Customer Reviews for Solo 421-S Portable Spreader

This spreader is a bit pricey, but it is worth the money. Very well designed and works smoothly. Easy to operate and clean. However, the part that is a bit troublesome is finding out where to set the hopper discharge. The product I bought did not reference the Solo. I called Do My Own Pest Control, Solo, and the company that made the product I was spreading. No one could offer a setting. All three said I would have to just experiment. Honestly, I don't know if I spread too much product (insecticide) or too little. Had it not been for this issue I would have rated it 5 Stars.

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16 of 17 people found this review helpful

Overall the quality of this is very good, but the design is a little odd. I used it to spread Bifen L/P Granules around our building perimeters. No problem in that function, but of course once you stop cranking the material flow still goes on the spreading disk. So when you start back up, you have an unexpected quantity disbursing out. There is a manual close lever that could be used "every time" you stop cranking, it's just getting in the habit I suspect.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Have about 5000 square feet of lawn/garden beds. I've used this so far to spread mole repellent, lime pellets, lawn fertilizer and potash. Be prepared to calibrate the spreader settings for any application yourself as you wont find nice answers on google. There is a learning curve for walking speed, spreader setting and handle crank speed. For my size lawn I am mostly satisfied with the purchase, but I would not want to use this for anything much larger or if I needed to apply a really large amount of product. Good: * The build quality feels solid, though there is a lot of plastic. * compact enough to fit on a high shelf out of the way between seasons * left/right/center adjustment is nice Less Good: * you will get dirty using this thing, especially if you are applying something dusty * it feels awkward to use, but maybe it stems from my strap problem (below). It may be too large to use reasonably if you are short (I am 6"2' and the crank felt too low unless i had the spreader at an angle and the strap as short as it would go) Bad: * whats up with the strap? The box makes it look like maybe its supposed to go around your shoulder not your neck, but these (seemingly cosmetic) rubber things make it impossible to make long enough to do that even though there is enough material. I ended up making it as short as possible and kind of putting it around my neck. Not very comfortable but my lawn is small. Its one of the reasons I wouldnt recommend for larger applications/lawns. I may cut the rubber things off next time and see if that helps. * when spreading the lime pellets (large grains) I had the spreader set to the widest setting and several times the grains got stuck causing the handle and spreading mechanism to lock up. I was able to shake it around and get it going again each time without having to put it down but it made me worried I was causing damage. I will probably just have to do a lower setting and make multiple passes next time.

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1 of 1 people found this review helpful