Flymo Contour XT

Brilliant and Highly Recommended! I was a bit nervous to purchase this following the prior reviews however, having bought this Electric grass Trimmer, I am extremely pleased! This maybe one of my favourite purchases for the garden yet. I have recommended this grass trimmer to a number of people for the following reasons; Clear and concise instructions Easy to put together; the shield and cord are not attached during transport but very easy to do. The strimmer is self is auto-feeding which means the length of the cord is always the correct length (if not- the clear instructions tell you how to make it do it for itself). Saving me from having to mess with it every time. The length of the cable is long enough to cover most of the garden (10m cable, but I have a 60 foot + garden and this pretty much gets all over). The head swivels, meaning that I am able to trim the grass against the fence, then can switch to cut the edging of the grass, saving me from getting the long arm scissors out/ half-moon edger and doing this manually. It is very light weight and balanced weight, so it can be easily maneuverer around the garden without putting too much stress on your arms. There is a shield to prevent the grass spraying out everywhere plus a wheel to use for rotation, creating a consistent edge the specific distance from the wall/ edges. It is mains operated The wires are held across two moulded ‘hooks’ for storage Negatives: The auto-feed failed on one occasion, resulting in me manually feeding the dual line, but this is only once (I have had this over a year now and used it on lots of occasions still only one fail). The grass still can spray out even with the shield; wear long trousers to save little cuts on legs (from experience). Read the instructions on how to ‘feed’ the cord (basically switch it on/ off a couple of times until you hear a change in the sound). Overall; for the price a brilliant purchase. Saves time and gives a clean edge to all borders, light and easy to use. Lots of positives for this Grass Edge Trimmer.

My 18 year-old Flymo grass trimmer recently gave up the ghost. The plastic joint on the shaft had snapped and whilst the motor was running as well as ever, it was rendered unusable. I did my usual research and decided upon this particular 300W version as a like-for-like replacement. The main selling point for me was its lawn edging ability and in particular, the design of the edging wheel. Many trimmers seem to have only one or two small rollers which I though may not last the test of time whereas this one has a large central wheel - much sturdier and more practical looking. It's performance on paper is slightly higher than my old one with 50 extra watts of power and a 2cm larger cutting diameter. It doesn't seem like much of a difference but in practice, is very noticeable. If I had reviewed this strimmer immediately after using it for the first time, I'd have said it was horrible and wouldn't have recommended it. It was a bit of a faff to build (mainly because I found the instructions to be poor due to the lack of text) and I ended up just looking at the photo of the trimmer on the box to see what it should look like once assembled. It's a wee bit heavier than my old trimmer - probably because its bigger but is still pretty light. However, the shaft flexes at the plastic joint and this means that it wobbles about a bit when you're using the trimmer to cut tall grass. I'm not entirely convinced of its longevity but we'll see. The main issue I had when I first used it was that when used as an edger, you have to strim from right to left. With my old one, I did the edges from left to right so found it quite difficult to control and had to work out an entirely new route around the garden instead of the one I'd followed for 18 years. This meant that some plant leaves met with an untimely end and the lawn edges looked 'less than linear' (a mess!) in some places. With my old trimmer, you only had to flip the entire thing over to swap between edging and long grass trimming but with this, you have to push a button and flip only the trimmer head over; a case of slightly pointless 'progress.' However, with an open mind, I thought that I'd gradually get used to this new approach and I certainly have. I'm 5ft 10in and find that the overall length of the trimmer is just fine and I don't have to stoop at all, especially when using it as an edger as most of the weight is over the large wheel. I mentioned the slight step up in specification compared to my old Flymo trimmer. The extra 50 watts makes this trimmer feel significantly more powerful than my old one to the degree that wearing PPE is a must. Even a stray bit of strimmer line pinging off can feel like you've been shot with a BB gun and will leave a 5p-sized red, painful lump on uncovered legs. It'll easily kick up small stones when you're trimming around gravel beds and generates enough dust in dry conditions to make me appear as if I've served a shift down t'pit. I'm exaggerating about that but a shower is definitely in order after using this! The extra 2cm cutting diameter means that the trimmer will do a better job of edging further down the sides of the lawn where grass can grow outwards. I'm not finding the rather flimsy-feeling leaf protector to be much use though and just take a bit of extra care around tree trunks and overhanging plants instead. I've had no issues whatsoever with the twine breaking during use. I've always found that the trick with auto-feed systems is to stop completely every 45 seconds or so and allow the trimmer to spool out more line, thereby preventing it from getting shorter and shorter then eventually becoming unclipped from the reel and having to be re-loaded. It's certainly cut through everything I've asked it to - and then some! I have about 300 linear meters of lawn edge to trim each week during the growing season and (now!) find that this trimmer is well up to the job. It's a mixture of straight and curved edges against soil beds, patio and gravel, with a couple of tree trunks thrown in too. I've included some photos showing the type of edging I do and the results I've achieved. This is a good trimmer, especially for lawn edging. It's more than powerful enough for general domestic use and with a bit of practice, gives excellent results. My only reservation is that plastic joint in the shaft and if that was sturdier and of a better design, the trimmer would be worthy of five stars.

Great little tool

Easy to assemble. Strimmer cut edges with ease. Better than the last 3 strimmers I bought. (BOSCH,Black and Decker and Qualcast). Very reasonable price also.

Bought this as a lighter weight strimmer was needed and it's definitely lightweight. When it works it's great but the power cable could have been longer, and putting it together could have been easier...very difficult for arthritic hands. The edging tool aspect is very useful but the cutting wire snaps every time it's used and again, very difficult to reel out more for arthritic hands. My old strimmer was one which just needed a bump on the ground for more cutting. Overall it is fit for purpose but could have been better.

Brilliant easy to use little product to make life easier in the garden..great little purchase thanks..

This grass trimmer is a good choice for small to medium gardens and works well for general trimming and edging. It’s lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, which makes it comfortable to use without much strain. The edging wheel is a useful feature and helps keep borders neat without too much effort. Cutting performance is fine for grass and light weeds, and it’s straightforward to switch between trimming and edging modes. The main limitation, mentioned by many users, is that the 300W motor can struggle with thicker or overgrown areas, and the power cable feels a bit short unless you use an extension lead. It’s not designed for heavy-duty work, but for regular maintenance it does the job well and offers decent value overall.

Really pleased with this strimmer,really easy to setup and not as heavy as some people state,would buy again if needed