WEN Electric Tiller and Cultivator

Assembly takes about 15 minutes. The instructions are not the best but its pretty easy to figure out. There are 3 locking positions for the handle. The handle is wide and padded. The handle is metal, the rest of the body is plastic. The handle is assembled with plastic toggles which have a quick release so you can toolessly fold them down for storage. Light enough to hang for storage. It comes shipped with the heavier scarifier blade attached which makes sense. The dethatcher is in separate box and you can easily switch them with the included allen key and 5 minutes. The dethatcher box does not fit the scarifier blade. Large shifter handle to adjust the cutter height. 2-prong male power plug. Detachable clipping bag. The whole unit is lightweight which is good for using with one-hand on an incline. The wheels are large and it rolls easily. The drive is not powered but during operation the blades will provide some self propulsion. I used the highest setting of 1 and it was enough to pull thatch without harming the ground. You do need a 2 prong extension cord. I found that 14 gauge worked fine although 12 gauge is recommended. The button on the side starts the motor and the orange power handle keeps it locked on. The handle is good to hold on top or on the side. The optional bag will fill up quickly because the bag is not too big. Any dethatcher, by design, does not have large enough blades to create the airflow required to fill up a large bag anyways. Even the professional $3000 gas dethatchers (that you can rent) dont have a bag. So don't judge ANY dethatcher by its bagging capacity. The noise is equivilent to a shop vacuum. Hearing protection not required but advised. This was very effective on my lawn and it took about the same time as cutting the lawn. For the homeowner who wants to dethatch and/or scarify twice a year this works well and should last many years. I chose corded because its better for the environment and noise, and you dont want to run out of batteries in the middle of dethatching or scarifying. My lawn is 5,000 ft2. A long cord needed but worked non-stop with no problems.

First, buy a good quality 12 gauge extension cord. My yard is pretty big and thankfully I have a 100 foot long 12 gauge extension cord. Do not use a standard outdoor extension cord since most of these are only 14 gauge. Another recommendation is to use a dedicated 20 amp outlet. If you use a 15 amp outlet, make sure that nothing else on that circuit is using electricity. I noticed a difference in the sound of the motor when I was plugged into a 20 amp outlet on its own circuit breaker verses another outlet that is on a 15 amp breaker that is shared by other outlets in the house. Now for the de-thatching. I used the scarifier blade for my front yard because it hasn't been detached in years. This machine pulled up piles of thatch while also digging a bit into the soil, which later allowed me to more efficiently seed and fertilize. I filled five large contractor bags with thatch. When I cut the grass with the grass catcher on, I barely fill half a contractor bag. As other reviewers mentioned, the catching bag is much too small; it tends to quickly fill up. I pretty much ignored the catcher and let the thatch overflow, then I followed up with a rake. I still had to stop and empty the catcher, but that really wasn't a big deal. If I had rented a de-thatcher, I would have had to rake anyway and go through the hassle of picking it up, using it and returning it. For the price, I figure I only need to use this machine three times and I will have saved money. I switched to the de-thatching attachment for my back yard. It did a decent job without digging down into the soil. I'll probably use the scarifier the next time to pull up more thatch. Another nice thing is NO EXHAUST FUMES!!!! Yes, handling the extension cord was a bit of a hassle, but once you figure out how to swing it out of the way, it's not a big deal. Just be careful you don't run over the extension cord. Aside from destroying the (expensive) cord, you may get a dangerous and bad electric shock. It's a good machine and did a much better job than the gasoline powered de-thatchers I have rented in the past. It is well worth the investment. It's relatively light weight, folds up and can be stored on a shelf, under a table or some other dry place that is out of the way.

Máquina potente y funcional de diseño bonito y moderno. Vi comentarios que la bolsa se llenaba muy rápido y que debería ser más grande pero pienso que es adecuado el tamaño; el problema es que si vas a escarificar antes debes de podar lo más corto posible el césped y con esto se evita que se llene tan rápido la bolsa. No conocía la marca y me gustó además de que el precio es muy competitivo, motivo por el cual voy a ver que otros productos tiene Wen.

Used this for the first time last weekend to de-thatch my lawn, which had never been de-thatched before in over 20 years. Kept the scarifier attachment on (it comes with a dedicated de-thatcher attachment as well) and put it on setting 3 (medium) as a "just in case" to see what this thing could do. At this setting alone, it "tore" up mound after mound of dead grass and organics that had been suffocating my lawn areas. I raked afterwards to pick it all up and then mowed over it again to pick up any extra straggling thatch. Have to echo many others here that the bag is almost useless as it fills up insanely fast. I took it off completely and just raked and mowed up afterwards, as above. All plastic (almost) but it did exactly what it was supposed to and then some, and I will be scarifying/de-thatching twice a year now to help improve my lawn heath. For what I paid for this machine, a lawn company was going to charge me almost exactly the same amount for just ONE de-thatching, so I am already way ahead of the game and will save mucho dollars by just doing it all myself with this great machine. Also, it is super light and can be lifted with one arm and then stored in your shed or garage with ease. Highly recommended.

After reading mostly good reviews I bought it and while I had a little issue with the assembling, I looked at some bad bad reviews and wanted to put it back in the box and return it. I read about the fact that you couldn't use any longer than 50 ft and I already had bought two of them, but the heavy duty 12 gauge 15 AMP. So I gave it a try and it worked just great. Nothing different than using just one 50 ft extension. The dethatcher is very light and quite powerful. I put it on level 2 out of 4 and there is so much dead grass that came out in no time. I have quite a bit of grass and it's so much faster and easier than doing it manually. Hopefully it will last for a few years.