Last fall I bought the 2 cycle Craftsman mini tiller and the 4 cycle Craftsman mini tiller. Each was an unused floor model on clearance ($60 and $80). Some of the tines were missing and one was missing a gas cap, and I had to order them from parts. The 4 cycle looks just like the Troybilt at Lowes. Each one does a good job with the limitations of a mini tiller taken into consideration. But I have never used the Honda or Mantis to compare to. So far I have used to till grass clippings, leaves and topsoil in an 8x10 compost pile. Did what I wanted it to do. It will stall if vines get wrapped around tines so pick them out.

Thanks tracktor. I decided to take a chance on it. My 2-cycle bit the dust in the gearbox area, a nd I needed another. Hopefully this will fill the bill. I bought it yesterday, used it last night and it seems to have a good bit of power. It bounced a little, but you're gonna have that when grabbing roots.

I'd love to hear more about your experiences with it. I was going to head over to sears this weekend and maybe pick one up, this after reading consumer reports' which preferred the craftsman four-stroke to the mantis.

So far so good. I've used it several times already to assist in plant holes for shrubbery, etc., and until it hits a very large root, it just keeps grinding up the dirt and going down lower in the hole. Haven't used it for any leveling type tasks or long runs yet, but that will come this w/e.

It cranks right up with a couple of pulls, and I'm quite satisfied. I had the older 2-cycle Troybilt and it worked pretty hard also (the gearbox stripped out...so that was it for that one), but this 4-cycle shows a lot of grit. It's supposed to have a heavier duty gearbox, so we'll see. Hope it's "heavy" enough to last a while. I payed the same price for the 4-cyc as I did for the 2-cyc, so I went for a little more power this time. I think it's worth it.

After reading all I could find on Mini tillers I decided to go the Craftsman 4 cycle mini. I won a brand new one on eBay for $190 + $32 S&H. At Sears they sell for $289.99. As soon as I received it I gassed it up, push the prime bulb, choked it and gave the starter cord a yank. It stared with the 1st pull. The Incredi-Pull system makes for easy staring. My wife has never started a gas motor in her entire 59 years on the planet. She gave it a pull and the tiller started right up, that says a lot believe me! She the baker I'm the Mr. do the rest and I don't me sleep.
In the garden it was unstoppable! A mini aggressive bull, until I hit a large chunk of root. I pulled the pin, removed the tines and the root chunk and I was back to tilling in no time. Have you ever bought something that you had doubt about and after you gave a try you couldn't wait to tell everyone how great it was? This is one of those items. This mini tiller is aggressive in my soil which is mostly small roots sandy soil and hardly a stone. I had to clean the tines ever so often to clear the root and grass out from the tines. I gave it try with and without the wheels, it seemed to worked well in both cases. Without the wheels when you pull the tiller backwards the tines don't turn, so you ended up dragging a pile of dirt with it. Use the wheels unless you want to go deep! All in all it's a mini workhorse, fold up to a small size and it's not too heavy. In my soil I give it two thumbs up!

The 4 cycle craftman tiller is excellent...Lot's of power..easy to start and the right weight for that kind of tiller and it is much cheaper than a honda and I'm sue parts for it will be much cheaper than a honda.