiny lawn and want to mow twice a week then you might find them useful - otherwise steer clear!

Ooops! - only just realised this is an old, recycled post and I've already compalined about these damn mowers!

They use a heftier version of these to mow the slopes on golf courses. And apparently, they are pretty dangerous. I hear insurance companies keep a pretty tight watch over who can operate them.

Not to say that would be true for the consumer version. I have no idea.

Since we're all bright green lately, I'm going to ask -- what ever happened to those nice push-mowers that everyone had in the 1960s? No electricity or gasoline was involved -- you just pushed, and the revolving blades cut the grass -- and they were adequate for a small lawn.

THE FUTURE IS NOW!

Heh, heh Violetsrose, for a moment there I thought we were all set for a round of "Yes they are" / "No they're not". (Mine's a Qualcast btw, don't know if this makes a difference).

Wende you can still get push mowers and they still work just fine.

An accident waiting to happen?