The magnetic relaxation dynamics of low-coordinate Dy-III and Er-III complexes, namely three-coordinate ones with an equatorially coordinated triangle geometry and five-coordinate ones with a trigonal bipyramidal geometry, have been exploited for the first time. The three-coordinate Er-based complex is the first equatorially coordinated mononuclear Er-based single-molecule magnet (SMM) corroborating that simple models can effectively direct the design of target SMMs incorporating 4f-elements.