The key thing for me is how deep can it till? I can hand till down to about
a foot.

"Larry Dawson" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bruce Yates wrote:

Can anyone give me their opinion on the Mantis tiller?

How good is it at breaking sod for new planting beds?

I just purchased a Mantis and wish I had done it years ago. We were
putting in a garden (10 X 20) at our daughter's. The bed had been
garden many, many years ago and was a weedy, littered mess. It was
bordered by probably a 3-4 foot band of tiger lilies. We were doing it
with a spading fork and a Garden Claw and I was mumbling and grumbling
when my wife said let's get a tiller. I'd done my research over the
last couple of years and had even posted a question about the Mantis to
this group. I knew that was what I wanted. We bought one, brought it
back, and it tore up the garden. Yes, vines and long grass would wrap
around the axle, but the tines are easily removed and the mess cleans
out nicely. It bucked on hard packed ground, but it didn't take a lot of
effort to stay with it and get the hard pack tilled. This plot also had
collected a great deal of rock, wire, metal, just plain trash. The
Mantis didn't fail. It dug the 'treasures' up. I was amazed at how
quickly it did the project considering it's not very wide. The big old
tillers I had worked with in the past required many trips through the
garden to break up the clods. The Mantis with it's suggested 'vacuum
sweeper' way of push/pulling the tiller did it without having to do
multiple trips through the plot. It worked so well, I got talked into
tilling up an area for a narrow flower bed. This must have been a
driveway at one time because there were more rocks than dirt. The
Mantis broke it up to where we could rake the rocks away. We brought in
bags of dirt and came up with a nice flower bed. My son is using my
Mantis to break sod in his yard for new beds. It's certainly not as easy
as tilling up an existing bed or even the old bed at my daughter's, but
it works. Just requires the operator to work a little slower and stay
on top of it more. My wife has a reasonably large garden (15X50) that
she had tilled several years ago. Since then she has used the Garden
Claw to break up small areas as she needs them, but this season uses the
Mantis. It's small enough that she can work small areas easily without
disturbing already planted sections, work around existing plants, etc.
It's light weight allows her to carry it from section to section, she
can easily clean the tines when she's done, and it starts up reasonably
well.
If I have a bone to pick with it it would be with the start. We
spent an extra $30.00 and got the quick/easy start model. There's no
yanking on the starter cord like on an old mower, rather it ratchets
itself as one slowly pulls the cord. In theory after about the 3
'ratchet' it fires up. Other than the time they showed me in the shop
how to do it I've never been that successful with it. I may not be
priming it enough so need to experiment with that. Of course we can't
find the manual or video tape that goes over everything (been doing so
much outside work, the house hasn't kinda gotten to be a mess!) I've
never had it not start, it just takes a little longer than what I
thought it would. It always starts right up after it's fired up the
first time and I shut it down for lunch, etc.
The Mantis comes in four models: standard, quick start, electric,
and one with a 4-cycle honda engine. I asked about the one with the
Honda engine and was told that while it is a good engine and offers the
convenience of not having to mix gas/oil, it is hard to get parts for
and considerably more expensive to repair, plus it's initial cost is
higher. The edger attachment that came with it is not overly
beneficial. I tried edging the curb with it. The wheel to cutter
distance is greater than the curb width so it was difficult keeping the
wheel down and the cutter in line. It may be easier on a standard width
sidewalk or fine for cutting an edge to separate the lawn from a bed.
I am amazed with this tiny machine every time I use it. It's easy
and has done everything I've asked it to do and usually better than I
expected. Obviously I can't speak to its reliability in the long haul,
but figure if I follow the maintenance directions (assuming I can find
the manual), we'll be ok. Don't know if I want to be tilling things
under with it when I'm 90, but I have a friend whose mother is 80 and
she has had the standard one for years and still works her garden with
it each spring.
Hope this helps.
Larry Dawson )