Cheap Scarifier?

[Garden Shed Projects]

Not woodworks but it is tools. Does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap mains powered lawn scarifier or ones to avoid. Been looking at Ferrex from Aldi but Screwfix, Homebase, Toolstation, Amazon etc seem to have a variety for around the £100 mark.

Any thoughts?

 

[gcusick]

I’ve had an Einheil one for a few years, but really only used once or twice a year. Does our ~200m^2 lawn in a couple of hours, including raking up the debris. It comes with a collection bag that I’ve never used - it would be full in seconds!

 

[Geebee]

I have the bandq Mac Allister scarifier/raker. It's sturdy enough for my needs. As gcusick said, the collection bag is pretty useless and fills up within seconds.
Only thing I would check is that you can get replacement tines as they break over time.
I found this place only eBay that sells tines for most brands.
https://ebay.co.uk/usr/powertoolcentre

 

[mikej460]

The cheap ones are the best value, just remove the collection bag and rake up the heaps of dead grass as said above

Which? recommend Lidl's Parkside Scarifier £69.99 but it's not on offer at the moment and £120 on eBay

They also rate (81%) the Mac Allister MSRP1800 Raker and Scarifier Average price £63

I would look at other models to see if they could be a rebadged version of the Parkside or Mc Allister

 

[dickm]

If you have a rotary mower, you can get scarifier blades for them; I actually keep a very old Hayter just for that purpose.

 

[TheUnicorn]

I have a mantis, which runs on petrol, has interchangeable heads that act as edger / scarifier / rotivator / aerator and does a pretty good job but is horrible to use - it stinks (petrol and oil fumes get into your clothes) and it shakes you to the bones as you wrestle it across the lawn (backwards, as this gives best results).

I also picked up a mains powered flymo scarifier for £20 second hand a few years ago, which doesn't scarify anything like as deep, I have to empty the basket all the time but as a plus is a lot easier and nicer to use.

 

[eribaMotters]

Late 2019 we bought a mains powered VON HAUS 1500W LAWN RAKE AND SCARIFIER. We read lots of reviews and it came out very highly across many reviews. It is easy to use, lightweight and powerful. It coped easily with preparing our 70 x 45 ft front garden ready for planting into a wild flower meadow. this basically meant dragging everything out until we ended up with basically earth.

Colin

 

[mikej460]

Late 2019 we bought a mains powered VON HAUS 1500W LAWN RAKE AND SCARIFIER. We read lots of reviews and it came out very highly across many reviews. It is easy to use, lightweight and powerful. It coped easily with preparing our 70 x 45 ft front garden ready for planting into a wild flower meadow. this basically meant dragging everything out until we ended up with basically earth.

Colin

How did the wild flower meadow turn out?

 

[Sandyn]

Couldn't find a mains version.

 

[ian33a]

We have a Bosch scarifier.

We've had various other ones of the years and the biggest let down has always been the collection system. Our lawns create a lot of thatch and moss and the collectors have always either failed to collect properly or fill up in 30 seconds or so.

The Bosch unit has a decent sized collector and most of what is created ends up getting in there.

I think our model is super-ceded with this one now Bosch 06008A6273 Rotak 36 R Electric Lawnmower (1350 W, Cutting Width 36 cm, in Carton packaging) : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

Couldn't find a mains version.
View attachment 134101

What time can you come round? I have about 400 sq m to do?

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

Looks like I need to seek out the best deal. Macallister looks good and the Einhill one at Wickes may be worth a look. Might have to get off my ar5e at the weekend and try a few on for size.

Thanks all

 

[eribaMotters]

How did the wild flower meadow turn out?

Mike,
it turned out nicely. First photo was June 2020, second June 2021. It get cut once a year, November when everything has died off. It does take a fair while to strim and then give a high cut.
Third photo shows what will be our next meadow. We've bought a bungalow in Devon and the side garden is a bit bigger than planned at 50m in width. It will get a similar treatment along with planting a small orchard.

Colin

 

[mikej460]

Mike,
it turned out nicely. First photo was June 2020, second June 2021. It get cut once a year, November when everything has died off. It does take a fair while to strim and then give a high cut.
Third photo shows what will be our next meadow. We've bought a bungalow in Devon and the side garden is a bit bigger than planned at 50m in width. It will get a similar treatment along with planting a small orchard.

ColinView attachment 134111View attachment 134112View attachment 134113

Thanks Colin that looks great. We are planning to sow a wild flower meadow in our orchard. I've been pondering how to remove the lawn grass without leaving any clippings. I was resigned to hiring a turf cutter but if scarifying works this well I'll give it a go.

Which seed mixture did you use? Apologies if I'm going a bit off piste from the OP.

Mike

 

[Sheptonphil]

I was resigned to hiring a turf cutter but if scarifying works this well I'll give it a go.

Mike

Unless the turf is new, cut very short, and your soil is very light and perfectly flat, don’t bother with a hired turf cutter. Absolute waste of time. Really hard work for an hour to achieve such a patchy result that took further two hours to clean up manually. I’d have been better off hiring a mini digger with driver and have him scrape the surface.

 

[Sandyn]

What time can you come round? I have about 400 sq m to do?

Unfortunately, I'm washing my hair today.

 

[fenhayman]

Is hiring feasible?

 

[Seve88]

I bought a Ferrex one three years ago. It had a combined rake and scarifier cartridge. Last year it burnt out. Only time I've had to use the Aldi three year warranty. They collected it and refunded me, so two years of free scarifying.

Bought the latest Ferrex one a couple of months ago. Feels better and has interchangeable scarifier and rake cartridges. Used it last week and seems a little better than the old one. Good enough for me but never used anything more expensive to compare to.

As above, the grass collection box is useless and fills within seconds.

 

[Tris]

Make sure you get one with solid steel tines, not spring steel. Adjust the height down until the tines are just touching the soil and leave the box off. If it's the first time doing it hire a petrol one and have a couple of ton bags at the ready.
Wolf tools or alko are a good bet. Not cheap though

 

[robgul]

I bought a Ferrex one three years ago. It had a combined rake and scarifier cartridge. Last year it burnt out. Only time I've had to use the Aldi three year warranty. They collected it and refunded me, so two years of free scarifying.

Bought the latest Ferrex one a couple of months ago. Feels better and has interchangeable scarifier and rake cartridges. Used it last week and seems a little better than the old one. Good enough for me but never used anything more expensive to compare to.

As above, the grass collection box is useless and fills within seconds.

I just placed an order for the Ferrex - on the basis of the 3 year warranty and using it twice or thereabouts per year on our 100m3 of lawn . . . if it blows up in April 2025 it'll be going back for a refund

As an aside, have to say the few cheapie/non-critical tools I have from ALDI have been pretty good - bench disc/belt sander especially - a little vacuum cleaner I bought for the workshop was a total dud and that was refunded without a quibble.