Customer Reviews for Powermate 11 in. 150cc Gas Front Tine Tiller

Ive owned this for 5 or 6 yrs at this point. It's done its job but it's had islts issues. First when I bought it, it was pre assembled and they put the tines on backward. My garned is 16x24 and it took me about an hr to figure this out 🤦🏻‍♂️. I've had minor running issues only when I bury it deep. Other than that it has sat the last 2 yrs and I pulled it out to sell it off as im not doing a garden anymore, dumped the old fuel threw some fresh fuel in and it started up on the first pull.

This is absolutely the worst tiller out there . I bought one and took it home it wouldn’t stay started . I. Called the store and then took it back and they worked on it and I took it home and it would not stay running . So I took it back and wanted my money back . They told me they would trade it out for another one like it . I took it home and it worked one season to till a small area . I started it up this season and it started up and as I was tilling it turns off . I restarted it 5 different times and it’s still not running . It was not put up with gas in it and it’s new gas we just bought for it and so I’m left with piece of crap that will not stay running long enough to till . I do not recommend this tiller if you want to have a garden !!!

Wasn't difficult to assemble but didn't use it for half a day and upper handle just snapped on both sides then I tried to take it back and they said they didn't carry it anymore but I see it here on their website

Bought a floor model for $75. Started up 1st pull and runs great. Doing everything I need done just fine.

For a small tiller it does a great job. Easy to maneuver and it goes deep enough to loosens the soil nicely.

We have only had this for a few weeks but it was fairly easy to assemble and it is the right size for our yard. It started right up and worked well. So far it looks like the right one for us.

Nice tiller for the price tag. Assembly instructions can be done better. Tiller is easy to use and it doesn't need a strong person to operate. Unfortunately the transmission belt broke after only 2 hours of use. Manufacturer has sent me the new belt but lacking on instruction on how to install it.

Good reviews helped me choose this and I'm glad I did. Thought I'd add my review to help anyone else trying to figure out which tiller to get. I bought this tiller at the home depot in Weatherford Texas on May 11th, 2018, so I could till up a new garden area in my backyard. Installation was simple, took about 30 minutes or so. It came with a bottle of oil which was nice, but didn't come with a funnel so be sure to pick up a small tipped funnel. I ended up tilling a 16x40 area which, to me, is a pretty good sized garden. It ripped through the ground easily. I was thoroughly impressed with this little monster. I tilled the area once with it set to widest setting, and then went over it again slower with smaller setting to help get the dirt thinned out as much as possible. I was impressed with how easy it was to swap the blades out to change width setting. It worked perfect for my needs, and it dug plenty deep enough. I'm glad I didn't buy that $800 one they had available at the store as that would have just been overkill. I'm going to use this to help till up my front patio garden area as its just small enough to get into that area as well which is another perk, it is a perfect sized tiller. I would definitely recommend this tiller, worth every penny spent. I know that's saying something being that I've only had it a week, but it is a very solid product.

LOVE THIS TILLER! Took 1 1/2 Hrs to assemble, filled it up w/ oil & gas , primed it, first pull started right up! VERY sturdy machine. This tiller busted up VERY hard ground & roots without any issues! VERY STRONG! Awesome feature is that you can have rows 11" spaced up to 21" by just removing or adding tines! that's genius! Easy to use, and going to make gardening a breeze this year!

Purchased this tiller a week ago & already put it to good use. Very easy to use & has done a great job tilling up some garden beds.

First the good: Easy assembly, good fit and finish, started with two pulls of the cord. Soil conditions: Top soil that was tilled last season, slightly damp with a dry crust. No rocks or roots. Now the bad: poor design features. The engine spins fast and so do the tines. The drag stake is ineffective regardless of the adjustment. In fact, at the deepest setting, the tip of the stake will hit the gearbox when the tiller is sitting on its wheels. The swinging rear axle is a nice feature, but the geometry is not quite right. Tip the tiller up and you have to reach down with the toe of your foot to give the axle a nudge either forward or reverse. Now probably the worse defect. On untilled ground, the gearbox prevents the tiller from digging down into the dirt or moving forward without great effort on the part of the operator. There is a dead "zone" where the tines do not dig into the soil, so the tiller essentially rests on this spot and the tines just spin. I hope my photos help show this. This machine will beat you up. I'm 6'4",250+ lbs., I cannot imagine someone lighter using this machine.

Installation for me was a bugger. Mother said it was easy I found it quite difficult. Some of the bolts are metric some are English. So it seems in my bag. It took me and my son about an hour to put it together. The lower handle bolts seemed to cross thred into the tiller. Once we got going it actually works really well. Compared to my Honda small garden tiller this is better. I'm cutting through about 6 inches of topsoil in a space about 30 x 30 and it took less than 40 minutes. I probably went over it two times. I would give five stars except for the installation instructions and cross threading. And keep in mind this is my first day if ownership.

Not sure if this is the fault of the manufacturer, Home Depot, or the shipper, but when I picked it up from HD, it looked like it had fallen out of the truck on the freeway. The box was destroyed and taped back together. The HD employee said he checked it before he taped it and everything was fine. When I got it home, the unit was bent in a few places (I straightened them out), and a plastic piece that helps hold the air filter cover was broken. I would have returned it to the store but it's extremely heavy and awkward to get in and out of the car, so I just went with it. The instructions are not very well written and the parts don't always match the assembly instructions exactly (I think they get parts from different suppliers but always keep the same manual), but I'm handy so I figured it out by process of elimination. Once it was done, it started right up and did a good job on my compacted, dead lawn, chewing up hard dirt, rock, and tree roots. In other words, everything went well once it was assembled; not so much before that.

The tiller arrives requiring some basic assembly. It took about 20 minutes to get it all put together, oil in the engine, and a tank of gas ready to go. The tiller is very easy to move around, and does not require you disengage a clutch or the drive train. You simply tilt the tiller back and pull it up on to the rear wheels, which pivot underneath the body. When you reach the area to be tilled you reverse the process. Anybody that has used a self propelled hand mower will be familiar with the bar on the handle used to move the tiller forward. The engine cranked on the 2nd pull. I used this to till in some fresh compost in to 3 very large raised vegetable beds. It did a great job of mixing the old soil with the new compost, and was very easy to maneuver through the beds.

OVERALL: Works sandy soil well. Can break through hard clay with patience. Excellent engine, very simple but powerful. Folding back wheel very handy for transport, and distributes weight well when in use. CUTTING: Can bounce a bit on initial cut into hard soil. If you let it walk itself, it's slow going but much easier than trying to force it. With patience, will get through roots, hard soil. Will bounce when you hit rock, but blades are strong enough to take many hits so far. QUALITY: Excellent engine, could power a dirt bike no problem. Simple to maintain, gas and 4 stroke oil. Well bolted down. Pull start fires up every time without fail. ASSEMBLY: I spent about 1 hour doing by myself. Directions are only OK, but few parts so you can get by hardly looking at them. Handle and blades come detached for a very compact package.

The Tiller was very easy to assemble, Assembled in less than 30 min . Once assembled, Oil added and topped off with gas I pull started the tiller after performing the easy to follow instruction and it started 2nd pull and first pull on subsequent starts. I was surprised as to how quiet the 5hp motor was. The tiller made quick work in the Hard packed AZ soil completing the garden project in 20min on a large 8’ X 30’ area. The tiller is powerful and does take a little muscle in hard soil conditions. The fit and finish of the product was awesome and the powder coated finish was easy to clean at job completion.

Tiller arrived in a fairly compact box, well packed, and undamaged. Assembly is simple, about 20 minutes, consisting of attaching the wheel assembly, handle, drag bar, tines, and tine shields. Metric sized nuts/bolts. Note that instructions are not totally accurate, as they start with the wheel assembly, but the wheels are already assembled and need to be bolted to the frame – while the directions do not mention bolting the unit to the frame at all. Unit has a folding handle for compact storage. Rear wheels swing out for tilling and in for moving, although they do not lock in position when in moving mode and can kick back out, bringing your advancement to a quick halt. Tines are adjustable to vary width of cut, place inner tines with arrow pointing inward, and outer tines so that forward rotation puts the “sharp” edge in contact with soil. If you do not have the tines mounted properly the efficiency of the tiller is impacted in tough soil. Width of cut variable from 11, 16, or 21inches depending on the number of tines installed and placement of the tines, and depth up to 8 inches based on position of the drag bar. Drag bar adjustment is done by removing a pin and cotter pin, be careful if doing this in the field to not lose either. Handle folds by removing screw bolts. Fill the unit with oil – which is included. You will need a funnel to ease this process. There is no separate drain plug, so you have to tilt the unit to drain the oil through the filler hole, and as this isn’t an overly light machine, it will take some effort. Motor started easily after a few pulls. Motor runs well is a fairly quiet. To engage the tines, pull the clutch handle toward the main handle, releasing the clutch handle stops the tines. Unit is gear driven, one speed operation. No problem tilling damp spring soil, also cut through some frozen ground pretty easily. Unit is well built and has a good - heavy duty feel to it. Should be durable. Overall, a very good unit for the average home gardener.

The tiller took about 30 minutes to assemble, add oil and gas. A set of metric wrenches and sockets make it an easy task. Once assembled it started on the second pull and has started on the first pull since then. The tiller has an impressive engine that has plenty of power. I cut through some good size tree roots when trying it out with no hesitation at all. The wheels are on a frame that is hinged making the frame longer when tilling. This adds to stability and downward force when operating allowing you to till without getting beat to death. A good choice for a medium size garden. The only negative I have seen so far is the gas cap can be a little difficult to get started and screwed on without crossing the threads. Takes a little patience. Other that that its awesome!

I was very relieved to get this Powermate Gas Tiller. My garden is 35 feet long and it has been very tedious to till the soil every spring. This tiller has a 140 cc Gas engine which will be great to break up the soil. The tines adjust from 16 to 21 inches wide. The wheels are 8" in diameter. There is a starter bottle of engine oil included. This tiller comes with a detailed set of instructions for assembly and a phone number to call with any problems. There are safety decals on the machine. As we have several feet of snow on the ground and planting season starts in May, I will wait to use this then.

Tiller performed beyond my expectations. Works GREAT!

Packaging Well packaged, though the plywood base did suffer some damage from the bottom of the drive gears, but the gears were not damaged. Assembly The assembly instructions did not 100% match the parts, for example the axle had already been assembled and just needed to be bolted on. One has to solve a small puzzle to work out which bolts are which. The parts came with three wrenches to aid tightening bolts but you will need some additional sockets especially when assembling the tines. There are numerous reminders that it is shipped without oil and the oil is provided for the first fill. (One of the labels has the warning printed 3x in English - instead of English, French and Spanish ooops!) One of the holes in the drag bar does not align well with the bracket that holds it in place. Instructions and labels The instruction manual needs some revision. The section that describes the adjustment of the drag bar to control the tilling depth says the exact opposite to what it says in other parts of the instructions. Operation The engine started up on the first pull! The area where I tried the machine did have a number of roots present and of course the machine would easily stall when I hit the roots, but it starts right up again with a pull of the starter. This is important because when breaking ground for the first time you will need to be restarting often. The operator needs to be fairly strong as the machine does pull away from the operator and jumps about when working. Results The soil does get very nicely tilled. This is what it is all about - it saves a lot of manual effort! Do multiple passes. Clearing the tines I found that the soil I was tilling was full of small roots, many of which became wrapped around the driveshaft. I found it easiest to cut these off using garden loppers. Note: when fiddling with the tines, ensure that the transport wheel are in the back position and thus not supporting the machine since the machine can fall forward off the wheels and you don’t want the tines to fall onto your hands even without the engine running.

I got this to level my yard and lay some sod. I have never used a rototiller before and thought that this may have some issues with the roots I have in the ground. (I found out about the roots when I tried to use a shovel for this job). The tiller plowed right through them, I did not even know when I was breaking roots and when I was in just soil. This tiller worked great. I also had this shipped to my house and I put it together myself. It was pretty easy. Here is where it took me a little time to think. The wheels: they come on the axle. Just leave them there and use the brass bolts to put them on. The Tiller Blades: Just have the inside tiller blade arrows point in. After that add oil and gas and it was real easy to use. Love this new piece of equipment!

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Powerful little guy - bit of a learning curve but overall great machine!

Worst thing I’ve ever purchased. I used it for less than one hour, followed all recommendations and it’s been completely unreliable. I will never purchase this brand ever again.

Very strong construction, easy to assemble and operate. Quite powerful even in red clay. I am short and wished handle could be adjusted lower.

Does an amazing job with plenty of power.

The rototiller was relatively easy to assemble. It started on the first pull and worked fine.

Instructions could be more detailed but didn’t take too long to figure out. Started right up. Have used it a total of four hours, and so far works great!

Gas must be very fresh or motor gets sluggish. Back wheels are very dificult to work with but I may not have the poor design figured out yet. It roto tils at 3-4 star level. Wife got hurt on handle.