First I had the Arm & Hammer 71034 Swivel Bin and Rake - which I liked but the rake kept breaking in two. I guess I use too much force when scraping the poop out of the grass. So then after going through 3 of those I decided to try this one, and I really wanted to like it... but after a couple of months I really do NOT like it.

I often clean the yard before the gardeners come to cut the grass weekly, when the grass is long, and this thing SUCKS at pulling poop out of fairly tall grass (like a week or two of growth, not that tall) - you end up getting maybe half of it and smooshing the rest around in the grass and getting more grass than poop in the claw. I'm smashing and clawing and it's just not able to get under it and lift it up out of there.

I give up. I am ordering another rake model that is not plastic and hopefully third try will be the charm in my search for the perfect pooper scooper.

So I've had this now for a couple days. No issues with design or anything breaking. It seems study, well built. My reasoning behind 3 starts is that if your grass is even a little high this thing does not get the poo up easily. It takes me a couple tries to get all the poo out of the grass. And I'm not taking about little left over pieces but the big poo pieces. My dog is still a puppy, a Boxer, so maybe her poo isn't big enough? I was using an Arm and Hammer rake thing before this and it was starting to fall a part (we've used it for 5-6 years) and it was just gross. I was hoping this scoop would be a good replacement. I will likely purchase the Arm and Hammer rake again and use bags with it this time.

Better than other 'jaw' scoopers... We got two years out of our last one, a record for these jaw type scoopers. They all are built with some weaknesses, and I've use three or four brands, so far this one is best. Just ordered another. Failure on this one ultimately was the springs breaking. I probably could have found some replacement springs and installed them, but honestly who wants to do repairs on a poop crusted scooper so I'll splurge for the $15 for a new one. Be aware if you use these in the winter, the combination of the plastic getting brittle with the cold and being more aggressive trying to dislodge frozen poops will break them as well.

Beware, if you've got weak hands, the two springs could be difficult to pull open the claws. My Mom (79) said it was to difficult. I imagine small kids could run into the same problem. But for the rest of us, this Medium Jaw is the bomb. Cheaper and better then the pet store brand that the handle broke on. And the last one the spring broke from being left outside. And the xtra large springs were a bit weak. But this one, with the two springs has a lot of closing force. It's 27 1/2 inches from top to turd.

I have two GSDs who can put out some impressive waste, and this scooper is definitely jumbo in size and does the job. I downgraded a star because it seems to be made of cheaper plastic, but then again it is priced below many competitors, especially those sold in the pet stores. Like all scoopers, poop tends to stick on the jaws and any scooper's claim that it is made of nonstick materials is...ds. Overall, I recommend if you have T. Rex-sized dogs like mine.