zxcvbob wrote:

I have a Mantis tiller with a bad carburator. perhaps I should say "had"
a Mantis -- I put it in the shop last year and the guy never called me
when it was ready. I stopped by the shop several times over the next 2
months and it was always closed during posted hours. I didn't persue it
because I hated the Mantis anyway. I bought a little Honda tiller and
it works much better than the Mantis ever did.

Anyway, my Mantis was easy to start the first year, but the second year
it was very hard to start even though I did keep fresh gas in it and
drained it before storing it. I have lots of 2-cycle equipment, and the
Mantis is the only one I ever had trouble with. Maybe I just got a
lemon. It's been in the shop lots of times, and a couple of years ago
they said the bottom plate on the carburator (the hard plastic piece)
was warped. They replaced it with one salvaged from another dead Mantis
and it ran OK for a few months until the priming bulb split. I replaced
that, and it wouldn't start again.

Also, the Mantis in general is *too* light. It bounces around and is
hard to control. The Honda tiller that looks just like it weighs about
2 or 3 pounds more (because of the bigger 4-cycle engine) and that added
weight makes it much more controllable.

I bought my Mantis tiller about 10 or 12 years ago. I doubt that they
still use the same carburator. But if you look at the base of the carb
and it's made out of plastic NO NOT buy the thing under any
circumstances because when the manifold gets hot during heavy use, the
plastic will warp or crack. If the carburator is all aluminum, it might
be OK but I still recommend the Honda.

Best regards,
Bob

I haven't had that problem (yet, knocking on wood) I did have to have
the carb. rebuilt last year after using it for the five previous years
and digging up a very large area of the yard last year for our patio and
walkways. Whihc digging it up the dirt was very dry and dust was flying
everywhere so the re-build didn't surprise me. I agree that it does
then to bounce so ya have to keep ahold of it when you're using it.

--
Steve