What's in a name hey? You will often find these two nouns being used for the same piece of equipment and we're not in for splitting hairs as they say. However, they are different and we are looking here as to what that difference is.
What is a Tiller?
A tiller is for lighter work and essentially dealing with the top layer of the soil. It's perfect for aeration of the soil before planting vegetables or preparing flower beds for seeding or planting. Our Parkerbrand PGTR-5200 is perfectly designed for this activity. Like most tillers, our machine runs on its blades, also known as trines, which is to say that it does not have additional wheels in order to run and perform its task.
A tiller typically has two trines which penetrate the earth, different brands have different depths but Parkerbrand tillers are within the usual expectations and have a max depth of 10cm. You can see this clearly illustrated bellow. Typically a tiller will penetrate the ground to half the depth of the trine. Most decent product descriptions will give this statistic. Engine sizes do vary but tillers are usually two-stroke engines. In essence they churn up the top level of the soil to prepare it for gardening purposes.
What is a Rotavator?
A rotavator is designed for heavier work over larger areas. Usually the unit moves with a wheel set at the rear, and even at the front, as well as a series of trines. They can be big weighty affairs - with some models looking almost like a mini tractor! Clearly the intentioned use for a rotavator is in effect to plough the earth, to turn the soil over at a deeper level than a tiller ever could. They are also able to cope with soil that has never been cultivated in any way and may be heavily grassed or have become compacted over time.
Price Difference
Most of us have to think carefully about the budget that we are on and where to spend money. Clearly though, you do need the right machine for the job - expecting a tiller to do the job of a rotavator isn't wise and will never end well! ParkerBrand offer the tiller model for a snappy £142 at the time of writing - very competitive as usual.
Not surprisingly, you are likely to pay far more for a rotavator and there is a broad market for them in the UK- if you've got gotta dig deep, you've gotta, well, dig deep!
