Sun Joe TJ601E Tiller Joe 9-Amp Electric Garden Tiller/Cultivator

We have a small garden and have been using an old gas powered tiller for years. It recently broke down and was going to cost way to much to fix or replace so we started looking into small electric tillers. I did a lot of looking around and I liked the Sunjoe tiller for its width and depth, it was just the size we needed. Prices varied, most places wanted $249 for it plus shipping. I found one here at Amazon for $170 and free shipping. Cant beat that deal. It came yesterday and was very easy to assemble. We took it out to the garden to try it out and this little tiller does the job very well. It is lightweight, and easy to use. It broke up the hardened soil very well. The only drawbacks I can think of is that it does not till very deeply, but we knew its limitations before buying, and of course using an extension cord. I had no problem using it and keeping the cord out of the way, but when my mom tried to use it she ran over the cord and wrapped it all around the tines in less than one minute. The blades do not have a sharp edge on them and did not cut the cord, but even though it unplugged the cord and the motor cut off, it still wrapped the cord around the tines 10 to 12 times before it stopped. Overall I would recommend this tiller for ease of use and price, but it is only for light use, and is not designed for deep heavy tilling jobs on very large gardens, and you must be very careful when using drop cords.

I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive in ordering an electric tiller. But so far, it has exceeded my expectations and chugging along very nicely. I have clay soil and when i first tried it, I thought I had made a horrible mistake. The tines just bounced off the packed clay and it made no progress at all. Turned out, I had just picked a particularly hard spot on my yard to start, and once I powered through that spot, the tiller worked very well. I found that spraying some water first helped as well.So far, I tilled around 2000 sq. ft. of mostly packed clay soil. My backyard was previously sodded and the blue netting keeps getting caught up in the tines but that doesn't seem to slow it down. Some tree roots and larger rocks to get stuck and I have to stop occasionally and dig those out. I don't think the tines spin fast enough to cut through the roots. It may be due to my somewhat wimpy extension cord. Better gauge one might allow the full 9 amp of power.I also found that a slight yawing movement helps cutting through the tough area. Basically, I let the tines spin up, and then lift the handle, allowing the tines to bite in, then I yaw left and right, and alternate that movement with up and down. Once in a while, I lift up the tines completely and let them spin. I think electric motor is cooled by an integrated fan/fin so if you're letting it bog down constantly, it's not spinning fast enough to cool it. So far, no heat-related shutdown at all.I'm about halfway done with my backyard project (breaking up clay on about 3000 sq. ft backyard, tilling in soil amendment and fertilizer, and laying new sod) so I'm hoping it can survive through that because I think the job might be tough enough to break a gas tiller down. For what I paid, I'm not necessarily looking for something to pass down to my kids. If it survives, then I can use it for my vegetable gardens.

I got this Sun Joe tiller thinking that the small garden I have, would be easy to till. I tilled half of it. Then a seal on the gearbox where the tines are broke loose and all the oil came out of the gearbox. Then the tiller didn't have any power at all. Not even if you let it walk by itself. The tines barely turned. So I called the manufacturer. They were very helpful. They sent me another tiller. It only took three weeks to get it. I noticed that the tiller they sent me was used. I didn't expect a used one. So, I tried the (new/used) tiller for ten minutes and it stopped turning. Gears jambed up inside. I could hear the motor humming. WOW, what a waste of money.So, I called to inform the manufacturer. Supprise. No one answers the phone. A message said there is no one available leave your name, phone number and email address. That was it. So, I did. That is where I am now. HahahaI have never had so much trouble with anything as I am having with the Sun Joe Tiller!!!

Powerful little machine! I used this to till in my yard so I could smooth out uneven terrain and try to re-establish my lawn. It worked well, tilling soil to a fine powder that was easy to work with.Cons- lightweight makes it slower to dig deep and allows machine to jump around on really hard soil or when hitting rocks, the handles are very uncomfortable to hold- should be curved or maybe shorter?, a simple on/off switch would be nicer than trying to hold the trigger on.

Love this little tiller. I ordered this tiller to maintain a 20x20 previously tilled garden patch and to start a new 10x8 garden. This tiller works beautifully on previously tilled soil and pretty well on breaking new ground.Keep in mind, this tiller is light weight. This is an advantage in that it is easy to move around. You can simply pick it up and move it to where you want it. However, if you hit rocks and roots, it will bounce. The lack of weight can make it just a bit unruly at times. Nonetheless, I broke some very tough ground and chopped through some 3/4-1" roots with this little machine without too much trouble.It may not outperform the big gas engines, but it is powerful enough for casual gardening, light and easy to move around, quiet, and super easy to use. No more gas, oil, etc.

This is a worthy machine! I waited to post a review until after the season was over.Assembly was fairly straight forward.I first used to it till a12x12 lawn that I wanted to re-seed, plus 12x1.5 of that taken down close to a foot in order to make a stone path. I used it to till my main and side garden, both in the spring and the fall. This unit handled it all, and kicked out stones like a caveman too!My method was basically to go forward to break the soil surface, then pull back on the unit which, when moving backwards, seemed to bite more of the soil (as I've heard from people elsewhere). I'd do this at least two times per row, more if needed. For deeper areas, such as that path mentioned earlier, I'd till back and forth until the soil began to pile up, then I'd shovel that to the side and till deeper. Rinse and repeat until you get your desired depth.My back has thanked me all year long. I have no idea why I didn't pick up a tiller decades ago. I no longer dread having to turn the soil. Having one of these makes you feel like visiting all the neighbours to ask if they have any soil to till. ;)

This is a fine little tiller. The only way anyone would be happy with this item is if they sharpen the curved part of the rotor on it. By doing this you will cut through roots up to 2" thick and larger. Why the company does not do this only they can answer that. Maybe they don't really wont the customer to be entirely happy with there purchase. Be carful not to lug down the motor and make sure you set your drag leg at the proper depth and you will truly be happy with this little 9 AMP tiller! Oh one more thing when you are sharpening your teeth on the rotor do so from underneath in other words the inner edge and drag your grinder out to the end of the tooth wearing safety glasses of course. As far as I can see if this tiller was to come already sharpened and the handle put together it would hands down be the best tiller on the market. I hope you take my advice on these issues for I was raised in a machine shop were common sense plays a huge roll in the building of a product. Troy Built would have you spend well over $2000.00 to get anything comparable. Good luck with your ( AMP 18" tiller.

Purchased this to help dig a trench for putting in a french drain and dry well. Trench turned out to be over 60 feet long with a depth of 12"-16" after several weekends of work (I realize hiring a small backhoe operator would have been the smart thing to do!). The ground was a typical grass lawn with no previous tilling done. The tiller was able to get through the sod without much difficulty. Overall I did about 4 passes to make the drench taking out a several inches each time. The only real difficulty encountered was large rocks, which would occur with any tiller.Installation was pretty straight forward. Once you get the cord hooked properly it stays in the socket pretty good during operation.The tiller is still going strong after putting it through a job clearly outside its parameters. For the price it can't be beat.I strongly suggest cutting the grass to as low as possible prior to tilling. Long grass can get twisted up in the mechanism which might slow performance.

A very nice machine.It's quite light which means it's fairly easy to carry around, but being light means that it tend to skip over harder ground. I followed someone else's tip and pulled the tiller backwards for the hard soil, which really makes it dig in. I tilled over 600 square feet of variable soil in a very short time, and it made light work of weeds and old roots. Even small stones didn't bother it.It has a cut off button on the right hand handle which needs to be pressed in before the power can be applied. When you let go, the machine stops, which is a great safety feature. It also comes with a belt clip to help stop the power cord from getting in the way.It's very powerful, and even looks quite nice :)I would highly recommend it.

This Product is a "Must Have" for all garden lovers.It does a great job on any soil. I shopped around last year and tried this one, and for the price it does a lot more. Awesome.I tilled a lot of 40 ft x 15 ft in few hours. I needed a deeper depth so I re-run the job to the desired depth.I am just waiting for the March - April ( Winter still hangs on)to start early.No minuses as far as I can see., You can fold and store in the Garrage roof when not in use. Absolutely no maintenance.I got used to my 100 ft - 12 guage. Please use the cord as per the specifications.This will be my priceless possession.