Affiliate Disclosure: This Old House‘s Reviews Team is committed to delivering honest, objective, and independent reviews on home products and services. To support this business model, This Old House may be compensated if you purchase through links on our website.
Unless you’re a gardening expert, it might be difficult to know which tiller to purchase to prepare your flower beds. To help you sort through your options, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the best electric tillers on Amazon. Here are our favorite models.
Most Powerful: Earthwise Corded Electric Tiller/Cultivator
With a 13.5-amp motor, this corded tool is effective for heavy-duty tilling projects, such as preparing a new bed with rocky soil. It also has an adjustable cultivating width between 11 and 16 inches with a depth of eight inches.
Key Features
- 29 pounds
- 16-inch cutting width
- Eight-inch cutting depth
- 13.5-amp motor
- Six tines
- Two-year warranty
What Customers Are Saying
Many customers liked this electric tiller’s safety features, power, and durability. On the other hand, some users said that the tines sometimes stopped turning even when the motor was still running.
Most Lightweight: BLACK+DECKER Tiller
This tiller is easy to handle. It weighs half as much as most tillers, offers freedom of movement with a cordless design, and has two textured handles for gripping. Its 20-volt battery can cultivate 325 square feet before dying.
Key Features
- 11.7 pounds
- 20-volt battery
- Two tines
- Two-year warranty
What Customers Are Saying
Customers were happy with this tiller’s lightweight, compact build that could cultivate small gardens with ease. Some disappointed users wished that it could cover more ground before its battery died.
Best Positioning Control: Sun Joe Electric Tiller/Cultivator
This electric tiller uses two wheels to move across your garden. You can position the wheels at one of three angles depending on what works best for your flower bed. For power, effectiveness, and durability, this tool also has six steel tines and a 12-amp motor.
Key Features
- 27.1 pounds
- 16-inch cutting width
- Eight-inch cutting depth
- 12-amp motor
- Six tines
- Two-year warranty
What Customers Are Saying
Customers who were pleased with this electric tiller mentioned that it was easy to assemble and made from sturdy materials. According to some customers, it couldn’t handle rocky or tightly packed soil like gas tillers.
Best For Medium Tasks: Earthwise Cordless Electric Tiller/Cultivator
This tool is more powerful than most cordless tillers. With a 40-volt battery, 11-inch cutting width, and eight-inch cutting depth, it tackles most of the projects that corded models can while still giving you the advantages of a cordless design. It offers maneuverability because it is lightweight and works without an outlet or extension cord.
Key Features
- 24 pounds
- 11-inch cutting width
- Eight-inch cutting depth
- 40-volt battery
- Four tines
- Two-year warranty
What Customers Are Saying
Satisfied customers praised this tiller for how easy it was to maneuver. They also liked how quickly its battery recharged. Taller users did struggle with it, though, because it was low to the ground and had short handles.
Best Speed Control: Mantis Electric Tiller/Cultivator
This electric tiller has two speed options to tackle light- and heavy-duty projects. You can use the low speed for cultivating and the high speed for tilling. For more control, it has two multi-position wheels and a foam-coated handle.
Key Features
- 24.4 pounds
- 12-inch cutting width
- Eight-inch cutting depth
- Nine-amp motor
- One-year warranty
What Customers Are Saying
Customers said that the lightweight nature of this electric tiller made it easy to use in their garden. However, some Amazon customers claimed that they received a refurbished product instead of a new one.
Buyer’s Guide
Whether you’re an avid gardener or hobbyist, an electric tiller makes turning and loosening soil and mixing compost easier than ever. Renting a tiller is inefficient if you need the machine frequently—the fees add up, transportation is difficult, and you’re on a deadline to return it.
By purchasing an electric tiller, you don’t need to worry about additional fees or pressing deadlines, and the only place you need to transport it to is your garden. Below, we explain some of the top elements to consider when you’re buying an electric tiller for yourself.
Tines
Electric tillers usually come with four tines, though you can also find models with two or six tines. The tines are typically in the rear, center, or front of the machine. Rear-tine tillers are powerful, so they’re useful for heavy soil. Meanwhile, front tines are lighter and easier to maneuver. These are the most common type of tines on electric tillers. Finally, center-tine tillers are the rarest, but they provide a balance between the power of rear-tine tillers and the maneuverability of front-tine tillers.
Size
Larger, wider tillers require fewer passes through your soil. However, the bigger a tiller is, the more cumbersome it is to operate and maneuver. Most tillers are in the 10-to-20-inch range in terms of length. Some are even adjustable, giving you more customization based on whether you need more power or more mobility.
Speed
Revolutions per minute (RPM) measures the speed at which the tines move. The higher the RPM rating, the quicker the machine churns the soil. Anything approaching 200 RPM works for the majority of soils, but some devices can go as high as 400 RPM.
Power Source
Electric tillers are either corded or cordless. Corded models are more powerful, but they’re less flexible in terms of where you can use them because they plug into a wall outlet or extension cord.
Cultivators vs. Tillers
If your garden is already established and requires light maintenance, consider a cultivator. It’s also lightweight and compact, which is useful if you have limited strength and mobility.
A garden tiller is better for heavy-duty projects. It provides more power than a cultivator, so you can use it to establish gardens of all sizes or maintain medium and large gardens.
Electric Tiller Uses
An electric tiller can serve many purposes. Below, we’ve highlighted what it can do for you.
Breaking Ground
An electric tiller can tear up last year’s garden and add mulch in preparation for this year’s planting season. You can also use it to plow through hard soil when you’re starting a new project from scratch.
Tending
Existing gardens require ongoing attention. An electric tiller can turn the top layer of soil to ensure that nutrients are reaching the roots of your plants.
Weeding
Having a weed-free garden is key to productive, healthy growth. The compact build of electric tillers allows them to get between rows of plants and pull out undesirable vegetation.
Composting
To create hearty fertilizer, you can use your electric tiller to turn your compost heap as it decomposes. This redistributes the heat, worms, and activators.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an electric tiller cost?
Electric tillers can range in cost from around $100 to over $350. The more intense your tilling needs, the greater the cost.
What is the difference between a tiller and a cultivator?
A cultivator is intended to mix already-loose soil for aeration and nutrient distribution. A tiller breaks up harder ground, such as clay, to prepare a new garden or tend to an existing one.
What is the benefit of purchasing an electric tiller over a gas-powered one?
Not only is an electric tiller more eco-conscious, but it’s also easier to start, store, and maintain.
Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team
This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations.
We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.