Customer Reviews
Reconditioned tiller 
2008-06-01
I purchased this tiller about a month ago, and I finally used it. It was in like new condition and it works extremely well. It is much easier working peat moss in the flower beds than a shovel.
Cultivator, not a tiller 
2008-04-27
I am going to write this review to cover several items, and just duplicate it to all the items involved. The items are the reconditioned Ryobi 30 cc straight shaft tiller, the Expand-It Tiller attachment, the Expand-It Edger attachment. The stars and titles, though are for the item it is attached to.
The Expand-It attachments are made by Homelite. I'm not a Homelite fan, but why this was apparently avoided in the descriptions is beyond me. This having been said, they appear to be at least as capable as their more-famous competitor brands.
Factory Reconditioned Ryobi 18-Inch 30cc 1 HP Gas Powered Striaght Shaft String Trimmer (Non-CARB Compliant) #ZR30002
Factory-Reconditioned Expand-It Tiller Attachment for String Trimmers #ZR15521
Factory Reconditioned Expand-It Edger Attachment For String Trimmers #ZR15518
The Ryobi reconditioned power unit for these units is more than adequate for all the tasks involved. Using the straight shaft Ryobi power unit, though can be a little tough. "Reconditioned" means some surface imperfections. I could see no sign of the power plant itself ever having been used. I opened the gas tank and sniffed inside, and could detect no smell of gas, so I believe this was purchased and returned unused or possibly was a display model. Regardless, I believe I got a new unit for a less than new price. You may or may not be as lucky.
The handle that comes with the Ryobi mounts with zero friction surfaces. The wingnuts used to tighten the handle go on a smooth metal bracket that attaches to a smooth plastic backer, around a smooth, painted metal shaft. I added some shelf-liner (the rubber, non-stick type) inside the bracket, then really cranked down on the wingnuts, which helped the situation with the edger and trimmer. More on the cultivator, later.
The power plant started easily by following the instructions. It uses a 50:7 gas:oil mixture, so make sure you have the proper fuel on hand. I primed it seven times by pushing the rubber bulb, pulled the handle two or three times in the full choke position, put the choke to the half-choke position, pulled two more times, and it started. All that I've mentioned to this point is in the instructions. What follows is my own advice: You need to hold the "run trigger" to make it start easily, but this causes the attachment to start rotating immediately, so you then must quickly release the trigger. It takes a slight bit of coordination, but it is easier than starting it without holding the trigger.
The edger works very well. Our yard has apparently never been truly edged. The previous owners were of the "good enough" variety, and probably rarely cut the lawn, much less edged it. The current lawn crew only uses a string trimmer to give an edged appearance. The Expand-It edger tore into the soil easily and left a neat line. I've not finished all of the edging yet, but it appears to work well, and I anticipate no problems.
The String trimmer worked well-enough for the first few feet. I was sent the wrong cut-off attachment, but Amazon was phenomenal in their response. I sent an email around 10:00 pm the night I received the unit with the curved-shaft cut-off/guard unit instead of the straight-shaft line cutter-guard. When I woke up, the reply from Amazon was in my email, and a replacement for the incorrect unit had been shipped by that evening, which was a Saturday. I expect to receive it within two days, which is three days after the original unit arrived. All in all, I didn't buy the unit for the trimmer, anyway, but for the few feet I could do without new line, it worked quite well. I don't expect any problems with the new cut off unit or the trimmer.
The cultivator is NOT for the weak of arm or back. I am over 6 feet tall, fairly athletic, and weigh over 200 pounds. I worked some virgin soil, hard-packed, with roots and rocks. I did about 8 feet by 25 or 30 feet in two to three hours. The cultivator requires a LOT of muscle. If you hit a small rock, it will just toss it forward. Large rocks require stopping and removal, which is to be expected. Smaller tree roots are cut right through, but larger roots cause the unit to buck upward with a lot of force. It is easiest to work the unit down into the soil by pulling it toward you as you push down. There is not enough weight in the cultivator to be of much help. All in all, I'd prefer more weight to help me push down on the working end, even if it means the unit is harder to get into position to use it.
There is no good place to put the handle to use the cultivator. Even with my added friction pad (rubber shelf liner), the handle continued to twist around, only to be re-adjusted several times. It works better with the shelf liner, but still doesn't stand up to the work required. I was using this unit probably to the extent it can be expected to work, so this was really more of a minor inconvenience. I was typically stopping to catch my breath anyway, and re-adjusting the handle was just one of the things I could do while catching a quick rest. You'll need to stop fairly often unless you're some kind of tri-athlete.
I hit a rock that got wedged between the tines and the guard. This caused the unit to lock up. Once I freed up the rock by literally breaking it out with a hammer, the unit went right back into operation none the worse for the wear. I find this torque-overload-shutdown to be very worthwhile. The power plant continued to operate. I do not know if the power plant or the cultivator is responsible for the shutdown, but since no damage was done to either unit, I was quite happy with both of them.
Changing attachments is done by hand, and takes literally less than a minute. About the only thing you could possibly do wrong is force the unit into place without the small square drive-shaft lining up. As this free-wheels easily, just slipping the unit back an inch or two and re-inserting it is all you need to do to re-align the new attachment. Then you hand-tighten and you're on your way.
Pros: Power plant, edger, tiller, and trimmer do the job well. Holds up well, and has plenty of power. Multiple tools for the price of a single unit is a real plus.
Cons: Handle needs some kind of friction increasing device (splines, pads, etc.). Cultivator/tiller is too light, requiring you to use arm strength to get it to bite better into hard soil. There is no good place to put the handle for balance for all types of units.
Works like a charm 2008-04-12
Very good value, does the job nicely. Heavy, so it will take some muscle to operate.
What a killer deal on a great tool! 2008-04-01
I bought mine last week and have been using it for about 4-5 hours a day since. My arms are killing me, but if I had to do this with a shovel and rake they'd hurt even more! I have a 'new' house and wanted to create a garden area. That happened so fast that I decided use the tiller attachment to 'blend in' my soil ammendments. Then I decided to tear out the existing lawn area in preparation for seeding. I thought I'd need to rent a large unit, but this one is doing a great job. I might add, I'm on 2/3 of an acre! Mind you it's spring and the ground is still damp and soft, but I'd highly recommend this unit for anyone out there looking for a tiller attachment.
Factory Reconditioned Expand-It Tiller Attachment For String Trimmers 2008-03-15
Works very well with my 25 cc engine in previously tilled garden soil. Engine doesn't strain and soil is mixed to a good consistency. Have doubts about tilling up sod covered though as it doesn't appear to have enough power, though perhaps with a larger engine I have to believe it would perform adequately on up to an area of 50 sq feet. Perfectly adequate though for previously tilled existing garden soil of up to 500 sq feet or more/hour.
Disappointed 
2008-07-09
This product looked very promising, however when we finally needed to use the darn thing, it will not work!! Tines will not rotate to till the soil - heck they don't even rotate in mid-air!!! Waste of money!How do I return the dern thing?!?!?!??!
Home Owner 2008-07-08
An excellent value. This little tiller works. I have a big tiller but wanted a smaller unit for tight areas. It works so well the big tiller may be on its way out. I couldn't be happier.
Tiller attachment really works 2008-06-21
The unit arrived in great shape, even though the box looked a bit wimpy for the task, but I attached the unit, fired up the engine on my Ryobi 4 cycle trimmer and it took right off. My wife uses it for the most part and she says she likes it. The weight is a bit intimidating at first, but actually works in your favor when you're using it. You may need to learn to let it do the work. Don't try to drag it around, just guide it. It was powerful enough to even shave away at hard ground, but works perfectly on softer moist (not wet) soil. So, if your garden is hard as a rock, water it some and then let it dry so it won't clod up, but the unit pulverizes nicely. We haven't had to sharpen or replace blades, but it seems pretty straight forward. The unit appears to have an auto clutch that prevents it from turning while under no load, which is nice. As soon as you engage it with the ground, even at an idle, it does want to start turning. Good unit.
Maybe I just got a bad one... 2008-06-14
Initially I was disappointed by the fact there there were no instructions or manual included in the box, but thought, hey - you hook it up and it'll work, right? -Nope. That's the second disappointment. Hooked up to my 30cc timmer and the tines stop spinning the second it hits the least bit of resistance. -I'm not talking rock; the clutch or whatever antilock mechanism it uses kicks in upon hitting the dirt.
This will be returned - will probably go for a new model someplace within driving distance.
great 2008-06-04
I was debating purchasing this product for the past year. All the reviews I read were very positive. Last year we laid down newspaper and mulched the entire garden. Not easy work. Still had weeds to pick, not as many as without the precautions we took but there were still weeds. This tiller does exactly the job I need. It fits right between the rows of plants in our garden. I've used it twice so far to weed the entire garden. Only takes me 15 minutes now, once a week. Amazing. I actually think this might have too much power for just weeding, but that is ok by me. I would feel comfortable using this to extend our flower beds if needed. I would say that our garden is established so the dirt has been worked before. The attachment is quite heavy, but I think that helps it do the job correctly.
I would highly recommend purchasing this to save time in a veggie garden of good size.
