I’ve been wanting one of these for quite a while now, I’m getting a little tired of wrestling with the cable on my 30yr old Flymo. So when the price for this B&D dropped quite dramatically I couldn’t resist and took the plunge despite a number of immediate problems this was going to present me.
It’s much bigger and heavier than my Flymo and the handle doesn’t fold flat so I couldn’t hang it on the wall any more, so it’s more awkward to store and takes up quite a bit of space. I have steps in my garden and this does not do steps easily and needs lifting over them.
Some assembly is required. You have to create the grass box out of three bits of wobbly plastic. Not as easy as it could be as two of the pieces weren’t quite the same shape and needed a lot of force to clip together. Also it’s big and awkward.
Assembly was ok, but would be a little easier with two pairs of hands. The handle has three, very, very, slightly different angles it can adjust to. The quick release catches illustrated in the instruction book, for the top section of handle, were not supplied. Instead it was big screw on plastic ‘nuts’. This makes it harder than it needs to be to fold down the top part of the handle. Quick release catches for the lower attachment point of the handle were supplied, but this handle section doesn’t really need a quick release.
The battery compartment lid also seems back to front. It hinges at the top, but doesn’t lift fully vertically and so doesn’t clear the space sufficiently to make battery insertion/removal as straightforward as it could be. A hinge at the bottom of this lid would have been far better.
There is a bright orange safety dongle that must be inserted at the handle. This completes the circuit and it is easy to remove, with a fabric wrist strap so it doesn’t get lost – but the strap isn’t long enough to keep it round your wrist while mowing. This saves having to remove the battery for safe working on the underside of the mower.
In operation, you need to press the orange button on the right hand side of the handle first, and then operate the metal bar (similar to those found on petrol mowers), to start the motor. Doing it the other way round doesn’t work.
This mower is not lightweight and is difficult to manoeuvre other than in straight lines. In straight lines it is easy to push. Bear in mind I’ve been using a hover for 30yrs so it might just be a lack of familiarity. I found edges against borders difficult to cut, because as soon as the wheels went over the edge the blade hit the earth. My one lawn edge with paving alongside it cut ok with the outside pair of wheels running along the paved path. The wheels also leave compression marks on the grass because of the weight of the mower.
The grass box has a little orange flap that pops up while mowing. This is supposed to close (blocked airflow) when the grass box is full as an easy visual indicator of when to empty. It didn’t work. It was still half way up when I’d finished mowing and the grass box was overflowing. Lovely idea, but it needs to work.
Height adjustment is a movable lever with 6 presets. The bottom two were too low for my slightly bumpy lawn. The lever is heavy to move because when increasing height you are lifting part of the weight of the mower. The handle on the mower body makes it easier to adjust, but makes it a two handed job.
I have two small lawns, one about 10’ x 10’ and one about 20’ x 20’. A fully charged battery used up two green squares (two-thirds of the charge) on the battery’s charge indicator, so the two batteries are a little excessive for my needs, though I have several other tools that use the same battery pack. I have been using this battery type with other B&D tools for a couple of years and find them reliable and quick to charge.
I loved being free of cable. The motor sounds smooth and is much quieter than my old Flymo. Not much grass accumulates underneath so cleaning is a quick and easy wipe with a cloth. It has a few flaws, but freedom from trailing cable makes them worth putting up with.
| Dimensions du produit (L x l x h) | 76 x 46 x 43,8 cm; 16,2 kilogrammes |
|---|---|
| Pile(s) / Batterie(s) : | 2 Lithium-ion - incluse(s) |
| Référence produit | CLM3820L2 |
| Matériau | PVC |
| Type d'énergie | Alimenté par pile |
| Disponibilité des pièces détachées | Information indisponible sur les pièces détachées |
