Thanks for making this video...very informative. Looks like it may have been a display unit in a store.

We switched to a Ryobi lawn mower last year & it did take a few re-charges to get through our whole lawn, but we love it (& it's so much lighter if you're older & don't want to have to worry about the weight of a lawn mower).

Love mine

It may sound stupid, but zip tying a brick on top of the business end of it would solve the problem with lack of weight.

You installed the movable handle is upside down. The curve is to cause your second (force) hand to center as you put pressure on it. You also want to move the handles as far apart as you can comfortably use them. The handle with the power switch is essentially a fulcrum on a second class lever, which means the setup is a force divider, and the divisor is the distance between the handles, dividing into the total length of the tool. I'll tell you at the end why they build garden power tools this way. Same principle applies to rakes, hoes, etc., unless you fix the center, and use the end hand for force, so it's first class, but that's hard to do, and operate a power switch at the same time. It's also hard to do with a rake or hoe, and still pull or push it, so they end up second class levers in most uses, as well. FWIW, you really want the power switch in the center, but that's hard to design and make the center handle movable.

I just got one and my garden is a jungle and hard earth but damn that one is a beast.

It works well on small areas and working among existing plants. It may take a couple of seconds to break through compact soil but it will cultivate quite quickly. Due to its size it doesn’t like lots of roots and thick weeds as they’ll get caught between the blades and you may need to stop and remove them. In summary it’s a handy tool for small areas and easy to use.

Very helpful video! I need something small like this because I just cannot keep up with the weeds in my various garden areas. When I was a lot younger I could handle crawling around and pulling them all out but that ship sailed a long time ago. I have several of the Ryobi battery powered tools and would like to share an aid for older hands trying to heft out the battery while pushing down on the release button--frankly, my thumb simply didn't have the strength to push the lever down long enough for my fingers to grasp and pull the heavy battery up. My solution was to wrap a wide grosgrain ribbon (it's a ribbon made of a much thicker fabric, about 3/4" wide) around the battery in a loop--the loop should go under the battery and then up around the tall sides to the top. Now all I've got to do is slip the fingers of my non-dominant hand under the top loop and then squeeze the release lever with the thumb of my dominant hand while pulling up on that ribbon. Sounds a bit silly, but it really works. Oh--you wrap the ribbon around the battery before you slide it into the machine.

Always fully charge a brand new battery before first time use for longer life.

Thanks for review ! Bought a Mantis about 15-years ago (personal opinion), biggest pc. of $350 junk I ever bought, the Mantis engine and carb are crap ! Thought about one of these battery models for the wife's raised beds, believe you convinced me as this will be something she can manage also without dragging the tool box out to the garden to keep it running long enough to till a bed.

Just bought me one today. I line mine too

thank you very much that was useful how long does the battery last?

I’m in Sussex England & have an allotment for vegetable growing. The soil here is very heavy clay & right pig to dig at times, especially when let. I’ve been looking at this more compacted light weight tillers to help turn the soil over. I might give it a punt

I've been buying Ryobi products from Direct Tools for a few years. They are the clearance unit of the parent company, TTI. I've bought both reconditioned and blemished items. The recons are often in a generic brown box and some of the "blemished" items appear new and unopened. I suspect they are just overstocks labeled this way to clear them out. I've had no problems with Direct Tools.

There was a news article about stolen merchandise by truckload. And i know it happens allot since i am in the trucking business. Those products got to end somewhere.

Did you or anyone try the brick on top theory to see if the tool dug down more quickly? If so, did the tool bog down or burn through batteries? I have a bunch of soil that needs turning over and I'm debating renting something bigger vs taking longer to do with this tool or just using a shovel and rake and really getting the job done right. I own the Ryobi edger that goes with this same 18v one-plus batts and for my purposes it's great and in terms of the One-plus system I do like all of the one-plus options from vacuums to insect zappers, etc, that for a very reasonable cost you can use the batts for. I think Milwaukee or that level is where I'm headed on drills, saws, etc, but for "this" level of work, I'm digging (pun intended) the ryobi. Thx! Good call doing both the grass and pre-worked earth on camera - very helpful to see the difference.

Good lord! It was $350 new for me.

good for weeds?

Just add a 5lb weight ...tie it around the bar , and duct tape it to the top front of the body of the machine

Cultivator and a tiller are two different things

The gas tiller looks like it's probably a two stroke, and it's had ethanol "enriched" gas run through it. The seals and diaphragms in the carburetor are likely rotted or cracked just like the primer bulb and fuel lines were. Even if it's a four stroke, most small lawn equipment doesn't get along with ethanol gas.

Seriously, 2 screws a challange?

My tines will not go on no matter what I do

This is painful to watch. You need to charge batteries before using it. Your using a cultivator where you need to use a rototiller.