Product Review: Cobra Airmow 51 80V cordless lawnmower

I have realised I have never owned a hover mower. There is no reason behind this and when I was asked if I wanted to trial this cordless hover mower from Cobra it felt like it was time that I gave one a go.  I have to be transparent and say that I have not been paid to write this review, I have not paid for the mower and my words and opinions remain my own.  No one has approved or edited this article.

Handsome beast isn't it?  You can see I did what I always do and got so excited I had a go with it before taking a photo of it looking pristine and clean.  I would say I was sorry but I am not.
But lets start at the very beginning: the mower arrived quite compactly in a large box.  It did not need a lot of construction to put it together but I have confess I struggled with it a bit.  Not having had a mower like this previously meant I did not quite understand what it should look like when completed which I think didn't help me.  The black and white photos in the instruction manual are quite small and not the sharpest I have seen.  Using nice mat-finish paper may be better for the environment, but it meant a lack of clarity that personally I would have benefited from.  This is the only downside I found, once put together I was quickly in love.
Such was my lack of experience with hover mowers that I did not understand at first why it had wheels (surely it hovers?).  As with most things with wheels, it has them to make it easier to move around especially when not mowing (it only hovers when switched on!).  You can move the wheels out of the way when mowing or take them off but having the wheels down helps if you have a bit of a bumpy lawn (which I do).  I soon decided wheels down was the best method for my garden.

Here are some technical bits from the website before I go any further:

2 x 40v 5Ah Li-ion Battery (Twin) /80v Brushless Motor

2 x Fast Chargers (it says on the website approx 45 mins and I would say this is accurate.

Cuts on 45 deg slopes/Up to 20 mins run time - I cannot comment on this, I have no slopes.

51 cm/21 Cutting Width.

17-25mm 2 Stage Adjustment

Domestic warranty 2 years

Approx 45 mins charge time/push propelled (I will return to this) 

20.4 kg weight (without battery) I admit I found it a bit heavy to get up and down the step into my storage area, but other than that it is very easy to manoeuvre. 
and then it was time to get mowing!  This mower works a treat, as said above I had to understand how the mower worked before really getting to grips with it but once I had that in my mind it was a dream.  I have not had a mower without a grass collection box previously so this was rather a novelty.  As if by magic the grass clippings just drop down into the lawn.  It made the job a lot faster.
I particularly liked how the edges of the mower scoot under the overflowing plants so I could edge the lawn without losing too many flowers.  In a blousy garden like mine this really matters.  I could also steer it around the tricky bits in my garden where I have to mow carefully.  Mine is not a garden where I just walk up and down the mow the lawn.  It would obviously handle mowing up and down without any difficulties.

I have a lot of lawn and this time of year it takes around an hour to cut all of it: driveway, front lawn and back lawn.  The battery life is around 45 mins as stated, less if your grass has got a bit long as it will take more power to cut.  I mowed the lawns a couple of times discharge the batteries right down and to then recharge them fully a couple of times before writing this review in order to give them a thorough test.  The batteries definitely lasted longer on the second try, which may have been because they had been fully discharged and recharged and also the grass was less long the second time.  The recharge time for the batteries is quite fast which is a big plus; so you can mow up until the batteries run out, go and have lunch and then finish off, this works for me.  If you can mow your lawn in less than 45 mins then this is not even a consideration.  I did think if I had bought this mower would I want to buy a couple more batteries so I always had some fully charged.  The batteries are not cheap, at around £140 per battery that would be a big investment as it needs two to work.  I decided that the fast charge time of the batteries means I just would not need to spend that money.  I liked that you receive  two chargers with the mower as this means you can charge both batteries at the same time.
In conclusion: I really like this mower, it did a fast and pleasing job on mowing my lawn. Once I worked out my battery re-charging strategy it was plain sailing.  It is not a cheap mower: its RRP is around £595 but I have seen it on offer at around £541 and it is of very good quality.  This is a well made robust machine, I expect to get many years of use from it.

Stay safe and be kind.

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Comments

  1. Hello, is it still living up to expectations as I am considering buying one myself to replace an ageing flymo petrol hovermower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello - yes its the mower I use routinely now so its had lots of use since this review was written. I'm really happy with it, it mows well.

      Delete
    2. Hello, is it still living up to expectations as I am considering buying one myself to replace an ageing flymo electric hovermower?

      Delete

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