Side by Side Comparison of: Snow Joe vs Arnold

There's a way to use this machine that is not mentioned in the manual for, I think, good reason. First, though, I have quite a few Sun Joe tools - this one, the tiller, pole saw, chain saw and lawn mower. The only one I'm not completely happy with is the lawn mower.There are many complaints about this machine stopping and having to cool down. That's because - I think - it's being used as designed with the bag and rear cover. Understand how the machine works and you'll understand why it stops. It's rotating a row of little steel "whips" at high speed. Those whips cut into what ever they encounter to the depth set by the knob on the front. When the bag is used or the rear cover is closed, all the stuff being whipped loose, piles up either in the bag or at the rear cover. Even if the bag is not full, that stuff is flying around and hitting the little whips. Take the bag off and it's even worse - the stuff has no where to go so it piles up to be in the way of the whips.I removed the bag and opened the rear cover completely - it stays open when pulled all the way up. The problem - and why the manufacturer will never tell you to use it this way - is that everything comes flying out at a pretty good clip. So, I wear trousers. It's also a good idea to wear eye protection.Operated without the bag and with the cover open works wonderfully well as long as you don't push it like a lawn mower. When you move it too fast, it doesn't work well. And, it works best when pulled. So, I push it without the whips rotating. When it's positioned, I turn it on and pull it slowly.One big tip - do NOT use it on St Augustine grass. I did because I was clearing the lawn for new sod. But St Augustine grows with "runners" and this machine will cut them and destroy your lawn. It's not just this one - ANY power rake will do the same. But if like me you want to re-sod, this thing is invaluable. It clears down to bare earth. Then I use the tiller in two directions. It's the only way I could get rid of the dollar weed.

This was definately a great investment! This machine just made my life a whole lot easier by taking what used to use up a weekend now only uses up a few hours. I didn't find the bag all that useful so just let the mulch trail out behind me and just mowed it up when complete. I did not have any issue with it shutting down as I followed the recommendations and used an extension cord that allowed for the appropriate amperage and yes it does make a difference because I used it at my inlaws with their cord and it did shut down on me. Overall I am very pleased with this machine.

My expectations were highly exceeded. The weight is easy to use, the power of the machine was just fine to get through all of the areas I wanted to dethatch. Easy to steer and go over the grass. The grass catcher instructions were somewhat missing but I figured out how to make it work well enough. It fills up quite fast which is a limiting factor.I did some 7,000 to 8,000 square feet and felt the machine was well worth the money.Its a great machine for the money.

I ordered this product almost 6 months before its best use time, but I tested it about Aug 9th. Bermuda grass growing season has long passed in OK. so I didn't expect much. The Dethatcher worked as advertised. I had at least one spot that was almost bare after the dethatching on the 9th. That spot is now (Sept 11th) green with new growth Bermuda grass. I am hopeful and excited about the Spring time growing season when dethatching is best done.

This is a fantastic machine for anyone looking to make de thatching a regular part of their lawn care routine. I have found that yearly de thatching and overseeing give my lawn a renewed look every spring and helps keep the weeds away.I have tried multiple options for de thatching my lawn. The first time I rented a set hatcher from my local tool rental store. It worked okay, but th eproblem for me was borrowing a trailer and taking the time to pick up the machine and then return it.After that I tried a de thatching blade for my lawn mower. That only problem...I couldn't find a blade that would fit my mower.Option 3 was a manual de thatching rake. The plus is that it was cheap, but it wasn't practical to use on my 3000 square feet of lawn. But I was stubborn and did it anyway. 4 hours later, and 6 Advil a day for the next three days and my lawn was de thatched.This year I decided to purchase the Sun Joe Dethatcher. I am so glad that I did! It worked just as well as the commercial unit I had rented, and I didn't have to deal with a rental. And, now I have it for next year again.After reading some of the reviews about the unit overheating, I did two things to prevent this from happening. First, I made sure I had an extension cord that was rated correctly for the Dethatcher. Second, I Dethatched in sections. Like other reviewers had mentioned, I didn't use the bagger, so I was going to have to go back over the lawn with my mower to bag the thatch. I did about 500 square feet at a time, and then bagged with my regular mower. I figured it would give the Dethatcher a break, and I might as well pick up the thatch as I went.However, I decided to tat it out and do a larger area of my lawn at once to see if it would overheat. I did approximately 1500 square feet at once, and it didn't overheat. It continued to work well, getting out the dead grass, pine cones, and even small twigs that were embedded in the ground.There were a few areas that I went back over a second time since I was overseeing and wanted more of the bare ground exposed. If you're over seeding, I would recommend going over your lawn twice (I had to do that with the rented machine too) to expose the soil.Overall, I would definitely recommend this machine for anyone looking to efficiently de thatch your lawn.

I am a 55 year old woman with a huge yard, actually three large yards. This was so nice and easy to use! The bagger was a waste because of the size of my yard and the amount of thatch in it so I used it awhile it would shut itself down when it got over heated so I used that time to rake up the thatch, I never had a problem starting it back up and actually liked that it shut down verses overheating and burning up. I would recommend this to anyone just don't be in a hurry.

This saved my front lawn!!! It really tore up the grass but within a couple weeks my gras was stronger and greener than ever.

Wow I can't believe it worked so well

On my Honda mower, I have to pull raking lines out further or they will not dethatch my lawn. They need to be a little longer than the ones that are provided and sold by them.

Was dreading raking the yard again this spring, tried this product and must admit worked really well..

WOW! This worked great on my LawnBoy 21" electric start self propel mower, cleaned out most of the 10 year built up thatch.

Way better than dethatching by hand!On my Craftsman mower with a height setting of 1-8 I had to set it around 3-4 and mow over the area then go back over again at 2-3.Starting the mower, luckily an electric start, I had to either lift the deck up by pushing down on the handle bar or raise the deck then lower it to get it to start since there was just enough resistance to give the engine problems.

I used this to dethatch my front and back yards. It works pretty well however note that the grass catcher did not work well for me (barely caught any of the grass), so I just went without it and raked afterwards. A second note, my unit tended to overheat if I ran it too long, so I had to run it In sections and let the motor cool off. Other than that, it worked well and I got a lot of old trimmings and grass out of my lawn.

when I read the reviews on this item was a little concern that it may not work well but to my surprise this item has done a great job I did a complete acre in one day and never had a problem with it and my lawn has come out great with very little effort it really works great better then one of the ones that I use to rent for 75.00 a day. The only thing is that the bag just doesn't work well so I recommend just getting the one without the bag.

It does overheat and cut off, but cools off and operates fine after a break. It did slow the progress down some, but it all got done.I used a heavy duty cord on a 20 amp circuit, but it still gave out (that combination should have dealt with resistance which causes electric motors to overheat). I think the air vents on the front of the unit have louvers that seem to have been cut upside down and so they catch the dust instead of allowing it to fall away... this could be the reason it overheats.I found that I could cover more ground before it overheated by not using the bag. I then raked and scooped the debris during the cooling off periods. I think the price and it's ability is worth the purchase because using a manual de-thatching rake would have still taken twice as long and would have been back breaking work.If you can't deal with the slow down in the work during the cool down periods, you can rent a gas operated power rake for $50 for 4 hours.

I had reservations about purchasing the Sun Joe Dethatcher due to the reviews I read. However after using the Joe Dethatcher to dethatch my yard which is approximately 2,000 square feet, I am completely satisfied.I used a 12/3 100 foot extension cord with NO overheating issues. If the proper sized extension cord is used there are NO overheating issues.My yard needed dethatching badly and the Sun Joe Dethatcher removed copious amounts of thatch. The catching bag is effective and useful, but small. I emptied the bag with each pass.The reason I gave only 4 stars is due to the design of the catching bag. Removing the bag is easy; however putting the bag is not without issues. The bag goes on as designed and attaches securely, but could be designed to make attaching the bag easier.Note the adjustable depth is not for varying dethatching depths, but to prolong the use of the dethatching rakes and to move the unit when not in use. There is only one recommended dethatching depth.In summary the Sun Joe Dethatcher is well worth the price. The dethatcher performs as advertised, is easy to use, and has more than enough power to efficiently dethatcher your yard.

We purchased this Dethatcher because our front lawn was seriously suffering from thatch build up. Our first attempt to use this device was unsuccessful because the grass was long and very heavy. We make a couple of passes with our lawnmower, each time lowering the cutting depth until the grass was about 1 inch long. Then this dethatcher was successful in removing tons of dead dried grass. In our case it was too much for the grass catcher to handle and it overheated the motor, which automatically shut the unit off until it cooled. At first we were concerned that we overworked it because it wouldn't restart, but after a little rest and a glass of iced tea, we came back and it worked like a charm. If we use this dethatcher once or twice a year, it will be much easier than our first experience. I like it because it is very light weight and we can store it on a high shelf out of the way, until needed.

Machine worked good for the small job I intended it for. Overheated once because I ran it way to long. did not reset for hours.I was doing one strip and raking up after and the machine had no problem. I then started decided to do the whole yard then rake up. That is when the machine overheated. I would recommend doing one or two lines, then rake up, allowing machine to cool off. It was also a very hot and suny day.I would recommend this for small jobs.

I like my de-thatching blade. I use it once a year, right before re-seeding my yard. I can change the blade myself. It was a bit rough on my lawnmower, but I just took it slow and it worked just as I wanted.

Really enjoyed this thatching blade. Easy install and effective product. My lawn is uneven so it missed some spots...

What can I say, but it works!

I loved this item due to easy to use.

I will start with the results It does remove thatch, but not in areas of my lawn where the thatch was thick.In another area where there was so much crab grass that I wanted to get as close to bare dirt as I could this blade was helpful. I set my mower to the lowest possible setting and it removed a lot of my grass.I think that this is the type of product that is useful once a year to keep thatch down, but is not the product you use the first time you need to dethatch.Here is how I used it1. I mowed as I always do before I installed the blade.2. I then moved the lawn one setting lower again before I installed the blade.3. Finally I installed this blade at the same level as step 2.4. I made sure to mow the area with the blade more then once in a different direction.I used the bag attachment for all steps.It is vital you follow these steps. This blade will not move your lawn very well by itself. I tried using this blade for all the steps and it not only did not work, but left more grass clippings on my lawn then I would have had with the standard bladeOther noteI have a husqvarna push mower and this blade was very easy to install. I did not even need all of the adapters as it fit the same way the regular blade did.

The blade did exactly as advertised, I removed several bags of thatch and debris from the yard. I did have to grind the center hole on the blade slightly to fit my Craftsman mower. Other than that, very easy to use...just be patient. Start with the mower about one to two positions higher than normal, then work your way down. Helps to have a dry lawn and go slow to keep the blade spinning fast.

Dethatches pretty well, but overheats and stops working very quickly.

this dethatches nice but it is very hear to push in the lowest setting. I decided to pull it backwards in the low setting and push forward in a high setting to pick up the grass. The motor overheats after 10 minutes and needs to cool down. It is doing a nice job

not sure if it was wrong timing. i try to dethatch my yard early spring and it dug up lots of my yard. also the basket fill up really fast and falls off.

Works well but overheats quickly in cool weather. It has a very sensitive thermal protection circuit that trips quite frequently. I spend more time waiting for it to recover than I do raking. I wish it had a better cooling system but I could only recommend this for small yards. Very small yards. The bag is pretty small and fills up rapidly the first time you use it. I ended up not using the bag a picking up everything with my riding lawn mower and bagger.

While it does dethatch my yard very well, it over heats within 5-10 minutes. The motor has thermal cutouts which limit damage, but I would expect it not to hit this limit when the ambient temperature is less than room temperature.

I ended up buying this dethatcher because the Greenworks model was not available. I have to agree with the other reviewers in the fact that the collection bag is worthless. It is extremely difficult to get it on the dethatcher. However, the biggest problem is the overheating issue. I had a home lawn project where I was using the dethatcher all day. It was a warm day, but not extreme. The unit ended up quitting about 5 times, each of which took about 30 minutes to get the dethatcher to reset. I made sure to use a high amp rated extension cord. This problem really affected my ability to get the job done. I will say that when it was running, it did a great job at dethatching.

It didn't fit my Craftsman at all. I was able to use it on my Toro, but it was only close enough of a design that I could nervously use it. The Toro would not adjust down far enough to make a sizable contact to the layers of thatch, but it contacted the tops enough to "clean up" the yard. After two passes there was still a large amount of thatch left - enough to keep new seeding from getting to the soil. I still give it a 3 because just common sense said that it cannot work as assumed within the description, and it did stay in the ballpark to what I thought it could possibly do. If you wish to simply clean up a lawn without serious de-thatching, then I feel this blade has at least a much lighter "bite" than the steel tong blades. No questions required on this item. You have to take your chances of if it will work on your mower, then look closely at the design and realize just what it can and cannot achieve.

As a mowing/mulching blade it is pretty good, as a dethatcher it is not very good. It really just tears up the grass, however, after discovering this i used it to intentionally scalp an area where i wanted to plant new grass seed and it was really great for that purpose.

Somewhat works. You have to change the plastic ties very frequently and lower the blade to the point of scalping. And it seems to miss the low points of the yard.

The blade worked ok. however it vibrated so badly it shook the cowling off the mower after 20 minutes.Perhaps I could work on balancing the blade over the winter.

I had the same problem as others with my 3-year old Craftsman mower! It won't fit on the Craftsman star-pattern mount, so you're forced to use the included adapters and washers to get it on. But apparently using those washers doesn't mount the blade on there perfectly leveled or balanced and it causes the blade to wobble around and the bolt will eventually snap and the blade & washers will come flying out from under the mower!The first time the bolt broke it sounded like I had run over a rock, so I lifted up the front wheels like I usually do to let rocks out and the blade went SAILING across the yard! I found the washers directly below the mower, the blade was about 10 feet away, and the bolt head was nowhere to be found. Luckily I was able to extract the broken portion of the bolt with a pair of pliers. I thought maybe the bolt broke because it was just due to be replaced, so I went to the parts store and got another bolt (grade 8 steel) and tried again. This time after about 3 passes the whole mower started wobbling and I could tell the blade was probably loose, so I immediately stopped it and looked underneath and sure enough the bolt head was literally hanging on by a thread! I pulled the head off with some pliers, removed the blade and the rest of the bolt, and went back to the drawing board.I figured I'd try it one more time, but first I wanted to see if the blade was properly balanced. I bought a sharpening/balancing kit from HD and it turns out the blade was slightly off balance to one side. I checked my original blade and it was even more out of balance, but I think since I'm able to mount the original blade to the star pattern mount it isn't as critical to have it perfectly balanced. I used a grinder to remove some material from the heavy side of the blade until I got it perfectly balanced and then I reinstalled it using the following method: THICK WASHER-BLADE (with 3/8" adapter)-THICK WASHER-LOCKING WASHER-THIN WASHER (used from previous blade)-BOLT. With this assembly, and with the blade perfectly balanced, I was able to finish the rest of my yard without any more incidents. It actually did a really good job at dethatching and scalping my summer bermuda grass in preperation for the winter overseeding with perrenial rye.So the bottom line is that if you have Craftsman mower, or any mower, with a star-pattern mount which doesn't fit the hole in the center of the blade, you MUST make sure to balance the blade before using it! You'd think they would come perfectly balanced from the factory, but apparently not. Also, you MUST use one of the included thick washers on each side of the blade to hold it steady and keep it from wobbling around. Also, make sure you tighten it just about is tight as you can. I used a breaker bar and probably overdid it, but I just wanted to make sure the blade was held tight and wouldn't be allowed to wobble and break the bolt again.

It worked OK. Did not pull up all the dead grass like the old metal one did. This also seems to cut alot lower than the standard blade so just a heads up on that.

Machine does a great job five to eight minutes each time. Then a thirty minute break. The bagger is 20% effective, or 80 % ineffective. I purchased a heavy duty cord and no real difference. I even tipped the machine and timed it, same result. Great idea and will watch, but now need a box to return it.

I bought this Dethatcher it was delivered on time easy to assemble. I'm pissed because it stopped working the second time i tried using it. I checked and noticed that the cable around the rotating wheel that supplies power to the machine is broken. This issue has to be rectified. I can't contact the seller this is a waste of my money.One star for prompt delivery and the second star for using it one time.

I was really hoping for better results with this Sun Joe Dethatcher, since I love my other sun joe tools.I used this yesterday after first mowing the lawn to 1.6" with my Sun Joe mower.I did the detaching by raking last season so I know what the thatch is supposed to look like (and how much work it is) so I was quite surprised yesterday after using this.What was removed with the Sun Joe was WAY MORE GREEN than just thatch. This thing removed a LOT of healthy green vibrant lawn.I decided to go through today again with rake to see what more would come up and the rake brings up brown thatch, NOT LAWN. I removed a whole other bag today, and my lawn is SMALL! see pic taken before using dethatcherI have attached photos so you can compare yesterdays bag and todays bag. I'm sad to say I will have to return.

This product worked OK except that it overheated in about 15 minutes and then had to be turned off for about 20-30 minutes before using it again.Something wrong with the design of the motor or not enough cooling for the motor. Would not recommend this product because of that. I willbe trying to get a refund.

At first I thought this thing was going to be a beast, and it most definitely is. However, it tears up EVERYTHING that you run it over including thatch, dead grass, healthy grass... did I mention healthy grass?As others have mentioned, the bag is 100% useless. Ditch it as soon as you unbox everything. If you have an area that is 100% weeds and you just want it torn down to dirt, this will do it perfectly. If you are looking to de-thatch your lawn, stick with the tried and tested dethatching rake. As you can see in the picture I've added, this machine does a nice job if mohawking the lawn (and yes, I mowed a full inch lower than I usually do before using the electric dethatcher).I added a star back in since it does remove some of the thatch, however I spend way too much time on my lawn to deal with the mohawk effect and still having to go back through with the dethatching rake to get it all. Sometimes the old fashioned way is still the best way.

I ended up having to return this product for a full refund! Amazon was great! I got this machine, took the time to assemble it (very easy) and off I went to start dethatching my lawn. I followed the recommendation to mow the lawn much shorter than usual. The grass was dry and I was using a 50 ft. heavy duty extension cord. It worked fine for maybe 10 -15 minutes and then it died. Motor overheated. The owner's manual says to wait a minute for the motor to cool off and it will restart. Not true! It took more than 20 minutes. Every time after that I would do maybe 3 or 4 - 20 foot long passes and again the motor would overheat. I normally don't take the time to write negative reviews. This time though I thought I'd save someone a bit of anguish. Sun Joe, your product needs a more robust electric motor! I then decided to give up and used a rake! Had to take the machine apart, re-package and return it.

I'm giving 2 stars because I am able to use it as a back up. This product stated it was for dethatching, I made to passes over my yard and it barely did anything. Second complaint I had is that the "universally" feature of this blade doesn't work well with Honda mowers, that may have contributed to why I didn't have great results with blade.

This thing was better at scalping the grass than dethatching it. I tried all combinations of ground and engine speed. If you must dethatch, save your money and rent a proper dethacher with blades that rotate around a horizontal axis.

I bought this to remove thatch from my lawn. All this did was cut the grass with a chopping pattern. No thatch was removed.

Blade cleaned a lot of dead stuff out of the grass, but it left a LOT of the thatch there. I should have got the kind with metal tines. I started at a high setting and worked my way down.

I really really wanted this product to dethatch my lawn like the product description said it would. However, it ended up being a pretty good mulching blade, but ineffective at dethatching. I used it on a Troy Bilt TB 230 push mower. I tried it at various deck height settings. At deck height number four, I could not tell that a detaching blade was on the mower. At deck height three, it cut my grass very low. But very little of the thatch was lifted up out of the grass. At deck height two, the dethatching line on the blade scalped my lawn completely leaving nothing but dirt. I suggest using a traditional dethatching tool or attachment that has thin metal fingers to do the dethatching work. I cannot recommend this product for dethatching.

Makes the lawnmower vibrate & shake, poor quality cut, and short de-thatching forks. the "tines" break at high settings, and instructions suggest to use for scalping. wish I could use for scalping, that is the reason for purchase but have to keep the lawnmower on some of the highest settings to keep the tines from breaking. tines end up being more expensive than the blade after just a couple of uses.

Garbage. It just gathers up debris between the motor and bag. It never gets grass in the bag. The first time I used it I over heated it just trying to find the right height or adjustment to get to stop gathering between the motor and the bag. I had given up on it, then I cut my grass REALLY tight, let my mower thatch and thought maybe it would work as a neat and tidy post thatch and mow to get any little missed clippings.. Nope, it just clumped got caught between the bag and the motor. It LITERALLY HAS NEVER GOTTEN ANYTHING INTO THE BAG!As may other people have pointed out, it runs a few minutes gathers some clumps, then you can pick up the clumps by hand throw them out, then repeat until it finally over heats from the little bit of stress the clumping causes it.I as going to make a video but by the time I had decided to get my phone, like 10 minutes into adjusting and trying to set it, it over heated and I got too mad.This is probable the greatest regret I have ever had with an Amazon purchase.

I tried multiple times to make this work. It simply dug directly into the ground no matter how high I set it. It destroyed a good 4' plot of land which has not fully come back 2 years later. I just hung it up in my garage since then :( I cut my lawn really low as recommended before attempting but it did not help. It still just tore the grass out by the roots.

This actually stopped working after about 30 minutes of use. Just died. I had to send it back.

Use it for a hour thought it may have got to hot waited 20 minutes ran another 30 minutes was going to finish that evening started it ran 30 seconds that and stop waited 10 minutes did same thing

Turns off for at least an hour at a time - I had to wait 5 hours in total to do my back yard.And although the catch is helpful. it fills quickly and I bet it would perform better without it.Returning it. Hopefully the next model will be better.

Cuts Off every 10 Minutes! I wish I had payed more attention to the other reviewers. It appeared to be working fine then the Shut offs began.....Very Frustrating. I would have returned this but i unfortunately missed the return period. I do not recommend this product!

The tines are way to short to mow at a healthy height. In order to collect anything I had to cut my grass much shorter than I wanted. With minimal thatch collected. Very disappointed. I will be renting a normal power rake to do the job the right way from here on out.

Did not pull up any thatch in my yard even with mower at lowest setting. Back to doing it by hand.

Installed as instructed and at first I tried my mower raised to the highest setting. Nothing happened to the grass. Next I lowered it one setting and it scalped my lawn and did absolutely nothing to the thatch below. Don't waste your time.

Only buy this if you regularly cut your lawn 1/2" high. I kept lowering the deck and it never got any thatch. All it did was scalp my lawn. I had to modify it to fit my lawn mower so I just threw it in the recycling bin.

If you want to tear up your lawn, then his will work. The lines are too short so the deck has to be very low to dethatch so it cuts the grass about 1" or so long. I have a nice line that is now terrible in my lawn.

My Husqvarna self-propelled 21 inch mower cannot use this dethatcher. My Husqy uses a 5 point star shaped connector hub; this dethatcher can't be adapted to this attachment.