Astrogrow premium Lawn Aerator Shoes - Heavy Duty Spiked Aerator Sandals for Revive Lawn or Yard Aeration - 4 Strong Metal Buckles with 4 Adjustable Straps - Free Bonus effective EBook & Wrench

Aeration is a key component for a healthy, gorgeous lawn. When you aerate your lawn, you are helping break up tough soil and roots, and it allows your lawn to absorb nutrients, fertilizer, and water much more efficiently. Routine aeration (2-3 times a year depending on where you live, grass type, soil type, etc.) allows these essential nutrients to penetrate the grass roots and keep your lawn beautiful and healthy. When you use spikes such as these, you minimize soil compaction and break up thick spots of thatch and root congestion. Overall, I highly recommend utilizing lawn aeration as part of a annual lawn care routine.Overall, these boots do exactly what they claim to do. They put holes in your lawn (aeration) as you walk around your yard. I like to do it while I'm mowing my lawn, as this saves me some time. The first time you aerate, you may want to do it as you stroll your yard, as the first time is the when your soil will be the most compact and thus more difficult to aerate. The first time you aerate your spike may stick more and navigating will be more difficult in general because of the soil compaction. After that though, you should be able to push mow and aerate fairly easily.The aeration shoes fit my feet well (I'm size men's 10) and they are simple enough to use. Once assembled, you slip your foot in and tighten the straps, that's it. Easy enough. I didn't have issues with the traps coming loose once I tightened them, and the spikes stayed in place nicely. If you have a well-maintained grassy lawn, you shouldn't have issues with dirt clumping on the spikes, or anything like that (I didn't). But if your lawn has lots of bare spots with no grass, I'm sure some dirt will get lodged in the spikes, but it should rinse off, no problem.You do have to assemble the spikes and straps, but it's easy enough to do.The spikes screw in and the buckles are easy to loop.The heel wedge was also nice and kept my foot securely in place. One important note before I wrap up my review: You HAVE TO STEP STRAIGHT DOWN AND LEFT YOUR FOOT STRAIGHT UP! This is essential. Drive your foot down to get the spikes as deep as you can and lift your feet straight up. Think of it like a march in the military. It will make your legs s little tired if you have large yard, but if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. Plus you only have to aerate 2-3 times a year, so it's not too bad. :)Overall, I'm pleased with these aeration shoes, and I think they work well. Recommended.

Con:(1) These are not ready to use, you have to put the spikes and nuts on the green base yourself, as well as the straps. It's not difficult, but tedious.(2) The straps are way too long and will get in the way and caught on the spikes.(3) These shoes get stuck in our soil and when you pull up you only manage to dislodge your shoe. Or sometimes the soil gets caked around the spikes so that you can't get them into the ground any more. Then you have to kick your shoe against something to knock the soil off, or go through the tedious process of taking then off to clean them and putting them on again.(4) They are extremely dangerous. You really need to have good balance, strong ankles, and keep children and pets away.(5) Hard to get on and off if your knees are bad.Pros:(1) If the ground is not too damp or too dry, or you have grass growing, they do work very well to aerate the soil.

I wish they came in a smaller size and that's not really a complaint. They worked great but having tiny feet and not weighing a whole lot, I had to figure a little better way to "walk" so I didn't kill my toes. I found a heel strike worked better for me all around, and I used my toes only around the edge of the lawn so I wouldn't have to possibly step off.Easy to assemble and the buckle straps are great. Minimal adjustments but I would suggest tying a loose bow or something around the extra length of the strap, I stepped on it a few times by accident. I also used a stick as a 3rd leg to keep my balance, I can absolutely see how you could roll an ankle if you weren't careful. It really did help, even if I looked like (according to the rest of the house) "an old lady wandering aimlessly around the front yard". HAHA

I took one star off just for a few minor reasons. Firstly the straps are way to long. I tried to tuck them up in my show but thet kept coming out and I was tripping on them. I finally had enough and trimmed them down. Speaking of the straps, it took a few times to get them to hold right. I kept having to adjust them over and over since my shoe kept slipping out. But once I got these little kinks worked out I was able to walk my entire yard no problem. Had to stop a few times to clean the leaves and mud but that is no fault of the shoes. Overall I am happy with the purchase.

One of the nails did not have threads on it, so it could not be installed on the shoe. Also, several nuts and one nail showed significant signs of corrosion and rust. That is disappointing to see on a new purchase. The straps are a bit difficult to use. the first step I took in my lawn, one of the shoes stayed behind in the earth. I was able to walk about 10 steps before the other shoe slid off of my foot. The straps were still tightened, but they are placed so that your ankle can easily slip out. I'm going to try some different strapping methods this weekend and see if I can't get them to stay on my feet. If I need to purchase another pair of aerator shoes, I will probably go with a different brand.