Best Selling Lawn Mower Just Became ILLEGAL
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- These best selling Flymo lawn mowers are now illegal for sale in the United States but why? And what makes these amazing machines so unusual. With the help of an overseas subscriber I was able to try one of these first hand & share it with you.
Power adapter that let me us the mower in the US: amzn.to/48gNZ0F
Nothing in this video was sponsored
As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases
Disclaimer: Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, I cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. Silver Cymbal assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. Silver Cymbal recommends safe practices when working on machines and or with tools seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of Silver Cymbal, no information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not Silver Cymbal. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
![เจ้าผู้เดียว - ดิด คิตตี้ [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/q0NLCYKBOTo/mqdefault.jpg)
What do you think? Would you buy one of these? Thanks for watching please LIKE & SUBSCRIBE - Power adapter I used: amzn.to/48gNZ0F
big fan of your vids.. i wonder if i can get my buddies in Japan to send me one.. this would be perfect for a certain friend's apt.. this would be perfect for him.. i will be searching.. Keep up the good work, We got a Water heater from your vids.. the Rheem Hybid.. u sold us on getting one..
I would buy one
I’m wondering how you got one and why you’re showing it to the world if it’s so illegal
@@shanehatcher9394 He had someone help him, and that's not illegal because no retailer was involved, and the company still isn't selling it here. It's not illegal to OWN one.
I like the idea of a mower you can use like a rotary floor polisher, like you said for tough spots. But the use-case would be rare, and this would be way less efficient for mowing otherwise.
My lawn mower is illegal too, but he’s cheap and he does a fairly good job when he’s sober.
lol...... ROTFLOL..
So, he never does a good job.
@@deaconblooze1 Yeah, I had some problems with Jesus showing up drunk last year, but he hasn’t done that again ever since I bought a Border Patrol Ford F-150 at auction and parked it on my driveway. His English has improved significantly since then too.
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoes😂
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoes Is there some clever joke hiding in your reply or is it just straight up stereotypical racism?
It's so funny to me how the US manages to overregulate and underregulate at the same time..
We've got what is essentially 50 different countries who cant agree
There's no such thing as underregulate.
There go's the point.
@@kirbyis4ever I know, but it think the big problem ist the populist way that regulation is done at the moment.. Everything is kind of a statement, and used as bait for the next election - common sense is no longer in the driving seat..
Essentially I believe that the two big parties you have, could agree over a large array of topics - but they want to differentiate form each other at all cost... as if it would be a sign of failure to agree on something...
@@BatCorkill every OSHA regulation is written in blood and more are added all the time. I'd argue that they're the only body doing any real good with their regulations though.
I'm in the UK and did my Granddad's ridiculously hilly lawn with his Flymo. This was during the pandemic and it was a Flymo from the late '80s/early '90s and it was still better and easier to use than any modern wheeled lawnmower I've come across.
I ended up buying an Ego one purely because I didn't like a trailing electric cord which could be ran over
It was the flu.
@@waqasahmed939What's the EGO mower model?
I always thought these were cool. The only safety thing I could think of is if maybe a wind caught it but it should have a safety on the handle so when you let go it stops.
But mostly I thought they would be great on hills and scalping would be far less with its hovering action.
@@waqasahmed939you mow with the cable over your shoulder, then you can't run over it
In the mid-eighties, I used to run a gas powered version of these here in the US for a hotel that had very steep grassy steps between many parking lots. It worked great because you could climb the hill then swing the mower back-and-forth as you walk down it, somewhat like a pendulum.
Thats what they are really for.
I remember them in the ‘70s I think. Along the curb, it would blow the grass into the street. I don’t remember the cut being too even though.
They used a light weight 2 stroke motor. There was a hose running up the handle that drew air in to make it hoover. The operator controlled the air flow with a knob to raise or lower the deck.
I saw National Trust workers doing the same on the ruins of a medieval castle, only they had the petrol version on a rope and were hauling it up and down the slope which was too steep to walk up, by design.
They were all the rage in the UK in the 70s and 80s but seem to have gone out of favour. If they did a petrol engined version of the one that picks up the grass I would get one, my lawn is too big and long for cables.
@@donaldasayers I’ve got a nice cordless electric lawn mower at my house in Texas, but it’s not a hovering model. I think the energy to make it hover would take too much power for the battery charge to last long.
Thank you for helping me broaden my criminalistic lifestyle.... now to incorporate illegally mowing my yard 😊
It's our duty not to follow corrupt laws.
😂
Dont forget to buy a high flow toilet from Canada.
@@PandorasFollyyes we all love those water saving devices. Ones that need triple flushes to get it down, ones that ruin your clothes and fail to wash your dishes. Everything they say it is designed to do is actually the opposite.
Time consumers begin to decide what they buy or sell again.
@@PandorasFollyYeah they are pretty much gone here now in Canuckistan
Am in the UK, Flymo is a good brand here and I have a very similar model that you show. TOP TIP: if you remove the blade you can use the flymo like a vacuum. Quite good if you have just scarified or just want to collect leafs or grass clippings.
How well does it work on your carpet?
@@nomusicrc the blades have no air moving function, it's the big wheel over them that does.
@@Braun30 I rewatched the video and deleted my comment
@@nomusicrc and now my comment is going to baffle newcomers 🤣
My buddy had a Flymo here in the US back in the early 80's but it didn't collect grass. it was super light and had a very low profile. in fact, he always hung it on the wall after use. But my question now is:
Wouldn't the cut tend to get shorter as more grass collects in the bin?
The UK and EU market also had a problem with "foot under mower". They solved it by changing from metal blades to much shorter, hinged plastic ones so that a foot stuck under the mower was safe by virtue of the blades having much less inertia and hitting much less powerfully. Granted you need to replace blades from time to time, but the mower still works very well.
This can't be a thing anymore since I have never ever seen such a thing and I work with lawnmovers.
@@zerocool6452My Bosch cordless strimmer has a hinged blade design.
@@zerocool6452probably went out of style due to extra maintenance, and the foot under the machine is still a problem. Just because it doesn't cause as much damage as metal doesn't mean people want a device that has zero friction to keep it in place and is still a hazard to their feet.
Especially when metal blades do better work and having wheel makes the direction and momentum of the machine predictable.
Can someone clarify the foot-under-mower concern? The mower in the video looks like it has a much lower/safer clearance than any wheeled mower I've used. The gap looks way too short to get a foot anywhere near the blade.
@@steamer2k319 The mower lifts on a cushion of air. It can then move easily over someone’s foot.
Never thought I'd have to buy a mower from the black market but here we are
We use a variant of these in the Philippines for a golf course. Management absolutely loves them because they are damn near silent, and our golf course has a lot of technical areas that a large mower simply cannot get into. The hovering mower is also incredibly maneuverable
What mower is this would come in handy
Must be using a really long extension cord! Oh wait, there is also a fossil fuel version.
Cracks me up that the lawnmower you see nearly every old age pensioner in Scotland own is deemed too dangerous in the US as it might cut your foot off. You would need to stick your foot under it and angle it up quite a bit to even get a trim of your toes. Your more likely to shoot your foot off with a gun you can buy at walmart in 5 minutes 😆
🙄 Twenty minutes, assuming you can pass your NICS check. It takes at least five to fill out your 4473 and ten more for the seller to annotate their A&D book, call the FBI's NICS line and get mother government's permission to exercise your right to keep and bear arms.
@@bobthecannibal1 It's amazing to me that the rest of the world seems to think that anyone in the U.S. can just stick some cash into a vending machine and out pops a gun. Granted, that's how it should be, but instead there's a ton of paperwork to navigate through, and we've just got good at jumping through the government sanctioned hoops.
Don't worry, you can still buy a chainsaw with a 1 meter naked blade.
Takes a bit longer to get all the paperwork filled out than 5 minutes and your not doing it at walmart anymore. Alot of them stopped carrying guns a while back. Plenty of other places to go though.
Still your point is valid, bit of nany state overreach once agian denying us good stuff.
There should be a horror movie where the predator goes around with a flymo threatening to chop off people's toes. Then make the politicians watch it and see how lame and inconsistent their ban is.
I remember these things from when I was a kid in Belgium. They worked well. Always wondered why not available in US. Turns out it was the safety police (again, as usual).
Just ignore the fact that it's hover and will just glide away.
That it's light and the risk if "sliding under' is reduced because you don't need to drag so much weight of the hill.
Yea. True. I remember when I was a kid growing up in America I never heard one single person complain they didn't have a smaller lawn mower to mow their 12 acres. Your country could use them cause your yards are small. We need tractors to properly mow our land.
"tUrNs OuT iT wAs ThE sAfEtY pOlIcE aS uSuAl" Safety regulations are written in blood.
@@ZzZ-qd1zobut guns are ok duuurgh
@@ZzZ-qd1zosafety for the stupid in some cases (as well as this one)
There's a bit of technique with one of these. The easiest way to mow with a Flymo is usually in large semi-circles, one side to the other (left to right), while keeping your body fixed in the center and slowly moving backwards. You can cover a huge area in a very short time with minimal effort that way.
similar to using a scythe instead your taking a back step and not a forward step
Or spike it into the center of the grass, and let physics do the rest.
Growing up in the UK you always know when someone starts up a Flymo with that distinctive sound of the fan! Great little mowers
For the size of a UK front yard - perhaps :)
I lived in England in the late 90s. One days my family visited a castle and while we were there, there was a man mowing the lawn with one of these hovercraft electric mowers.
He was up on a high retaining wall, about 15 foot up or so, which had a fairly steep slope to the grass along the top of the wall. He tired a rope to the handle of the mower and would just let the mower down the slope until it dropped over the edge and then haul it back up.
People do the same with gas mowers.
@@_Minecraft_ASMR but these are a lot lighter.
@@_Minecraft_ASMR I'm sure they do but the weight difference would make me prefer using an electric if I'm going to throw it over the edge...
I had the smaller version of this. It didn't collect the grass clippings, but was very easy to use. It also had plastic blades that were cheap to buy & easy to change. There was an advert here in the UK showing a regular mower & a plastic bladed Flymo going over an ordinary shoe. The regular mower tore it to bits, the Flymo just scuffed it up.
OMG, I remember that advert, that was a long time ago though. Most of the Flymo's I've had have used metal blades though 😂
I both SOLD and BOUGHT a gas-powered Flymo when I was a merchandising manager at JCPenney in 1977.. we ordered two, and could never sell them, and marked them down to clear out, and I finally bought the last one for about $40. Our rental's backyard had previously been tilled badly for a garden, then let go back to grass, so mowing with small wheels was impossible. This floated over the mounds and gave an even cut. Left it at the rental when I moved into an apartment.
If you can't buy it in The US it might be The Best Lawnmower in existence.
Yeah this definitely looks better than a John Deere, eXmark , Toro or Scag. 🤡
You're risking a visit from the ATF, even if you bought it from a federally licensed lawnmower dealer. 😐
Why?
It's a joke
@@paulschab8152 Drinking beer while mowing?
rip your dog
Nah, just an excuse for the boys in black to bust into his garage and destroy the thing as this product gives easy access to have long term commitment. Which means no more hybrid capitalist-imperial madness!
UK viewer here, We have had an older version of this mower since at least the early 2000s (possibly late 90's) and it's still going strong to this day. Everything is original other then the blade and in all the years we have had it the safety switch on the handle is the only thing that broke however the mover still works totally fine without it.
My grandparents back in the 70's had one of these here in Toronto and every summer I couldn't wait to go visit them and use the most envied mower in the neighborhood. What a blast it was cutting the grass with a hovercraft, you could give it a push and let it glide across the lawn handsfree. No safety handles back then, just click the on button and away it goes. Great for mowing an incline as you can just stand at the top and glide the mower side to side while walking downhill.
Finally! the opposite of what always happens over here where we cant buy a lot of cool things u guys have
Seriously. In my state we can buy silencers. But this mower is too dangerous!
Seems like they would be able to sell them with a bottom attachment with small wheels to comply with regulations.
Just charge an extra $40.
If the buyer removes the attachment, it's on them.
maybe if they silenced it 🤔😆
@@SilverCymbalso how did you acquire yours?😊
@@SilverCymbal It's easier to get silencers in Europe than the US because of the National Firearms Act (NFA, passed in 1934).
The problem with grass-collecting Flymos is that as the grass bin fills, the mower gets much heavier at the back, so it doesn't float so well. The blades get closer to the lawn so the cut becomes shorter and shorter until it starts dragging and becomes really hard to push. The blade can even dig a chunk out of your lawn. This usually happens long before the bin is full. I found I had to empty mine when it got to about half full.
Also you said it doesn't collect all the grass - I believe that's intentional as it's better for the lawn to leave some behind to rot down and put nutrients back. Or at least that's what they've always claimed, maybe they're just trying to cover up that it's not very good at it!
nah u see, thats just an anolog way for the mower to tell you to empty the bin. You gotta empty it u see
I worked for a friend who had a fantastic idea when I was young. He had a mobile grinding and repair service for golf courses. We would rebuild and true up their reel mowers which are used everywhere on the golf courses. We also would fix nearly everything else equipment wise. Flymows were at nearly every other golf courses so I have repaired them too. They were very effective at mowing the steep angles or near ponds. They were all two cycle back then, I had no clue they make electric now AND catch the grass! Glad I seen your video, it brought back many memories. Thanks
My aunt gave me one of these that I believe is from the 70’s. I never use it at home but have borrowed it to a friend a number of times to cut a pond embankment he has on his property. Last year he surprised me and completely restored it. It looks good in my collection and I think he enjoys using a good looking mower when he borrows it.
Wow I never knew they were illegal to sell here.
I still has my gas powered flymo from the 70’s.
I have not had it running for over 35 years. Think if I did carb work it would run again..
It worked great if you had a nice lawn but at the time my was not so using it was very dusty… But it did cut well..
Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t think the company was still in existence…
Cheers
Could try swapping in an off-the-shelf motor from harbor freight, maybe.
In the 70's I worked at a golf course where they had a FlyMo. It was gas powered, of course, and I never used it or saw anybody use it but I wish I had. Thanks for your short and efficient videos.
Worked on a golf course for several years up until 2019, we had 6 or 7 of the gas powered FlyMo's that we hung ropes off the handles and used them to mow steep bunker faces
Flymo's are great! They are made near where I live. I'm a retired automation/manufacturing engineer, and would have loved to work where they make them (just did the odd bit of engineering support projects as a supplier). These Flymo's are just about the safest mower you can buy.
I moved to the States from the UK about twenty years ago and I used to have a Flymo there - it was indeed great. I looked for one when I came across the pond and was disappointed not to be able to buy one. I assume the legislation was for some specious safety reason, but the foot-under-the-deck thing is... wrong? Surely you _don't_ want a foot to fit under there?
Illegal things are always more fun 😂
From the UK here flymo has been a household name for as long as I can remember. My dad actually had a flymo gas mower with a plastic deck and a B&S quantum engine. It was totally indestructible.
I wish they made huge wide cut mowers with mains power and 3000w motors in the UK, it would be fascinating to see how they'd perform. Great video.
Keep an eye on Toro they might be launching a battery wide cut mower seen in the USA in the UK soon.
The original Flymo was amazing. When I was in Jr. High, we had a grass amphitheater built into a hill that had a 45 degree incline. The custodian of the school would tie a rope to the mower and just move it up and down the hill while walking to mow that hill. Pretty cool.
I have a very similar to the one in the video but much older. I'm in the UK & the safety problem was solved with using an attachment disc (blade holder) that allows you to use 2 plastic cutter blades that slot into it & pivot to mitigate hitting anything solid (or human lol) instead of that one big fixed blade yours has. The attachment fits universally to most Flymo mowers, if not all. It would work on the one in this video as it has the same fitting & spacers as mine.
My Flymo is over 20 years old & I just bought a replacement plastic disc & nut earlier this year as the blades started to fall out constantly due to wear on the disc. Not bad after 20+ years of rubbing along the grass. Unfortunately a few months later the darn belt slipped/went on it & after trying my hardest to get to it to try & repair or replace it I gave up & bought a new Hyundai push along.
I actually prefer the new one now as it's way easier to adjust the cutting height with a simple lever - and it leaves lines in the grass which are novel to me 🤣
These are very popular in the UK and I used them for years
We had one in the '80s, in Australia. They're easy to use, but they're only good for relatively stiff medium-thickness grass. Because they're a hover-craft, they flatten the grass before the blades get much of a chance to cut it. They also only work if the grass isn't very tall.
Wrong!
Maybe they got better in the last 30-40 years?
I had one in South Africa years ago. No grass-catcher, but it had a second blade that supposedly mulched the grass finely, and the fan drove it back into the ground. Worked OK with imported grasses, but failed badly with our native Kikuyu grass. I might try this model next time I need one.
I've cut some seriously deep grass with these things. In fact I have a photo (can't post here though 😕) from when I was using one to cut grass that was almost higher than the top handlebar of the Flymo.
My parents in the UK had one of these my whole life. I always wondered why they didn't exist in my new home in the US
FEAR! Hey! fear is not ENOUGH! OUR NEWEST GMT ADDITION TO THE DOUBLE STEEL STAKED MICHIGAN STOP SIGNS are SO unsafe that all stop signs at STATE ROAD INTERSECTIONS NOW HAVE 3X THE SURFACE AREA OF THE STOP SIGN BELOW WITH AN ADDITIONAL LARGE REFLECTIVE YELLOW REFLECTIVE! FRONTAGE WITH CONTRASTING BLACK LETTERING STATING..... CROSS TRAFFIC DOES NOT STOP what ever happened to our kindergarten / birth parents' teaching of looking "BOFF " WAYS???
I used to own a mower like this when I lived in New Jersey in the 80's. It always started, cut nice, and fun to use.
I used to run the old 2 stroke version of this decades ago working at a golf course. It was perfect for mowing along water features as you had a seamless transition from grass to water.
Hoverboards don't work on water...
Toro still makes one for this purpose and is sold in the US
@@Komeuppance what a bojo
I used to have a Flymo back in the seventys and I loved it. It had a two cycle engine on it and it cut very very well. There are times I wish it was still here. Great machine!
My uncle in Australia used to have one in the 80s and absolutely loved it. 🇦🇺
Super common mower in the UK. (I would go as far to say the vast majority of mowers were flymo, at least 10 years ago before I moved).
Well, the UK did invent the hovercraft.
FYI you can buy the toro hover mower and husqvarna also made one for the usa
I remember seeing the Flymo mower in the 70s and it had a two cycle engine on it but didn't have a grass catcher
One of my neighbors had one and it did pretty good mulching the grass
I had part of a lawn that was down a 30 degree slope. I used a gas powered Flymo with a rope tied to the handle... all I needed to do was walk back and forth along the top of the slope, lowering the mower down a little with each pass. It gave a stunning result that would have been almost impossible to achieve any other way.
That is so interesting. Back in the early days of the internet, when eBay was just starting I sold a second-hand one of these to a chap in Arizona. He was a fax salesman, which will tell you how long ago it was - and I could not fathom why someone wanted me to ship what was essentially a old bit of common domestic household item in the UK. I recall the sale was for £25 and the shipping was for £45, but it arrived and apparently did an excellent job! I always wondered why they weren't more pervasive in the US and you have supplied the answer, thank you.
In Europe, you could even eat Kinder Eggs while mowing your lawn with this.
We had one and I loved it. I kinda understand the safety issues, it’s very maneuverable and doesn’t provide much of a tolerance zone. Still sad it’s disappearing from the market, it deserved to have its own little niche.
I wonder how many tried to be a Flymo successor.
i love how this video was to the point. no filler here!
I remember a GAS powered hover mower back in the late 60's early 70's. Always wondered what ever happened to it and why no one sells anything like it. Thanks for the video!
It’s available thru toro
You just know someone from John Deere or whatever had this thing canned before it could make it to market in the US
We had a Flymo in the '70's in New Zealand. Awesome lawn mower.
I love how you emphasise "even though it doesn't have an engine please I beg you listen to me it's good."
I saw them advertised when they were available in USA and always
wondered how well the worked as a regular lawnmower pulls grass
UP to cut it while these would have to push air (and grass) DOWN.
The airflow is down at the blade hub - but upwards around the outside near the blade tips, for the grass collection system to work. The airflow is very good at picking up any loose leftovers.
I've had several of them over the years (in the UK); the only failure for me was the blade shaft bearings giving out relatively quickly, as they were tiny in the ones I owned.
The blade cuts the grass, the fan pushes most clippings towards the right, then, crucially, the hole at the rear right where the clippings are sucked in is also the air intake, so effectively you have a vacuum that sucks the clippings into the grassbox and compacts them at the same time.
Looks like it does a pretty nice job, only issue would be the 220 power source. Price point is excellent as well. While I currently use a HRX217 for my place, would definitely consider something like this if I ever downsized
Almost certainly you could swap in a 120v motor.
@@OmarRodriguez-vl2tq Fair enough. I never knew they drew that much power. I'm sure you could get something to work on 1800W but it would surely require a redesign and may provide poor results.
I had a mulching flymo when I lived in Scotland. Great little machine.
Lived in the UK in the 90s. My Flymo was awesome, wish I'd brought it back with me (although, I don't think it would've been very effective on the St Augustine grass in my area).
Yeah in the UK, even with the garden Safety rules these are legal. I been using one here for about 10 years and it is a medium sized one and collects the cut grass and compacts that grass into a deep amount. I think it more like the reason for the ban is, that American Mower makers don't like the better Flymo mower as it would out sell their big heavy rubbish petrol ones.
So they complain to the Government saying it is a danger where their own heavy smelly polluting ones are fine!
I had one of the US models about 20 to 25 years ago, unfortunately, it didn't work for me. The thing would just not hover, I think it was the altitude, here in the Denver area the air is just not dense enough. But I agree it's a really neat concept.
That's an interesting point.
Looks like a no-nonsense mower. I like it. Right now, I have an electric cord mower, and the wheels are about ready to fall off.
I had a Toro hover mower back in the ‘90s in the US. It was pretty cool.
Yeah bureaucracy and regulations can be dumb, so can insurance. They put safety ahead of all other considerations, calcifying our society but not really making things safer since we just become more careless.
I for one will end this encroaching safetyism as your next ruler of Earth.
Everyone will be free to _off themselves_ ?
How can you be our Ruler if you don't embrace Safetiness?
@@Cautionary_Tale_Harris A ruler who does not care? 😈
I know nothing can change a US regulatory agency's dictates, but what is the safety record for this type of lawnmower? Considering how long they've been on the market, someone (even the company itself) should have easily available stats.😊
Should be reasonably safe as you're operating it at the end of the handle. Mostly bystanders, children, pets and people changing the blade without unplugging are going to be the major issue, I suspect.
Dad had one of these (no grass catcher) in the 1970s. It worked great and was very fast.
In the mid 80’s Flymo appeared here in Canada. Back then it was a gas 2-stroke powered unit that I first saw, but also a corded electric unit.
My family owned and operated a small engine shop . We sold and repaired lawnmowers, chainsaws, snowblowers, and other yard and garden equipment. Which is when a Flymo was first brought in for us to service.
Pretty interesting machines.
I just Googled and found you can buy them in Ontario. They are available in a range of sizes and prices. I haven't seen a battery operated model in ads. Since these are small machines you'd think they would have such models available.
Honestly, I've been using a totally manual push mower and it's great.
Push mower, what's that? I use a scythe to cut grass.
NGL The Bubble Top does look pretty cool.
If this mower ever becomes legal for sale here in the USA, I would definitely be interested in buying one 👍🇺🇸
I used a different small hover craft mower like that at a lawn service...we would tie a rope to the handle and let in down real steep hills, then just walk back and forth bringing it up a lil each time..(it was gas, blue colored, in the US)
Had a Flymo here in the UK for years. Never once have I heard of anyone running over their own foot with one, unlike a normal wheeled petrol mower where I've clipped the end of my work boots a few times pulling the mower back on uneven ground.
In America, any accident is possible and sue-able. Woman's kid burned themselves with a hot chicken nugget, sued McDonald's and won. It's dumb.
@@redone823 it's time someone got a grip and started refusing claims that were due to "no common sense".
I'd buy this today if it were available for the exact use case you mentioned. I have smaller, potentially rocky and uneven areas where I don't want to risk damaging my $1500.00 Timemaster. This seems like it would make quick work of them.
They still sell mowers like that in the US. Atleast 2 that I’ve seen in stores
@@skoalbanditskoal Do tell...
Got two of them large one 14" blade small one 8" blade only downsides are they will fling rocks at quite a velocity and when used on wet grass it has a tendency to stick to the bed pulling them down to the ground as for injury I can't remember ever hearing of any .
There was a "flymo" in the 70's here in the states with a gas motor. I remember watching the ads for it on tv as a kid.
As A UK resident it's surprising you can't use these in the US! I've been mowing lawns with varients of Flymos for over 20 years now. Best mowers you can buy!
I have to admit I am surprised at the reason they are not avaiable. Have you found the ONLY time US safety laws are (apparently) stricter than the EU area ? I mean you still allow big rigs to drive with no side underrun protection, something Europe has had since the late 80s (from memory)..
Used to use one many years ago, and it was certainly easy to use on our rather rough, uneven, not quite a garden yet areas. Used to see the local authority workers using them on steep bankings in parks etc (fuel powered variants) with a rubber bungee to hold the trrigger in to activate the blade, then swinging them on a rope down the slope like a huge pendulum.
There's Kinder Eggs too. US also didn't allow thalidomide. It's a bit of a crapshoot (UK/Europe does have better consumer protection overall I'd say). Things like this are often just a way to prevent competitors from entering the market.
@@chaos.cornerthalidomide is dangerous. It is allowed now but women can’t be pregnant taking it
Kinder eggs are here but a different configuration. Part of me says just allow them already but we all know how fast someone would sue if a kid chipped a tooth or choked
I think that's a cool design and I like that the bin looks easier to empty than mulch bags that traditional mowers use. I would prefer a battery version though.
For a cheap and cheerful product it would add a significant cost to it.
very difficult to engineer. It takes a lot of power to lift itself, and a battery with enough capacity would be very heavy, making it need even more power to lift itself.
@@lkj974 although it's already been done by other companies, the solution to that is fairly obvious. Instead of using three massive batteries and assuming an enormous lawn, use one battery at a time and swap them when it runs out. If you really wanted to, you could also just carry a battery pack on a belt, and use a short cord to plug into the mower. A 36v garden tool battery is only about 1.3Kg so they're not heavy. Don't forget that a Flymo often has a grass box on it, which is full of grass and relatively heavy.
"Honey look, the neighbor is vacuuming his lawn again."
I’m in the UK and I’ve got one of these, probably an older model. Always been very pleased with it. The only downside is that as it has no wheels you have to carry it. Hope mine keeps going for a few more years before I need a new one and find it has been banned here as well.
The model in the video, EasiGlide Plus 360V, consumes 1800 watts. With an operating voltage of 230 volts, it consumes almost 8 amps. With the standard US voltage of half that, it would consume about 16 amps. Even with a 20 amp outlet and 12 gauge extension cord with voltage drop depending on length, it would be pushing the limits.
Have the 240v supply at the house so the extension cord is running 240 instead of 120, and if it needs a convertor, run the convertor from 240. It would be great if he could post a few more details about that convertor to see if they offer a 240 to 220 version. If there's no difference in the waveform between US 240 and UK 220, then he could just plug it into a 240v outlet with a plug adaptor. That's what I do with my electric kettle I got from Blighty - boils water really quickly : )
Does the cut height change as the mower fills up with grass?
Fascinating question I wish someone would answer!!
yes but only by a couple of mill. @@willboudreau1187
@@willboudreau1187jfc calm down
Good question, but no, the height remains constant.
I had one of those when i lived in the UK. It was Aweful! I gave it away.
I had one when I lived in the UK. Whisper quiet and worked great even on tall grass.
USA: Can't sell that here, somebody might put their foot under it
UK: Just don't put your fucking foot under it, have fun
I've had a few here in the UK. The usual failure is the bearings on the main shaft. They have a problem with lawn edging as the cut height drops when the air cushion is lost, leading to scalping.
My current mower (of about 15 years) is a Bosch rotary electric mower.
Dude, my grandparents had a Flymo in the 90s, in sweden, and it was awesome. How is this not more popular yet?
I used to have one of these. Very nice if you have a swampy area. On a steep hill, I would attach ropes and stand at the top and swing the mower back and forth across the hill face.
Loved it.
*It's more of someone bribed someone to make an excuse to get these off the market. As simple as that.*
Cool mower! It seems to me that the low deck prevents feet from going under it - that’s a better safety feature not one to make it illegal. Soooo, you have one, where can one be gotten from?!😂
local black market drug dealer
They are great for more compact lawns. My lawn is small and it’s a pain turning the regular mower around in such a short space.
I love yhat you have kept the UK plug on the end of the power cable 👍
Maybe the ban is more about profitably than it is about safety. They use the issue about the foot could get under it to ban the sale. Think about how many of these would sell for $150.00 each versus the 250-400 dollar electric and cordless mowers built and sold in this contry. It's more about mark-up and profitably than it is safety.
I live in the UK and have the Flymo mower. I think it's perfectly safe because you have to push one button with one hand and then squeeze a lever to get it to turn on, and to stay on. The minute you take your hand off, the mower stops. Given this, it would be practically impossible to cut your feet.
It's a shame that the Flymo is deemed unsafe in the USA but that you can buy guns at the corner shop... 😢
I agree so much, like you guys we have a mix of people with big lawns and smaller lawns are becoming much more popular. This would be perfect for smaller lawns and the convenience is undeniable, and I totally agree with your safety insight too!
Fair point.
I had one when I lived in the UK. Did a great job
I have an older flymo with replaceable plastic blades that won't cut the cable if you go over it accidentally and that is a great safety feature
I remember the older Flymo the cable was also separate ( plugged in ) to the mower so was easily replaced if ever damaged - the newer ones it's hard wired in to the mower.
@@leepower2717 I mean even if you do, you can just put a male end on it so you can plug it into extension cords like the older ones with basic electrical skills.
But if I bought it somewhere else and tried to bring it into the U.S. would it be confiscated?
Maybe a vacation to Canada? 🥳
My grandfather had a Flymow when I was little back in the 70’s here in Massachusetts!
I had one also mowed banks of pond good mower long time ago
I own the smaller version of this unit in the UK to cut my very small front lawn. It's a bit limited in cuttings volume, but very useful to me.
We had a two stroke powered flymo back in the late 70s (in the US). I loved using it for mowing banks because I could just swing it back and forth like a pendulum as I slowly went down the embankment. It was also always funny to catch people gawking at the mower without wheels. As I recall when we bought it, the guy at the hardware store said it was actually invented many years earlier (50s, I think).
You got about as much chance of cutting your ear of with a hoover mower than your foot....
Small yard? There are quite a few good battery powered mowers.
Just moved into a house with only a tiny amount of turf to mow, and the little Ryobi mower is excellent. One battery charge does the mowing, edging, trimming, and blowing for me. It will never meet the needs of a contractor, but for me it's awesome.
I remember the competing adverts between flymo and qualcast "Why slow mow when you can flymo" and "its a lot less bother than a hover"
We lived in the UK for 5 years, 3 of those years we lived in the suburbs. I bought one of these to mow our small lawn there. I thought it did a terrible job of mowing, but it was cheap and since we were only there for a short time with a small lawn, this is what I used.
Note that you can probably get away without using a step-up transformer if you use a 240V American outlet and wire neutral and live (blue and brown) to each of the hot legs, so long as it's at least 220V peak to peak it should be just fine.
There was also a competitor to the hover mower, the Qualcast Concord, which advertised that it was "Less Bovver than a Hovver"!
If you just increase the voltage, the speed will be wrong because we have 60Hz in the US vs 50 in the UK. It will try to run 20% faster here which could effect bearings, hovering, etc. Might need to replace the cord too depending on how they sized it.
Because of the frequency difference motors run faster and mechanical load is higher. They do make dual frequency motors derated to run on 50 Hz instead of 60 Hz. With motors, it's not just the voltage that matters.
@@professorg8383 Depends on the motor, synchronous motors that are locked to the mains frequency (clocks, audio equipment Etc.) will change speed, regular universal motors, as I understand, and motors with inverter control will not.
Japan has plenty of motorised devices that do not care about mains frequency as for then it's necessary as half of their system is a 50Hz and the other half 60Hz
@@dglcomputers1498 OK, complicated answer. Universal motors actually run as pulsed DC motors when AC is applied. The commutator and brushes act as a rectifier. Most universal motors are essentially brushed, series DC Motors. But they are usually specifically designed to run on AC. The impedance will be higher at 50Hz, so if you run it on 60Hz the currents will be a bit higher. Enough to cause damage? Probably not. Might impact speed slightly but might not.
As for inverter control, that isn't a practical solution in most cases and until recently, was pretty significant cost difference. IDK for sure what these mowers use. Years ago popular AC mowers like Sunbeam used induction motors. But I have seen pictures of some really old ones that look like universal motors. And I know some more modern 120 volt AC corded mowers like Black and Decker actually use DC motors and have a full wave rectifier on the incoming supply. I haven't torn one down but I suspect they are either shunt wound or permanent magnet motors. But I also have a small, cheep 12" electric trim mower which is an induction motor
Universal motors of any substantial power are more costly to make and have the issues of brushes. For things like vacuums, series universal motors are use because they can hit very high speeds and good regulation is not critical. Universal motors work best with mainly constant loads. A typical vacuum will increase in speed when the air flow is blocked, because the load is actually lower. (moving less air).
As for Japan, the designs for consumer appliances are designed to be used on either 50 or 60Hz, Design it for 60 and realize it will just be a bit inefficient at 50Hz. For things that typically have a little synchronous cooling fan they design for the lower air flow being adequate.
However, the frequency difference is a huge deal in heavy industry. I've been to Japan quite a bit involved in steel and automotive. Standard AC induction motors are still the biggest source of rotating power. For the companies that had plants on both sides they had the nightmare of having to keep different spares because they were not interchangeable. Fir smal stuff they had 50 or 60hz use equipment with designs accounting for the efficiency differences. But bigger stuff is a whole other issue. In bigger steel plants they often looked to generation of their own power to get around the issues.
I think it is changed now, but in some parts of Western Canada, they had similar issues in paper mills because there was still some 50Hz there. Been a long time ago, but I got involved with company that had bought some surplus 50Hz equipment from an old paper mill up there. They thought they made a great deal, but retrofitting for 60Hz use involved detailed investigation to see what needed to be replaced and what they could use as is.
Electronics allows you tp do some things that were cost prohibitive not very long ago, But I'm not a big fan of how they achieve "universal voltage inputs". It makes it easier for manufacturers but it's inherently inefficient. It's most small stuff So wasted energy is minimal, but some of the circuits to do this used by Chinese manufacturing, are pretty sketchy designs.
Anyway, back to the hover mower, For some items voltage difference is the primary factor, but for other things you need to consider frequency differences. Motors are one of those issues that can potentially cause problems,