Cordless Lawn Mowers

Flymo recalls cordless grass trimmer battery chargers

Flymo has issued a safety recall notice for a large number of its cordless grass trimmers amid concerns over the safety of the battery charger.

Flymo issued the recall after discovering a fault with the chargers. The outer casing of these chargers could detach, exposing live wires.

The problem affects a significant number of the Flymo Contour Cordless 500XT – a Which? Best Buy – and Contour Cordless XT grass trimmers, which were both launched this year.

The faulty chargers were supplied with the following grass trimmers: Flymo Contour Cordless 500XT models with product or article number 9666769-01, and Contour Cordless XT models with article numbers 9666768-01 and 9666768-27.

The problem does not affect the trimmers themselves, which are safe to handle.

If you have purchased a Flymo Contour Cordless 500XT or XT grass trimmer this year, check if its product or article number matches those above. You can find this number on the label at the bottom of the shaft of the 500XT, and on the head of the XT.

If you own one of these trimmers, you should immediately switch off the charger at the wall and remove it from the socket, taking care not to touch any internal part and only handling the plastic casing.

Call the Flymo customer helpline on 0800 023 7232 for further information and to receive a replacement charger. They will also tell you how to safely dispose of the old one.

Keep your lawn in tip-top condition with Which? reviews of the latest lawnmowers and grass trimmers . Which? has independently tested and rated the latest models on the market to bring you the lawnmowers and grass trimmers that are a cut above the competition. Our product reviews contain in-depth performance and usability results, plus helpful hints and advice on what to look out for when buying a lawnmower or grass trimmer.

Are Cordless Lawn Mowers Really Up to the Job? | Lawn Mowers

Within recent years cordless lawn mowers have been challenging their gas powered counterparts for pre-eminence in the market. In some respects you can see why as gas powered mowers aren’t without their drawbacks, but are they really up to the job? Can they really perform as well as traditional mowers? This article sets out to reveal the truth about how cordless lawn mowers really perform.

It’s easy to see why cordless lawn mowers have become so popular as you don’t have any of the hassles and mess of dealing with gas and oil cans. Also starting is considerably easier as there is no pull start to contend with; usually a flick of switch or pull of a handle is all that’s required.

Cordless lawn mowers also overcome the limitations of corded mowers where the electric cable limits just how far you can go. Also there is the problem of getting tangled up with bushes and trees.

Nevertheless, one of issues with cordless lawn mowers (as indeed with many devices with rechargeable batteries) has in the past been in relation to how long the battery will stay charged. After all it’s not exactly very convenient to have to stop mowing the grass half way through to charge up the battery. Therefore, early models were limited to small lawns. More recently though, developments in battery technology have meant that cordless lawn mowers now have a much greater range. In fact, larger models will mow up to a third of an acre from a single charge.

For some people will larger lawns, this will still be something of a limitation. That being said, this is easily resolved through buying a model with a removable battery and then buying a second battery. This way, as soon as the charge runs out on the first battery you can simply swap it with the second one. With models you’re able to remove the battery extremely easily so there is no real hassle involved at all.

The other issue, particularly if you’re used to gas powered mowers, is the difference in power. Most often, this is not particularly a problem, unless you have a lawn with particularly tough areas or you have tendency to leave your grass for a long time before you cut it. Nonetheless, if power is a concern for you then you could look at one of the larger, more powerful cordless lawn mowers. Whilst these don’t quite match the amount of power provided by the more powerful gas mowers, they do provide more than enough power for most purposes.

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