Reed, how large is your garden? Do you use raised beds?

I have a Troy Bilt horse, a Poulan Pro, and 2 cycle Mantis. They all do what they were designed to do, and all have there pros and cons. If I had to only keep one of them It would be the Poulan Pro. It is easier to use but does not get into tight places. The counter rotating tines do not till in mulch or rough organic matter as well as the forward rotating tines. The Troy Bilt Horse, is a HORSE, and will work like one, but it is heavy and harder to use. I can even till in my corn stalks with the horse. The Mantis is a very good cake mixer, it will even mix in compost very well. If you put the mantis in rocks or roots it will jump like a Jack rabbit, if it is in weeds or small roots they will be wrapping around the tines. Most of the things I do with the mantis, would be almost as easy to do by hand, if I were a young man.

I like all three of my tillers, but if someone stole them, I would replace them with one designed like the Poulan Pro. One of the first ones I would look at would be the Cub Cadet (if it has the tall wheels on it). The taller wheels give you more ground clearance.

I would choose rear tine if I had an open area. I would choose front tine if I had to work in tight places.

Larry

P.S. the Bolo designed tines shed grass and roots better. If you would like for me to post pictures of what I consider good and bad points of each I will be happy to do so.

Slowpoke, most certainly post the pros and cons. My soil is virgin soil and, as a result, it pretty tough. That's the reason I was looking at the 4cc Mantis and not the 2cc.

Reed, I am having a hard time posting my pictures. I expect the file is getting too large. I will try to break it down and see if I can get it to post in sections.

I will first go with the Mantis because it is my least favorite, it is a good tiller, but just a notch or two above a toy. The mantis has a 42:1 gear reduction and still has a 240 RPM tine speed. Running at that speed lube is very, very important. Also the air intake is down close to the soil, so filtration is very important. The filters are very small so they need to be checked and changed often. Mantis parts cant be bought just anywhere. The pick style tines do not create much drag if they are clean, but if they load up with trash it put extra load on the engine and gear box. I know, we will say that about any tiller, but at 21 cc and 20 lbs it is hard to expect it to compete with a larger tiller.

The picture will show how the tines tend to load up with roots and grass. they dont do this as bad if they are turn around in the cultivating position, but wont till as deep.

I will try to load the Troy Bilt next.

I will now show the Troy Bilt Horse. The Horse will till more soil than my other two tillers together, but it is heavy for an old man to maneuver. Note how heavy it is made, also how much better the forward rotating tines shed grass and roots. This tiller is 31 years old, and may go another 31 years. I bought it used for $250.00, its a 7 HP with 110 volt electric start.

I will try to do the Poulan Pro next, It is the only one I have started this year.

Poulan Pro ground clearance.

Poulan Pro piling dirt between tires and tines.

I will try to post again to show before and after if the spot I tilled.

Sorry it is taking so long, I dont know anything about computers and cameras.

Before and after of tilled spot.

I'm not as much into garden machines as Larry is soy answer won't be as technical. We have had several different tillers and cultivators over the years and how well any one of them has worked has varied depending on what kind of soil we had.

We have a large rear-tine Troy-bolt tiller that Tim uses but it is too powerful for me to control if I try to use it on heavily compacted clay----both the tiller and I bounce around on heavy clay. It works fine for Tim because he has the strength to control it.

I use my Mantis for virtually everything and broke up several thousand square feet of new garden space with it this winter and spring. Most of the ground was heavily-compacted sandy-silty soil, and I mean really heavily compacted because it had been driven on by cars, trucks and large machines like front-end loaders and bulldozers over the years. The Mantis did a great job with most of it, but Tim got out the bigger Troy-bilt tiller for one area that was densely compacted clay. Once he broke up the clay the first time, I have been able to rototill it with the Mantis ever since. In one part of that clay area, he was having trouble breaking up the ground with the Troy-bilt, so I used the Mantis and in that area it did better than the Troy-bilt.

I love my Mantis and if I could have only one tiller or cultivator, it would be the Mantis. Before we bought the Mantis we had both a Craftsman (needed constant repair) and a Ryobi (also needed constant repair) of a similar size and neither one worked nearly as well for us as the Mantis. Once we have broken up virgin ground the first time, we amend the clay soil heavily via the addition of lots of organic matter and it is great soil and easy to cultivate after that. I feel like the Mantis is all I really need. It takes me a little longer to do things since it is a smaller machine but it does everything I want and need for it to do. I rarely find any rocks at all in the soil. If we had really rocky soil, the Mantis might not be the best option.

Dawn

I agree with everything Dawn said.

If interested see hyperlink; I'll throw out another idea or option.

Here is a link that might be useful: stihl mini cultivator

Nate, the Stihl was my first choice when I was looking around. It seems to have a heavier gear box and bearings.
The Mantis won out because of 1 year free trial and longer warranty. I think both would be great for what they are designed for.

I'm late to the party but will add my 2 cents. I currently have 3 tillers. A Mantis that is 2 years old(this is my 2nd Mantis) but used very little. An older Troy Bilt Horse that just had a new engine installed when I bought it 1 1/2 years ago and then a Troy Bilt Cultivator Plus I purchased a year ago. I have had a Sears reverse tine, a Honda mini tiller and several more through the years. My preference for tilling was a rear tine tiller until I purchased the Cultivator Plus. Since I bought it the other two have just set. I should sell them. It is easy to handle. It has an axle that swings back and forth. For cultivating you swing it forward so not much weight is on the tines. For tilling you swing it back so more weight is on the tines. You can work a raised bed or a large area. It does take longer to work the large garden. Currently I just pull back the straw in the area I plan on planting in and till it. That is the only reason I have kept the Troy Horse. If I decide to work the whole area of the big garden again I will use it and then use the Cultivator Plus for the deep tilling and breaking it up. If I ever see another for sale I plan on buying it. They were only made a few years in the 80's. The best tiller by far I've ever used. The others work well for certain uses but have severe limitations in other areas. I agree with what Larry said about the Mantis. It is great for it's intended purpose. If I didn't have the Plus I would be using it a lot more.