The HoverMower

Energy & Sustainability
The HoverMower

Hover-Mower-Sm Some DIY versions on the way I bet…Eastman Industries has taken the lawn mower to a new level (literally). The HoverMower is designed to hover slightly above the ground on a cushion of air, making it more maneuverable, extremely light, easy to propel and able to reach previously inaccessible places like extreme inclines, wet grounds, and tight, difficult to get at places. [via] Link.

20 thoughts on “The HoverMower

  1. scottmclay says:

    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.

  2. wsuverkropp says:

    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.

  3. Bilby says:

    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. :)

  4. whizzbang says:

    I prefer this hovering lawnmover…
    Lawnmower Link

    W

  5. paulbeard@gmail.com says:

    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.

  6. CaRpHeAd says:

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

  7. chroma says:

    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?

  8. bigjosh says:

    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.

  9. duncan says:

    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!

  10. Mr. Royal D. Ross says:

    so;ve the mower problem with jets to keep it from tilting water powered vacumes to slowly ride above the ground keeping cool with air conditioning cycles as pedals to control the movements and lowering the bl;ades using lasers to shapen the blades wile huvering above ground not to bend the grass as substances like vassiline to control the blades of grass bening mowed

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