I was very hesitant to get an electric tiller as thought it wouldn't have much power. Boy was I wrong! I have a gas tiller and this electric tiller seems more powerful to me. It certainly did a great job on the tilling I did. Ran into lots of roots and some rocks and this machine just kept on tilling. Good price and very good product.
Once you lean how to use the different levels and get used to the various depths and speeds worked fine for what I did. Probably pushing the 14 GA extension wire loop through the handle to lock on to the hook not a good idea as it puts a kink into it due to it's thickness. Also, you have to be careful of the trailing cord to keep it out of the way.
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] i bought this big one to use where my dogs have dug holes. Piles of dirt packed hard over the summer and I can use it for a garden too. I also bought the smaller version for my flower beds. NO MORE WEEDS!!!
Staked out 18' x 7' rectangle (for 50 foot fencing surround) = 126 sq. ft. for a vegetable garden at the back of the yard for next year. This Sun Joe 13.5 amp is very powerful...only bogged down a bit on thick roots and on the couple of big rocks I discovered (and had to dig out with a shovel). Since we did it on lawn, a lot of the 'creeper' grass wound around the shaft, but we just unwound it every couple of minutes (unplug it first!). I tried 2 different concrete blocks to weigh it down more (wrapped in cardboard, so as not to scratch the tiller handles)....16" x 16" x 1.75" = 37 lbs....and 12" x 12" x 1.75" = 17 lbs. It helped the 'jumping around' a good bit (obviously the heavier block held it down more), but after the first shallow pass, I took the weights off, and it worked just fine as is (bouncier though when you hit roots). It unearthed a few big rocks, one of which was jammed in to where I had to use a heavy hammer and metal spike to bang it out....then bend one tine back about 3/4" (even if one were to break off, I believe there are 24...wouldn't even notice). The second pass over the area, with tines at lowest setting, pulled up more rocks and hit more roots....I had to bang 3 more tines back into position after this, but it was no big deal. This little guy chewed up everything. The hardest part is done...now just touching up, or tilling in fertilizer before planting. This thing is lightweight (17 lbs), fairly easy to handle and move around, powerful.....and I can see this lasting for many years to keep the little garden in shape. You'd be well-served to buy one of these....no gas/oil mixing....no carb cleaning....no yanking on cords....just plug it in and go.
After easy assembly, I put this to work tilling my weedy and somewhat rocky former garden. Except for having to stop and clear out a few stones from the tines the powerful motor did an admirable job of breaking up the hard ground. The one thing that was a negative, but also a positive is the need ( in my case ) if having to purchase a 100'-12-3 extension cord for about half the cost of the tiller. The positive is I can now run my 15 amp power saw to the far reaches of my small city lot.
This tiller does a great job on Georgia clay. There was no sign of overheating, and it did what I needed it to do. Much more powerful than I expected. Good build quality!
I'm a 60 yr. old woman who wanted to pull up my hosta and day lily roots. I NEVER expected this to work as SUPER GREAT as it did! I Couldn't believe the ease of it to use! WOW! It does wiggle and jiggle ALLOT but NOTHING I Couldn't handle myself! This is HIGHLY recommended! I CAN'T say enough good about it! It doesn't go that awfully deep so IF you need something deeper, then you will need to go over your area a few times. For the price, you can't beat it!