EarthWay 2050P 80lb Broadcast Spreader, Lawn Aerator, Fertilizer Spreader, 80lb Capacity, Pre-Assembled, with Rustproof Poly Hopper and Adjustable Drop Rate for Lawn Care & Seed Spreading

My old "Green" broadcast spreader broke just after 2 years of use, and I needed to find a better product which would last more than a couple years.In looking at the same spreader as a replacement, I was not at all impressed by both the initial reaction of the quality of the build, and all the negative reviews...It looked cheap in every way.In my quest to find a better product, my searches all came back to this spreader. Everyone loved them, and the price was right.When my Earthway 2050P arrived, it was boxed very well. Taking it out of the box, and assembling it was nothing more than raising the handle, and locking it in place...That was it.One thing which concerned me as the formulation to match the fertilizer being used to their correct settings on this Earthway spreader. It seemed there were several reviews of people having issues with the settings.Using the provided settings matrix was actually very easy. All you do is find the weight of the bag of fertilizer, and how many square feet that bag is advertised to cover. Matching those two things will give you a number. Take that number and on the matrix, it will show you the setting to place your Earthway spreader at. Following that, I had absolutely no trouble at all determining which setting my spreader should be at.Using the spreader was just light years above the same "popular" spreader I've been using for years. It's very well balanced, has a fantastic spreading distance, and best of all, I don't have to fight with the spreader attempting to maneuver it over ruts, or any debris. With the inflatable tires, it makes moving this fully loaded spreader around the yard an effortless process. It was actually a joy to use...Whereas with the spreader I've been using previously, would have left me in need of a break after about 3 passes with a lot of yard still to go.I absolutely love this spreader. The gearbox is heavy duty, being advertised as Estate Grade, plus, you can buy a replacement gearbox for around $20.00 direct from Earthway...Try doing that with your "green" thing!The cost of this spreader is money well spent, for sure.Well recommended, worth the cost, hands down!

A nice lil guy. Not up to my big job, though. I had too big of an area to cover with a different sort of material that tended to clog things up. Not really the item's fault. Would work very well for the use intended. Surprisingly solidly made. Large enough wheels, but is tougher on uneven ground. As other reviewers have mentioned, the handle is short. I'm not that tall and it was fine for me, but if you were 5'9" or taller, it would be uncomfortable.

Used for 2 seasons now to spread Scotts 4 step and Grub Control. Perfect spreader very easy to push even when full. Spreads evenly every time. Much faster and better quality than any Scotts spreader including the black pro model. Earthway makes great products for pros or home user. This model holds a full bag of fertilizer for 15,000 ft2 lawn and makes the task fast and easy. Wide spread radius provides better coverage and reduces needed passes to cover the lawn. This spreader is perfect for my 1/2 acre lot but could definitely handle a much bigger lawn. I'm 6 ft 1 in tall and this seems to be a good height for walking behind. A longer handle would be nice but needed.

This review comes from a purchaser who works in agriculture and has often spread fertilizer on large acreages, but needed a small hand unit for around home. The Earthway 2050P is adequate for occasional at-home use and should last reasonably well if looked after and thoroughly cleaned afterwards. However, it's not robust enough for frequent use, as it's lightly built from only-just-adequate materials to a design that's the same.Other reviewers have commented on (1) the large pneumatic tyres - they're good, but to save cost are mounted on plastic and lack axle bearings; and (2) on the handle which is not height adjustable - surprising, when so many people have written adversely on this, that the manufacturers have ignored the clear customer demand, which could be easily met at low cost with minimal re-design and engineering.The instructions re spreading rates provided with the unit (on the outside of the packing carton and in a printed insert) are OK if one has fertilizer spreading experience and can handle a little arithmetic, but aren't well written or sufficiently comprehensive for others. Again, this has been a common customer complaint - why don't people at Earthway listen and take action? A competent technical writer who understood fertilizers could do the job easily.The shipping carton is made of very light weight cardboard and is wholly non-protective and unsuited to purpose. My carton arrived with several holes punctured in it by the spreader handle, the worst of which were right in the middle of the spreading instructions on the carton, causing me to have to recover and piece together the pieces of fragmented cardboard in an attempt to obtain readability. If Earthway insist on using such a light weight carton, their packers could at least put the spreader in the carton such that the sharp end of the folded handle destroys something other than the instructions.More positively, the spreading coverage was quite good - a long throw, accurate enough as to rate per square yard and even. I checked this by setting out a few containers at measured intervals to collect the fertilizer, then weighed them. This was serious over-kill for our lawn, but gave me a check on both spreading rate (versus what I'd calculated) and spreading evenness. These, of course, are dependent on operator skills, e,.g. how best to traverse ground slope - and hard to get right if if one doesn't have the advantage of large-acreage GPS to automate the detail.On balance I'd buy the unit again based on its performance so far, but would cheerfully pay a little extra for non-plastic wheels, a height adjustable handle and a carton fit for purpose. I'd also expect instructions of much greater utility for most purchasers. Nothing new there - Earthway if they look at Amazon must have heard it all before, year after year.June 2017Two years later the spreader has done good spring and fall work on our and other family lawns. No breakages. No problems. I would buy again. Spreading accuracy improves with practise. Granule size is an important factor and it pays to monitor real versus calculated application rate for the first 1-2 minutes and adjust the setting if necessary. Small sand-sized granules, e.g. for weed control, are harder to get right than larger granules, e.g. fertilizer.