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Rakes leaning up against a wall. Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

The Best Rakes of 2024

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Rakes leaning up against a wall. Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

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1
Editor's Choice Product image of Truper Tools Tru Tough EMX-24F-LW
Best Overall

Truper Tools Tru Tough EMX-24F-LW

Check Price at Amazon

True to its name, the Tru Tough can stand up to heavy use. We like how lightweight it is, but also the head's heftiness, making for smooth raking. Read More

Pros

  • Lightweight, but perfectly heavy in the head
  • Comfortable to hold
  • 25-year warranty

Cons

  • Had a tough time handling pine needles
  • Slightly expensive
2
Product image of Fiskars 96605935J
Best Value

Fiskars 96605935J

Check Price at Home Depot

The blunt tines on this rake can get easily clogged with pine needles, and the interesting rectangular head is only okay at picking up leaves. Read More

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Ergonomic handle
  • Lifetime warranty

Cons

  • Pine needles can get stuck
3
Product image of Razor-Back 2915200
Best Leaf Rake

Razor-Back 2915200

Check Price at Amazon

The Razor-Back is a sturdy rake that will handle heavy use well and stay comfortable in your hands. Read More

Pros

  • Very sturdy
  • Comfortable to hold
  • Lifetime warranty

Cons

  • Handle could use another bolt
4
Product image of Bully Tools 92630
Best Rake For Pine Needles

Bully Tools 92630

Check Price at Amazon

This Bully Tools rake is an average rake that will get the job done, it just might damage your lawn. Read More

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Great at catching debris
  • Sturdy tines

Cons

  • Clogs easily
  • Uncomfortable to use
5
Product image of Bond 2060
Best Adjustable Rake

Bond 2060

Check Price at Walmart

This is an attractive rake that will get the job done, but may cause a lot of lawn damage in the process. Read More

Pros

  • Attractive
  • Lightweight
  • Adjustable

Cons

  • Creates lawn damage
  • Best Overall Truper Tru Tough 24-inch Leaf Rake
  • Best Value Fiskars 24-inch Leaf Rake
  • Best Leaf Rake Razor-Back 24-Tine Steel Rake
  • Best Rake For Pine Needles Bully Tools 30-inch Lawn/Leaf Rake with Fiberglass Handle
  • Best Adjustable Rake Bond 2060 Adjustable Steel Rake
  • Other Rakes We Tested
  • How We Tested Rakes
  • How To Choose The Best Rake For You
  • More Articles You May Enjoy

Leaves are a pain to clean up—especially when they're covering your whole yard. Whether it's the end of summer, and you're just starting to see the leaves turn, or you've decided to put off yard clean up until after Halloween and Thanksgiving to hold onto that leafy autumnal aesthetic, you're going to need a reliable rake to help you to take care of the mess—and to rake your leaf pile back up again after you've jumped into it.

Choosing the best leaf rake is more involved than blindly adding the first search result to your online shopping cart. To make your work easier, we tested the most highly-recommended rakes on the market to see which ones performed the best.

To really put the best rakes to the test, we spent some quality time raking in a New England lawn that was so overgrown you wouldn't want to approach it without gardening gloves. After raking through piles of leaves, pine needles, acorns, and rocks (in the rain, I might add), we liked the lightweight Truper Tru Tough 24-inch Leaf Rake (available at Amazon) the best, due to its solid performance and ease of use.

Girl raking a lawn.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
Best Overall
Truper Tru Tough 24-inch Leaf Rake
  • Shape: Leaf rake
  • Material: Steel and Wood
  • Ergonomic: No The Truper Tru Tough is a mix of all of the best qualities of a rake. It’s light enough so that it’s easy to maneuver, but it’s heavy enough that the tines don’t bounce on the ground as you drag the rake towards you.

Between this rake’s sturdy metal tines and weight, it is very efficient at raking; only the occasional leaf is left behind after the first sweep. It worked very well on both harder ground and in slightly longer grass.

During testing, I found that this was the rake I kept gravitating towards. While it didn’t always sweep up every acorn or pine needle, it had a long fiberglass handle with a slightly cushy part at the end that made it more manageable to hold during longer periods of raking.

The Tru Tough is not as wide as some of the rakes I tested, but I found that to be a bonus, since what it lost in horizontal coverage, it made up for in its maneuverability, raking efficiency, and ease of storage.

The rake is connected to the handle by two bolts, which should result in very few instances of the rake breaking or failing.

Its slightly higher price point is worth the extra cash. The rake is solidly built and will stand up to repeated use without tines breaking or getting damaged.

Pros

  • Lightweight, but perfectly heavy in the head

  • Comfortable to hold

  • 25-year warranty

Cons

  • Had a tough time handling pine needles

  • Slightly expensive

Buy now at Amazon
The Fiskars rake often clogged when faced with pine needles.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
Best Value
Fiskars 24-inch Leaf Rake
  • Shape: Leaf rake
  • Material: Aluminum
  • Ergonomic: No

The Fiskars 24-inch Leaf Rake is reasonably priced and uniquely shaped—it has a rectangular-shaped head with a slightly curved tine arrangement. The rake head is plastic, and the handle is metal with a plastic grip at the top.

Like most of the rakes on this list, it did an average job of raking, but it definitely missed some leaves on a single sweep, which meant that I often had to re-rake swaths of lawn that I’d already gone over.

However, this rake is simply designed, lightweight, and easy to use and move around. The handle is ergonomically designed (that is, the pole is not perfectly cylindrical) to fit better in your hand, and the plastic grip at the top of the pole will help to ease hand strain. Its lifetime warranty is also nothing to sneeze at.

Sadly, the Fiskars rake really suffered when it came to the pine needles. Its shape seemed to be specifically designed to collect pine needles, and the rake clogged often. It did just fine with regular leaves, but pine needles proved to be its undoing.

Contrary to my raking experience, which was only average, most online reviews are positively thrilled with this rake. Those customers really appreciated the rugged and light-weight design, raking performance, and lifetime warranty.

Pros

  • Lightweight

  • Ergonomic handle

  • Lifetime warranty

Cons

  • Pine needles can get stuck

$19.17 from Home Depot

$53.41 from Walmart
A Razor-Back rake floats on a peach field.
Credit: Reviewed / Razor-Back

Comfortably short and adept at raking leaves.

Best Leaf Rake
Razor-Back 24-Tine Steel Rake
  • Shape: Leaf rake
  • Material: Steel and Fiberglass
  • Ergonomic: No

The Razor-Back 24-Tine Steel Rake is nearly identical to the Truper Tru Tough 24-inch leaf rake in every respect except for one: it has a shorter handle. Because of this I felt more comfortable with the Truper. If you have shorter arms or just feel more comfortable with a shorter handle, then the Razor-Back is the rake for you.

The Razor-Back's 24-inch-wide rake head did a great job at raking leaves. It was comfortable to hold, able to get in tight areas and areas with uneven ground, and felt sturdy.

Pros

  • Very sturdy

  • Comfortable to hold

  • Lifetime warranty

Cons

  • Handle could use another bolt

Buy now at Amazon

$34.98 from Home Depot

$50.07 from Walmart
A wide tined Bully Tools rake floats over yellow.
Credit: Reviewed / Bully Tools

With a huge rake head that features large plastic tines, this rake from Bully Tools does an excellent job at pine needles and detritus.

Best Rake For Pine Needles
Bully Tools 30-inch Lawn/Leaf Rake with Fiberglass Handle
  • Shape: Lawn rake
  • Material: Fiberglass
  • Ergonomic: No

The Bully Tools rake did an average job at raking and wasn't hard to use. It has a limited lifetime warranty.

Lightweight at just over 3 pounds, the Bully Tools rake has poly tines with a fiberglass handle. It has a wide head for catching debris and measures 72 inches. It is longer than some of the rakes we tested, so it may not be the best option for a shorter person. If you’re below 5’5”, it might be a little uncomfortable to use.

It had good performance on flat terrain but was very damaging to my lawn. That being said, it was great at catching debris and barely left anything behind with its wide head and sturdy tines. Because of this, it makes a good pick for clearing pine needles.

We did have one complaint: this Bully Tools rake was so good at catching debris that things got caught in it easily.

Pros

  • Lightweight

  • Great at catching debris

  • Sturdy tines

Cons

  • Clogs easily

  • Uncomfortable to use

Buy now at Amazon

$40.41 from Walmart
A metal rake head scrapes a bare patch of ground between two plant fronds.
Credit: Reviewed / Bond

Gardens are full of narrow corridors where one size fits all isn't the rule.

Best Adjustable Rake
Bond 2060 Adjustable Steel Rake
  • Shape: Leaf rake
  • Material: Steel
  • Ergonomic: Yes

With 22 steel tines and a wood handle, the Bond 2060 is one of the more attractive rakes that we tested. It boasts a flexible coil spring that will make for easy raking and is lightweight. It would definitely make a cute edition to your yard, and maybe even look good in your garden shed!

That being said, Bond delivered average performance while we were raking. It got the job done on both flat and hilly terrain, but left quite a bit of lawn damage behind. While it didn’t get clogged easily, the build quality was subpar and it wasn’t very comfortable to use.

Pros

  • Attractive

  • Lightweight

  • Adjustable

Cons

  • Creates lawn damage

$24.74 from Walmart

Other Rakes We Tested

Product image of Orientools 22 Tine Garden Rake
Orientools 22 Tine Garden Rake
  • Shape: Lawn rake
  • Material: Steel and plastic
  • Ergonomic: No

The Orientools 22 Tine Garden Rake was a solid number that measured 60 inches—this average length will work with a lot of heights. It also comes with an adjustable handle, which is a useful feature for anyone who wants to cover more ground. This rake is lightweight and compact: made of steel and plastic.

While the Orientools rake had some cool features, on both flat and hilly terrain its performance was average at best. It caught enough debris to do the job and rarely got clogged. It was also easy to remove the trapped debris after raking. That being said, its construction was flimsy and it wasn’t very comfortable to use.

Pros

  • Adjustable

  • Lightweight

  • Doesn't clog easily

Cons

  • Flimsy construction

  • Uncomfortable to use

Buy now at Amazon

$65.87 from Walmart
Product image of Jardineer 63" Adjustable Garden Rake
Jardineer 63” Adjustable Garden Rake
  • Shape: Leaf rake
  • Material: Steel
  • Ergonomic: Yes

In theory, a rake that can adjust from 7 to 23 inches would be cool to use, but this was not the case with the Jardineer. While it did not clog, it had poor performance on both hilly and flat terrain, creating a lot of lawn damage while still leaving some debris behind.

The steel handle is also not comfortable to use and the design itself felt flimsy. All in all, we’d say this rake is one to avoid unless you’re really set on using an all-steel rake for your yard.

Pros

  • Adjustable

  • All Steel

Cons

  • Feels flimsy

  • Creates lawn damage

Buy now at Amazon

$23.99 from Walmart

How We Tested Rakes

The Tester

I’m Cailey Lindberg, a Staff Writer on the Home Team here at Reviewed. Two years ago, I bought a house with a huge backyard with my partner and I’ve been raking leaves every fall and spring since. While testing multiple rakes at once can be daunting, my yard was certainly in tip-top shape by the time I finished.

The original testing for this guide was done by Reviewed's senior scientist Julia MacDougall.

The Tests

Person raking leaves.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

We put each rake to the test to see which ones reigned supreme.

Unsurprisingly, the core of the testing for these rakes involved actually raking leaves. However, we made sure that these rakes were tested out in a variety of circumstances, including the terrain type (hilly vs. irregular vs. flat) and lawn debris (leaves, acorns, small sticks, pine needles, etc.).

In addition to raking performance, we also took note of some more subjective aspects of each rake, such as how quickly the rake clogged with lawn debris, how comfortable it was to hold, and how well-built it was.

How To Choose The Best Rake For You

Which Rake Is Best For My Yard?

The best rake for you will largely depend on what kind of landscape you want to be raking. Here are a few areas to consider before buying a new rake.

Lawn debris—What kind of lawn debris do you have in your yard? You may have leaves, acorns, small sticks, pine needles, or anything else that falls off of trees. If you’re often dealing with something more complex than just leaves, it may help to have rake tines that are further apart. This way, it’s less likely to get clogged with sticks or pine needles.

Raking sitting on grass.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

The best rakes will get the job done without damaging your lawn.

On the other hand, tines that are spaced too far apart may start to miss leaves and require you to rake the same swath of ground over and over again. Also, look for rakes that have "Medium Duty" or "Heavy Duty" labels; "Light Duty" rakes are best for raking jobs that just involve leaves.

Terrain—Do you have a relatively flat lawn space, or does your backyard have slopes, hills, or dips? Plastic rakes, which are more rigid, will do a good job clearing leaves from a flat lawn, but the tines may have more trouble reaching all of the leaves located in ditches, divots, or hills. The tines on metal rakes are more flexible, and it will be easier to pull leaves and other lawn debris out of non-flat places.

Grass height—Do you have low grass that just peeks out of the hard ground, grass that fully covers your lawn, or tall grass? While metal rakes can work well on all three types of grass, the sharp edges of the metal rake may leave marks or gouges on the lawn if the ground is exposed. Additionally, tall grass may get tangled in the spaces between the metal tines. Plastic rakes generally do not leave scratches on a hard ground surface.

Handle material—While it’s common for rakes to have wooden handles, they may not be conducive to your comfort if you’re raking for long periods of time. Fiberglass and metal handles are smoother, lighter, and often come with grips on the end of the handle that can make it easier and more comfortable to hold and wield the rake for however long you need.

Handle height— While long handles can make it easier to reach leaves further away, they can prove to be cumbersome if you’re shorter or if you have shorter arms. Make sure the raking motion feels natural, and that your backhand doesn’t have to stretch a long way to grab the end of the handle.

Rakes leaning up against a wall.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

The length of a rake is very important when thinking about your comfort.

In my experience, if you stand a rake upright next to you, the end of the handle shouldn't be much taller than your height, or too much shorter than your chin. If it's too long, the arm that reaches for the back end of the rake will hurt from constantly stretching beyond your normal range of motion, and if it's too short, you'll be bending over a lot.

Rake head width— Most of the time you see a measurement in a rake's product name, it's referring to the maximum width of the rake head, that is, the horizontal distance from the first tine to the last tine. This number also translates roughly into the width of the swath of lawn you can rake in a single sweep.

Most rake heads are about 24 inches wide; usually, it's a trade-off between rake head width and the size of the debris you'd like to rake. A wider rake head means that the tines are probably further apart, leaving space for smaller lawn debris to slip through the tines. The reverse is true for a narrower rake head—it's best for smaller debris, since it may end up clogging quickly otherwise.

Meet the testers

Julia MacDougall

Julia MacDougall

Senior Scientist

@reviewed

Julia is the Senior Scientist at Reviewed, which means that she oversees (and continually updates) the testing of products in Reviewed's core categories such as televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, and more. She also determines the testing methods and standards for Reviewed's "The Best Right Now" articles.

See all of Julia MacDougall's reviews
Cailey Lindberg

Cailey Lindberg

Staff Writer, Updates

Cailey Lindberg is a Staff Writer at Reviewed and full-time Dog Mom to @sandor_thebassethound. In her spare time, she writes about music and history for Mental Floss.

See all of Cailey Lindberg's reviews

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