elizilla: (dexter)
[personal profile] elizilla
I never knew this was a thing, but apparently in the UK they have mowers that are like mini hovercrafts, that you can use to cut the grass on steep slopes without tearing it up with the mower wheels and overturning a tractor on yourself.

In the USA they're a specialty commercial item for golf courses, ie spendy. In the UK there are inexpensive ones for homeowners. But they're electric, so, not something you can power off the US grid. I guess that when your lawn is not much bigger than your living room and is full of rock walls and herbaceous borders, a mower the size of a vaccuum cleaner can be your main mower. But in the USA the money is in tractors.

Steve was talking about it because he's concerned the lawn service tractor guys will tear up the tender new grass on the slope out back, with their sloppy tractor work. We planted the grass late last year and it never grew enough to cut before mowing season ended. It's grown a lot in the last few days and is finally not looking like a mud sea out there, but it's fragile. I don't think we're going try to buy a hover mower, though. We will probably just put up stakes and string and make the lawn service guys stay off that area, let the grass get tall until it gets rooted a lot better.

Date: 2015-05-06 03:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-rigger.livejournal.com
The economics, relatively speaking, is from the basic power differences between the UK and US power grids; our measly 120/208v AC power is small beer compared to their 230VAC 50Hz "house" current

Date: 2015-05-06 04:07 am (UTC)
ckd: small blue foam shark (Default)
From: [personal profile] ckd
Long long ago they had consumer Flymo models in the US; my parents had one. It was electric (because lifting a gas motor wouldn't be practical, I suspect). I hadn't realized they still existed elsewhere....

Date: 2015-05-06 01:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lawnmower wizard (from livejournal.com)
Urghh don't get me started on hover mowers, for the most part they are just marketing gimmickery- as soon as they take on an irregular payload (ie grass) the hover height will dip and the mower no longer glides, but instead scrapes along the ground.

Date: 2015-05-06 05:15 pm (UTC)
khaylock: (Default)
From: [personal profile] khaylock
It doesn't have to be electric... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVXX_UyXmSg

Date: 2015-05-15 07:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sendthewolf.livejournal.com
What is the the 50s? Lasers! :)

Profile

elizilla: (Default)
elizilla

February 2026

S M T W T F S
12345 67
891011 121314
15161718192021
22232425262728

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Feb. 14th, 2026 06:01 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios