Sun Joe AJ801E 12-Amp, Electric Dethatcher and Scarifier w/Removeable 8-Gallon Collection Bag, 5-Position Height Adjustment, Airboost Technology Increases Lawn Health, 13 inch, Green

This review has two parts:1. Product Review2. Snow Joe Customer ServiceProduct Review-----------------------Let's start with the challenge I had to solve for. I have an lawn that spans 2000 sq. ft. that has never been dethached in the last 7 years. The lawn health has been steadily decreasing and no amount of chemical fertilizers or weed control have been able to restore the lawn to its early glory. After giving up on the chemical treatment path, I tried aeration. Presumably it helped, but I saw no real improvement in the health of my lawn. Finally, I hit upon dethaching. My lawn has become a patchwork of living and dead grass.I picked up the Sun Joe AJ801E for three reasons:1. It had the highest powered motor (amp consumption) on Amazon for dethaching2. It had a scraper / scarifier, which presumably will allow me to more easily reseed targeted areas of my lawn.3. My "Mow, Blow, & Go" gardener claimed that all the dethacthers for a lawn my size were rented out to golf courses.Assembly is super easy, but I had some issues with one of the metal arms not fitting correctly into the main dethatcher. More on that later....Product performance: I ran the Sun Joe at 0" across a small section of my lawn. In one pass across 10ft of lawn, the catch bag was full of thatch! I was shocked. Looking at the lawn, I could barely tell that the Sun Joe had actually lifted anything out, but the full bag told me otherwise. I ended up covering 200 sq. ft of my lawn, having to run multiple passes to get all the thatch. This little machine is super efficient, but I found the catch bag filling up way faster than expected. I've got another 1600 sq ft of lawn to cover, but will have to attack it one week at a time. Just covering 200 sq ft filled my yard waste bin.Pros:- Easy to assemble.- Efficient in picking up thatch. May need multiple passes if your lawn has been neglected.- Safety switch makes it impossible for my young children to accidentally turn this on.- Dethacther and Scarifier rollers are easy to swapCons:- Small catch bag- Safety switch is a bit of a bear when you need to stop and empty the catch bag often.- Assembly requires some force to get the bent metal arm into the main dethatcher or the screw holes will not line up.- Changing the Dethatcher roller for the Scarifier requires a 10mm wrench. Not a big deal if you have a crescent wrench or socket set. It just took me by surprise since I thought they would use sizes a little more common for the American do-it-yourselfer that has minimal tools.Time will tell if this holds up over the 2-year warranty, but so far I am really happy with the performance.Customer Support---------------------------All too often we hear about poor customer support. I am here to tell you that Sun Joe has top-notch customer support.When assembling the Sun Joe, you must insert the metal poles / arms into the main unit. If you look at the product picture, I'm referring to the black metal arms that support the power switch and push point. The portion that connects to the actual unit is bent at approximately 135 degrees. You must use a bit of force to get the arms into the main unit or the screw holes will not line up. On the unit I purchased, I was not able to push in the metal rod far enough to line up the screw holes, even after putting my weight into it. I was reluctant to use a rubber mallet for fear of bending the actual metal rod.When I called Sun Joe, the gentleman listened to my concern. He immediately said they would ship a new one out.Here is what totally blew me away.... Sun Joe support never questioned my ability to follow instructions, troubleshoot, or even verify that I followed the instructions correctly. I was preparing myself to verbally defend myself, which is exactly what you need to do when calling for support from nearly any other manufacturer. Nope. Not here. Sun Joe sent a brand new unit and provided a pre-paid slip to send the old one back. They didn't even ask for any credit card information to secure a deposit!Sure, I could have gone through Amazon to do the return process, but I wanted to give the manufacturer a chance to own the problem. No question about it, Sun Joe actually made it easier than Amazon.

Funcional máquina para principiantes, muy buen costo beneficio! Gracias por su atención.

I done a lot of research and there were two or three products that kept coming up. I settled on the Sunjoe finally based on the reviews, YouTube videos and price and that it comes with a scarifier. It wasn't a huge out of pocket expense so if it didn't pan out I'd chalk it up to another one of life's lessons. The product came in a good box and was well packaged. Assembly was simple and instructions were clear. The product is amazingly life weight and all plastic construction except for the handle bars. At first I thought it was cheaply made but boy was I wrong! Using the Sunjoe worked better than I could imagine. I used it on my front lawn which hadn't been dethatched in years. I used the mid setting and as you can see it pulled up loads of dead moss and grass. I ran the machine in one direction and then used my lawnmower with a rear bagger to collect all the debris. I then used the Sunjoe again at right angles to the first and it pulled just as much as before. Using the machine is easy as it's almost self propelled due to the rotary action of the roller. The important thing is to go slow and let it do it's job. Sometimes you have to hold back on the machine as it has a tendency to pull forward when it hits a large clump of moss but it has no problem going through anything. The machine sounds like a angry vacuum cleaner when you use it but it's not loud. I highly recommend this product and am very pleased with the results. Don't know what else to say but I give it 10 out of 10.

Best money I've spent on a power garden tool in a while. This is just perfect for my needs and saves a tonne of manual effort for regular lawn care.When configured as a power rake, it pulls thatch out of the grass like a champ -- and I thought my lawn was already pretty good so I was shocked (!!) at how much thatch it was able to pull. I'll never do this by hand again (my back is loving it)When configured for scarification, it does a fair job -- but doesn't seem to penetrate as much as I would have hoped. It could be the soils are already too compacted (making it difficult for the machine) or maybe I need to sharpen the edges with a grinder to help it power through the soils. I'd never done this task myself before, so could also just be I need more practice!Be sure to read the instructions as you do need to adjust the height properly otherwise if the machine is too low, you will rip the tines out of the dethatcher. It is all in the paper manual but who reads those (especially after it is already assembled). My only real complaint with this tool is that it can be a little hard to see at a glance what height setting you are at, and it could be marked better for which "range" you are in (dethatching vs scarifying). Again though, the settings are all outlined in the instruction manual as long as you have it handy. Other than that, no complaints. I may take some dark paint (marker) to make the settings easier to read right on the machine itself.

me gusto su fácil manejo y el resultado que logras con esta operación, se de verdad quieres tu césped no dejes de hacer esta labor para lograr un césped sano, bonito y disfrutable