Sun JoeElectric Corded Garden Tiller & Cultivator, Steel Tines, 13.5 Amp, 16 Inch, Black - Heavy Duty Gardening Machine Equipment for Lawn, Yard, & Grass, TJ604E

Wonderful machine and the company and it's distributors stand behind their product and offer excellent customer service. Over the years I have purchased a couple Sun Joe products and have always been happy with them, so when I needed a new tiller, I went with Sun Joe and I'm glad I did. This machine has a lot of power, yet is not unmanageable. It has various settings to allow you to dig deep into the soil, or just scrape the surface for things like seeding. I was using the tiller on the deepest setting to dig a vegetable garden from scratch. The tiller dug deep down on the first pass and totally turned the turf, mulching it up as I went. Then "BOOM", I hit a rock, and then another one, in all honesty, the tiller took a pretty significant beating but kept on working. Apparently however, the beating took it's toll, and eventually, the tiller assembly sheared off. Again, it took a beating before getting to that point. I notified the distributor SpreeTail through Amazon and they were extremely responsive. I admitted to them that I had hit some rocks, but they didn't seem to care. They immediately started the process for me to return the tiller free of charge and they replaced it with a brand new one. In all honesty, I think my tiller endured more than the normal wear and tear covered by the warranty, but within a week of sending it back, I had a brand new tiller. I will be much more careful with this one, starting at a lesser depth so that I am not surprised by big rocks buried deep underground that the blade encounters full on. Bottom line, I recommend this tiller and Sun Joe products without hesitation. This thing is a power house and gets the job done... Just be more careful than I was and should have been.

Wasn't sure what to expect after reading the positive and negative reviews but once I received this tiller, it worked really well. I was able to completely till my entire 1200 sq. ft front yard with no issues and pretty quickly. The tilling action worked well going forward but worked even better if you walked backwards with it. I will say you have to keep a firm grip on it as can get away from you but thankfully has an automatic shut off if the button is released. This tiller had no problem in my GA soil type which was pretty compacted. Noise level wasn't too bad and it was pretty easy assembly.

It’s powerful and cut right through the dirt. I was pretty surprised that it was better than most gas operated tillers. Obviously the only reason for four stars is that there isn’t any really cord management and you have to watch your cord like a hawk to make sure you don’t go over it. Otherwise, the tiller works great!

We purchased this tiller/cultivator for use in raised-beds standing 2 ft off the ground. Setting to the deepest level, while standing on the ground we were easily able to till one-pass down then pulling the tiller back. It dug right in and thoroughly pulverized the soil. We finished the two beds in a matter of under 10 minutes at ground level versus what would have been an hour having had to stand up on the beds using hand tools, and we wouldn't have had the beautifully broken up soil the tiller produced. Plus it came with a 2 yr + 90 day warranty we registered online. Excellent value !

Easy to put together. Easy to use. Very effective. It chopped up all my ugly crabgrass and tilled the soil so the backyard area is ready for planting new grass!

This tiller is great – lightweight and easy to maneuver – I'm very happy with the purchase. The first time I started it up, I was shocked at how easily it dug straight into the dirt, and how easy it was to use. And if you're worried about the cord, it never really bothered me. You're moving slow enough when you're tilling that keeping the cord out of the way is not really a challenge. It's not unlike vacuuming, only slower going. That said, if you're thinking about buying it, and you've used a gas tiller before, you need to have realistic expectations.A couple quick notes. It's absurdly easy to assemble. Contrary to a couple comments I read, I found the wheel adjustment to be very easy to use; you just pull the wheels toward you and put them in the notch you want.We have a small garden, maybe 10 x 30. I used it yesterday for the first time for two or three hours, re-tilling some leaves into the existing garden, and breaking new ground to expand our plot. Last year, I broke ground with a front tine gas tiller I borrowed from a friend, basically a larger gas version of this tiller, so here's my comparison.It was wet yesterday, and there's some clay content in our soil, and the electric bogged down two or three times. It just stopped turning, and there was a little smoke whisping off the motor, which made we nervous. But I simply stopped, cleaned the tines out, and let it spin free a little to clear the dirt, and it kept working just fine. That said, with the gas tiller, I never had this problem. Although the electric was surprisingly strong, the gas was definitely more powerful. My guess is that I'll end up having to do more passes with this tiller than with the gas. That said, a gas tiller is two to three times as expensive, and requires a lot more maintenance. For me, the trade off is worth it.As for maneuverability, this lightweight tiller won hands down. Keep in mind, weight can be helpful for the tiller to sink into and break up deep soil. But, whereas I was absolutely exhausted after using the gas tiller last year, using this tiller really isn't that much harder than mowing the grass. As long as this tiller can get the job done, I would much rather use it.There's a few reasons I gave this tiller four starts instead of five. In wet soil with clay content, the design makes it very easy for soil to collect between the tines, the top protective shield and the wheels, which ultimately leads to the tiller bogging down. I constantly had a big, clogged mass of soil and clay bunched between the protective shield and the wheel bracket. And, although I had no problems yesterday, I'd feel more confident about this tiller's life span if the wheels were more heavy duty. And, more importantly, I'd have liked it if they put heavier gauge handles on it. At times, when you're wresting with the tiller, the handle torques a bit, which makes me a little nervous about how long it will last. My guess is, I'll get several years out of this tiller, but not a couple decades, like you might from a gas tiller.That said, I don't think the makers of this tiller are misrepresenting this it in any way. It's a great, easy to use, lightweight tiller, and it will probably meet our needs for years. While it's not suited for serious, heavy duty tilling, for the average home owner who's just gonna use it a couple times a year, it's a great solution.UPDATEChanged my original review from 4 to 5 stars. I've used it twice more on our garden plot, which we expanded to about 15 x 40. Second time, used it when the ground was fairly wet, and, because we have a bit of clay in our soil, it still struggled some, but ultimately managed to get through everything just fine. The third time, I added some soil amendments when we'd had a few dry days, and it worked perfectly. Really couldn't be happier. It's lightweight, easy to use, and more than powerful enough for our needs.

If you don't mind the cord, this is a great small tiller for a backyard garden. Works great and if you go over the area more than once it digs deep. Easy to use and easy to maintain. Good purchase.