Greenworks 10 Amp 14-Inch Corded Dethatcher, 27022 Green

Initially, I was hesitant to order this product. Most of the reviews were positive so I took the plunge and completed the purchase. The thatcher arrived on time, well packaged, all the necessary parts were present with a package of replacement tines, no damaged parts, and a set of plain - simple - easy to follow assembly instructions with pictures. I am not a "mechanical genius" and have learned over the years to read the instructions several times, study the pictures, lay out the pieces, and then take it slow and steady. Some may be able to complete the assembly in a matter of 5-10 minutes, I took my time and had it assembled and operational in about 20-30 minutes. My yard is about 4000sq feet and I used to thatch the lawn once a year using a thatching rake, it would take several weekends for me to complete the process as I would go over the lawn two or three times. In past years I was lazy and occasionally hired a landscaper to come in and power rake the yard. I ended up replacing sections of the turf/sod after it was torn up by the power rake. The instructions recommend setting the tines at the highest level and then adjusting as needed. There are three settings, and it is fairly easy to set the height of the tines by using the switches located on the wheel hubs. I used the highest setting and was satisfied with the results and did not notice any damage to the turf/sod. The instructions clearly state "do not operate" on a wet lawn. Operating the machine on a wet lawn will result in damage to the lawn, and could cause damage to the machine. Do not risk tearing up pieces of the turf and sod because you are in a hurry and cannot wait for the lawn to dry out. Using this electric thatcher was fairly simple. I started in the backyard, moving slowly to get used to how the machine operated and traveled. It took about 45 minutes to complete the backyard, and an additional 30 minutes for the front yard. Seriously, it took longer to rake up the piles of dead grass than it took to thatch the front and back yard, and I ended up with thirteen 30-gallon bags of dead grass. I fertilized the lawn, watered it, and the outcome is fantastic. It is a lightweight machine, lighter than a gas powered push mower. It is easy to operate, press the power button hold down the handle bar and walk slowly behind the machine. I would say it is self propelled, but it is the action of the tines grabbing and pulling up the dead grass that propels the machine forward - so hold on to the handle, it could get away from you if you are not careful. Remember - let go of the handle and the machine stops instantly. Maneuverability does take a little getting used to and I quickly figured out to work in straight lines, do not turn the machine while it is operating. When reaching the edge of the lawn let go of the handle, stop the machine, and then position it for the next row. The dead grass is pushed out of the back of the machine and there were no issues with the dead grass piling up inside the machine and causing stalling or stoppage. As the machine is electric there is the issue of the power cord getting in the way of the machine. Under no circumstances should you operate the thatcher and run over the power cord. It is something that you will get used to, it is not a major issue and you will quickly figure out a procedure that works for you. If you have a large number of trees, bushes, shrubs, in your lawn you will have to maneuver around these obstacles with the cord, again it is something that can be figured out fairly quickly. I would recommend purchasing a durable, heavy gauge, 100foot, extension cord. I would not recommend this machine for a large lawn or area, a simple average residential lawn between 2,500 and 5,000sq feet is perfect for this machine. This recommendation is based upon the 14-inch wide path of the thatcher versus a 20-24" path for the average push mower. It would just take much longer to complete the larger area and could cause unnecessary stress and overheating for the machine.

This thing is extremely light, assembles in minutes, and does a pretty darn good job! I've been dethatching my lawn for years with commercial grade rentals from the local hardware store. Usually I would rent a machine for a couple hours to do my 1/4 acre lot and that would cost me around $50-60 each time. I didn't think that price was unreasonable so I kept doing it for years. I found the Greenworks 10 amp electric model the other day for $90 and I thought what the heck give it a try! I'm glad I did! This was my first experience using an electric dethatcher so I wasn't sure how it would compare to a commercial gas powered one. At first I struggled a bit trying to keep the cord out of my path but that was to be expected. Once I figured out a system I was dethatching pretty efficiently. I will be the first to say I really should've cut my grass first to help with the whole operation but I was in a time crunch as it just arrived yesterday and there was rain in the forecast. With all that being said this dethatcher did a really good job(on the highest setting) of removing the thatch while leaving the good grass in place. After reading some of the reviews on here I was really careful not to pull the dethatcher backwards while it was running. Because it is super light it is easy enough to tip up and turn to go the opposite direction you came from. I really wish I would've stopped to take some pictures because this machine did pull up a significant amount of thatch. For my 1/4 acre lot I filled up my full size truck bed plus a couple more big lawn bags. Some asked if this is self-propelled and it is NOT but with the rotating tines you don't really need to push it either! It really is just a matter of guiding it along your path and making sure you are going at a slow steady speed to get all the thatch. Pros: Lightweight, pulls thatch without harming good grass, inexpensive, very easy to operate Cons: It is corded so that is a bit of a pain, Only 14 inch dethatching path

I used it last night on both lawns and it did an impressive job. We have hired power rakers before and they didnt do as deep of a clean as this. I used it on the highest mode and even that ws super impressive. Pictures cant do it justice of how much dead grasses and embedded rocks was lifted up. We used a lawn mower with bag attachment and slowly followed the dethatcher and the mower sucked up the fluffed up dead grass. this device made our lawn look like it can breathe so much easier now and ready for spring seeding and watering. No amount of hand raking would have done such a clean job as this. I had so much fluffy dead grass at my feet as I was dethatching that I feared I was removing every bit of grass, but nope, just the dead/compressed grasses adn leaves (after winter snow compacted it). The end result makes our lawn look so fresh compared to our neighbours whos iss till compressed from the winter/snowfall. WELL WORTH BUYING.

Edit/Update: Wow it has been 5 years already that I have owned this. I use it twice a year - once in late summer/early fall, and next in spring. I use it with every other row of tines removed (as shown in my photos). I only go over my Floratam lawn in one direction per dethatching. I found that if you pull the machine backwards while the tines are spinning and in contact with the ground, you will eventually break the tines. It is so much easier to pull in back as you would a mower as you make turns, etc., but the tines don't like that. I made an effort to avoid that altoghether, and have not experienced one broken tines since. The amount of back breaking raking this has saved me from is unbelievable. It is still fun to operate - it just pulls itself along while plucking up lots of dead crap. I haven't been able to keep up on all questions asked, and see others have stepped in to answer. One question was how long did it take my lawn to recover. In the fall when our lawns are mostly dormant, it looks a little beat up for 2-4 weeks. In the sping, maybe one week. Why I bought it followed by how it worked for me. If you don't want to read on, here is what I have to say. I abused it on a very tough 5000 square foot St. Augustine lawn, that was somewhat damp at the time, and it did great. I was shocked at how well it did. I was expecting it to fail based on reviews of other similar de-thatchers. WHY I BOUGHT IT: My lawn is St. Augustine and requires a special de-thatching machine/process/tools so as not to kill the lawn. A rental ( vertical mower with tines spaced 2"-3" apart ) was not available in my area nor do landscapers have these on hand. Rentals cost [...]. Two healthy adults using modified de-thatching rakes with some tines removed could only cover 300-400 square feet in an hour and the results weren't great. I was skeptical in this purchase, but also tired and desperate, so for [...] with free shipping I decided to take a chance. It appears the Craftsman model is more expensive and has complaints about its motor failing. The craftsman reportedly uses a 10amp motor as does this unit. I was worried that this unit might be under powered. My lawn was green and growing like mad for two years prior - the envy of all the neighbors. I wasn't shy using fertilizer. I had to mow every 5th day. Last summer, I couldn't find a way to keep the lawn alive. Fertilizer didn't really help. Watering as recommended didn't help. Insects invaded despite my use of pesticides that had worked in years prior. It wasn't long before large areas of dead grass formed and mushrooms popped up all over. My lawn was also very spongy to walk on. You can only cut St. Augustine so short before killing it, so I was hesitant to cut it below 2". I finally determined that my problem was with excessive thatch - a problem I probably created by over fertilizing and not bagging the grass clippings. Thatch can stop water as well as fertilizer and pesticides from getting down where it needs to, and provides a great environment for fungus and insects. HOW IT WORKED: I'll be frank. When I un-boxed it and took a look at the tines on the roller, it appeared so cheap I felt I would be making a mistake if I didn't return it right away. They don't picture the bottom of the unit or the tines. Had they, I probably wouldn't have bought it. It just doesn't look like it has a chance of getting the job done. The roller resembles a large vacuum brush roller, and is driven by a cogged belt attached to the motor. The tines are thin and short. These look like super heavy duty paper clips. When put to use, It removed a lot more thatch, more thoroughly, in less than 5 minutes, without breaking a sweat, than 2 physically fit adults with rakes spent an hour trying to de-thatch. And, the grass and thatch were damp at the time I used this unit. Someone posted a video online of a similar de-thatcher (possibly the Craftsman) in use, with tons of thatch being left behind as the unit moves forward. That is exactly how well it worked for me. If you don't use an adequately sized extension cord, (or plug it into an outlet than can actually deliver the 15 amps it should be rated for) you may end up overheating the motor from low voltage issues and damaging it. I used a 100 foot, 14 gauge cord plugged into a 20 amp GFCI outside outlet and had no problems. The motor never hinted at bogging down. I started out with the thatcher in its highest setting as per the instructions, but found it did a better job for me on its lowest setting. I think the difference between high and low is less than ½ an inch. You wouldn't think it would make a difference, but it did. I began by de-thatching 300 square foot sections at a time, stopped to rake it all up and bag it. At the end, I just ran this over the remaining 3000 square feet of lawn non stop - about 20 minutes time - and the thatcher had no issues keeping up. The spinning tines are all that propel this forward and it takes little effort to control the pace, but if you intentionally go slow, be prepared to see it remove a lot of grass - probably more than you want. This works fast. It isn't recommended that you pull this backwards while using it - one reason being that it is hard on the tines. I did this regularly as it just made it easier to maneuver and helped kick out any excessive thatch built up under it or around the wheels that it didn't discharge on its own. I frequently ran this over a pile of grass I already de-thatched as I maneuvered it around, and it just kept humming away. The end result for me on my lawn: about 35 minutes of run time on the de-thatcher did a better job than two adults with rakes could have done in 14 hours. Thatching 5000 square feet of area left me with thirty, 33 gallon garbage bags full of all the crap it pulled up, the vast majority of which was dead grass and thatch and very little healthy green stuff. I would expect this to make short work of any lawn not resembling the vine-like thickness of St. Augustine. The pictures (if I can attach some later) show the modified hand rake used at first along with the underside of the power de-thatcher. Because St. Augustine is supposed to be de-thatched with a vertical mower with blades spaced 2"-3" apart so as to reduce the chances tearing up the vine-like structure of the grass and killing it, I removed every other set of tines on the roller to get the spacing I wanted. As the pictures show (hopefully), each set of tines is two wires sticking out from a single spring wound tine mount. Three of the sets each lost a single tine wire and I wouldn't be surprised if it was from my abuse. Since I removed some of them before I started, I have spares. This saved so much manual labor, had it died on me after one round of de-thatching, I'd still buy another one when the time comes. And most importantly, the thatched areas have new grass popping up all over. This did the trick for me. My only con, maybe the tines could be a thicker gauge.

Renting a dethatcher or "power rake" can cost around $50 for 4 hours or $75 for 24 hours. In addition, they might make you provide a deposit of around $150. For around $100 you could buy this, and if you need a dethatcher, and if you have a lawn YOU NEED A DETHATCHER, then you should buy this. You will not be disappointed. This dethatcher is an incredible value. I could go on and on about it but there are so many great reviews there is no point repeating the positives. I will just say that the good reviews are right. This is an awesome, easy to use and inexpensive power rake. PROs: *Assembly* was VERY simple. Just a few steps and you are good to go. *Weight* -- Light. I thought that the light weight would be a negative for this but the dethatcher digs right in and gets the thatch up no problem. It being light is great, you can carry it around and hang it in your shed. *Quiet* *Easy to adjust* The wheel hubs have a simple three way height adjustment. Simple. *ELECTRIC* At first I thought being a plug in electric would be a strike against it, but in fact I am sold on it. Being electric, it is lighter, quieter and there is no fussing with fuel, or mixing fuel, carburetors, etc etc. The cord can get in the way, but big deal, it didn't slow me down a bit. *Easy to use* The dethatcher kind of drives itself gently forward at just the right speed. You barely have to push at all. A child could use it. *Comes with full set of replacement Tines* Unbelievable, a great product and they even threw in these? So cool. *4 YEAR WARRANTY* Wait, WHAT?! Who does a 4 year warranty anymore? I'll tell you who, someone who knows their product will LAST. THINK OF IT, if you were to dethatch twice a year it would cost you at least $100, not counting the time, effort and mess of transporting it. This Dethatcher practically PAYS FOR ITSELF the first time you use it!!! With 4 years of warranty you are going to save over $400 over 4 years and even better your lawn will be much more healthy. Cons? None. Nope For what this is and what it does it is PERFECT. At the price it is AMAZING. In summary, BUY THIS, YOU WON'T REGRET IT. This saves so much time and effort, gets all the leaves acorns and of course thatch out of the lawn so your grass can drink and eat like a king. And you will save so much time raking you can concentrate on other things. You push a button, grip the safety bar and you are on your way to a better lawn. I usually only write reviews when I hate something or I love something. I am writing this review because I am so happy I bought this… I love this dethatcher. I really do. TIPS I was thinking I was going to have to buy a 14 gauge extension cord at least for this. But before buying anything I tried it with my 16 gauge 100' extension cord. I did not have any problems. The cable did not get warm, I did not blow any breakers, no problem. I think the manual said 14 gauge, so I cannot recommend 16 gauge, but I am saying it worked fine for me. :) If you have a leaf blower use it instead of a rake to remove the thatch and debris that this pulls up. Makes this whole job so easy it was actually fun. This can clearly also be used to prepare ground for seeding. Well, I guess that is all I got for now. It works great, is easy and even fun to use, cost a mere $100 (give or take) (ships free with PRIME!) and has a generous 4 year warranty.....What are you waiting for???? Attack that THATCH!!!