I scarified my lawn in under 20 minutes with this electric tool – and now I'll never go back to doing it manually

I just scarified my lawn, and what I expected to be a long, tough task was staggeringly simple.

The Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier & Aerator 1500W has been on my wishlist for a while, and last weekend, after months of dry weather, I finally got to use it. I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to a manual scarifier now – it made the task so much easier (effortless, actually), and we managed to scarify our 38m² lawn in under 20 minutes. For £119.99, It’s a worthy investment if you’re wondering how to scarify your lawn for the first time.

Here’s why I loved the Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier & Aerator so much.

It’s the ideal time of year to scarify your lawn (it'll remove dead thatch, moss and debris to encourage airflow and healthier grass), so I thought it was time to finally put the Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier & Aerator (which is also available at Amazon) to the test.

In a nutshell, the electric tool comes with a scarifying drum which drags thatch out of the grass. It requires significantly less elbow grease than a manual tool, though – and it really does make the job a lot faster.

Our lawn is around 28m², and my partner and I finished the task in just under 20 minutes (a new record!). It's so easy to use, only requiring a light push to keep it moving, and you can also adjust the height of the handlebar, which makes a huge difference to the comfort of the tool.

I should mention that the Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier is corded, not cordless. Its 10m cable is perfectly fine for small gardens – but any larger than that, and you’ll need an outdoor extension lead like this Masterplug Outdoor Socket Extension Lead from B&Q.

The cord did restrict our range a little in our 38m² garden, which is probably the only drawback I could find with the tool. If you’d prefer a cordless model, the Einhell Cordless Lawn Scarifier and Aerator is highly rated on Amazon (but it’s almost double the price).

I was blown away by the sheer volume of dead grass, thatch and moss that the Vonhaus Scarifier removed from the lawn. Within just two or three lengths of the lawn, the 30L collector was full – so you’ll just need to remember to empty it at intervals. We also gave the scarifier a whirl without the collection bag attached to see the tool churn out dead grass, so there’s also that option, but you’ll then need to clean up the thatch and debris once you’ve finished scarifying (it’s a little bit different to leaving grass clippings on your lawn).

There are also four depth settings to choose from (-12 to +4mm), changed via a simple handle. As per Vonhaus’s advice, we started with the highest setting, and we actually found that the lower settings scalped parts of the lawn, since it’s already so dead from this summer's heatwaves – but since we’re about to start afresh and reseed our lawn, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

If you’re looking to aerate your lawn, Vonhaus says the scarifying drum can do that at the same time, although we didn’t spot any deeper aeration taking place – it seems as though it simply loosens the surface of the soil rather than deeply penetrates the ground, so we’ll be using a separate tool to aerate the lawn properly.

The Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier actually comes with a raking drum, too, which you’re supposed to before the scarifying drum to clear moss and debris – but since our grass was already dead in patches, we found the raking drum actually scalped the lawn instead, and kicked up a huge amount of dust! In fact, Vonhaus advises wearing face protection when using the tool for that very reason. It’s pretty easy to swap out the drums – you just need an Allen key, which comes with the scarifier.

Other autumn lawn care essentials

If you want to scarify your lawn in a fraction of the time it would usually take, without the effort, the Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier & Aerator 1500W is well worth the investment.