Agri-Fab 45-0365 Push Spike Aerator, 16 Inch Walk Behind Lawn Aerator with 5 Aerating Spikes and 7-Inch Spikes, Steel Weight Tray, 2-1/2 Inches Aeration Depth, for Lawn Care Maintenance

It's a great product for the price. I have a smaller lawn that this works perfect for & more importantly, what it's ment for. I lightly watered the grass 1st, so that the spikes would go in easier. I also added about 25lbs. to the top of the device. I'm in above average shape, but it was a bit tiresome to push, (even for about 10min). I have a Ryobi, 40V, self propelled lawn mower, in which I attached this product to. There were actually (2) holes already in the mower that I was able to utilize with the bolts provided. It worked great to puncture down in grass & top soil, to allow me to overseed. This is not a product your going to purchase, assemble & use if you do not have a general understanding of mechanics. This is also not for you if: 1) you have a large lawn. 2) you don't own a socket set. 3) you can't walk a standard cinder block around for about 10-15min. It works, but it is WORK. The Ryobi lawnmower made it extremely effortless & drastically reduced time.

Details on each score below: -Performance: 4 stars -Ease of assembly: 5 stars -Speed: 1.5 stars -Value for money: 2.5 stars If you have a very small yard, this can be effective and save you money. BUT, to get an effective result, you are going to work your tail off. This arrives in a MUCH smaller box than expected. It was nicely packaged, the parts were all there, and the assembly pretty straightforward with very solid instructions. The results are effective, and I believe that if I can run it through my yard both on the X and Y axis twice a season, it will be a great replacement for plug aeration. Now the not-so-great... This is spray-painted, stamped steel. I would expect to pay $30 for this quality of materials. The handle is at least 12" too short to give effective leverage and the cheap feel really comes through when you try to use it. The bar stock that they use is too small a diameter and there is no form of grip or cushion for the handle. Also, since the handle is three pieces due to the box size, it doesn't feel solid, even when it is torqued down solidly. I'm 6' tall, so not short, but not exceedingly tall. I tried using it without a weight on it, and it is too light to dig into the soil, pushing or pulling. With the cement block on it, pushing it is worse than shoveling heart attack snow. I had to sit down after pushing it less than 50 feet. In this case, pulling the unit instead of pushing it was about the same a pulling a heavy carry on bag through a carpeted airport. I am going to look into putting a longer, cushioned, one-piece side rail on it and playing with the amount of weight on the unit. That won't make the job easy, but I believe it can make it something I can complete without killing myself. If I come up with any handle/weight "hacks," I will add them to the review.

Even after reading the negative reviews, I thought I could make this work. I'm 31 and in decent shape, so I figured it would be easier for me to operate than some others. Technically, it does get the job done. HOWEVER, really is a huge pain to operate. Once I figured out how best to use it and got into a groove, it fell apart. I lost a couple pieces in the process, so I had to rig it back together. After I got going again for awhile and got through maybe half of my front yard (which is maybe a tenth of an acre), I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the effort. Having to attach a cinder block for it to work effectively makes it pretty exhausting to lug around. I saw other reviewers say it works for smaller jobs, but I'd argue you could accomplish the same thing with a garden rake if you're just working on patchy areas. I'd highly recommend passing on this, or shelling out a little extra money for something better.

Assembly is a bit more difficult than I expected. Some of the nuts and bolts are odd sizes, as in they fit together fine, but the nuts seem to require metric tools and the bolts need standard sizes. My kit has both, plus an adjustable wrench, but it's not something you expect. As others have noted, the tray does not fit a standard sized cinder block. You'll need to do something to secure it in place or it will fall out as you wrestle the aerator across the first rough patch of ground. And, as others have said, the lower bolts on the handle need to be put in backwards or you won't even get the cinder block in that far. Once assembled, dragging the aerator across the ground is a workout but not impossible. And it does a surprisingly good job, even on hard packed areas. If you find you're not getting enough effect, try pushing it. If pushing it is too hard (and it is hard), pull it. I would recommend this product for someone with a limited size area needing work, who doesn't plan on aerating that often, and doesn't want the cost and storage headache of a more industrial device. A category I happen to fall in, so this product works fine for me.

First off. If your lazy and don't like to sweat a little bit. DO NOT buy this PRODUCT!! One because I guarantee you will not like it. Period. Using the aerator make sure to pull it behind you and basically walk as if cutting your lawn. 1. The ground can be dry when using this product. Depending on the soil type but this will do the job. The correct weight is everything. The spikes are perfect for cutting through most soils. If you use this after a heavy rain it won't work!!! If the soil is to soft it will sink and will be difficult to pull. So make sure to allow the soul to drain a little and is more firm. 2. Assembly was pretty simple to. Directions need to be tweaked and a little difficult for those not mechanically inclined. I put it together with little use of use of the directions. 3. Before using place aerator in the grass then place the desired weight onto the device and then Guage the depth. You want or would like. The right weight is absolutely everything. 4. Pull Pull Pull this device! Much much easier and requires way way less elbow grease. Pulling from behind saves. Also you won't have to worry about compacting soil just aerated. Trust me. Overall good product for the money definitely! My lawn is close to half of an acre and just walking. Pulling it behind casually, listening to some music is pretty relaxing. But this product gets a thumbs up for sure.

I SO wanted to love this product. I have been using powered aerator machines for many years. But those are heavy, and can be back-breaking while repeatedly pulling up, turning around, and pushing down. And I've always felt that the spike holes in the lawn are unnecessarily large. Nevermind the hassle of renting the machine at the right time, as well as loading/unloading those heavy beasts. The Agri-Fab manual push aerator seemed like the perfect solution. It's lightweight, I can conveniently grab it from the garage at any time, and it slices numerous small narrow slits in the lawn. Sounds great so far! But it simply requires too much exhausting, muscle-straining, body-breaking work. I tried it on moist lawn, dry lawn and wet lawn. With some weight, lots of weight, and no weight. Pushing it, pulling it, and flipping it over. It did work when I pushed it with moderate weight added. But after only a few feet, I was ready to call a chiropractor. I have a very small yard, but it would likely take an entire summer to complete a single pass over the entire lawn. This product might work better if the handle was longer and designed to provide the operator with more leverage. As is, using a motorized aerator from the nearest rental store is still less hassle and I inflict less damage to myself. At this point I'm stuck with the product, since I waited too long before attempting to return it. Maybe there's a neighborhood kid I can pay to take a run at it ...

I have a fairly small yard; about 1/8 acre. I needed to aerate the yard before I could plant grass seed, but don’t have storage for a big electric aerator. Renting one from a hardware store costs $60-100, so I figured I’d at least try this. I loved it! Assembly was super easy, took maybe 30 minutes. Keep in mind you will need some kind of wrench or ratchet. The suggested cinder block didn’t weigh enough though, so I just added a small bag of gravel that I had laying around, bungee corded it to the aerator so that it wouldn’t fall off, and I was set! All in all it took me about two hours. I second one persons comment; definitely pull it!! Pushing was impossible! Overall very happy with the product; we’ll see how well the grass grows though.

This Agri-fab Spike Aerator works but it takes a bit to get use to it. You must be able to Follow pictorial illustration to proper assemble this unit. Studying the instuctions before Assembly. This unit is "designed" to be used with a cinder block. The added weight helps The tines penetrate the soil. The bolts that hold the handles are pushed through with Heads on the outside and threaded part on the inside with wing nuts. THERE IS A PROBLEM here. With these bolts facing toward the middle it will be physically impossible To fit the cinder block on the tray above the tines. I had to put bolt heads in the middle facing outward to get the block between the handles. The tray measures 7.5 inches by 15.5 inches. The typical cinder block measures 8 inches high, 8 inches tall and 15.5 inches long. (All the Time I am thinking, did the person who designed this actually put one together----I DON'T SO.) IF YOU DECIDE TO GET ONE OF THESE MAKE SURE THE LAWN IS WET BEFORE USE. IT WILL MAKE THE USING IT MUCH EASIER. I TRIED IT ON DRY HARD CLAY SOIL AND IT DID NOT PENETRATE VERY WELL. WITH DAMP SOIL IT WILL WORK BETTER. This thing Can be pushed or pulled. For best results it needs to be pushed. Be prepared for a good Work out you will get you cardio and leg exercise using this unit. This unit weighs 16.5 Lbs and a cinder block 28 lbs., So you will be pushing or pulling nearly 46 lbs. When using this take frequent breaks, drink plenty of water and take care to watch your feet. Do try to use flip-flops or sandles when using this. I wore boots when using it.

Es una herramienta manual, eso significa que hay que ejecer algo de presion para lograr una mejor perforacion en la tierra, mas si la tierra esta un poco dura Cuenta con una base, donde se puede hacer presion, aunque tambien se puede uno ayudar amarrandole algo pesado, lo cual, sin duda, va a facilitar el trabajo Funciona correctamente y se logra airear la tierra. En mi caso el pasto estaba poniendose un poco amarillo y despues de utilizar esta herramienta, logre que el riego mejorara y que el agua penetrara mejor en la tierra. Ahora el pasto se ve mejor, recupero su color verde

Great quality

Works well, a bit hard to push, but it’s OK

Easy to assemble and better than my last aerator

As a person reading this review the goal is to understand if this will work for your yard. I can say for my 12k sf yard I pushed this through and it did a great job of breaking up soil, particularly I'm dead spots due to pee. Pushing requires practice to get the right downward pressure without coming to a stop, but I found it less tiring that loading 2x25L bags of soil on top, which worked much better than the cinder block. It is work vs a powered machine. Ground must be have sufficient moisture / not granular for holes to form properly.