Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I suffer from "cheap" syndrome. I often buy the cheapest tool and end up throwing it away because it sucks, and buying a more expensive tool to replace it, which of course means I end up spending more money than if I had just bought a good tool to begin with. Knowing this flaw, I did not want to repeat my previous mistakes with a new tiller. I had never bought a tiller before, so I was learning from scratch. I'm a big fan of electric tools (especially with rising gas prices) so I had narrowed my choices down to three tillers. This one, a mantis, and a troy-bilt model. There are plenty of cheaper electric tillers out there, but I didn't even want to waste my time. After the 8000 accessories you need to buy for the mantis, I nixed that one. The troy tiller had some impressive looking tines (and reviews!) and I decided that was the one to buy. But they were sold out and I needed to get my garden put together right away! Despite only having 2 other reviews, I decided to give the Greenworks tiller a chance. The fact that it has zero carbon footprint is nice, but honestly, I care more about a machine meeting MY needs. I finally gave in and purchased this model after being swayed by the impressing 4 year warranty (the other machines have a 2 year warranty). The tines didn't look as "mean" as the troy or mantis, but I gave it a shot anyway. I'm not using it to farm, I'm just using it on a garden. Putting it together was easier than I expected. I also suffer from "doesn't read directions" syndrome so I put the tines on backwards at first, but a quick glance at the diagram showed me all I had to do was turn them around. My worries about the tines not looking mean enough were dismissed as soon as I held them. These things feel *really* solid and have some weight to them, similar to the feel of cast iron. All together from start to finish I had this thing put together in about 30 minutes (in my living room no less). The weight of the machine really isn't bad at all, and did I mention I'm a petite woman who is 6 months pregnant? If I can handle it, so can you. The next day I tried this thing out in the garden. All my long viney weeds had already been removed by hand, so all I needed to do was break up my soil. Although this garden is established, the soil just isn't very good. There is a ridiculous amount of small rocks, twigs, sticks, and enough clay to make pottery with. This is EXACTLY why I gave up trying to work it by hand (that and bending over is starting to suck right now). I got out my best extension cord (100 foot 12g 15 amp beast) and set to work (I like ellipses). Before I used it, I was worried about the tiller having wheels. A lot of smaller tillers I've seen don't have wheels so I assumed they would just get in the way and not till as deep. As soon as I got started I was immediately thankful for them. I would till down and just scoot the machine backwards with me as I walked, tilling a good 6" deep. I was slow and took my time, removing the sticks and rocks the machine dug up. Despite having a lot of dust on me, and dirty feet, I never once had the machine kick up a rock or stick on me. It kind of threw them about a foot to either side, making it very easy to remove as I kept working, and I felt safer knowing I wasn't going to have a rock slingshot into my eye. I tilled my 500sf garden front to back, and then again from side to side, in about an hour and a half. Never once did the tiller overheat (this is why a good extension cord is needed!) and never once did it stall out on a rock or stick. I'm not going to lie, constantly readjusting the cord was a pain in the butt, but that is a burden ALL corded electric tools suffer from, so it wasn't an unexpected annoyance. It's certainly not bad enough to go to a gas model. I was pleasantly surprised at just how quiet this thing is! My vacuum is louder than this tiller. It also looks like it's more work than it really is. My neighbor came over and offered to till for me because he was worried about my being pregnant (he is a very sweet neighbor) but I declined because honestly, it didn't feel like much work at all. I never had to fight with it, just tilt it down, and slowly scoot it back. that's it. All in all I am extremely happy with what I purchased. Time will tell how it stands up, but for now the first time I used it worked even better than expected. I think now the other tillers would have just been too much for what I needed. The price was also great, half that of the mantis and free shipping. I'm a happy customer!