fiskars weeding tool

Hi,
Mother in law wants me to buy her one of these as she's seen them on the TV.
She's 74 and struggles to get up and down so thinks it would be ideal.
To be used in boarders and grass.

Any good? These things often don't live up to the hype, wondered if any good folk on here had test driven one?

Thanks
David

 

Is this the same as the Easy Weeder? If so there was discussion in this thread:

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/general-gardening-discussion/33067-easy-weeder.html

 

Hi,
I have a fiskar and use it all the time. there is a little knack to using it quickly and efficiently but that comes with practice. Its a cracking tool and it usually grabs at best 80% of all plucked weed complete taproots, so usually the weed will not return. this depends on the size and type really.
The only downside is that it grabs the weed and some soil so you end up with an, X, mark in your lawn. This requires filling with compost, sand and seed mixture once weeding is finished.
Or you could just stamp on the X, mark but i feel over time, the lawn might suffer due to constant topsoil removal. thats why I follow round where ive just "fiskare'd" with said mixture.
Im sure spending £30 will be worth the price to not have your mother in law bending over to weed in the traditional manners.
give it a whirl. I think you might end up buying two!
happy gardening.
greenthumbs...

 

Bit late to this thread but ..... I was seriously sceptical about this latest 'must have gadget' - that was until Mr. F'smum bought me one.

It's not something I think is essential, but since I can't kneel, the weeding does take it's toll on the poor old back. As greenthumbs says, there is a definite 'knack' to using it - it's not difficult, you just have to 'co-ordinate'!

On the plus side:

It certainly does what it says on the tin - brings out the weeds with pretty much no effort at all.
On mine, (the £29.99 telescopic version) the height is adjustable which is a great idea - the cheaper one at £25.99 isn't adjustable and could result in backache with prolonged use - unless you happen to be the right height for the tool rather than the other way round.

On the minus side it does ...

Leave the lawn with a definite 'gruyere cheese' effect
You do have to centre the tool directly over the weed, if you don't it pulls part of it with a fairly large 'divot' and then you create another divot as you go back for rest of the weed.
Small weeds I wouldn't say it copes with very well - the 'claws' don't close quite tightly enough to make it useful on anything other than a reasonable sized weed.

My only other 'criticism' - if such it can be called - is that because I have quite light soil, the 'ejection system' (as they refer to it) is often redundant by which I mean, the weeds fall off the end long before I get them anywhere near whatever I'm dropping them into, this means you then have to bend down and pick them up, rather defeating the object.

All that said, it's pretty efficient and I reckon your Mother in Law would give you loads of 'brownie points' if you bought it for her.