I would scour Craig's List for a used power rake, Harley or any other brand, if you've never had one you may not know what you are or are not missing. If you're turning a bunch of old meadow into finished lawn, you will definitely need to till it first, probably two different ways to break up the clumps of Meadow grass, if you don't till it first the grass will just wrap up around the rake after a few feet and won't work well at all. If you kill it, just don't go too deep, just the top few inches to break up all the grass, then hit it with a power rake, I think you'll be happy to be with the results. I use mine for all sorts of things, grading compact process driveways, renovating lawns, grading the infield of baseball fields, it is an amazing tool to have and I have never regretted the money I spent to get one, the time it saves fine grading and the amount of hand labor it eliminates is well worth it...