Make:

This seems to beg for some sort of remote control mechanism. Imagine fly...mowing via joystick. Perhaps put a cluster of them together for a wider cut. With enough them together, maybe the lift could support the weight of a pilot.

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Very cool...but not new by any stretch of the imagination. In Europe, the Flymo brand introduced hovering lawn mowers in the 70's. They worked pretty well, albeit with a few peculiarities: Don't stop moving, since it will eat a hole in your lawn, and it didn't have a bagging system.
They were and are superbly light to move once running.

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As much as I have always found the Flymos to be cool, I've had to wonder - how effective can they be? Surely the air being thrust down to provide the lift would also tend to flatten the grass. :)

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I prefer this hovering lawnmover...
Lawnmower Link

W

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Late to the party, I see, but I concur: this is hardly new. My grandmother had one of these 30 years ago and it was pretty neat to use. It was a corded electric device, and in England, that meant possibly running over a 220 VAC line, just to add to the thrill.

If this is in[tf]ernal combustion powered, that makes it somewhat new, I guess.

As for the downdraft/lift pushing down the grass, it didn't seem to, but it may be the type of grass: short blades and very dense. My guess is, if you can use an old school reel mower, you can use one of these. Here in Seattle, it would work OK, but in the Southeast, I doubt it.

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Hell I could make a killing buying them @ my local UK DIY store and Ebaying them to American Suckers :)

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I don't understand how it could work over bumps. Wouldn't they disrupt the air cushion, causing the machine to tip and the mower blade to dig into the ground?

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I tried the Husqvarna HVT52 hover mower once and found it to be completely useless for actually cutting grass. When I returned to the store, they took it back without a question. It turns out that they have *never* sold one that had not been brought back the next day. They put mine in the back room next to another that was already there.

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I had a Flymo petrol hover mower about 20 years ago, pretty much the same as this one as far as I could tell. It was the best mower I ever had, was great fun to use and pretty good for a workout too - beats just pushing a thing on wheels up and down by a longshot. Those were the days when mowing the lawn was ACTUALLY FUN. Flymo gave up their production of the petrol version some time ago, such a shame.

Don't listen to all the slurs, just get one and go for it!

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