Sun JoeElectric Lawn Dethatcher & Scarifier with 8-Gal Bag, 12 Amp, 13 Inch, Black - Heavy Duty Gardening Machine and Equipment for Lawn, Yard, and Grass

Every few years my neighbor and I rent a dethatcher to do our lawns and inevitably the thing is too powerful and rips the heck out of the grass until we get it set up correctly and then it pulls us across the lawn and you fight with it for a few hours and are beat by the time you are done. This unit is lighter and easier to control around the yard. The height adjustments make is super easy to dial in the setting you need and away you go.This is well worth the money and being a corded electric unit you can go all day without having to recharge a battery or worry about low/slow performance. We did find that the storage capacity of the bag is quite small and wound up leaving it off as it would fill after a pass or two. Using this to dethatch and then raking or blowing the dead grass into a pile is the way to go.The scarifier is a great attachment as well. It helps to loosen up the soil and areas of thick thatch. It also did a good job of loosening the top layer of soil where we needed to plant some new seed. All in all, this will definitely pay for itself by the end of next season.

I wish I could give this 6 stars!When I put this together yesterday I was apprehensive. The handle felt cheap. It went together cheap. I know I can fix the handle if need be, but I don't much care for thinking about it when I'm putting together brand new things.Once everything was together, however, it felt ok.It came with the scarifier installed, so I had to switch that out. It would have saved me an extra trip to the tool room if I'd known it was a 10mm bolt. If it says so anywhere, I missed it. So keep a 10mm socket or wrench handy. Switching it out for the dethatcher was simple and easy.Now, my lawn isn't pretty. In fact, I've been fighting with it off and on for about a year now. It finally occurred to me it needs dethatching, so here we are. If it has ever been dethatched, it was a long, long time ago.Due to the current heat wave I had about 1 1/2 hours between melting and darkness to take care of business. After mowing the lawn I brought out the dethatcher.It's not self propelled, exactly, but it does tend to pull itself forward just by the way it operates. If my lawn were flat I would have had no trouble at all moving it around, however medium-ish dips and bumps would block its progress. I had to twist it a bit to get it to continue. Not really a big deal, and certainly not a problem with the design. Sure, you could maybe trim some of the plastic off the front to minimize this problem, but that would leave exposed quickly rotating pointy sharp things, which is a bad idea. Next time I'll carry a bucket of dirt with me and use this as an opportunity to even out the lawn somewhat.The instructions say to walk this forward and go over the lawn in an orderly, once-over type fashion. That's probably the best way to do it.For most folks.I, however, didn't have much time for such things, nor is my lawn orderly, either by condition or shape or anything.So at times I used this more like a vacuum cleaner.I also didn't use the bag. I followed the advice of other reviewers here and used my mower to clean up.A wise move.Mowing my front lawn typically fills my bin half way. After using this, and going over the lawn again with the mower, I nearly filled two bins.Maybe you won't have that problem. Maybe your lawn has been cared for properly. Mine hasn't.It's something to be aware of. Aside from the thought of emptying the dethatcher bag every 30 seconds, I've filled my green and trash bins, and that was with just my front yard. My back yard is over twice as big, so any more work of this nature is going to require trash bags or my neighbor's bins. If you have limited means of disposing or storing cut grass, you want to plan your lawn care schedule accordingly.Despite the instructions warning against going bagless, it worked fine. I didn't feel anything get thrown at me, but then I was wearing shoes and jeans. If you're doing your yard work in a Borat Mankini your mileage will vary...just please don't be my neighbor.One of the reasons I bought this over the other brands is the switch. The safety switch on the competition looked very awkward, and the reviews confirmed that. I'm not interested in awkward, and when it's too much of a hassle to operate the switch folks tend to leave the gear running rather than fight to turn it on again, which makes things LESS safe. It's like requiring a password that's so 'secure' and complex you pretty much have to write it down to remember it, making it less secure than requiring something simpler.This switch isn't terrible. In fact, I got used to it quickly, so I didn't have any problems.One huge pet peeve of mine is equipment that doesn't work for tall folks. I'm 6'4", and I can't tell you how many times I've had to stoop and slouch just to work with stuff designed for 'normal' people only. I was a little concerned about this.I didn't have to worry. No slouching or crouching was required. This makes me VERY happy!The height adjustment on this works wonderfully. It's simple, easy, and solid.Highly Recommend!

(no endorsements here. Just my two cents)_My yard was getting worse. I had to research how it fix it soon.I had thinning grass. To many worm hills. possible fugus. And other issues._I came across a you tube video by a guy who calls himself the "the Pest and Lawn Ginja". He was entertaining and packed with tons of knowledge. (As goes with most of his videos) One video had a review on this device and it got me interested to learn more. Looking at the reviews here, it seemed somewhat of a gamble, as many were saying how this device is not sturdy and breaks._ Well. I'm here to say. Mine was REALLY put to the test and won with flying colors!!! I had heavy debris and made about 6 passes in the front yard and about 4 passes in the back. I have about 1500 square feet in front and about the same for the back yard. So the use was equivalent to about a single pass on a 1/3 acre of land!!My hopes were- if this unit just held together to the end of this project, it would have served it's main purpose. But I can happily say that this has worked far more than that!_I had to get this project done with less work involved so that I could continue with my lawn renovations/repairs. My purpose was to aerate and pick up the dead debris that was choking out the grass and creating a fungal issue. I decided to bag my debris instead of putting in my compost area. If there was any fugus that was damaging to my lawn, and I used this compost again for a later lawn fix, I would just reintroduce this fungus into my lawn. There ended up with much more debris that I had thought. It did a REALLY GOOD JOB!!! _As the aforementioned video states it's a good light duty unit that's far cheaper than a commercial unit but an extra pass does the job. I thought that if it's light weight enough, this is a good compromise from buying or renting a professional unit. I was hoping that this unit will pay for itself in the first use. Any time I needed it after that, it would have been a good investment. I am happy to say that it has been a good investment so far. I like this unit and how affective it is. I might use this every year to keep things well groomed._The solid tines that come with this unit could be useful but I wasn't interested in scalping my existing grass. I did reseed, but I used tons of new topsoil so I didn't need to use it. Plus, my thatch wasn't to bad and I didn't need to aerate the old soil before I put the top soil down. But if the thatch does get a little to thick in the future, I'll look forward to using this Sun Joe for my next reseeding. I will update this review if I do._Also Note: Core aeration is something I do yearly. But not this fall. Aeration is very popular for this claylike Colorado soil. I serves a real purpose here. But the holes are often to deep to use this practice for over seeding. So the solid tine attachment will be more useful for proper soil contact and germination in my future. And aeration will be left for the seasons I don't seed._Also Note: Some people out there have been misusing the term dethatching. Thatch is the dead root system and other dead debris that is IN THE SOIL not ON THE SOIL. This layer is has some soil nutrients, but to much of it can cause the rest of the healthy and living root system to suffocate (among other reasons).The spring tines are to pick up the debris. Which is the dead grass and stuff on the surface of the soil. That was what I had. I also have WAY TO MUCH worm activity and it was destroying my grass and surface. It was hard to walk on. The tines helped knock down these hills to provide me with a more flat surface._Work day one: Easy enough to assemble. I like the light weight so that I can lift and maneuver with less effort. This was especially important because I had a solid TWO FULL days of other heavy work to accomplish this task, and I didn't want to put more effort into this than I had to.HOLY COW!! I knew I had a lot of debris, but this was a lot more than I was expecting. First off. Others who had problems with their unit. I saw what they were trying to mow threw grass that was way too tall. THAT'S RIDICULOUS GUYS!!!Use your tool wisely!_So plan ahead_ Mow your lawn 30 percent lower, then wait a few days. Then continue until you get the last mow down just above the crown so you can start with this task. If the lawn is to tall, I wouldn't be surprised that you end up over taxing this device._The other reason for device breakage: Improper setup. Watch a video on how to use this correctly. Be aware the correct way to install the tines. And don't go to deep. Start high and be aware of your various yard surface heights and adjust accordingly so that you are not going to deep into the surface._overall observations_Flimsy: but use with care and this is not much a problemLight weight: can be thought as cheap. But simple is best here. It's much easier with less effort to get the job done. and is more affordable this way. A product that is not under designed, just not over designed. Yes there are better units for heavier use (like commercial). But this is not my use.Easy installation: Be aware how to correctly install the tines.Corded hassle: Yes. I hate cords with a vengeance. But it still is the lesser of evils compared to a heavier, more expensive unit.Durability: well. It might be if used correctly. Time will tell. But I've used mine about 11 times so far... I believe it's paid for itself. So that's a WIN for me. :)Handle/operation: As said before. light flimsy. And the power ON feature needs your attention to correctly activate with side button (as a safety measure obviously) but still a little clumsy._overall_ great value.I'll try to post some before and after pictures. I power raked with this Sun Joe on September 18th on a hot summer day. And my after pictures are in chilly November 19th!!! One word. Success!!!:)