If anyone is looking for a spreader and considering this unit "Earthway 2170" these are my thoughts after putting it together and using it once.
The hopper is huge. After unpacking it, didn't realize how big the hopper would be. It has massive wheels that should go over anything. If you can't push this things wheels around your yard you don't have much of a "yard", but cliffs, valleys and boulders for a yard.
Putting the unit together was WAY more difficult than it should have been. It almost seemed the manufacturer made it difficult on purpose. The instructions are not very clear have really poor depictions of what you should do and the word descriptions are difficult to comprehend in in certain parts of the installation.
No joke, step one, do small task, step 2 do another small task, step 3 here is a picture of the entire full assembled upside down. Make it look like this..."oh btw here are a few other pictures and words that might help you in the 8 steps. It felt like this. https://imgur.com/a/P0WcH.
Besides the instructions, the lower section that mounts to the bottom of the hopper and acts as the "legs" I had to spray some wd40 on it and beat on it with a rubber mallet to get a bolt in the hole. It was jammed so tight I couldn't hardly move it at all. Finally get that fixed. Went through rest of instructions to installing the arm that attaches to the piece that opens and closes the feed. What a crappy design. I spent no joke 20 minutes turning this stupid piece every which way and couldn't find the appropriate orientation. What I ended up doing is put it in the most logical orientation and bent it to fit to the lever. It works, but being brand new I shouldn't have to be besting and twisting on stuff to get the stupid parts to fit.
Another thing that really irks me....there is no guard. This is a 150$+ spreader and Earthway cant include a 10$ spread guard? They want you to buy their additional 50$ attachment. No thanks. Come on.
Now as for using the unit. It works well. It seems to spread without a problem and of course it rolls over just about anything without any issues. I strapped some cardboard on the side of the thing for an edge guard and did the edging and took it off after i finished. Overall I couldn't tell how well it was spreading because it was getting close to dusk but the proof will be how well it spread when the yard (hopefully) greens up. But it was spreading at least. I walked at the recommended 3MPH (GPS on phone) and stuff was being slung out the hopper at a decent rate. I just hope it even.
Overall user experience was decent pushing it around. The lack of edge guard is annoying. But just pushing it with the hopper half full was good. The build experience and the "quality" of the machining and parts were crap. While it doesn't feel like it is going to fall apart, I just question the thing as it isn't as "refined" as I would want it to be for $150. The assbembly and the parts they picked IMO were just not designed and engineered properly.
https://imgur.com/a/vdrwA
The hopper is huge. After unpacking it, didn't realize how big the hopper would be. It has massive wheels that should go over anything. If you can't push this things wheels around your yard you don't have much of a "yard", but cliffs, valleys and boulders for a yard.
Putting the unit together was WAY more difficult than it should have been. It almost seemed the manufacturer made it difficult on purpose. The instructions are not very clear have really poor depictions of what you should do and the word descriptions are difficult to comprehend in in certain parts of the installation.
No joke, step one, do small task, step 2 do another small task, step 3 here is a picture of the entire full assembled upside down. Make it look like this..."oh btw here are a few other pictures and words that might help you in the 8 steps. It felt like this. https://imgur.com/a/P0WcH.
Besides the instructions, the lower section that mounts to the bottom of the hopper and acts as the "legs" I had to spray some wd40 on it and beat on it with a rubber mallet to get a bolt in the hole. It was jammed so tight I couldn't hardly move it at all. Finally get that fixed. Went through rest of instructions to installing the arm that attaches to the piece that opens and closes the feed. What a crappy design. I spent no joke 20 minutes turning this stupid piece every which way and couldn't find the appropriate orientation. What I ended up doing is put it in the most logical orientation and bent it to fit to the lever. It works, but being brand new I shouldn't have to be besting and twisting on stuff to get the stupid parts to fit.
Another thing that really irks me....there is no guard. This is a 150$+ spreader and Earthway cant include a 10$ spread guard? They want you to buy their additional 50$ attachment. No thanks. Come on.
Now as for using the unit. It works well. It seems to spread without a problem and of course it rolls over just about anything without any issues. I strapped some cardboard on the side of the thing for an edge guard and did the edging and took it off after i finished. Overall I couldn't tell how well it was spreading because it was getting close to dusk but the proof will be how well it spread when the yard (hopefully) greens up. But it was spreading at least. I walked at the recommended 3MPH (GPS on phone) and stuff was being slung out the hopper at a decent rate. I just hope it even.
Overall user experience was decent pushing it around. The lack of edge guard is annoying. But just pushing it with the hopper half full was good. The build experience and the "quality" of the machining and parts were crap. While it doesn't feel like it is going to fall apart, I just question the thing as it isn't as "refined" as I would want it to be for $150. The assbembly and the parts they picked IMO were just not designed and engineered properly.
https://imgur.com/a/vdrwA
