Sun Joe 24V-X2-DTS15 Scarifier and Dethatcher Kit, 5-Depth Positions, 15-inch, Brushless Motor, w/ 2 x 24-V 4.0-Ah Batteries and Dual Port Charger

Every few years my neighbor and I rent a dethatcher to do our lawns and inevitably the thing is too powerful and rips the heck out of the grass until we get it set up correctly and then it pulls us across the lawn and you fight with it for a few hours and are beat by the time you are done. This unit is lighter and easier to control around the yard. The height adjustments make is super easy to dial in the setting you need and away you go.This is well worth the money and being a corded electric unit you can go all day without having to recharge a battery or worry about low/slow performance. We did find that the storage capacity of the bag is quite small and wound up leaving it off as it would fill after a pass or two. Using this to dethatch and then raking or blowing the dead grass into a pile is the way to go.The scarifier is a great attachment as well. It helps to loosen up the soil and areas of thick thatch. It also did a good job of loosening the top layer of soil where we needed to plant some new seed. All in all, this will definitely pay for itself by the end of next season.

I wish I could give this 6 stars!When I put this together yesterday I was apprehensive. The handle felt cheap. It went together cheap. I know I can fix the handle if need be, but I don't much care for thinking about it when I'm putting together brand new things.Once everything was together, however, it felt ok.It came with the scarifier installed, so I had to switch that out. It would have saved me an extra trip to the tool room if I'd known it was a 10mm bolt. If it says so anywhere, I missed it. So keep a 10mm socket or wrench handy. Switching it out for the dethatcher was simple and easy.Now, my lawn isn't pretty. In fact, I've been fighting with it off and on for about a year now. It finally occurred to me it needs dethatching, so here we are. If it has ever been dethatched, it was a long, long time ago.Due to the current heat wave I had about 1 1/2 hours between melting and darkness to take care of business. After mowing the lawn I brought out the dethatcher.It's not self propelled, exactly, but it does tend to pull itself forward just by the way it operates. If my lawn were flat I would have had no trouble at all moving it around, however medium-ish dips and bumps would block its progress. I had to twist it a bit to get it to continue. Not really a big deal, and certainly not a problem with the design. Sure, you could maybe trim some of the plastic off the front to minimize this problem, but that would leave exposed quickly rotating pointy sharp things, which is a bad idea. Next time I'll carry a bucket of dirt with me and use this as an opportunity to even out the lawn somewhat.The instructions say to walk this forward and go over the lawn in an orderly, once-over type fashion. That's probably the best way to do it.For most folks.I, however, didn't have much time for such things, nor is my lawn orderly, either by condition or shape or anything.So at times I used this more like a vacuum cleaner.I also didn't use the bag. I followed the advice of other reviewers here and used my mower to clean up.A wise move.Mowing my front lawn typically fills my bin half way. After using this, and going over the lawn again with the mower, I nearly filled two bins.Maybe you won't have that problem. Maybe your lawn has been cared for properly. Mine hasn't.It's something to be aware of. Aside from the thought of emptying the dethatcher bag every 30 seconds, I've filled my green and trash bins, and that was with just my front yard. My back yard is over twice as big, so any more work of this nature is going to require trash bags or my neighbor's bins. If you have limited means of disposing or storing cut grass, you want to plan your lawn care schedule accordingly.Despite the instructions warning against going bagless, it worked fine. I didn't feel anything get thrown at me, but then I was wearing shoes and jeans. If you're doing your yard work in a Borat Mankini your mileage will vary...just please don't be my neighbor.One of the reasons I bought this over the other brands is the switch. The safety switch on the competition looked very awkward, and the reviews confirmed that. I'm not interested in awkward, and when it's too much of a hassle to operate the switch folks tend to leave the gear running rather than fight to turn it on again, which makes things LESS safe. It's like requiring a password that's so 'secure' and complex you pretty much have to write it down to remember it, making it less secure than requiring something simpler.This switch isn't terrible. In fact, I got used to it quickly, so I didn't have any problems.One huge pet peeve of mine is equipment that doesn't work for tall folks. I'm 6'4", and I can't tell you how many times I've had to stoop and slouch just to work with stuff designed for 'normal' people only. I was a little concerned about this.I didn't have to worry. No slouching or crouching was required. This makes me VERY happy!The height adjustment on this works wonderfully. It's simple, easy, and solid.Highly Recommend!

I bought this machine to make de-thatching and raking my lawn easier. This machine works great and does the job. I only used the spring/dethatcher cylinder so far.The good: very easy to use, light and maneuverable, easy to adjust, gets the dead grass out, price is on the high side of reasonable.The not so good: Cord gets in the way (expected bc it's a corded machine), bag is small and practically useless, machine is a bit flimsy, dust and grass gets into the motor as the cooling air intake to the motor; located at the front left, is too low and not well designed.I definitely recommend this little machine but one may want to take apart the housing and get all the dead/dried grass from around the motor, every so often, or it may cause malfunction or even catch fire if the intake becomes clogged and the motor overheats.I would give it a 5, but the intake design is not great for me.