Great tool. I tried this after a heavy rain on sandy soil. It took me, a not particularly athletic pregnant woman, about 180 lbs, 1 hour and 10 minutes to do 900 square feet. If you get blisters, you're doing it wrong.

I kept my back straight and core tight, one foot on the aerator, and just kind of used it like a shoe. I stepped forward with it, putting my entire body weight on it with each step. Pulled it up with my foot still on it, and took another step forward.

It really didn't take much effort at all. I barely broke a sweat aerating every 6-9 inch.

I lucked out and mine didn't clog at all. If it won't go down easily I assume I hit a rock or root, move the tool an inch and try again.

I totally plan to use this in my backyard soon.

Received it Sunday morning. Put it in test the same day. Was able to core 3 pieces of lawns front and back in about one hour. It is spring in the bay area. Soil is reasonably soft, but not sticky. Had no issues of hole clogging as described in some of the negative reviews. I think the key is to core when it is not too dry or too wet. If you ask me about any suggestions for improvement, I wish the materials could be a little stronger or thicker. Also the non-slip hand sleeves slip - another thing that could be improved.
I am very glad I did my homework to read and think, and made the purchase in spite of quite a few negative reviews - sometimes you just have to make your own call in the end.
By the way, based on how fast it took me to core the lawns, I think this tool could be good for fairly reasonable sized lawns.

I purchased this aerator last fall to aerate a 10x20 section of my front yard that gets pretty heavy foot traffic.It worked flawlessly!

After reading some reviews, I followed some key advice:

1. Water your lawn first! I set up a sprinkler in the morning and let it go for about an hour and a half. Then I let the water settle into the soil and started aerating later that afternoon. Don't expect this aerator to work on your lawn if it hasn't rained in weeks and you have not watered your lawn.

2. Soak the coring tips in a bucket of water when you're done using it for the day. This will prevent soil from drying out inside the tips and plugging things up.

I followed these two tips and this aerator did exactly what I needed it to do. I'd highly recommend it over renting a big machine to aerate a small to medium lawn.

I didn't have high expectations for any manual core aerator. That being said, this seems to be a fairly solid product so far. I covered 2500 sq feet. Pressing down evenly on both the handles and foot bar achieves good results. I get the sense that the bar leading from the foot bar up to the handles could be susceptible to bending if you push down too hard and unevenly (at an angle), so I'd be mindful of that.

The biggest drawback: If you have a lot of small rocks in/on your soil you'll be in for some headaches. I had to dislodge several rocks when they jammed into the tines. They are not easy to dislodge. I used a screwdriver. It wasn't a good time. You also have to make sure the tines are well cleaned out before you get back to work, or it will likely clog. Clean it out immediately after use, as well.

Aside from the issue with rocks, I didn't have as many issues as others with soil clogging the tines. I may have just lucked out with the make-up of my soil (not much clay in the mix for me).

It's about what I expected. No major complaints. I want to say 'we'll see how it holds up over time,' but the experience pushed me in the direction of renting a power core aerator for next time. This is laborious. Took me around six hours to cover the 2500 sq feet at approximately 3 inch spacing of the holes. A bit rough on the back.

Tried this thing out over the weekend after quite a bit of rain. It worked pretty well. Some parts of the yard were too soggy so it just punched a hole in the ground without removing a plug. It's a pretty good workout but I'm fat so that's good for me. Would be nice if they included a tool that fit nicely into the holes to clear them out more easily than using an old screwdriver. It's kind of hard to clean out if the soil is muddy.