Mantis Avis 

Quite a long time ago I purchased my first 4 Stroke Mantis Tiller. When it worked it worked well, however the engine was always very difficult to start and erratic in performance with a very tricky choke operation. The handles were flimsy and the central join soon broke. Fortunately having my own machine shop I was able to bodge it back together. As the engine is a Honda I asked Honda about the issues I was having and they told me that Mantis buys engines they class as 'seconds' and so there seemed little I could do. But when it worked it was a little terrier and it tilled well.

Because I was struggling with the engine issues I decided to buy an electric version. This arrived with a thermal cut out switch on the motor hanging out of the plastic case on two wires. I frequently tried to re insert it but it keeps falling out and I regard it as dangerous. I then discovered why it needed a thermal cut out. The motor is very underpowered in my opinion! It will till very soft soil but struggles with anything more. But the real issue is that even in soft soil it is only capable of tilling for very short periods, the motor overheats and I can smell burning motor windings and then the thermal trip cuts out rendering it useless until it cools down a long time later which isn't helpful when rain is forecast. Because of this I've used it very sparingly fearing the motor will totally burn out. If it does I intend to replace it with my own motor having at least twice the power.

So I was left struggling with my original 4 stroke Mantis which then developed a major oil leak. Knowing how good these tillers could be if only they were built properly, I reluctantly decided to buy a third Mantis, this time a 'Delux 4 stroke Mantis'. I assembled it carefully following the instructions and when I tried it yesterday I was confronted by yet more issues...

It started much easier than my old 4 stroke but when I pressed the throttle the tines took about 5 seconds before they started to spin. It wouldn't till properly either and the tines would stop rotating after a very short time. I tried everything I could think of and eventually gave up and tried to call Mantis as it was brand new.

Mantis however don't seem interested in talking to their clients and don't provide a phone number, but I eventually managed to track down a number. But this is for Barrus who is apparently the Mantis UK distributor (and is 01869 363636). They informed me they were just the distributor and were unable to help. I asked where the tiller was made, answer 'China'.

All they could do was to give me phone numbers for Mantis dealers in the UK. As I'd purchased this one from 'Cheap Mowers' I decided to call them and soon discovered they lived up to their name! The operator was in such a noisy environment and claimed he couldn't hear me, I suggested he called me back but he just hung up on me and didn't call me back.

I gave up and decided to take another look at my Tiller. After hours of research and studying the Honda manual its supplied with, I found there is a throttle cable adjustment which is not mentioned anywhere in the Mantis instruction manual. It's very difficult to access but eventually I managed to adjust it and the machine then worked.

However its not as powerful as my original Mantis Tiller and I have no idea if there's anything else I can do to increase the power or who I can ask as Mantis customer care on circa £600 tillers seems non existent.

In conclusion, they are great tillers if they work but in my experience are badly made by a company who don't care about their clients and without decent or zero after sales service and their tillers can be very underpowered.

Don't expect a discount even when they say you get one. I will return to let you know if the product is any good or not. I can say, my beginning experience is BAD. A discount was advertised and they DID NOT deliver.