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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 49 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
78 of 80 found the following review helpful:
 Surprised at how well it performed Apr 11, 2005
By Mike Farris
I had talked myself into buying a small rear-tine tiller (my back cannot take the abuse from a large front-tine version) and then I saw this little gadget for ~$200 less. At first I didn't think there was anyway it would be up to the task, but after a fairly thorough literature and market review I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.
It cut through the sod with no problems as well as a number of finger thick roots. It only bogged down briefly before it spit out a 1/4 of a brick that it dredged up from the soil.
Pros:
Extremely lightweight--I can carry it with one hand
Very maneuverable--should make cultivating an easy chore
Reasonable cost
4-cyle, no gas/oil to mix
Doesn't take up a lot of storage room
Fairly quiet
EASY ON THE BACK
Removeable tines--quick and easy cleaning
Cons:
Small tilling width--takes more time per square foot tillage
Fast idle on running tank dry--SAFETY ISSUE (more on this below)
I was allowing the tank to run dry while I finished the raking and planting. Suddenly the idle began to run up as the tank ran out; when it did the centrifugal clutch engaged and the tiller tried to take off. Admittedly it wouldn't have gone far because it ran out of gas almost immediately after I snagged the handle, but it is something to consider.
Bottom line: I would not want to do a large garden with it. Mine is 5' x 15' and took me about 3 hours to till, rake and plant. At the end of that time I was still in pretty decent shape, pleasantly tired, but not beat up.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
 Easy to operate and assemble Apr 07, 2004
By 4Jacks
My husband bought me this to get a garden ready for spring. He was tired of me complaining about my back from using a shovel. It came with oil, extra wheel and a edge trimmer. It was easy to assemble and start. The wheels adjust easly for the depth you what the tiller to go. It took me about 30 minutes to cultivate the area for my garden. Clean up was a breeze too. The blades are easy to take off and put back on.
31 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Troy-Bilt does the job Apr 22, 2006
By John Kramer
I purchased the Troy-Bilt cultivator after trying a neighbor's Mantis. The Mantis worked but was hard to start and finicky about adjustments, plus it bogged down several times. The Troy-Bilt starts very easily and just never quits. It digs in well and seems to run at a higher speed than the Mantis. It's light-weight and easy to handle, even when digging through sod. To break up a large section of lawn for a garden, a larger roto-tiller definitely is needed, but the little Troy-Bilt will dig up small strips of lawn with little difficulty. I've also noticed in some of the reviews that users complain about difficult starting and needing to empty gas that has been left in the tank for several months. Apparently, some people are not aware that gas goes "stale" after not being used for several months. The problem is that the gasoline additives now in use go bad after a period of storage and this adversely affects the volatility of the gasoline. So when any of these gas-powered tools has been out of use for several months, be sure to empty the old and replace it with fresh gas. That's one nice thing about the Troy-Bilt -- it uses straight gas, so there's no need to mix oil and gas (as in the Mantis).
62 of 69 found the following review helpful:
 Disappointed Jun 04, 2004
By Helen Johnson
Four years ago I purchased a Troy-bilt tiller/cultivator from Lowes' Home Improvement Center. The first spring I was very pleased with it's performance with the exception of a crimped fuel line upon purchase. Second year, starting was very difficult. Required excessive priming and the tines were sluggish in rotating. Third year required putting in the shop because tines would not rotate. Fourth year again, tines will not rotate. I am not disputing Troy-Bilt quality, but disappointed because I love to garden and had hoped this would resolve alot of physical labor for me. Instead my tiller has created more labor, expense in repairs and frustration. I feel Troy-Bilt products are one of the best, but feel I happened upon a lemon. While I don't expect to receive any response, I felt compelled to keep your organization informed on defected products.
22 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Don't waste your money on this machine! Nov 09, 2007
By T. Harper
When considering purchasing this Troy-Bilt gas cultivator last month, I was concerned about the earlier review that cited repeated failures of the recoil starting mechanism. However, because that review was over a year old, I figured that Troy-Bilt would have improved the design by now, and nearly all of the other reviews were quite positive, so I ordered the cultivator. Bad decision. After twenty minutes of use (the cultivator does an excellent job of working the soil), I shut off the machine to clear some debris from the tines. When I tried to restart it, the rope had no spring tension and pulled out to its full length and wouldn't retract. An authorized repair facility told me the spring hadn't been wound tightly enough, so they tightened it and tested the starter several times successfully. I then used the cultivator for a few minutes and assumed the problem had been fixed. Wrong. When I tried to start it for my third session, the starter mechanism failed again in the same fashion. Now I will have to take the cultivator back to the repair facility and hope they will order a replacement part. But even if they replace the part, I don't think I will ever be able to trust this machine to hold up. As an earlier reviewer noted, the Troy-Bilt name doesn't mean what it used to. My father bought me a Troy-Bilt Horse model tiller in the mid-1970s, and I used it extensively for twenty years, then gave it to a friend, who is probably still using it. It's sad that the Troy-Bilt reputation for solid, durable equipment has been tarnished--if not destroyed--by MTD's apparently insufficient commitment to quality.
See all 49 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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