EarthWay 2600A-PLUS Spreader Lawn Aerator & Fertilizer Spreader, 40lb Hopper Capacity, Red, Durable, All Terrain Pneumatic Tires, Rust-Proof Polypropylene, Epoxy Coated Steel Frame

Very nice unit. Has numeric tires for a smooth operation and easy pushing of the spreader. Easy to adjust the rate of material being spread. A little more money but worth it!!!

I used this spreader in a yard that has lots of surface tree roots. The wheels on the spreader are not large enough in diameter to roll over the tree roots easily and often cause the spreader to come to a sudden halt. I have to then push really hard to get over the roots and found that the spreader handle rotated on me because the handle is fairly fragile. This spreader is better than the plastic wheel spreaders sold a most stores but would be so much better if the handle were more robust.

I was in the lawn maintenance business for 10 years, and all our techs used Earthways. When it came time to get a spreader for my own lawn I burned $35 bucks on Scott’s brand. Despite my best efforts with Scott’s,after 2 yrs of altering spreader patterns, rate of application and distance between passes I gave up. Finally got sick and tired of my striped lawn, the cheap plastic pieces and wheels and bought the earthway. Wish I would have listened to my years of lawn care experience and invests that $35 into this spreader. Would have saved me lots of time and frustration. This spreader is fantastic. Always an even pattern, easy to operate and very sensitive to varying application rates (whether dropping salt, fertilizer, pesticides). Tires grip the turf well to keep the spinner plate rotating. Don’t listen to the reviews that it is difficult to assemble, if you know how to read, operate a Phillips head and pliers, you can put this together over an hour and a beer. Of note, I was a bit apprehensive of this one because it does NOT come with the side deflector for edges, but simply read the directions. I have had perfect results with adjustment of the 3 hole drop system sufficiently loading my edges for accurate application. Greatly reduced germination rates of crabgrass and spurge along my concrete edges this summer. Bucket is a bit large for my needs, but it does not affect operation and I would rather have a larger bucket for my needs than a smaller one. Also, this is not cheap plastic, it is made of many steel parts, so if you apply salt or iron products (which I do), proper cleaning is a must.

I had a cheap Scott's spreader that I used for a while. Decided to 'upgrade' to the Earthway and I regret it. There aren't any specific settings, so you have to put the lever somewhere between completely closed and completely open. You have to close it when you let it sit still (or else whatever is in there just pours out) or when moving from one area of the lawn to another, and because of the lack of specific settings, it's impossible to reopen it exactly how it was before. As a result, getting even/consistent/repeatable coverage is unlikely and extremely difficult.I just did a full aeration, overseed, and starter fert app this weekend. I started spreading the seed with the Earthway and quickly learned the problems. After doing 1/3 of my front lawn, I switched to the Scott's for the rest. When I was done, I played around with the Earthway a bit to see if I was missing something. I was not.This is a weird design and I really don't understand what the upside could be. I was thinking about it quite a bit while finishing my lawn work, and from what I can tell, this design is objectively worse than spreaders with a setting that you choose/leave alone then open with a spring-activated lever (like the Scotts's).Also, a lot of product sits in the hopper and you need to shake it a lot to get it through the holes as it gets empty-ish. This is probably true of all spreaders to some degree, but it happened with far more product left in the Earthway than with my Scott's.I just hopped on Amazon here to start a return, and learned that I just missed the return window by two weeks. I bought the spreader Aug 5 (as I was gathering everything I needed for the project) and this was the first time I used it. Wish I'd waited a bit before buying the spreader (or did my overseeding sooner).I will not re-use the Earthway. Despite being less enjoyable to push around, I trust the Scott's and will continue to use it.

Like a lot of other reviewers I've worked with the standard issue Lowes/Home Depot Scott's Spreaders in the past. I have a half acre lot and was really having a hard time justifying spending this much money on an item that I use 2-3 times a year to fertilize, once a year to over-seed, and 1-2 times a year to fungicide. I'll tell you, it's worth it. The Scott's spreader I used was so unstable that I had to hold the handle with one arm and try to dump my seed in with the other (guess how well that worked out), it would tip over every time I left it on a slant or incline, it didn't hold nearly enough to do the front or back yard in a single pass, and had a low radius spread that never seemed even. On every issue that the Scott's seeder failed this one succeeded. It's definitely a luxury, there's no doubt about it, but based on how well it's built I'd be shocked if I find myself replacing it inside of 10-15 yrs and that's a lot of time to be working with a much more enjoyable product. If you're on the fence, pull the trigger....you'll be happy you did.In terms of assembly, which people have gone on and on about....if you're the type of person who's taking care of your own yard and going the extra mile to fertilize and seed I can't imagine you'll have an issue. There's nothing hard about it, just a lot of bolts.

I've used this for my 13,000' yard regularly, the only complaint I have is the hopper is not big enough to hold fertilizers. I can usually get 5,000' in the hopper but cannot get all of the 8,000' area in the hopper and I have to do half and stop and fill it up with the rest.