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- Wide cutting deck
- Multi-brand battery ecosystem
- Easy to store
- Heavy
- Grass-full indicator is hard to read and collector can jam
- No always-on battery indicator
Larger lawns require more effort – and that’s a fact. But choosing a mower with a wide cutting deck can really shave minutes off your routine. Step forward, then, the Flymo 36v UltraMow Duo 460: a battery-powered mower that uses two contra-rotating blades to cut more grass in one hit.
It’s designed for lawns up to 600m², something which is evidenced by its punchy runtime and large grass collector. Its price tag is pretty punchy, too, although it’s worth noting that the batteries included as part of the kit are from the Power For All alliance batteries, meaning they’re interchangeable with various Bosch, Gardena and Husqvarna products. But is that enough to place it in the realms of the best cordless lawn mowers?
Flymo 36v UltraMow Duo 460: What do you get for the money?
Unusually, the RRP varies between retailers. At the time of writing, Screwfix lists it for £499, Currys for £379, and Amazon for just £300, so the key is to spend some time shopping around. On closer inspection, this difference in price can perhaps be attributed to the battery type: Currys and Amazon sell it with a pair of 2.5Ah batteries, while Screwfix sells it with the larger-capacity 4.0Ah batteries (both include a single charger). We tested the UltraMow Duo 460 with the latter. Shop around enough and you might also be able to find it on sale as a bare unit.
Given the ability for it to tackle more grass in a single pass, you’ll likely want the kit with the larger-capacity batteries if you don’t already have them for something else. For the record, Flymo says the smaller batteries will cover 375m2, with the larger batteries tackling 600m2 of lawn.
The star of the show is undoubtedly those twin cutting blades, which contra-rotate to slice grass clippings into tiny shreds. The blades are designed to lift the clippings more efficiently and fire them into the large 50-litre grass box.
The deck rises through 40mm, at 10mm increments from 25 to 65mm, but rather than using a lever, you simply press a button and lift the deck up or down as needed. It’s a refreshingly simple solution
The telescopic handle has a wide and stepless adjustment, and at its maximum reach stands at 109cm high. When collapsed and folded, the base of the handles serve as a stand so the UltraMow can be stored upright when not in use. It has a display on the handle, with a button to summon its PowerBoost function, which increases the blade speed to better tackle denser grass.
Both batteries slot in under a solid-feeling flap, finished in Flymo’s trademark orange, with a grey kill switch between them. The flap is particularly useful, because it keeps the batteries free from dust and debris.
The body is longer than average, at 109cm, and measures 155cm once the grass box is attached. It has small wheels fitted to the front with larger ones at the rear in a bid to aid manoeuvrability, and the nose is relatively sleek to improve visibility ahead of the mower.
How well does it mow?
I found the Flymo UltraMow took a little getting used to – more so than I had expected. It struggled a little with longer grass, particularly on undulating lawns. But after a few mows over the course of several weeks, I found it’s better to make repeated runs, lowering the cutting deck each time. The Flymo is at its best once the grass is at a reasonably short length, and needs a trim rather than a serious hack.
I tested the Flymo UltraMow over a number of lawns, and while it’s a breeze over obstacle-free patches, the decision to use small front wheels and larger rear wheels means it’s very manoeuvrable, making short work of cutting around immoveable planters, trees and childrens’ play equipment.
I’ve not had to lean on the ‘PowerBoost’ function, either. In its standard mode, the UltraMow handled the job just fine: the batteries powered it for an impressive 47 minutes non-stop, tackling a 300m2 back garden and a pair of 12m2 front gardens with two of the three battery lights illuminated.
The combination of the wide cutting deck and twin blades speed up the job further, providing a wider cut than most single-blade rivals, which means fewer passes. Guides on the side of the mower make it easy to judge the extremities of the blades, making it easier to deliver even stripes, if that’s your thing.
It’s ergonomically sound in operation. It required a press of a button and a squeeze of a lever to start (unlike some mowers, it doesn’t matter which you do first), and the battery indicator illuminates on the handle. It’s a shame the lights don’t stay on permanently, though. At around 74dB, it’s a pretty sociable lawn mower, and only transmits between 3.0 and 3.5m/s2 of vibration, which even if you used the mower for its full 47-minute recorded runtime, falls well below the government’s limits for vibration.
Things aren’t quite so good at the back of the mower. It’s easy to obscure the grass-collector-full indicator with your hand on the handle, and the indicator’s markers aren’t all that clear. The narrow neck of the collector means that it has a tendency to jam when it’s packed with clippings – especially when it’s over-full. And when the grass collector is packed, the clippings back up in the area between the blades. Fortunately the kill switch deactivates the mower completely, meaning it can be flipped over and the mulch extracted without the need to take out the batteries.
It mulches well, though, and the clippings are fine thanks to that twin blade arrangement. But it was very unhappy when inadvertently mowing over fallen palm fronds, which wrapped around the blade hubs.
Working with the Flymo UltraMow 460 ends on a high, though. That’s because when collapsed, the telescopic handles function as legs, meaning the mower can be stored out of the way in the shed. And a handle on the body of the mower means it’s easy to carry in and out.
Should I buy the Flymo 36v UltraMow Duo 460?
The Flymo UltraMow Duo 460 packs quite a punch. I was initially sceptical about the ability of the relatively lightweight mower to tackle larger, unkempt lawns – despite the impressive runtime. In fact, it’s that battery power that means you’re able to creep up on a short cut.
It’s wieldy, easy to operate and that wide cutting deck makes short work of large lawns. And don’t underestimate the convenience of a battery ecosystem shared across a huge range of products.
It’s an easy mower to recommend, just as long as you keep an eye on that grass collector indicator and empty it frequently.
