PunchauLawn Aerator Shoes w/Metal Buckles and 3 Straps - Heavy Duty Spiked Sandals for Aerating Your Lawn or Yard

I wasn't sure if nails would rust. I'd rustproof the nails anyways. Ground needs to be wet to work. Overall satisfied with the product.

June 27, 2016I needed to aerate my lawn as I am getting a lot of water run off when I use my sprinklers. I live in the LA area, so we are on water restrictions. Aerating the soil will (hopefully) help with water retention in the soil, so I have less run off and use my water more efficently. I have no idea if using these shoes will help, but punching holes in the ground manually is out of the question.I asked at a couple nurseries and they said it would not hurt to try. After looking at a number of similar products, I chose this one - Punchau Lawn Aerator. The Amazon packaging was great as always and arrived promptly.PUTTING THE SPIKES ON:The aerator shoes do not come assembled, but are exceedingly simple to put together. The spikes go into the hole and you screw on the nut on the underside, lace the straps and you are done. Bada Bing Bada Boom!The kit comes with a small wrench (7/16). It works, but I used my own wrench (7/16) to attached the nuts. The wrench provided is a little small, so I used my longer handled wrench to tighten the nuts down, it is much easier.A word of caution when tightening the nuts.. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN. Yes the base is made of fairly sturdy plastic, but I can see someone over tightening the nuts and cracking the plastic. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN.Once the spikes were on, it was a simple task to lace the straps on. The pictures on the box are okay, but but don't show any detail. In fact the only complaint I have of the product is the lack of a instruction sheet. Yes, there are pictures on the box, but it would have been nice to have a little more details.I took a number of photos and uploaded them. Refer to them to see how the straps are laced. I hope it will be helpful.AERATING THE LAWNOnce the shoes were assembled, I strapped the shoes on. It was an easy task. I was pleasantly surprised with the the string loaded clasp. This was a very good idea. Once on, I noticed that the straps are WAY TO LONG. This is not a bad thing. You will need to tuck them under someplace or cut them. DO NOT CUT THE STRAPS UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED WALKING IN THE SHOES.Although I haven't cut my straps yet, I plan to, but wanted to walked in them before cutting the straps back. Refer to my photos and you will see that I tucked the straps under to prevent them from being worked on.Walking is not hard with the shoes on, YOU CAN LOSE YOUR BALANCE, SO WALK SLOWLY. I'm not sure how you are suppose to walk, I tried walking a normal stride, but that leaves gaps in your walking, so I did baby steps. This will take longer, but you will cover more of your lawn. It does take a little pressure to push the spikes into the ground, but you don't have to stomp them into the ground. When walking with the shoes, you will feel them go into the ground.THIS WILL BE A WORK OUT. I'm in good shape, but I was sweating and my legs were a little tired after doing my front lawn. Again, be careful when walking with the shoes on as you can lose your balance.ONE NOTE BEFORE SPIKING YOUR LAWNRake any leaves up before you start. I made the mistake of doing the with leaves on it. I have a large magnolia tree in my front yard and it sheds leaves all the time, especially in the summer time. I had to stopped and remove the built up leaves from the bottom of the shoes a couple of times. See the photos. Once the spikes are cleaned off, I continued to spike the lawn. I have only gone over the lawn once and I plan on doing the lawn a couple of times. Hopefully this will allow for more water retention. We shall see.CONCLUSIONS:I cannot tell you if this will help the lawn, but anything that punches holes in the ground that allows water to be retained, seems to me to be a good thing.As to the product, on first use, I really like this product. I was surprise at how sturdy the plastic base was. I had pictured the base being thinner, but the plastic base is quite rigid. Assembling the spikes on the base was a piece of cake. Easy and simple to assemble. Lacing the straps was also easy. I was up and aerating my soil within 15 minutes of opening the packaging.I definitely recommend this product. Have fun with it.. like "Stompin at the Savoy"!

Unfortunately our state has red clay as our "dirt". These are absolutely horrible for us to use. We got 2 pairs so we could work together to get the job done faster. If the ground is dry then this isn't sharp enough to go poke holes and if its wet then the clay attaches to them and after making 2-3 foot imprints of wholes, your soles are covered and you have to stop to clear them out. They also stink and staying on. We rolled our ankles quite a few times trying to walk in these. Maybe they work on regular top soil but if you live where there is clay. Save your money and try something else.

Je pensais bien faire. Fonctionne pas.

Difficult to put on securely. Had a problem to tighten the straps & the length of the strapsOtherwise a walk in the park