Looking at a Mantis and rear tine tiller both used and trying to figure out which one..
I’ve never had any experience with the Mantis so I’m looking for some input..

Most of my soil is sand and loamy soil..

I need something to break up new ground

The Mantis seems like a good little unit but not sure if it will break up ground as well as a regular tiller.

Any thoughts?

I wouldn't buy a Mantis for new ground. I use mine for maintanencing the planted garden. Borders, edges and what not.

2x. Plus the rear tine is easier on the hands. Only use the Mantis for light weeding. Admittedly I have heavy clay soil.

I bought a Mantis this spring and its a beast. New soil you may have to go over a couple or three times to get it ground into finer dirt, but the Mantis will do it. I put in 2 gardens with it and have been using it to cultivate both of them since then. No complaints.

My garden is not like one of those in a Mantis ad. I have heavy soil and lots of small rocks. I have a nice 9 horse BCS for the big work and a Mantis for tilling between rows and weeding. I love mine. It is the 4 stroke Honda model and has enough power to keep turning in heavy soil. Where I live I couldn't imagine doing the first pass with the Mantis.

Pete

Mantis is handy in a tight area. Rear tine are great and easy but if you're inside a fence the corners really suck. They take a lot of room to turn around and for cornering.

Reverse is a nice feature.

I had a rear tine years ago in heavy soil. It was excellent and did a tremendous job.

When I moved I had loam and sand and the same tiller was useless. All it kept doing was getting stuck and spinning out.

I used a Mantis the other day and it was excellent.

WS

We use both BCS and Mantis.

Thanks all

My buddy has a Mantis he's selling for a good price so I think I'll try it..If it doesn't work well I can always use it to cultivate...it actually may work well in my soil plus it's not a huge area I need to work up..

I just got my 2nd Mantis in the mail last week after ordering my first one back in 2000. They are excellent for what they are meant to do. They are small so for initial tilling I would recommend a rear tine tiller and use the mantis for small areas,tilling in flower beds and for tilling in the rows after the plants are up. I use mine for loosening up the soil between the potato rows,then I hand hill then heavily mulch and am done for the season. Also they are excellent in flower beds tilling around plants,bushes and such. My soil in heavy,shaly type so I could never do my whole garden with a Mantis since it would be harvest season by the time I finished. Do not hesitate to buy one for the jobs I mentioned. My first one still works but needs carb work from the gas eating away at it. 19 yrs for the 1st one and still going and beating the snot out of it. 2nd set of tines.

If you have a garden of any size you will want a bigger tiller for both fall and spring use.
I have a Sthil that is similar to the Mantis and it works well for tilling between established rows
and such but to break up new ground , nope. I think if you have a very small garden you would be ok.
When I say small, I mean 200 sf or so.

Zim

I love my Mantis. It has way more guts then anything that small should have.

Mantis is a good small tiller. Only problem I have with it is when tilling heavy or unbroken ground, you have to walk backwards, to get it to dig in or it wants to bounce a lot. Like jumping a foot in the air, in sod, walk backwards it digs in very well.
Dennis

I have a Troy-bilt that I've had for years. It does everything I want it to do.

My brother has a little mantis tiller that he loves for working around the garden after it's all in and growing. I do the first tilling of the year for him with a tiller that's powered by the PTO on a little Yanmar diesel tractor.
Having both kinds of tillers would be nice, but if you are only going to have one, make it the rear tine.

Troybuilt here too, Since 75, lol. It's been repowered once, and the drive train/gear box rebushed and sealed once.

At least one rental yard around here rents out a BCS rear tine tiller. So you could go that route if you wanted to.