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I had one till recently good bit of kit and reliable (just retired) remember to Kleene it after use as there will more than likely chemicals on the lawn
The Eliets are our preferred scarifiers - do a very good job. Allow for a new set of blades after around 80-100hrs tough use. Does not sound much, but even on a big job, you're not using for more than a few hours a day so for us works out about a set per season, but we use a lot.
The 401 is very compact, and will go through pretty much any gate. The 501's wider and so cover more ground. We have a couple of both and will run them into the ground. Usually buy 2nd hand on ebay and just wait for them to come up as they are very tough and not much to worry about mechanically.
If only having 1 machine, and buying new (haven't seen any used yet) the Eliet 450 may be a good size / coverage compromise.
I've just had my trusty Hayter scarifier worked on, new set of blades, looking good as new. At a 36cm it's a perfect working width and has survived a beefy workload.
After drawing up a little shortlist for Saltex, I was planning on getting by in the spring with the Hayter and going for the Eliet 450 in August ready for renovations. Will see how cashflow is and may yet appear in spring. The Hayter is happily lifted too, really is the machine for the tight areas but need to upgrade also.
I used Eliet scarifiers for about four years whilst in a franchise - would not use them again - they do a reasonable job, but adjusting the depth of the blades meant stopping the engine, loosening a couple of the wheels, adjusting the blades, tightening the wheel again and finally restarting. I now use a couple of Bannerman 'de-thatchers' ( Canadian machine ) - soooo much easier to adjust, and do a great job as well. Also, the Eliet's direction of the 'waste is to throw it forwards - a nightmare if there are any small pebbles / stones when scarifying near windows. The Bannermans eject waste rearwards - they have a rubber 'damper' so your legs don't get shot at !
I have the Bannerman BLT 15 Andrew.
We've never had a big problem with stones and the Eliets. We have an Efco scarifier, it's a real bully boy, and that regularly chucks stones out the rear.
The bannerman scarifiers are nice, we have both, there is a everyday one, wide, much like a Eliet 501, and a fine green one for verticutting. Bannerman kit is solid in build and performance, so no worries there. However, they are wider machines, so there will be many domestics gates where they won't fit, unlike the Eliet 401. As ever it's difficult to get 1 size fits all.
Andrew - Yep, it's sometimes a struggle to get through a domestic garden gate - ( a bit of 'sideways jigery pokery ! ) but out of about 150 customers, there's only ever been 2 that I couldn't get into.
I used to have a sisis rotorake for the larger gardens - left a fantastic finish as it would scarify, pick up the waste into a massive collection box, and had a roller, so left it nice and stripey too ! It was just too large for most sites though.
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