Sun Joe Electric Garden Tiller Cultivator, Steel Tines, 12 Amp, 16 Inch, Black - Heavy-Duty Gardening Machine & Equipment for Gardens, Lawns & Yards

I own a SunJoe lawn dethatcher/scarifier, an extension pole saw that you can remove the pole and have about a 13 amp 8" chain saw (it's awesome and then some). So, I decided this was a perfect tool to add for minor landscaping. Like the other two items, this had ample power to do the job without a hint of stress on the electric motor. It was easy enough to control, although I should have taken down the lattice first. I was going to try and just till down about 2 inches, but this thing was so easy to use it was difficult not to go down 6-8 inches or more. I'd allow the tiller to go forward a bit, then pull backwards and it dug into the soil with ease. I went back and forth a few times to really loosen the soil in our front flowerbed. Then I stood back and leveled the soil the best I could, and then used a 4x4 to pack the soil back in case it rained. Just like the dethatcher and pole saw, this worked very well. I cannot stress enough how important it is to use the correct size extension cord. Take the dethatcher for example. I follow a guy on YouTube that does professional landscaping and he wanted to make a video about this SunJoe dethatcher and aside from the very undersized catch bag, he loved this. He used it on several lawns in a professional manner, than started loaning it out to anybody and everybody in the area that wanted to use it. It worked flawlessly until #15. He left the dethatcher out on the driveway with the correctly rated extension cord. When he got home, the person took the dethatcher and left the extension cord, and the tool came back with a burnt out motor. I have a degree in electronics and I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that the person used an extension cord that was not rated for the 13.5 amps and burned the motor out. The extension pole saw...equally amazing. We had a hardwood tree in our back yard that was dying, and parts of the limbs were dead on the ends, and hanging over places like the shed, fence, and neighbor's shed and swing, so I had to remove the limbs carefully. My neighbor came over to give me a hand and with ropes and cuts and pulling, we were able to bring down the limbs without damage to anything besides dents in the lawn. He said he'd come back the following day with a gas chain saw to help cut the rest of the tree up. He went to borrow his dads chain saw, but it wasn't running at the time so he went and bought at 45cc Craftsman gas powered chainsaw. This 45cc gas chainsaw bogged down repeatedly, so once he had to leave, I pulled the SunJoe saw back out and went to work. The SJ saw never showed any stress with the cuts, even when I was using the 8" bar to cut through 14" hardwood making long cuts. Judging by the number of times I've refilled the bar oil lube container, I've probably used the saw for 5-6 hours of non-stop cutting time. That saw is a little beast. If the motor on this tiller is equal to those other two, this tiller will be powerful enough to do any job you need. It's not as big or heavy as a gas powered unit, but it's so much easier to use. Throw in the hassle of renting one at a big box store, the wait, the paperwork, loading, driving home, cleaning up, returning, waiting, unloading, etc. This little tiller is a great investment. If you're going to use this for tilling anything of decent size, be sure to do so after a rain or after watering the ground. Trying to till compacted and dry soil is tough. I tilled my 5,000 sq. ft. front yard with a big box rental tiller and made the mistake of doing it compact and dry soil, and the tines just skipped over the surface kicking up dust. It was a big learning lesson...

Very nice tiller. Good power really breaks up the dirt. It’s a lightweight easy to use.

I am a 60 year-old disabled woman trying to maintain my flower and vegetable gardens on my own. I am no longer capable of dealing with heavy equipment. For several years I owned a gasoline powered tiller but I find it a hassle to purchase and mix gasoline and oil plus perform annual maintenance. I am finding electric powered tools to be a great solution.When this electric tiller arrived, I pulled it out of the box and assembled it in just a few short minutes. The only assembly necessary is to attach the two parts of the handle. They slide together effortlessly and are held in place with large, easy to use bolts. No tools required!You will need a good extension cord to operate this product. Most people can get away with a 50’ cord. Because my yard is very large, I needed a 100’ extension cord. I purchased a very heavy cord that was recommended to operate the tiller properly. The cord cost more than half as much as the tiller, but I will be able to use it for all of my electric tools so I considered it a good investment. Just realize that the cord does not come with the tiller and if you don’t already have one it will be an added expense.After rolling the tiller to the garden, it was a simple task to reposition the wheels to the tilling position.The machine was simple to start. I hold down a start button with my thumb and pull a trigger with my finger. The machine immediately starts up. I remove my thumb from the start switch and the tiller continues running until I release the trigger.It took only a few minutes to turn over an 8’ x 8’ section of soil in my vegetable patch and make a nice deep garden bed in which to plant tomatoes. My garden is full of stones but they didn’t pose a problem.In another area of my yard, I used the tiller to dig a section of lawn that had not previously been plowed. I did not remove the grass first. The tiller had no problem cutting through the grass and digging into the ground.This machine has a convenient handle and is lightweight enough for me to lift it if I need to. It’s easy to maneuver from place to place. When running, it is easy to control. Unlike larger rototillers I don’t feel like I am fighting with it. I am controlling the tiller. The tiller is not controlling me.The price of this tiller was very reasonable, and it won’t require annual maintenance at additional cost. It is not an “investment” tool that I’ve paid a ton of money for expecting to get 10 or 20 years of service from. If I have to toss this machine in a few years and buy another, well, the low price will allow me to do that without too much pain.This machine is not built for daily or commercial use. But for a backyard gardener who will use it a few times a year, it’s a handy tool to have. It’s a great solution for women who don’t want the hassle of dealing with heavier and more complicated “man tools.”

Pos: Rips well into the dirt. Fairly easy to angle for forward movement, or going deeper in the same place. Considering you're tearing up the earth and plowing through it, it's actually really easy to move. As the blades are spinning forward it wants to move forward on its own, so surprisingly you're holding back to plow forward. It took me about an hour to fully till my backyard, which was about 200 sq. ft. That includes going a couple feet down and having to stop every few feet to grab a big brick or other random giant metal/stone object that had made its way into the ground over the years. In that regard I really like this because it helped me find all of those items and pull them out to just have a nice bed of soil.Neg: Being connected to an outlet does limit it, and it becomes a little annoying on the return plows where you have to work to make sure the power cord isn't in the way. Also you need a higher power rated extension cord (that's for outdoors), which adds a bit to the cost. While it does most of the work for you, it's still work. It takes some muscle to control it and move it, etc.