Mantis 4-stroke Tiller (Honda Engine)

To start, we haven't received our tiller yet. We were told that it would arrive Monday or Tuesday. Reality ,tiller was shipped on Monday.

We opted for the payment to be divided into 4. Reality , the entire amount was charged to our account.

This morning ,I called the company. The lady informed me that the unit was shipped on Monday. For arrival on Thursday. We won't be home. She corrected the payment problem immediately.

There was not one word of apology. There wasn't any compensation of money or products offered. Nothing but bare bones cold contact.

My daughter thought perhaps it was because this isn't an hospitality industry as a hotel. But. We have had two issues with a luggage company that was totally opposite this. And once was my fault and once was theirs. A very different experience.

Many years ago a colleague demonstrated a small tiller similar to the Mantis 4-stroke Tiller and we were suitably impressed with it's capability .The memory of this led me to purchase the Honda engined model directly from Mantis a couple of months ago, along with the "special lawn care" package of Tiller, Border Edger, Kickstand, Dethatcher and Aerator for £399.

I have a half acre of lawns and cultivated garden and until now relied on a 5HP Briggs & Stratton engined Cultivator, which is both heavy and difficult to use. The soil is a sandy loam and quite stony.

Though small and light, the Mantis easily cultivates to the same depth as the larger machine and is only slower because of it's 23cm working width, though this is a boon for inter row work.

The dethatcher ripped out moss and rhyzomes with ease, whilst the aerator blades slit the lawns deeply; almost too aggressively for my soil type. The only disappointment was the border edger which still required some tedious manual work to follow it up.

The Honda engine is a gem, starting easily and running smoothly. It needs to warm up for a few minutes before speeding up to engage the centrifugal clutch and has adequate power for everything I used it for. The very small (100ml) of oil should be changed every 10 hours of operation.

I taught agriculural mechanisation for over 30 years at a State College and would consider this machine to be one of the best value and versatile units I have ever used.