Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is unlike any digging tool I've ever used before. It's much stronger and incredibly well-designed. The O-handle looks a bit strange at first, but as soon as you start using it you realize all shovels should be made this way. It's just much more comfortable and utilitarian. I've given the Root Slayer a real workout. I've found that in some areas fairly choked with tree roots it just digs right through them with very little effort. With some of the bigger roots, like 3" or so, you can't really dig right through the root, but you can rip through it with a few kicks by aligning the saw blade at an angle against the root. It's not actually like a normal saw blade in that it will only cut on the downstroke, but that's not a problem for me since I can exert all of my weight on the shovel on the downstroke. The inverted V cutting edge is pretty amazing. I planted several small conifers in a grassy area on my property and found that the shovel passes through sod without any resistance. The original description said you could replace a pry bar with this shovel, and that's absolutely true. I pried with all of my weight to break an old willow stump free and the shovel doesn't bend at all, unlike some others I've paid as much or more for. If there was a way to give this a higher rating than 5 stars I would definitely do it. This is probably the best tool I've ever owned.