beermaninpa,

I think the performance of the Aerator Tines is partly dependent on what kind of soil your lawn has. It is possible that some rental places that have Merry Tillers could rent aerator tines separately and that would let you try them out in your soil.

I wouldn't expect much in a single pass, but if you owned them and used them regularly, the effect could be cumulative. However, I wouldn't expect the plug holes to go much deeper than about 2 inches.

I considered getting a set of Aerator Tines for my Merry Tiller, but our soil here is rather rocky and I suspect a lot of the aerator spoons would encounter rocks, which might dull them or limit the penetration of the spoons.

Earthworms do a fair job of aeration here, although they aren't very fast. If I were to level our lawn, which is a bit lumpy and has little depressions as well, by applying a couple of inches of sand, I probably would get the Aerator Tines as a means of "tilling" the lawn while leaving the grass growing, and the lawn available for use. Sand would "flow" into the holes left by the Aerator Tines. I think that repeated aeration would do a reasonable job of blending the sand into our heavy clay soil without killing the grass.

You can rent dedicated aerator machines, that would probably do better in a single pass, but wouldn't have the advantages of continued ownership.

MM