Comments regarding Mantis Tools

I inherited my Mantis 7222m tiller several years ago. I use it in a small garden for about 1 hour total each year. This year I experienced a strange problem.
It started fine - ran for about 1/2 hour. When I stopped to move some trash, the engin died and failed to restart. The plug was fouled so i assumed a flooding problem.
I went through all the maintence and it still wouldnt fire. I checked the plug wire with a voltmeter and couldnt get any voltage. So I figured it was a bad coil.
The next day I went to the garage to get my spade to do some hand tilling an decided to give the mantis a crank.
Guess what it started on first pull!!!! and ran fine but was ideling fast. BTW, the first thing I did was disconnect the kill switch.Could a coil revive itself after 24 hours sleep?
The Mantis is a fine machine, but the Orion engine seems to have some maintence problems.
Any comments would be welcomed.

Mostly I have loved my little Mantis, which I have had for 3 seasons, but have two significant complaints. First, the air filter nut came off and it is apparently a nonstandard size wing nut. Not finding one like it at any supply shop. Refuse to pay big bucks for one.

Second, and more important: there is/was a fault in the handle design. The kill switch is located so that if your tiller bounces even a little, your hand shuts off the tiller! Also, the handles want to flex too much, and pop loose the handle separator. Perhaps the newer models have fixed this.

I love the lightweight nature of this tiller, and it generally starts well. Had some trouble with it last year--had to have it worked on by a mechanic. But I, a person with moderate arthritis, can still use it pretty well except for the problems above.

I have had a non-Mantis little tiller in the past, from Sears, and it was a waste of money.

I have found the solution for the difficult starting and running of the Mantis tiller.
1. Use new gas with a high quality oil, I use John Deere brand.
2. Follow the manual instructions on adjusting the carb. I did this and now my machine runs just fine. Still a little hard to start, but it runs. That's all, simple. I do follow the storage instructions, and I also run the engine out of gas so there is none left in the carb.

I am giving a neutral because I have owned and operated my Mantis tiller for 3 years. It works exceptionally well, however, I did not look for any other produce before purchasing the mantis. My initial reason for getting this product was that it "weighs less than ten pounds." However, after my purchase, I found that at Home Depot, they had similiar weighted tillers for a lesser cost. If I could go back in time, I would not get the Mantis, I'd go to Home Depot where I have always had great success.

Back in early March I ordered an electric Mantis cultivator direct from the Mantis people. They said it was back ordered until the end of March due to a part the production department was waiting for. I received yesterday (4/10/06) a letter saying now it was still backorder and may by shipped April 27. I called Customer Service and they said their production line is still down - no part. I cancelled the order as I am afraid if I needed any replacement parts, the same story might ensue. Doesn't it seem strange to have your production line stopped for 2 months waiting for a part - where is it coming from? Mars? It just doesn't seem like a reliable company to me. I don't think this rates a negative review as I have not had the opportunity to use the product. But the Customer Service Dept. did not try to persuade me in any way not to cancel or nor did the gentleman try to convince me to switch over to their gas model. His attitude, although pleasant, was "fine - cancelled - have a nice day." There was no attempt to keep me as a customer. So I guess I'll check out other cultivators - maybe someone of them want my money. Too bad - I was looking forward to that little Mantis!

my mantis when it starts works great but it has been a hard starter all its life...I'll bet I have spent $200 on service trips/bills to local repair shops...these two cycle engines seem to either run quite or some are hard starters all their life...my experience...I think I'll call Mantis tomorrow after having trouble with it bogging down today...

I like the little guy. Works well, though it isn't very easy to start. And watch out for the assembly instructions. They clearly state how to assemble it - with the handle on backwards! Great if you want to till backwards! I was warned by a friend that her husband (who owns a landscaping business) had a problem with assembly, so I had the Maintenance Director where I work assemble it for me. Yup - backwards. I called Mantis to let them know there was a problem with their written instructions, but they said, "No, the instructions are fine. You made a mistake." Whatever...

I purchased a MANTIS tiller about 3 years ago and I also have experienced hard starting and poor performance (bogging).

Being an electro-mechanical engineer, I made some quick checks and found the spark was barely sufficient but figured it was just a cheap mag-coil in a $400 tiller and it did run so I let it go at that.

After about 6 hours run time (2hr per year on my small garden) the spark faded-out and the engine went dead-- permanently.

I have registered my complaint with Mantis and sent the coil back to them for inspection with a note expecting them to replace this defective coil.

Others who have experienced poor engine performance should check for weak spark. This tiller is very easy to work on and owners should try to fix any problems themselves; I talked to two dealers here in San Diego and neither had a clue and one actually tried to sell me another brand of tiller !!

I will post another note here when Mantis resolves this situation.

My husband gave me a Mantis tiller for my birthday about four years ago. We ordered via the mail system. It worked great the first year. I was absolutely thrilled that I could start it so easily and transport it so effortlessly. The next season is another story. In the middle of using it one day, it went dead. I had plenty of fuel in it. Yes, it was the correctly mixed fuel. My husband has operated chain saws for years, so that was no problem. I re-started it. In went dead again. After many exhaustive tries, I gave up. We have taken it to the local small engine repairman in our town, plus I drove fifty miles to an authorized dealer to have it repaired. It's the same story. Get it out of the shop, it starts fine. Start to till with it, it goes dead and then is impossible to start or keep running. We paid over four hundred dollars for it, plus all therepair bills which by the way have amounted to almost another two hundred dollars. I have called the 1-800 number to speak to their representative who advised me to take it to the authorized dealer/repairman. I hate that Ihave spent that much money and have not gotten any satisfaction from this product. My husband told me today he was going to buy another one for me, not a Mantis. We will shop around and do some comparison. I guess we should have done that before buying the Mantis.