Best Lawn Scarifier & Aerator: UK Reviews of Petrol, Electric & Manual Scarifiers

If you’re in the market for a petrol scarifier, then for me, the Hyundai HYSC210 is one of the best domestic models out there.

Powered by an easy to start, 210cc 4-stroke engine, it offers powerful raking and de-thatching.

It comes with two cartridges, a 17 bladed de-thatching cartridge for removing lawn thatch and a 16 spring tined cartridge for removing moss and dead foliage.

Setting the height is very easy. Simply turn the dial on the front of the machine you can choose from 5 height settings, ranging from +5mm down to -15mm.

That said, it’s a pretty powerful machine so use the height adjustment sensibly. When you first use it, set it to its highest setting and see how much material it removes. Don’t just set it to its lowest and go, you might find that it shreds your lawn.

The working width is 40cm and the collector holds 45 litres of material, which, if you scarify regularly is a decent size.

However, if you’ve never scarified before or if there’s a lot of thatch or moss in your lawn, the collector will be useless. It just isn’t big enough for the sheer volume of material the machine extracts.

I found it was easier to just eave the bag off and rake up the moss and thatch by hand. Apart from that, I don’t have any complaints. It’s well-built, easy to works and works brilliantly.

The AL-KO 38P Combi-Care is a smaller machine than the Cobra but AL-KO claim it’s suitable for lawns up to 1,200m².

The engine is quite small at 53cc which, I have to admit, could be tricky to start from cold every now and again. That said, despite only being 53cc, it produces an impressive 6,100rpm which handles even thick thatch and moss ease.

The fact that it’s smaller also means it’s nearly half the weight of the Cobra so if weight is a concern, this is the model to choose.

It has 5 working depths, a slightly smaller working width at 38cm but the collector is bigger at 55 litres. Again though, if it’s your first time scarifying, or you don’t do it that often, I don’t care how big the collector is, it won’t be big enough.

And if you do use it, the added weight at the rear can cause the machine to ‘wheelie’ on the very small rear wheels. I found it was just better to never use the collector and rake up the debris by hand. When I removed it completely, the machine was a joy to use.

And cleaning is incredibly easy as AL-KO has made the underside completely smooth. There’s ribs of crevices for soil and debris to hide in which is a brilliant idea.

Overall, I like the AL-KO. It’s well built and although it can be tricky to start, it works well and it’s light.

Technically, the Bosch AVR 1100 isn’t a scarifier or lawn rake, it’s a verticutter.

That said, verticutting is technically a type of scarification. It removes moss, the top layer of thatch and it discourages shallow rooting weed grasses and creeping weeds.

Verticutting also prunes the roots of the grass plants which encourages new growth of desired grasses.

Verticutters have more blades and don’t cut as deeply as a traditional scarifier. The benefits are;

1. That they’re much gentler on your lawn, and
2. You can use them right the way through the growing season

So instead of attacking thatch build up all at once and damaging your lawn, you can reduce it gradually over the year.

That said, it still removes a surprisingly large amount of both thatch and moss.

The Bosch has 4 height adjustments which range from +5mm down to -10mm and 14 pivoting blades which won’t break in tough patches or if they hit hard debris.

It also features what Bosch calls their ‘Jet Collection System’.

This is just a fancy name for an airflow system that sucks the debris into the 50-litre collection box. I have to say it does work pretty well and if you use it every fortnight between April and September, 50 litres is decent capacity.

It weighs in at 9.9kg so it’s easy to manoeuvre and carry. And when you’ve finished with it you can store it away easily thanks to its double folding handle and stackable storage box.

If you prefer to control moss and thatch by scarifying little and often, the Boch AVR1100 is the machine for you.

It’s reliable, easy to use and it does an excellent job.

If you’re in the market for a powered scarifier but you’re on a budget then the VonHaus 2-in-1 Scarifier and Aerator is a good alternative.

It’s around £60 cheaper than both the Bosch and AL-KO but t’s still backed up by a two-year warranty.

It does feel a bit cheap but it’s still sturdy and also pretty powerful at 1,500 watts. It rips up moss and works its way through thick thatch with no problem. In fact, it extracted a huge amount of material when I tested it.

Like the Bosch, it has four height settings which are set very easily by a lever. As always though, I’d recommend you start on the higher settings and lower them as you go to avoid ruining your lawn.

Manoeuvring it is also easy as it weighs in at less than 10kg. As you’d expect for the money though, it’s not perfect.

The collector is only 28-litres which is useless. Again, I found it best to remove it completely. The power cord is only 10 meters too.

The instruction manual is pretty rubbish and the underside isn’t easy to clean due to the way it’s been constructed.

Still, for a cheap scarifier, it’s pretty good!

If you’re on a budget and/or you’ve got a small lawn, Wolf Garten’s Multi-Change Moss Removal Rake is, in my mind, the best hand scarifier.

However, in order to use it, you must also buy the handle which comes separately. Unless you already own the Wolf Garten handle.

This is because it’s a ‘Multi-Change’ tool, meaning you can buy different tools for the same handle. For example, you can buy the scarifier head for removing thatch and a rake head to rake it up. Then turn right around and attach a hoe head for hoeing your borders before changing it for a brush head to sweep up any mess.

While this isn’t a criticism per se (I think it’s actually a good idea), you should know that you’ll need to buy the handle too.

However, it works well, cutting into the turf and removing excess thatch very reliably. The higher you lift the handle, the deeper the blades go, meaning you can scarify more deeply.

The build quality is excellent. It feels solid, very well made and it also comes with a 10-year guarantee which gives you the confidence to work it hard.

The AL-KO 38E Combi Care is the baby brother to the petrol model I reviewed as part of this article.

It has many of the same features;

The only real differences are that it’s electric and limited by a 12m power cable. It’s around 6kg lighter too.

And it’s half the price of its petrol counterpart!

It performs just as well in my test and removed an immense amount of thatch, even on the highest setting.

And just like the petrol model, the underside is completely smooth so cleaning is dead easy.

Again, though I found it was easier to use without the collector