Earthquake 20015 Versa 2-in-1 Tiller Cultivator with a 99cc 4-Cycle Viper Engine, 2-in-1 Front Tine Tiller and Cultivator, Removable Side Shields and Outer Tines

Massively impressed for the price. It could use some more power, but it does well enough with what it has. The assembly was fairly easy and straight forward. The bolts that hold the tines to the axle are supposed to use a 15mm wrench, but they're actually like 15.5mm, so I had to use an adjustable wrench. Not a big deal though. No other issues with assembly. It isn't supposed to come with oil in the engine. They provide oil that is supposed to be added after assembly. However, my unit already had oil in the engine, and during shipping, that oil ended up all over the machine. It was everywhere. On everything. So it took a while to get it cleaned up. It still has half of its oil so I topped it up with the oil bottle that was provided. Engine fired right up. Didn't even need to use the choke. 2 pulls and it was running. Getting the drag arm set correctly is critical to keep it from bucking, but it digs very well. Our yard has tons of vines growing through the grass, so I'm stopping every 5 mins or so to untangle the vines from the tines. But that isn't the tillers fault, and to be honest, it still keeps moving even when the tubes are wrapped right with vines. Overall I'm very impressed. Only my first day using it so can't say how long it will last. But so far it's done everything I've asked of it. Update: So after using it for a few days, still pretty impressed with it for the money. It does sort of shake itself apart though, so you've got to keep tightening bolts so they don't fall out. The top two bolts that hold in the transmission cover came out so I had to tape it closed while I finished working. Not a big deal to replace them, but something to keep in mind, so just keep everything tight. I've been keeping a small tool kit with me to torque everything down after every use. I'm not going to remove any stars for that. I think for the price, just needing to tighten stuff every once and a while isn't a big deal. It's due to the soft steel so when you tighten the bolts it compressed the square tube steel. Then as it runs it's being stressed and slighting bending the steel, which allows the bolts to get loose. It probably wouldn't hurt to add larger washers to help spread the compression zone if the bolts a bit better. Still, overall I'm very happy with it. It's been doing a great job with our yard.

I normally do not write product reviews but this tiller is so good I was compelled to share my thoughts. I religously read user reviews before I buy something and it appears all of the objections most people had with this tiller were addressed by the manufacturer. First of all it was very easy to assemble and there were no parts missing. Yes, the clutch lever should be on the bottom, not the top but that was an easy fix. I had originally opted for the larger horsepower Kohler model but it appeared it would not be available for a long period of time. I settled for the 99cc Viper engine and find it has plenty of power. It chewed through my compacted Colorado clay garden soil with little effort. it is also balanced very well so when it hit a hard spot and started to buck a little I found that if you push down on the handle bars it stops and continues to chew though. Also if you lift up on the handle bars slightly in softer soil it will pull itself through. I have raised beds and it was very easy to manuver at the ends. Overall, it did a great job and was a dream to use. I normally rent a 16hp rear tine tiller but I put in raised beds this year so that large unit was not going to work. I wanted to purchase something that woud do the job but easy to operate and affordable. This was money well spent and I recommend it highly.

I was in dire need of a tiller for my garden. I was sick and tired of always borrowing one or having to pay someone to do my tilling for me. I looked around online and this product got consistently good reviews and I can see why! First of all, the power this thing has is insane. I live in SC and the ground here can get baked into some HARD dirt. If you don't have a powerful enough tiller, the ground will beat you (and the machine) to death. Not this thing! Yeah, it was still like wrangling a mule but only because I'd never tilled the particular spot I chose. After I got it turned under one good time and went back through, it churned it up super soft. It dug deep, too. It's a 99cc engine so the tilling capacity is perfect for me. Pretty easy to use. Putting the thing together wasn't difficult, just took some time. Luckily, the vast majority of the machine comes preassembled. There are maybe 10 steps or so for the end-user to tackle and they weren't difficult. This thing works like a CHAMP. After I got it assembled, I put oil in it (btw, it comes with a half quart of oil), filled it with fuel, turned on the switch and the choke - and it started up ON THE FIRST PULL! Wow...I didn't know how to act when it started so easily. I only had one small complaint about the design: the screw that held one of the handlebars to the rest of the tiller came off while I was tilling and I didn't realize it. By the time I did, there was no hope of finding that screw. Luckily, I found a screw that fit from my "collection" of screws and fixed it. I went ahead and checked the one on the other handlebar and it was getting pretty loose, too, so I just took the original screw out and replaced it with another one from my "collection" and I've not had any issues since. I don't think the original screws were quite long enough to avoid backing out due to the vibration while running. That's the only ding I can give this thing. For the price, I think it's an excellent machine.

This thing is an absolute monster! Chews through our hard rock filled soil with ease, very impressed so far.

I love this tiller! I used it for 2 years so far and have no regrets!

PROS: Great little unit for my 20x20 home garden. Started on 3rd pull. Maneuvers easily, pretty straight forward to use. Performed well first time out mechanically. CONS: Horrible assembly manual if you aren’t not mechanically inclined to figure out on your own. Missing bolts to assemble the Handle. Had to go to Lowe’s to buy bolts and nuts. You are provided more oil than you need to fill it so make sure you watch how much you pour in. Left side panel over tiller kept sliding back when dirt would hit it. Didn’t hurt anything but I’d have to stop and push it back in the slot. It is a bit light duty but I wanted a tiller for few times a year use for my garden and was tired of the hassle renting one. Time will tell how well it holds up.

Lovely machine seems to run great I was gonna give it four stars or three stars just because the instructions on this thing are pathological they’re absolute trash I managed to figure it out although I had a couple leftover bolts, which I have no idea what they go to. They don’t seem to fit any of the bolt holes anywhere other than that I’m pleasantly happy with my purchase. I will update as I continue to use the machine.

Assembly - a little fiddly, but not overly, can be done with one person easily. Use a wrench set, no power tools if you are not familiar with setting torsion, you'll crush the handles! Amazing, great value for Money. We had a lot of roots in a newly cleared area for a vegetable patch. It's got plenty of power - yes it nearly ripped my arms from my body as it tore the roots out of the ground, and yes as expected some of them did get wrapped around the tines. However, what would've taken a day to prepare a 20ft by 80ft hard packed grassed area was completed in a couple of hours over 2 days (rest break / allowed some moisture to sink in) - this has become a corn patch. As for our existing vegetable garden, it dug down deep and mixed in last years compost, decomposed roots, chicken poop etc.. very nicely. Typically a days work to turn and dig in was a couple of hours, over two days, after watering a little and allowing it to settle. The ground is so light and fluffy, rich in nutrients ( pitch black ) the vegetables and very happy and weeding is a breeze. No longer digging out roots for packed dirt! Removed the outer two rotors for 'weeding' between rows, had to back-off the gas as to not not 'eat everything' - very quick exercise, worked wonders so not as much round-up needed this year. HINT: when starting off a fresh area, let the Tiller DIG-DOWN a few in inches by holding it in place, this will lighten the stress on your arms with it running away on hard packed dirt. Let it move along at it's own pace, WARNING hold tight if there are roots it will bounce and throw dirt, keep everyone far away. NOTE: keep clogged grass and roots off the rotors, you can tell if its blocking up by listening to the engine working harder, turn-off, tip it back and pull out anything that is wrapped around anything (look close to where the rotors are connected together)