Gardening Tools Reviews

I often use this cultivator, both on a short handle and on a long handle, to break up the soil prior to planting or to loosen tough weeds. The tines are very strong. The tool stands up very well in our soggy Pacific Northwest weather and I haven 't seen any sign of rust. I expect this cultivator to last many years. I am very hard on my tools (using them for purposes for which they weren't designed and not always cleaning them off or getting them out of the rain), but I find the Wolf-Garten system to be very well made and own more than 10 of the various tool heads and plan to buy others. The tools heads can be quickly switched between long and short handles and the place where they are joined is very strong. An additional benefit is that tools generally not available in a long-handled form can be used while standing or quickly switched to a short handle. I highly recommend these tools for the avid gardener. This is a cost effective way to assemble a great set of diverse tools.

The watering can works fine. It came with 2 interchangeble spount ends -- the disk one with multiple holes like in the picture and the more customary one big hole type, this is a nice feature. I'm not convinced that the thing really holds 2 liters though. I haven't measured but it seems smaller than that.

This can was exactly what I'd been looking for. I have several plants on a high shelf, very hard to water with a conventional can. This solved the problem!

First, let me say that I am elated to have my rl800. I bought it in 2003 and it has worked great for me, since I am not able to mow my own lawn.

Second, my reason for writing this note: The last couple of days I kept getting the you-need-to-recharge-your-mower message, even though it had been hooked up to the recharger.

After doing what it said, with no success, I bought some size C batteries for turning on the hook-up. That still didn't help. I looked inside where the battery contact is made. It was off line.

The message: "Please Remove battery before lifting!" had inadvertantly led to the damage of the interior connectivity. The battery is very heavy. The point of connectivity is very fragile, at least in comparison to the battery. My point, the constant removal of the battery will damage your connectivity. Rather than removing the battery and having to reinsert it, (risking damaging your product) shove the mower with your foot when it gets stuck, if not strong enough to lift the mower, battery and all. This will prevent damaging your mower's interior and save you repair bills or replacement cost.

I've now used my RL800 for two full seasons, and I'm still pleased with it. It does a decent job, and it has advantages, but it isn't perfect.

Some of this has been said in other reviews, but I'll add my two cents. The pros:
- it mows while you relax, out of the heat
- it only takes a couple of minutes of your time to start it mowing, and another couple to put it away afterward
- it mows in multiple directions, a tip recommended by many lawn care advocates
- it doesn't get tired; you can mow your entire lawn two or three times a week if you want
- it is very quiet compared to a gas mower; about as loud as a cordless string trimmer

The cons:
- pricey
- expensive for consumables (battery pack every 3-5 years, a $25-$40 expense per year, not including the cost of electricity to recharge, and new blades periodically, maybe every 2 or 3 years, another $20-$30 per year)
- very slow compared to a gas mower - expect 2 hours to mow what you could easily do in half an hour yourself
- misses spots on a single session (but more frequent mowing makes up for this)
- recharge with included trickle charger can take more than 24 hours (about 13 hours per hour of use in my experience)
- won't mow yards over 5,000 sq ft on a single charge
- yards over 5,000 sq ft must be split up into zones
- can take multiple days to mow your entire yard
- perimeter wire layout is time consuming and tedious, especially if you have to wire around many obstacles
- the supplied wire and stakes aren't enough for any but there very smallest yards
- it can't handle especially small sections (narrower than 5')
- it doesn't mow close to obstacles or walls
- you'll still want a standard push mower (much as you would if you had a riding mower)
- it sometimes gets stuck or stops spontaneously (in my experience this happens one time in 15, so not too frequent)
- it's not suitable for rough or especially steep lawns
- blades need frequent cleaning for maximum performance (they gut gummed up), I'd recommend once every three-to-five session

I've rated this a four because I expected most of the above, and within it's limitations the Robomower performs as expected. But bottom line, unless you have some special reason you'll probably be better served spending your money on an inexpensive lawn tractor.

First of all, you need to understand the limitations of the Robomower and determine if your yard is right for it or not. I've had my RL800 for 3 seasons now and while I still fuss at it every time it cuts the grass, I don't know what I'd do without it...Except get another smelly gas mower and grind it out like before Robomower.

It doesn't do hills well. Think about how you divide up your yard into zones before installation. Keep the battery continuously charging. And "supervise" it while it's cutting the grass. If you're yard is relatively flat and you send Robomower out every week during the summer, you should be pleased with the results, mechanical/warranty problems aside.

Our entire front, sides and back yards are all 1 zone. As such, after completing the perimeter cut, Robomower usually leaves the front yard before it's completely cut and sneaks into the back yard. While this can be frustrating, it's how it's supposed to work if everything is 1 zone...I simply walk it back up into the front yard and let it start zig-zagging back and forth again. If it looks like rain or I'm in a hurry, I'll manually touch up any missed patches before walking it to another part of the yard...Otherwise I just let it run and run and run and it usually gets just about every spot (eventually). I got an extra new battery that I switch out mid-week so both stay charged.

I have it set to take off about 1/3 of the grass with each weekly cut and our Bermuda has never looked better. It truly is a "sea of green" once Robomower is finished and the blades have been clipped from every direction. It looks as good or better than the $150/visit professional landscaping crew does across the street. We have four 20" x 20" recessed drainage holes throughout the yard that can be a problem. Most of the time Robomower goes down and comes back out OK...Sometimes it just sits and spins the wheels trying to climb out. Hence, the supervision part of the job. Keeping an eye on Robomower and intervening when needed is still much better than the old blood and sweat that I see falling off the neighbors when they go out and cut their grass the old-fashioned way.

Next to the PC and HDTV, Robomower gets my vote for best "life made easier" invention of the past 20 years. It's not perfect, but neither are you when you cut the grass. It's just much more convenient watching the grass be cut by Robomower. Understand it's limitations, plan your yard zones like you want it to operate and you should be equally pleased with the results, provided you don't get the inevitable lemon. I have extra tires and extra blades, but haven't needed to replace them after 3 seasons of weekly mowings. Great product!!

I have just finished pruning 110 rose bushes with these pruners. About 30% of my cuts were bungled because the blade quickly dulled and it easily flexes to prevent a clean bypass cut. Otherwise the pruners facilitate cutting large branches and the spring works well.

I like this item B00004SD72 very much You should read more reviews to find out more about it

The Fiskar pruners lived up to their advance advertising as being easy to operate and giving a clean, crisp cut. I like them so well, I got a pair for my neighbor, who is equally satisfied.

This unit works well for small branches. The light weight is appreciated, and the stainless blade is a useful upgrade as standard blades rust from the tree sap. But I used mine on some heavier branches, still within the recommended diameter range, and something slipped so that the blade no longer touches the anvil. The tool therefore is practically useless, as you do not get a clean cut. There is no way to adjust or fix this pruner when that happens. And the lifetime warranty is of dubious value, as you must send the tool back at your expense, plus keep and be able to find the original receipt. They should model their warranty after Craftsman.

Don't be fooled by the light weight of this item--it's cutting power is amazing. It's an anvil lopper, as opposed to the more popular bypass type of lopper, but the anvil is a much more efficient cutting method. Anvil cutting method (regardless of brand) tends to damage what it is cutting, so the best use of this tool is to cut dead branches, or live ones that you don't care if they survive of not. This is the perfect tool for cutting back rose bushes in the fall. If your arms ever get sore from wielding heavy tools, this is the ideal lopper/pruner for you. I believe this item is made in Finland--home of the infamous Fiskars orange handled scissors. This is the perfect gift for any gardener.

a wonderful product. i couldn't be more satisfied. buy it - you will love it!~

This is a good tool but it needs some tweeking to make it great. The handle is too long for a short person, it should be adjustable along the length. The blade should also swivel a full circle (ball joint) to allow for lawn edging, as it is now designed you have to stand directly over the area being cut with the blade straight downward - very painful to the sholders especially with the handles been too long for the petite gardener

This shear is a back saver. Need a little time to get used to the many position you can use. A best buy.

RLC

I bought these shears to get at the weeds around the base of my roses. I have over 300 feet of roses where the star thistle, bermuda grass and other weeds love to grow. The Fiskars Gardener's Shears made the work a lot easier and I can get closer to the plants than I can with a weed eater. The rotating blades also make it easy to get into odd places and cut the grass along fences and around rocks. I highly recommend this tool.

I bought this last spring and was disappointed. First, it arrived with 1 shelf and one pole piece missing. It took almost 4 weeks to get replacement parts. The shelves were light and flimsy so don't count on loading lots of heavy containers on them, though very suitable for lightweight containers. Made the mistake of temporarily sitting it outdoors last fall, staking it to the ground, and the first night a thunderstorm destroyed the zippered cover. STILL haven't been able to get a replacement cover.

I ordered 2 of these last fall in order to get a head start on the 2004 seed starting season. Very simple to put together, and actually much larger than I expected; perfect in front of a large window or sliding glass door. good quality and good value for your dollar!

Recieved quickly. Had small tear in vinyl that I could have taped, but I called Astonica to get a replacement. Having read some of the bad reviews I didn't know what to expect - but I was impressed. They replaced the WHOLE unit, and I was able to keep the other unit! 10 stars not 5!

Hand tools are very sturdy and excellent; however, the large tools are basically useless. You still will need to purchase a full sized shovel and perhaps also a hoe, depending upon your needs.

This is a cost effective way to have a great set of starter garden tools or to begin your collection of Wolf-Garten tools. While they may seem expensive, the quality made the initial expense worthwhile for me (with one exception: the grass rake isn't that great).

The Wolf-Garten system allows easy and quick interchange between various handles of different lengths and a variety of quality tool heads which are well made and durable. The handles are comfortable, have no-slip grips, and an easily pushed button to add and remove heads; the place where handle and head join is very strong. They appear to stand up very well to our soggy, salty, Pacific Northwest coast weather and I have yet to see any indication of rust on any of the tools. I own more than 10 of the various tool heads and several handles, and plan to buy several more tool heads from this line. An additional benefit is that tools generally not available in a long-handled form can be used while standing which is very helpful when one can't kneel. Different sizes of rakes, cultivators, and weeders are available making it possible to have a specialized tool for each garden job.

I highly recommend these tools for the avid gardener.

I bought this lawn mower from Amazon last summer. I had previously owned a Craftsman lawn mower, which I bought 5 years ago, used hard, and eventually burned out. I was aware of the Lawn Boy's good reputation, and after some research, the Lawn Boy seemed like a great balance of quality and price. I therefore bought the Lawn Boy #10367, even though it was $100 more than I had spent on the Craftsman, with the expectation that I could this machine for a lot longer. Unfortunately I have been disappointed ever since.

My main complaint is the cheap components. The height control assemblies are made of a combination of weak metal and plastic. Virtually every time I hit a bump, the components flex, the height drops, and I turf my lawn. For a mid-range lawnmower, this is unacceptable.

The bagging system is also weak. The back of the bag closes with a plastic clasp, which is about as effective as a second rate zip lock bag. Regardless of how much grass is in the bag, it constantly opens and sprays grass on me and the lawn.

For some reason, I also have a lot more trouble with the chute clogging than I have ever had on any other lawnmower. Perhaps it is narrower than others (?). Regardless of moisture, the amount of grass, or any other factor, the grass clippings frequently get stuck in the chute before they can make it to the bag. This results in the pleasant experience of having the lawn mower cough grass clippings all over the lawn, requiring me to clear the chute manually (with a stick) and later rake the clippings.

The deck on this piece of junk is also made of plastic. I don't know whether that necessarily impacts performance, but it just adds to the cheap look and feel.

My final complaint is the offset wheels. Despite LB's claims, I find it actually makes it more difficult to edge. It also leads to a last attractive wheel pattern on the lawn, and makes it diffficult to align each row with the previous row.

In the end, all I can say is I can't stand this mower, and I wish I had bought a Craftsman.

Shipped fast, just unpacked & assembled the 10367. Packaging was damaged but only a few scratches on plastic bagging chute (acceptable to me). Deck and engine build quality look great. HOWEVER, I tried to install rear bag, since I don't plan to mulch, and realized that the bag sits right below the recoil start rope (look carefully at larger image). Bag must be lifted up to remove from flange on chute and rear bag hanger but will run into starter rope every time bag is removed or reinstalled. I don't see any way to reroute the starter rope to avoid this problem. It seems this mower was intended for mulching or side chute and the rear bag was an afterthought. Also, chute was very difficult to install "keyhole" slots correctly over stationary bolts - supposed to make it easier to change without tools but inacurate fit requires a lot of elbow grease.

I will update my rating once I have a chance to see how it runs - especially bag vs mulch performance.

UPDATE I've used the mower for several months now and have found the rear bag hitting the starter rope to be a nuisance but tolerable once you get used to it. A bigger dissapointment is that the rear chute assembly (needed for bagging) is loose (designed with support rod that sits in a hole) and flaps up when removing bag so you have to reinsert the support into hole every time bag is removed. The mower runs great - starts on first pull every time, the engine has power to spare and it cuts great. I would highly recommend if mulching but for bagging I can only give 3 stars because of mediocre rear chute design and bag/starter cord placement design.

This is a great lawn mower. It starts easily. It will go as fast as you can walk.

I love my little cart. Zips around on flat surfaces great, a bit awkward on slopes but still better than dragging a cart around by myself. One of the wheels keeps coming off, the only reason I didn't give a 5 star rating.

I love my LUV cart. I bought the Silver edition about a year ago. It hauls the "heavy" loads that have gotten a bit too hard for me. I filled it with sand (200 lbs) and ran it across thick grass without a problem. Women will love it. Men who aren't afraid of not looking "macho" would find it very helpful around the house.

I LOVE IT!!!

I enjoy gardening but dread dealing with the heavy items: soil, compost, concrete, plants, mulch, etc. In the past I've tried everything from pushing to pulling to dragging, from wheelbarrows to utility carts and hand trucks. In every case the wheels sank into my wet grass/soil and hung up on stepping stones, etc. And don't even mention turns!

I put 120lbs (3 bags) of compost in the LUVcart and away we went! All I had to do was walk with it. It went from my paved drive to the grass with ease. It zipped across wet grass, slightly boggy soil, and stepping stones with ease. It zoomed right along my narrow, winding paths and maneuvered with unbelievable ease around that 90 degree turn I designed into the path by mistake (I have great difficulty getting anything else around that turn!). When we got to the handful of small (1" or less) branches I had pruned and left in the path earlier, I expected it to balk, but it drove right over them as if they were not even there!

I can't begin to tell you how easily it turns and maneuvers. I assembled it in the kitchen, then realized that in order to get out the back door it needed to be turned around completely (180deg) but there was almost no space in which to execute the turn. I thought that I would need to do the usual back-up, pull up, haul, drag, lift, struggle, "woman-handle", etc. Nope! Because the front wheel spins 360deg, the cart can virtually turn completely around in place and with ease!

I had some concerns about whether it might be heavy, clunky, and difficult to push and maneuver manually (without power). No problem at all. It is surprisingly easy to push without power. As I said, I assembled it in my kitchen, turned it around 180deg in place without power assist and maneuvered over the threshold, out the door and down the step without power assist. Since I did not have to lift the back (as with wheel barrow), I found it easier than dealing with my garden cart even without the power assist.

I simply LOVE it! I'm thinking about all the things I lugged around the garden/yard over the years and how long I looked at that stack of compost in the drive and dreaded the mere thought of dragging those bags around the yard. I only wish that I had not waited this long to find and buy this cart. It was well worth the cost. In the past, I have paid the kid next door $50 just to haul some edging bricks around the yard for me. Now, as long as it comes in increments of less than 200lbs and fits in my LUVcart, I can do it myself without strain or hassle!

Receipt and Assembly: It arrived very quickly, a week or so ahead of the estimate. The box was marked heavy, but the individual parts were not heavy. The instruction book was well written and easy to follow. I was particularly impressed with the color-coded packs of hardware which meant I did not have to figure out which screw or bolt went where. It was MUCH easier to assemble than I would have thought. In 30 minutes I had it all together and ready to charge. I only had one problem: on mine the holes on the battery cover did not line up well and, thus, required a nasty fight. Everything else was a breeze to assemble.

Be advised, however, that I just got mine. I've only used it once. I cannot comment on how well it will hold up over time, but it appears to be well made.