Gear drive tillers are only as good as the gears in the box....
There are probably many more chain drive tillers out there than gear drive.
Tillers are expensive, Good tiller more so. Stick to a bigger company, pay more, you'll get a better tiller. Look at the gearbox rating to see what it can handle. See they are all gear drive at some point.
Rhino, Befco, Maschio, all fine.I think deere is built by rhino. Howard Rotavators: excellent.
KK is fine. They cost less, the warrantee is good, if they explode they cost less to replace.
Reverse rotation is typically used for breaking new soil, forward rotation for repeat business.
I have had 3 KK II's. Still have two of them. My first 6' broke apart at the frame. I used it for acres of new ground before planting. In it's first and only season I tilled about 10 acres of ground, twice. Second one is holding up, but has been used less. I also have a 4' cut down to 3' for tilling vegetable rows. It is always used in soft ground and is doing fine. They may be made in the usa, but the gearbox is from.... China. They all leak from the cover from day one because the bolts are not tight.
They have done well, but next time around I will go rhino or maschio.