Design and Features

• Three garden power tools in one set
• Surprisingly capable micro sized lawn mower
• Lightweight and easy to manoeuvre around the garden

The Yard Force iFlex 12V 3 in 1 Lawnmower and Trimmer Set set is tiny. In fact, the entire set of tools comes in a box that’s smaller than the next biggest mower that I’ve reviewed. It’s impressive that you can get this much functionality out of such a small package.

The iFlex 3 in 1 set is priced at £214.99, which makes it very affordable compared with other mowers. Especially when you consider that you’re getting three tools for this price. Things like extra batteries and accessories are also reasonably priced.

Incredibly lightweight, the mower weighs just 5.5 kg. For anyone who might struggle to push around a big, heavy mower, this makes a huge difference. It’s light enough to carry over walls and up steps to reach awkward parts of your garden.

The set comes with a 4.0Ah battery that shows the battery charge level via four LED lights. There’s a charger as well, although it’s a bit sluggish when charging from empty. One interesting little feature is a USB A socket on the battery, it means you can use it as a power bank in a pinch to keep your phone topped up on the go.

However, the iFlex loses points when it comes to build quality. Compared with the premium mowers like the Stihl RMA 248.3, the kit feels a little less durable. It’s good that the components are lightweight, but they lack a bit of heft that comes with durability.

I was surprised to see three height settings available on the mowerand even more surprised that it has a spring-loaded height adjust button. More commonly found on premium mowers, you press the orange button with your foot and raise the mower up and down accordingly to adjust cutting height.

This is a mulching only mower, similar to the Gtech SLM50. It doesn’t come with any way to collect grass clippings, but if you mow often enough it’s not a problem. Small grass clippings left on a lawn will break down and act as fertiliser, so it’s not a bad thing at all, although you should mow more regularly to prevent larger clumps of cut grass.

You get two back wheels with plenty of tread for grip, and the front wheel is a single, shopping-trolley like setup that lets you turn it in any direction easily. The slightly pointed front end makes it easier to get into tight spots, unlike the very square Gtech SLM50.

The universal handle is quite comfortable to use. The two step safety switch is ambidextrous, and the ergonomics are fine, but you don’t get a rubberised handle like on a more expensive, premium machine.

Now, on to the other tools that come in the set. There’s a small size grass trimmer that makes do with a single string to get the cutting done. Tackling just 23 cm width at a time, it’s small but extremely lightweight and quite well balanced. It features a flower guard on the front to keep precious posies out of harms way.

Finally, there’s a 35cm long hedge trimmer attachment. Not quite short enough to be a regular hedge trimmer, the long handle makes it easy to reach the tops of hedges. The pivoting head helps to flatten the tops of hedges.

Performance

• Effective grass mowing from a tiny machine
• Lightweight grass trimmer is easy to handle
• Hedge trimmer is a bit unwieldy

Seeing as this mower kit is designed to cope with small gardens, I put it to work in my smallest test garden. Measuring around 25 m², it is a mainly flat space with some odd corners, with fruit trees, bushes, and flowers to avoid.

Starting with the main event, the iFlex micro mower is surprisingly powerful. On the highest height setting, it chewed through taller grasses without much complaint. I was able to stall the motor by forcing it into the rough stuff, but that’s not what this maintenance mower is designed for.

The real bonus of a lightweight and agile little machine is that there are fewer excuses to regularly trim the lawn. You can easily take this mower out once a week to keep the grass looking neat and tidy without breaking a sweat.

Like the Gtech SLM50, the vacuum cleaner-style operation is comfortable to use with one hand, and the cleverly articulated joint between handle and mower allows you to guide it effortlessly.

The same goes for the little grass trimmer. It’s surprisingly powerful for a 12 Volt tool. Although the cut width isn’t going to clear huge swathes of grass, it does a decent job of clearing out overgrown grass from the edges of walls and planters. And when turned sideways, it worked rather well as an edge trimmer.

The issues I had with build quality were most apparent when using the height adjustable front handle. Although the clamp-like fitting is clever in theory, in practice it kept falling off. A simpler butterfly bolted on attachment would have been sturdier and more reliable.

The same can be said for the hedge trimmer. The long handle makes it a bit unwieldy for close hedge trimming, but it’s not quite long enough to be a long reach trimmer either. Holding a hedge trimmer above your head to get at high bushes can be uncomfortable at the best of times, but with a slightly loose front handle, it’s a pain.

Should you buy it?

FAQs