VonHaus 2 in 1 Electric Lawn Dethatcher Scarifier & Aerator 12.5 Amp Corded Motor – 15” Working Width, 5 Adjustable Working Depths, 45QT Collection Bag, Folding Handle – for Lawn Health & Maintenance

Pros: I have a bad back, yet I was able to lift this dethatcher, scarifier easily, with one hand. The weight concerned me because. I've rented dethatchers before. They are VERY heavy, and because of it they are dangerous. I'd have to rent or borrow a truck, go to the equipment rental place, pay $85 for a few hours and then do the reverse. I looked for a lawn service to do the work, but no one wanted to do a small job, it wasn't worth it.Surprise, ithe equipment really has little to do with the weight, and much more with ergonomics, sharpness of the tines and blades, ease of turning, and adjustments. And best yet, now I own a practical, effective machine - the VonHaus.I'm always leary about opening boxes and having to put things together with directions that are confusing at best. While I didn't need directions, I referred to them to make sure I had everything lined up. The most detailed directions were for assembling the handle: simple.Ths scarifier blade was already installed, but after I did the job, which I needed the scarifier for, I popped the machine, bottom side up on my workbench and installed the dethatcher tines without directions, so intuitive.Anyway, back to the usefulness. I'm a bit of a fanatic, and, after years of accumulating a lot of buildup of thatch, I pulled out the VonHaus, plugged it in and set the scarifier to a high setting (look it up; I didn't know what a scarifier was for, but it's a deeper cut for more difficult thatch). It was VERY quiet, and I didn't need hearing protection.The first pass, was okay but I needed to keep resetting it with the simple, lever, to a level that worked for me. One go-over, in one direction for the lawn (about 2,000 sf.), and a second in the other direction. Job done. And I don't like bags but I'm glad I bagged this thatch and I was surprised that it was 90% thatch, maybe 10% grass. I had to dump the bag after every 45 - 50 foot pass. Putting the catcher together was a snap!The item is mostly plastic which in no way made it flimsy.Now, my back wawn is mostly shade so there's little thatch and quite a bit of bare ground. I attached the times, and I'm going to go over the lawn at a high setting to merely scratch the surface. Once I've got the earth dug up a but, I can overseed, then go back and hand rake the seed in, or just do another pass with the dethatcher.Lastly, this will hang out of the away. Take down the handles and it can fit in a 36' x 24" space.Cons: if your lawn is not level, the tines or scarifier blades may not reach deep into the lawn surface. I solved this by doing a second or third pass in an opposite direction.Not a con, but as with any bagging item. it's important to watch the bagger and empty it before it gets too full.If you're needing a dethatching for a smaller lawn 5,000 sf +/-, get the VanHaus.

The media could not be loaded. This item was fairly easy to assemble. I had it all together in less than 10 minutes. No tools required for assembly.Its very light weight and very easy to maneuver.Its very fast, I had my blade setting to the lowest hight and was able to arrogate a large part of my lawn in about 15 minutes. I do recomment you use the dethatch attachment first before you arogate your lawn as it moves a lot of the grass our of the way. I made a lot grass trimmings by arogating first. The catch basket will fill up quickly, which is great because you know it's removing a lot of thatches. The motor is very powerful, my grass is old and has been neglected for a long time. The dirt is hard and very compact. I really wasn’t able to snag it up on anything, I wasn’t able to bog it down. It spins fast and hard and moves a lot of air, I’m assuming to cool the motor.The only cons really: depth/height I wish the arogation attachment blades were a bit bigger to penetrate the dirt more. I also wish the catch basket was bigger but this item is so light that it would probably fall over from the weight.The quality is really nice, everything is well designed, its so light that pushing it is easy. Its also very simple in function. It comes with an allen key with a key holder to swap out the attachment between dethatch and arogation. It literally took me less than a minute to switch the attachments.Overall I am very happy with it, I look forward to doing this more often with how light and fast this made the job. Absolutely no buyers remorse.

Good as electric rake; I will try scarifier in fall. I received this a week ago. Assembly was easy and obvious though the instructions were pictorial not words. My main need is for an electric rake though I will try the scarifier this fall. All these products call themselves dethatchers but the highest (least depth) setting serves as an electric rake. I used this on my lawns after mowing them close (still early spring). This unit picked up quite a bit of dead grass and also green grass, which was probably from my mowing (though I used the bag attachment). I was concerned whether this unit would harm the living grass but a week later the lawn looks very good... and I would like to believe the "dethatching" helped. I suspect I could have picked up more detritus by making a second pass but I didn't want to do this first time out. I will try "dethatching" in early spring and end of season and will scarify some sections this fall.I used the bag attachment. It is large enough and lets air through easily. However, clippings bunch up on the forward edge so I ended up emptying the bag about every hundred feet, with the bag maybe 10% full. This was preferable to letting much of the detritus drop back onto the lawn as my goal was to remove it like a rake or vacuum. I was pleased that I could easily remove the bag attachment vertically through the handle frame of the unit so I did not have to stoop down under the handle frame (as I do with my mower).With clippings in the bag the unit is sometimes _BACK HEAVY_ and would fall backwards if I let go of the frame. I don't mind this as I like that the unit is low weight, which is convenient on slopes and hillside.The size of the wheels is good.I found it best to tilt the unit back so the flails don't touch the grass when I start or stop the unit or stand in one place; else it may destroy that area. It would be good to say this in the manual (maybe it does).The manual has a long section on safety, a short pictorial section on assembly, and then basically nothing on operation! I would like to see info about when to use each depth setting... though there are YouTube videos for this generic product.This unit is pricey. It had better last 5+ years or I will be unhappy.I am giving the unit four stars because I have not yet tried scarifying. If I like the scarifying this fall, I may change rating to five stars.Before buying this unit, I bought a unit from a competitor, with more than ten times more Amazon purchases than this unit and 4+ star customer rating, but I received two lemons. The first unit had a broken door panel hinge so I returned it and reordered it. The second unit arrived missing an important plastic part in the sealed bag. I called their support line but they do not supply parts like that to customers. So I returned it and bought this pricier unit instead.FYI, VonHaus sounds like a German make but it comes from Manchester, England. Fine by me as long as it continues to work.I hope this review has been helpful.

Put this together today. It assembled easily, but larger print instructions and diagrams would be helpful. I put the locking levers on 4 ways until I got it correct. It is in the diagram, but a larger picture would have been helpful.The unit certainly seems well made and feels very light.The issue I have with this is that this item is marketed as a Lawn Dethatcher Scarifier and Aerator. It has a dethatch drum and a scarifier drum, but no aeration drum. I thought the picture of the scarifier was an aeration drum, but I guess I could not see the pic clearly enough. There are multiple units available that dethatch and scarify for a lot less money. I have asked for a return because of this.