Using Manual Lawn Aerators Doesn't Have To Be Hard: The Easy-To-Use Home Depot Tool

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If you're looking to aerate your lawn before fertilizing, you'll need to find the right tool for the job. Lawn aeration comes with a variety of benefits, including better drainage and nutrient absorption. However, if you've only got a small lawn to contend with, you may prefer manual aerators over more expensive drag-along options. Fortunately, you can find these tools quite easily at home improvement stores, and one option to consider is the Corona MAX YardBREATHER Aerator from Home Depot.

This product is designed to reduce much of the labor you may expect when aerating your lawn by hand. At the time of writing, the Corona manual aerator has a 4-star rating from 799 reviews on the Home Depot website and costs $32.98. It has two tines that remove 3.5-inch plugs from your yard. While this can be time-consuming, one benefit of this aerator is its auto-eject feature, which can help speed up the process, so you're not having to pull the dirt out yourself between each removal. The tool is 41 inches tall and, according to the brand, the handles are designed with a comfortable grip. The footplate is made of heat-treated steel and is described as slip-resistant due to the ridges on the plate. Both of these features could potentially help you stay stable as you push the tool into the ground, which is key to staying safe while landscaping. 

When you're shopping for any landscaping or home improvement tool, it's important to pay attention to details like ergonomics, usage, and efficiency. In regard to the Corona MAX YardBREATHER Aerator, reviewers on The Home Depot website praise the grips, with one person writing, "The comfortable handle makes it easy to use, even without gloves." Other customers find it lightweight enough to carry around their yard, and some say the non-slip footplate's stability makes the chore easier to complete.

That said, no tool offers a one-size-fits-all approach for everyone's needs. One of the most important factors to consider when looking at this manual aerator is the fact that it can take time to cover larger areas. Even with the auto-eject feature, this tool has only two slots. This can work perfectly in a smaller yard or area, but if you're dealing with larger properties, you may need to find a different type of lawn aerator that works best for you. This is especially true given that some reviewers on The Home Depot website found that they occasionally had trouble with the auto-eject feature and would need to manually clean out the cells.