Ryobi extend-it or Would this work

[nilly71]

I've been thinking about getting a tiller but petrol ones are way out of my price range apart from second hand Ryobi extend-it or is it expand-it range.
Has anyone else got one of these?
Are they any good?

Would an electric tiller work if it was plugged into a portable jump starter( i can't remember the proper name, it's used when you need to jump start your car). It has a 240v socket so the tiller could be plugged straight in. My beds are approx 5mx1.5m so if it could do 1 or 2 of these it would be ideal.

Neil

[chriscross1966]

I've got the expand-it tiller... it's fine for seedbeds and a bit of inter-row weeding  but it's not a rotavator.... I can't imagine a 1hp electric is any better.... remember you need about 70 amps at 12V to get a horsepower out of the electric ones.... and you'd need a decent inverter too..... I'd use petrol every time... A jumpstarter would only run it for a few seconds before it got too hot, you're looking at a couple of car battery sized liesure batteries to do anything significant, car batteries wouldn't be up to it, they're not built to be drained like that....

So say 80 quid for the inverter, another 100 or so for the liesure batteries adn you'd want a good charger to plug them into back home so another 20 or so..... say 200 quyid to be able to run the electric one for a couple of hours.... or carry a fuel can and use the expand-it... which can also be the strimmer (very useful), pruner, path mower etc etc.....

chrisc


chrisc

[nilly71]

Thanks Chris,
I was only thinking about it as i already have the jumpstarter and thought it might be a cheaper option. I guess i'll have to start saving for a petrol one.

Neil

[Amazingrotavator(Derby)]

I also have the expandit.What a brilliant tool.I have the hover mower,normal strimmer,heavy duty strimmer,hedge trimmer and the tiller.I find using the tiller very useful after using the big rotavator to break the soil down into a fine tilth for sowing seed.Recommend this tool to everyone.