Sun Joe 15-Inch Electric Powered Lawn Dethatcher with Scarifier Blade Reel and Collection Bag - 13-Amp Corded Yard Power Rake Tool Machine for Grass Thatch Removal, AJ805E

i just bought it to replace the older one that had pooped out after 5 years of use ..MY OH MY this newer model is a lot better than the 13 inch model . it had more power - works faster and the settings allow for a much deeper cleaning range ! ***** Sunjoe gives you a FREE 24 month warranty included with it ... so don't fall for paying for the 0ne and Two year warranty that is sold on the Amazon site !

This little unit dethatched my yard in only a few hours. It took my sister three days to do my yards by hand when it was last done. As noted by many the bag is rather small yet I can totally see why. After doing just my back yard my green waste bin was about 3/4 full so it does pull up a lot especially if you set it on it's deepest setting. I left out my front yard so that my lawn crew has room for when they come. All in all I am impressed with the motor and tines. The unit it's self is pretty stable yet the door which hold the bag in place broke a pin after two empties. I did a little research and found this is a common issue with many to include said pin being broken upon arrival (flaw with the pins I suspect) . I followed someone else's recommendation and simple installed a 1 1/2" bolt in place of the cheap plastic one. I like using it due to it being so easy to use. FYI~ another common issue I found while doing my research is the air intake port for the motor can get clogged. I am not sure how well mine did as I have not checked yet. I do know that any motor (whether electric or gas fired) that can not be properly cooled will overheat and burn out.

The SunJoe Dethatcher is a great machine, does the job well with very little learning curve. I did my back yard with it a week or so ago and I have seen improvement in the lawn already, I typically mulch when I mow, didn’t realize how thick the thatch was until the lawn start looking ragged. The machine pulls itself along so there’s little effort required, it doesn’t seem to bog down when it hits thicker spots. I suggest try adjusting the angle of the handle (there’s an adjustment knob) to see what works best for you. I started on the middle setting and didn’t think to try another setting until I was almost through. Turns out the setting that pushes the front of the machine closer to the ground did a better job for what I was doing. I’m looking forward to trying the scarifier drum this fall when I’ll scarify then over-seed. My only criticism is the original machine was broken when I received it, a small nylon hinge pin on the back flap was broken. I contacted the manufacturer who told me this pin was not a replaceable part, instead the sent me a new machine. This part can’t be worth a dollar and from the looks of it would be simple to replace if they could send a new pin. That would have wasted a lot less resources. With that said, the replacement was mailed out right away and both the damaged one and the replacement were delivered well before the estimated delivery dates.

Bottom line, it is a great corded electric de-thatcher and scarifier. Easy to assemble, almost don't need the instructions. The outside housing is made from a flexible, but sturdy plastic of some sort. However, I don't see any issues with durability at all. The de-thatcher and scarifier drums are very well made and should last for year. I did find it was easier to remove the drums using a T handle hex key, than with the include hex key. Depth adjustment levels work well and the machine does an excellent job. The machine is light weight so you will have to pay attention to keep it flat to the ground. All in all, this is much better and easier to use for a yard than a huge gasoline powered beast. I have had too much fun de-thatching and scarifing my yard. Looking forward to using it again this fall.

Honestly, this little machine works great. The big problem I have with it is, as of the time of this review, you cannot purchase a replacement tines tool. The manual clearly states on page 15 that replacement part, "Replacement Dethatcher Tines, Part AJ805E-DTNS", is available as an accessory. But good luck finding one anywhere. So what this means is, once you put enough wear and tear on the spinning dethatcher tool (the tines don't last forever and eventually they'll be worn down), this unit will be absolutely useless. When I called the company to try and find out why I can't find part AJ805E-DTNS, they told me I have no option but to send the unit back to them and I'd get a "store credit." As if I'd buy anything from them again after this.

Sun joe 15 inch 13 amp corded dethatcher Pros: light weight Easy to use Quiet Low physical strain Easy to change height Easy to swap tines to scarrifier Cons: May require multiple passes Collection bag fills very quickly Corded I have used the gas powered heavy duty machines in the past. They differ from the this unit in several ways. The gas ones use a flail type tine that is around 1/8 inch and pretty heavy. It will dig in. The sun joe uses a thin tine style that is a bit less aggressive. This is probably why you may want to do 2 passes in a perpendicular manner. The nice thing is, the Sun Joe is very easy to use. It is very lightweight and will not beat you up trying to control it the way the gas powered one will. Its super easy to control. Maybe about as strenuous as walking an excited medium sized dog. It will pull itself forward but you will need to restrain it to make sure the tines are lifting up the thatch. My least favorite part is having a cord. I needed a 100ft run so i went with a 12 awg to safely hand the 13 amps. At no point did the cord get hot nor the machine. I ran it for about 2 hours off and on. So long as you plan ahead the cord will mostly be out of your way. I didn't use the bagger attachment for very long as it filled rather quickly. I instead opted to allow the thatch to fall out the back of the machine. Debris did not get flung out at my legs which was nice. It sat on top of the lawn. I used a rake to collect it into piles and bag it up for compost. Cleanup. A quick wipe up of the machine got any loose debris off it and it was ready to be stored for the next time. Easy peasey. I recommend the SunJoe dethatcher. It does the job at a good price point. Easy and satisfying to work with.

Used the dethatcher last week to overseed about 10,000 sq ft of my lawn. Using How to with Doc's method of planting seed. It worked fairly well. We had rainfall a couple days prior to starting the project. Some areas of the yard were still a little wet. Had a lot of trouble with the two dinky back wheels locking down with mud packed into the frame above the wheels. Real pain to keep them cleared. Other complaint was the motor vents on the front of the machine were blowing the grass seed away on the bare areas that I was trying to get reseeded. Pretty frustrating. Had to put down more seed and cover with soil to get these areas planted. Sun Joe should relocate the vents to blow more upward or to the sides not forward and down where it blows your seeds away. Last complaint...one of the ejector flap hinges (plastic crap) broke before I finished the job. Impossible to find a replacement. Looked online at Shopjoe. Online chat deferred me to a human support person. Tried that and got another robot who could only direct me to the online website that already proved to be of no help at all. Sad that it should be so hard to get one little piece of plastic crap. Only good thing about all this is the machine itself wasn't terribly expensive. Just another made in China piece of junk...made to look like it will work but doesn't hold up very well. I think I'll be able to come up with something to replace the hinge so I can continue to use the machine without having to wrap bungie cords around it to hold the flap in place. I do like what it does for my yard. Just need to make sure it's not too wet and try not to break anything. I would probably buy this again as long as the price doesn't get much higher. Update: My apologies to Chinese Engineering! I made the repair to the ejector flap with parts found at our local hardware store. Took a little modifying but got it to work. Noticed that the SunJoe machine is actually a product of Vietnam.

It took me a long time to find something like this for my yard. Most sold where attachments for other machines. Which feel like last minute add ones, and don't work very well. Or commercial units which cost way too much for my size yard. This one is right in the middle. Price and quality. It comes with 2 blades. One to dig into the ground, and one to pick up surface issues. It has lasted a few seasons with no issues. Only thing which I don't like, is you have to run a extension cord for power. But if you are only using it once a year, that is better then trying to keep the carb clean and motor running good. So if you have a large yard, power might be a issue for you. Go with a gas powered unit. If you live in the city and do not have a lot of grass to maintain, this would work perfect for your needs.