Sun Joe Corded Electric Garden Tiller & Cultivator with Steel Tines, TJ604E

I own a SunJoe lawn dethatcher/scarifier, an extension pole saw that you can remove the pole and have about a 13 amp 8" chain saw (it's awesome and then some). So, I decided this was a perfect tool to add for minor landscaping. Like the other two items, this had ample power to do the job without a hint of stress on the electric motor. It was easy enough to control, although I should have taken down the lattice first. I was going to try and just till down about 2 inches, but this thing was so easy to use it was difficult not to go down 6-8 inches or more. I'd allow the tiller to go forward a bit, then pull backwards and it dug into the soil with ease. I went back and forth a few times to really loosen the soil in our front flowerbed. Then I stood back and leveled the soil the best I could, and then used a 4x4 to pack the soil back in case it rained. Just like the dethatcher and pole saw, this worked very well. I cannot stress enough how important it is to use the correct size extension cord. Take the dethatcher for example. I follow a guy on YouTube that does professional landscaping and he wanted to make a video about this SunJoe dethatcher and aside from the very undersized catch bag, he loved this. He used it on several lawns in a professional manner, than started loaning it out to anybody and everybody in the area that wanted to use it. It worked flawlessly until #15. He left the dethatcher out on the driveway with the correctly rated extension cord. When he got home, the person took the dethatcher and left the extension cord, and the tool came back with a burnt out motor. I have a degree in electronics and I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that the person used an extension cord that was not rated for the 13.5 amps and burned the motor out. The extension pole saw...equally amazing. We had a hardwood tree in our back yard that was dying, and parts of the limbs were dead on the ends, and hanging over places like the shed, fence, and neighbor's shed and swing, so I had to remove the limbs carefully. My neighbor came over to give me a hand and with ropes and cuts and pulling, we were able to bring down the limbs without damage to anything besides dents in the lawn. He said he'd come back the following day with a gas chain saw to help cut the rest of the tree up. He went to borrow his dads chain saw, but it wasn't running at the time so he went and bought at 45cc Craftsman gas powered chainsaw. This 45cc gas chainsaw bogged down repeatedly, so once he had to leave, I pulled the SunJoe saw back out and went to work. The SJ saw never showed any stress with the cuts, even when I was using the 8" bar to cut through 14" hardwood making long cuts. Judging by the number of times I've refilled the bar oil lube container, I've probably used the saw for 5-6 hours of non-stop cutting time. That saw is a little beast. If the motor on this tiller is equal to those other two, this tiller will be powerful enough to do any job you need. It's not as big or heavy as a gas powered unit, but it's so much easier to use. Throw in the hassle of renting one at a big box store, the wait, the paperwork, loading, driving home, cleaning up, returning, waiting, unloading, etc. This little tiller is a great investment. If you're going to use this for tilling anything of decent size, be sure to do so after a rain or after watering the ground. Trying to till compacted and dry soil is tough. I tilled my 5,000 sq. ft. front yard with a big box rental tiller and made the mistake of doing it compact and dry soil, and the tines just skipped over the surface kicking up dust. It was a big learning lesson...

Just got it, I'll say I'm impressed with the feel and power, no problem with the order, easy to put together. My husband who was skeptical was impressed as well. No replacing carburetors or engines, and pulling till you have blisters on your fingers. For me it is just right, my garden beds are a few feet away from my house and my garden beds have soft soil, I think it will work well on new ground too. I'm excited to put Ole Joe to work. I was also impressed with the weight, thought it might be too light and bouncy on the ground but not so. Not heavy so a small woman can handle it.

If there had been a video, you would have laughed at me. I did. I received this, unpacked and attached the handles with the provided hardware. The clips that hold the wire are useless. I don't know what I will do to fix that problem but won't be using the clips. The issue is they are too hard to get on the handle, in fact, impossible for me with small (carpal tunnel) hands. Another person tried and failed as well. After putting together, I pushed the button and away this thing went. I would describe it as me holding on to a large-size dog on a leash. It didn't get away from me but I definitely had to keep hold of it. I am not sure of how good it would have done starting from scratch with all the grass and grass roots but now that it is tilled, I know I will have no problem at all keeping my garden tilled with this from year to year. I am disappointed that I didn't have more to till. It was FUN. I put the extension cord over my shoulder as I worked with the tiller. It did fall out a couple of times so maybe later I will try to spread the inputs a bit. I did buy a $50 75ft extension cord which I will use with this and other things (it was a needed buy). I like that it is electric rather than gas. Using the tiller was a blast. I am an over-50, five foot tall, and not a lot of strength female. My garden is in the ground, not above ground in zone 6b. It had been roughly tilled a month earlier by a family member with a mower attachment. So the ground was packed back down from several heavy rainstorms. The method I was using, that worked for me, was letting it go forward and then dragging it backward some. It bit down in the dirt with ease and was easy to use after I got the back of it (where the spring is) adjusted to the middle rung from down on the bottom rung. That was a bit of a struggle but doable. I am assuming it was that way for shipping purposes because using it on that setting did not work well at all. I would recommend this for people who are not mechanically inclined such as myself, backyard gardeners who don't want to rent or store equipment, and for those who like to do things themselves. And also for people who are smaller and/or cannot operate big equipment. I am very happy with this purchase and cannot wait "to tear the yard up" again this fall to put things to bed and next year preparing to plant.

It does a great job as a tiller. Really chews through the soil easily. It;s quite sturdy. Just watch out for rocks! I did learn how to remove the blades (it's easy) to remove a large rock. So go through your soil first with a shovel. The cons? The wheels are far too small, and make it a pain to move through the yard, even when you put it in the position designated for moving the machine. I used a dolly to move it, which brings me to the 2nd thing - why is the handle so short? It's like they designed it for kids instead of an adult. I'm only 5'6", and it's awkward for me. Lastly, the clips they send to attach the wire to the handle. How on earth are you supposed to fit those little things on the handle? I used zip ties. The assembly was fairly easy.

Long story short: This tiller exceeded my expectations in pretty much every way. It’s lightweight but grabs the earth and digs well, plus it’s easy to maneuver (aside from constantly adjusting the extension cord). The plastic does feel flimsy - especially the handle to pick the unit up, but it held up fine and might even make it more comfortable to use. Bricks and rocks didn’t break it (yet?) and it was nice to start/stop easily without restarting a gas engine. For the price, I couldn’t be happier! Short story long: I tried it out the day it arrived to till a 30’ x 50’ portion of my back yard for grass seed (it was compacted by heavy equipment a year ago, and has only grown weeds since). The soil was a mix of clay and sand, riddled with baseball size rocks, and had a few surprise bricks buried beneath as well. I managed to get a full brick jammed in the machine, and hammered it out with another brick - it took a couple minutes to free - but the tiller worked fine afterwards. A rock bent a tine into the gear housing on one occasion too, but I was able to bend back the tine by hand (I did unplug it first ;-) with no permanent damage to the machine. I made a forward and reverse pass for each row, then made another forward/reverse pass at 90 degrees across the 30’ x 50’ space. I only went around 5” deep or so, but it was quick and easy. Plus I’m no muscle man, so I was impressed by how well it worked without beating me up. Considering the only other tillers I’m familiar with start at prices 30x this, I never expected it to work so well! The cost of this tiller is less than what I would have paid for a larger rental (if one was ever available on a nice day to till), and being electric I don’t have extra maintenance to store it safely for the next season. It won’t replace a commercial unit in longevity or handle large areas quickly like a PTO driven tiller, but it seems like it’s a great fit for homeowners with occasional tilling chores. (I plan to till the path for a walkway I’m building to make the digging/shoveling much easier). I will update this review if/when I get the chance to till into some established sod or if anything changes, but so far I would at least recommend this to anyone looking to re-till a garden or break up soil that has been compacted like I did. If you’re on the fence, go for it! The cost isn’t much more than a couple good shovels ... and it’s a lot more fun!

This surpised me so much on how well it worked. I'm a cheap guy and have a hard time spending money. For a bit I was using a pick to break up the dirt in my yard, However, If you live in Anderson, SC... You know that the Red dirt is a pain in the butt to break up. I Honestly couldn't afford to rent any kind of equipment to make it easier and Honestly hated yard work in general because of it. I heard about this tiller on YouTube and heard nothing but good reviews. I figured I had to give it a shot. It got delivered, put it together (5-minute assembly), made sure I filled out the warranty an took it outside. I plugged it in and long and behold... My dirt was easily broken up. For the first time, I didn't want to stop working. I wanted to keep breaking up dirt, like it was my therapy. The torque on this thing gave my forarms a workout. I've seen people put pavers on top of the tiller to keep it from jumping around but I have not had a huge issue. If you do Buy this, Make sure you cut the grass or weeds before breaking up the dirt. High grass will get tangled up in the blades. This thing can also be tricky to store. I Usually unbolt the handles and store it in my small shed but if you have a huge storage space, you have nothing to worry about. Overall 9/10.

I've never owned any kind of automated tiller before, although I rented a gas powered one once. This thing is easy to assemble (although one of the two wire clips on the handle was oddly difficult to attach), very light, easy to use, and super effective/powerful at digging up soil. I never heard of "Sun King" before so I was a little apprehensive, but so far I'm extremely happy with this purchase.

I am a 60 year-old disabled woman trying to maintain my flower and vegetable gardens on my own. I am no longer capable of dealing with heavy equipment. For several years I owned a gasoline powered tiller but I find it a hassle to purchase and mix gasoline and oil plus perform annual maintenance. I am finding electric powered tools to be a great solution. When this electric tiller arrived, I pulled it out of the box and assembled it in just a few short minutes. The only assembly necessary is to attach the two parts of the handle. They slide together effortlessly and are held in place with large, easy to use bolts. No tools required! You will need a good extension cord to operate this product. Most people can get away with a 50’ cord. Because my yard is very large, I needed a 100’ extension cord. I purchased a very heavy cord that was recommended to operate the tiller properly. The cord cost more than half as much as the tiller, but I will be able to use it for all of my electric tools so I considered it a good investment. Just realize that the cord does not come with the tiller and if you don’t already have one it will be an added expense. After rolling the tiller to the garden, it was a simple task to reposition the wheels to the tilling position. The machine was simple to start. I hold down a start button with my thumb and pull a trigger with my finger. The machine immediately starts up. I remove my thumb from the start switch and the tiller continues running until I release the trigger. It took only a few minutes to turn over an 8’ x 8’ section of soil in my vegetable patch and make a nice deep garden bed in which to plant tomatoes. My garden is full of stones but they didn’t pose a problem. In another area of my yard, I used the tiller to dig a section of lawn that had not previously been plowed. I did not remove the grass first. The tiller had no problem cutting through the grass and digging into the ground. This machine has a convenient handle and is lightweight enough for me to lift it if I need to. It’s easy to maneuver from place to place. When running, it is easy to control. Unlike larger rototillers I don’t feel like I am fighting with it. I am controlling the tiller. The tiller is not controlling me. The price of this tiller was very reasonable, and it won’t require annual maintenance at additional cost. It is not an “investment” tool that I’ve paid a ton of money for expecting to get 10 or 20 years of service from. If I have to toss this machine in a few years and buy another, well, the low price will allow me to do that without too much pain. This machine is not built for daily or commercial use. But for a backyard gardener who will use it a few times a year, it’s a handy tool to have. It’s a great solution for women who don’t want the hassle of dealing with heavier and more complicated “man tools.”

Opening the package everything was jumbled around. I noticed that there was a supplied 500w 120v to 230v transformer in the box. This is not suitable as by my calculations this rotates it requires at least over 1600watts. A small inverter would not be powerful enough to run the rotavator. It's also a point of failure. I don't see it lasting very long. If you're from the UK / euro I would avoid buying this. We've started the return process. We're very disappointed as it was a long wait for delivery.

I ordered this after reading most of the reviews on it. I bought a few Sunjoe products and I've been happy with the quality and performance of all of them so far. I like that all the packaging inside is cardboard, and easy to recycle. I plugged it in taking care to use a good heavy extension cord as it recommends, of course. This machine is a beast! It chewed through some hard ground with medium sized rocks in it that hadn't ever been tilled and was nearly impossible to put a shovel into. I had a 10x20 ft plot fully tilled to a beautiful powder consistency within about 15 minutes and right to its maximum depth about 8 in"! It hit a few tree roots, the smaller ones of which it just broke up no problem, a few of the larger ones I had to stop and unwind them from the tines but that's to be expected. The handles and height are very comfortable and make it easy to control the tiller moving forward and backward. The weight of the unit compared to some other small tillers I think really helps it dig into the ground. My ground included quite a few clay sand and small rock clumps that were hard to break up with a shovel. This guy just ate them like it was no problem at all. Impressive. I 100% recommend this unit for anyone that's got a small garden area to till and wants a machine that puts maximum effort in. You won't be disappointed!

For the cost of renting a tiller for the day (+ delivery charge) owning one outright made sense for 200 bucks. Easy to assemble and disassemble if you want. The arms breakdown into 2 separate sections making the unit about the size of a toaster oven if storage is an issue. Works pretty decent tearing up the lawn to make a garden bed. Hit an old tree stump and shrugged off. I ran it through my other garden from last season and it tore it up like butter. It's pretty light and easy to control. Not having an issue at all getting straight lines. I thought the rear wheels seemed a bit lightweight when I was rolling the unit without power but really they're more of a guide and your main wheel is tiller itself so they work well once the unit is running Arrived a day early too so that was a bonus. Pretty happy with it.

Having used several gas tillers over the years I would say that this electric one is adequate. Weaknesses that I observed were that the handle should have been one piece as the two piece felt flimsy and flexed under torque. Not having the rear spur to hold the tool down means that the tiller would jump out of its trench and requires some strength to use. Overall, worked fine and no dealing with gas, carburetors, or starter cords.

Every year is the same struggle at the beginning of growing season ... digging out dense roots that have taken over our small garden and 2 above ground gardens that we grow tomatoes in. Below the surface our gardens are essentially a giant brick of roots. A few months ago I was wondering if there was such a thing as a mini rototiller ... something that was small enough to be used in the above ground gardens. It turns out that there's loads of them. I wish I had known this years ago. I did my due diligence and this rototiller scored high. Today was the day that I put it to use. I have to say that the results were incredible. Beyond all expectations. I can't believe how much time and energy this machine is going to save me every year. It's a little hard on the wrists when the roots are really dense, but overall it's pretty easy to use. One of the fears I had was how far it would be tossing the soil around. It wasn't bad at all. The only issue, which exists with all rototillers, is that you have to cut all the roots away from the blades. I just used a small kitchen knife. I actually spent as much time digging the roots away from the blades as I did using the rototiller. Bottom line is, I couldn't be happier. I highly recommend this rototiller, especially if you have a densely rooted garden or above ground garden.