LawnMaster TE1318W1 Corded Electric Tiller 13.5-Amp 18-Inch Orange

Decades ago I rented a tiller = think it was Honda. Remember it was very heavy and literally pulled me around the yard -- like trying to hold on to a bull at a rodeo.After removing what little St Augustine grass was in the front yard, assembled this little tiller (took about 5 minutes). Doesn't say in the book when using if you "go forward" or "walk backward". Tried both ways,Found it wants to go forward, so 90% of time let it semi pull its self. It's light enough that you can control it completely, regardless of if going forward or pulling it back towards you.Occasionally, in tight corner spaces, let it run while pulling back and forth -- it does do fine and looses the dirt (as good if not better going backwards) but it sorta digs a hole in that spot.Tiller is not loud, and to my surprise it has a lot of power -- it never "bogged down" when it hit hard dirt or spider web type roots buried in the dirt. Took about an two hours to do 50' x 30'. Did a "cross" pattern as it suggests in the booklet.Tiller Does Bounce up and down. Discovered that occurs when it hits really hard compacted dirt. When this happened, it is best to just quit advancing forward, and also push down on the handle bars to raise the blades slightly, and then lower the handles slowly -- a little at a time -- giving the blades time to break up and loosen the hard dirt. A lot of my yard was very hard and going so slowly giving the blades time to break up the soil really added time to get job done.Hit a few roots about the size of my finger, and the tiller would generally just "hop" over them. Occasionally, it would break a root of that size, but not often. It does not do well in damp or kinda muddy dirt, so avoid those areas when using. A couple of times small roots had to be "unwound" from the blade shaft (note: these roots didn't stop the tiller from working, but removed them as preventative maintenance as instructions suggested)Actually, I was amazed this light weight small tiller is as efficient and effective as it is -- especially for the 150 cost.THE ONLY ISSUE I FOUND: --There is a cut out in the handle for your extension cord to loop thru to make connection to the tillers male a/c plug. The location of where the electrical cable goes thru the handle is right near where the power switch is located -- so, if your wearing gloves (like the instruction books said) it is very difficult to operate the switch. Even without gloves, the power cord still is "in the way" of the power switch. Also, the connection of the power cable from the tiller and the extension cord kept coming disconnected. Finally tied them together in a 'square knot'. That fixed the 'disconnect' issue. Be sure to keep the extension cord AWAY from the blades when your operating the tiller -- it will wind your extension cable up in the blades a heart beat (dont ask how I know)Overall, this little tiller did exactly what I needed it to do. Am very pleased, and think it was well worth the money. Would recommend it very much.

If you're trying to break and read thisAt first I thought this thing was uselesa. I was ready to return it. But after playing around with it a bit and figuring out what worked, I found a technique that made a big difference. Keep in mind, I was trying to till through compacted grass, which is a tall order for a lightweight electric tiller like this.Here’s what worked for me:Keep the wheels down and tilt the tiller back slightly.Start by just scraping the surface, then gradually dig a little deeper.Move forward a couple of feet, rock it side to side, slide it left and right and let it bite into the ground.Then pull it back and go forward again. Pulling it back requires a little muscle.Don’t think of it like mowing. Tink of it like massaging the soil. You’re not doing straight passes; you’re working with the machine to help it dig. On compacted ground, it’ll just skip across the top unless you help it in.It also helps to dig out a scoop of dirt with a shovel in the spot where you are starting to help the tiller get traction and start working through the soil. It also helps to lightly wet the soil just a mist with the hose to get it slightly damp

Used this to till a 20' x 25' garden. It did a great job! In fact, it exceeded my expectations. The ground had been tilled last year but was firmly compacted. In some ways, this little tiller is better than a big rear tine roto-tiller because it is so easy to move. You can just pick it up. More, it's super compact. It had plenty of power for a small garden plot. Ran over it twice as the instructions suggested and it was good to go. Absolutely worth the price.

I'm impressed with the power of this little tller. It cuts through the ground nicely and doesn't get hung up on small rocks or clumps. It goes to a decent depth also and is small enough to fit in small flowerbeds or other such areas. We did a couple of those plus our bigger garden spot that's about 12x20 and it works nicely.The only thing I don't like is that there is one speed only and it's quite fast. It throws a lot of dirt and small rocks back towards you as you use it. It would be nice to be able to slow it down. To combat this I found that pulling it towards you tends to work better than letting it run forward, or you can let it go forward a couple feet then pull it back a foot etc. Overall we like this machine and saved quite a bit over a gas powered one.

Well, I have to admit I did not think this little machine would do as well as it did. We decided to make a small vegetable garden between the house and our fence. Nothing too big but needed something to till it up and prep the area. The size of this was perfect. So easy to use out of the box. Just attach the handles and wheels and ready to go. Took all of 5 minutes. Seems very rugged for its size. I started tilling and it dug right in. This was a somewhat grassy area, so I was not sure it would handle it very well. I watered the area the night before to help soften the soil. It dug right in and did a fantastic job of tilling the area. Was very easy to control and comfortable to handle. It was finished in no time. Raked the area to remove any grass chunks and roots and it was perfect. Highly recommend.