This is a fairly detailed first impressions review with knowledge of strengths and weaknesses and tips to keep it up in order.I started assembling this.It took 5 minutes.I then took it to the worse part of my yard..My father had dumped a bunch of gravel in the poorly draining clay river soil so he could park his car almost 10 years ago.He passed away, so I'm cleaning it up.Working with the machine:I started by testing it on some good rich black dirt that was worn a path in it.It did fine. Perfect. It tore thru roots in 3 seconds.Then I did the gravel..It couldn't bite very easy so I did what another reviewer said and put a weight on it (a flat 1" thick 2' marble square slab up against the arms behind the green motor head)It weighed it down considerably, no more kicking n spitting little nothings out.It began digging nice n steady..I had started pushing it but found pulling it works much better..It took about 10 minutes to do 3 rows 4" deep and I am impressed. That work wouldn't been literal back breaking bone shaking joint rattling pain inducing with a hoe n shovel over a whole day with a 3 day rest halfway thru.i know this from experience.It was like slicing warm butter with a steak knife vs slicing 3 month old dried soughdough bread with a Styrofoam swimming noodle.I then took it up front to start releveling my yard and improving its conditions..It took me about an hour and half of tilling the area shown in the picture, about 6feet wide to 11feet wide and about 15feet long.[The picture is of after sowing the seed and throwing 1" of topsoil.. original tilling went down 4"-10".]It is so strong an old clay brick got stuck jammed in between the blades and the metal cover.It probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't have that marble slab on it still so I took that off.I used a hammer and railroad nail to get the brick out.It then spit stones a hands breath in size like sunflower seeds. No more jamming.I'd recommend only laying a weight on top when you know exactly what's in your ground. If it's gravel, small knuckle sized stones with a few larger stones it should be fine, but if the area was once a brickyard, coal breaker, industrial zone etc etc, go easy with the thing. Let it toss itself up.The main reason you buy these things is to gofrom breaking your body doing the work the good Ole fashion way to the way of modern convenience. Remember that... it's still work. Just 80% easier. It ain't supposed to be smooth as breathing in your sleep.The machine itself:The wheels are one of 2 shoddy parts of this machine. So you better go easy on them.. though they'll be easy to replace because the wheel brace is nice Quality metal.My big peeve and eye to the people who designed and built this is about the trigger, power button..OH MY GOSH ITS SO HORRIBLE I CANT KEEP THE THING COMPRESSED FOR 5 MINUTES WITHOUT GETTING WRIST PAIN.It's just so abysmally placed.. THE ANGLES ARE ALL WRONG!!!!I just HATE it. They could have put the safety on the inner left, near the thumb and the power trigger on the outer right and had probably the single best power mechanism on the market BUT NOOOOO... they HAD to put it in such a way as to cause a pain that starts in the hand, moves to the wrist, then takes over the entire forearm.You can get around it by constantly grabbing it with the meat of your hand though.. and that's what I ended up doing.. Like I was grabbing my mate in the rump, right between thighs and glutes.. the eager beaver man's grip.It just doesn't make sense because the thing is so light you naturally want to use your fingertips and just let it glide...By gosh that freaking trigger is the reason why this thing should NEVER sell for more than the $88 I paid.If they made an ergonomic grip power trigger switch I'd gladly pay $100+.. I would. I'd buy it again and give this one away free just for that... that's how HORRIBLE THE TRIGGER SWITCH IS ON THIS.MOVING ON.I was worried that the frame around the blades was plastic and would chip n break pieces contaminating my gardenIt's not.It's metal painted with a fairly thick matte paint. The motor housing on top is a rubberized plastic though. I don't mind that as much because the motor shouldn't be getting any rust falling into it as it ages.The blades are nice but beware. Bricks and large wide thick rocks may get stuck.Long grasses, vines and such will end up wrapping around the drive shaft. It's easy to remove though. I recommend checking it every 15 minutes or so and of course mowing your lawn before use.The arms of the thing are kinda dainty..Not cheap, drop a brick on it and breaks cheap.. but cheap after a solid use period (maybe 2 or 3 seasons) with twistings and what not cheap.. (or throw a brick at it like a baseball and dent it right up reducing structural integrity by half)I could see them bending pretty bad and probably cracking during first use after only a few months of rust exposure (paint wearing off exposing the metal underneath).You'll need to really keep up on the paint around joints, along seams and at the base. Frankly an extra millimeter of metal would have gone a long way to reducing maintenance and improving structural integrity for this thing. That's how close to the cusp of moderately cheap and not worth spitting on cheap the arms are on this thing.Maybe bracing with hose clamps and a few thin rods might help.. maybe not.. who knows how they'll hold up?I do know if you don't paint it every year or two it's surely a goner in 3.Still, with all that said I'm sure I'll get thru my 1/4 acre yard and sowing my winter rye fairly easily. Even with all the coal, clay, gravel and roots.