Scotts 71030 Easy Hand-Held Broadcast Spreader

I have two of these and I find they work GREAT for spreading Calcium Chloride pellets that are uniform in size and shape.They do not do a very good job at spreading regular salt de-icer as the salt granules are usually not consistent in size & shape. I made the mistake of buying 50 lbs. of old fashioned salt and was very dissatisfied with using this spreader as well as having to spread salt on my concrete.BEST ADVICE: As soon as you are done spreading whatever it is you're spreading, RINSE this whole unit in warm, fast running water and spin the handle to clear the mechanism of whatever you were spreading. When you're done rinsing it, spin the handle to expel the excess water and turn this unit upside down on a thickness of paper towels to let it dry.My first unit has lasted over 10 years and the second is on its third winter and they both work great!Highly recommended if you are spreading pellets and not irregularly shaped materials.

This worked like a charm for me spreading Scott's brand fertilizer. Perhaps there was just a bad production run or something, which led to a spate of negative reviews around the same time frame. What I can say is that this was easy to hold and spread the fertilizer perfectly over my little urban lawn. I imagine you can put lots of other things here to spread, too, since the mechanism is really simple. Further, you can adjust the distributor mechanism, to account for larger or smaller granules of whatever you've loaded this with. I'm very happy with this low-tech, low-cost spreader.

I got this for spreading grass seed and it worked OK for that. Don't overload it with heavy fertilizer, it will not spread. I would give it a lower rating if it cost more, but for spreading some seed over a small area it was great.

I've used this twice and it's SUPER easy. Certainly worth the money compared to more expensive full-sized speaders. I have a small lawn (~1200 SF) and I can seed/fertilize/etc in all of about 90 seconds. The only downside is wheeled spreaders will speed up the rotation as you speed up the spreader, whereas your walking speed and spreading speed are independent with this one - just tailor your speed and rotation to the product application rate and you'll be fine! The small spreader certainly saves space in my constrained garage over what space a wheeled spreader would occupy.

Revised My original review. (It is still below) I have used this 3 times....April 1st to spread 5k bag of Crabgrass preventer (Scotts)May 2nd to spread 5k bag of weed & feed (scotts)June 3rd made it through 1/2 bag of Menard's Grass fertilizer.The handle gets harder to crank as you go (as dust builds up within the mechanism). Eventually the "keyed" part of the handle starts to strip and then stops turning the mechanism. Within a minute or two the handle falls off in your hand! At first I thought, "I can fix that" and attached my cordless drill to the plastic stud that the handle attaches to and that worked GREAT for about thirty seconds until the whole stud just broke off while in the drill chuck.This thing is 100% plastic, There is no way to dissemble to lubricate it or nothing. I just ordered one of these  Solo 421S 20-Pound Capacity Portable Spreader  Yes its over 6x more expensive but seriously 3uses before it broke?I'm a "tool guy" I have EVERY took known to man and I take care of my stuff. The lesson to be learned here is if you send a piece of crap to do a serious tools work, your going to be disappointed (and out $10). Scotts should double the price to $20-$25 and make the 3-4 moving parts out of some cheap metal because this type of junk only hurts their name brand.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For years I have been using a large push spreader. Unfortunately the wire that opens and closes the mechanism broke and on my unit its not a "serviceable" part.So I wanted something just to spread Scotts lawn products. Halts, weed & feed etc.. I figured the new formulas of Scotts were very fine grained and this should have been fine.What I found was that if you have a bag of 5000sf coverage Turf builder +halts, you can fill this up 3 times. (to within an inch of the top each time) Unfortunately I found it not heavy as the weight was manageable but my hand hurt like hell about half way through (from gripping it).I was surprised that even with such a fine product (TB+halts) which to me has a slightly thicker consistency to seed but is much finer than other brands the spreader got "stuck" several times. This required that I apply extra pressure to the handle which in turn shot out considerable amounts of product.So here is what it all comes down to. If you have a VERY small yard and you just need to put some VERY fine and VERY LOOSE product down it will work ok for you. But in my case I'm going to send it back and order an actual push spreader. Which in all honesty I wish I did not have to do. The reason that my old spreader broke was because it had been bounced around the garage a little too much and I'm sure somewhere along the line its been run into and left outside a few days as well.What a shame I had high hopes for this. I can't imagine trying to use this to spread salt or chunky granules like the ones that come on less expensive fertilizers.I'm going to look to see if anyone makes a nice unit. One that had a strap that went around your neck and rested up against your stomach would be nice. One with metal parts not the cheap plastic that this is made from.I gave it 3 stars because it did do what it was intended for. but did not go above and beyond the call of duty. I guess for $10 its not bad for like I said small lawns.

It's not very precise, but it'll get the job done spreading fertilizer or seed. The biggest complaint I have is that a full load can be a little heavy to carry around the yard, and turning the plastic crank can wear you out. I have a small to medium sized yard -- about 5,000 sq ft -- I would definetly not recommend for any yard much bigger than mine or if you need a precision fertilizer/seed drop. If I did it again, I might spend a few bucks more and get a push version.

Wonderful solution and alternative to the big expensive spreaders. We don't have a tiny yard - maybe a half-acre - but we couldn't see any sense in paying the $80+/- for the big rollers, which I owned, but which was stolen by a tenant. This worked beautifully. I feared it would be slopping all over our clothing and shoes. Could not have been more wrong. Product spread out far beyond and to the sides of us and with no waste. Definitely recommend it unless you're doing a golf course.

First time I used it everything went wrong because I didn't take the time to check the product calmly and handle it properly.I gave it another try in a relax Sunday morning and I was amazed: You can dispense the amount of product you need without touching the chemical you are using, it spread the product so well that you have an evenly and efficient distribution which results in an incredibly amount of savings and the diminishing risk of the little accumulations that can burn your plants.Incredibly easy to use and to clean. Most buy for every one with a garden.

This is one of the better hand held spreaders I have used. It's small but I have a small yard and it makes it easier to hold and operate.

We use these in our daily job, brilliant device. Finding it difficult to get the original ones, don't like the newer model that is on the market

IT PAY TO SPEND THE EXTRA FOR THIS AS ITS QUALITY

Looks the part...have yet to try it

I don’t have a hitch lawn so this seemed much more convenient than My big old clunker which I promptly got rid of.