Sorry, no firsthand knowledge. Have you read the reviews on Amazon?

"I returned mine at 3 months and got a refund which I promptly applied to a gas model of the same machine. The electric never worked well enough, kept overheating, was under-powered and generally useless."

"Many owners who have had this tiller for a few years know that it starts to overheat after about 15 minutes, and that you have to wait each time to let it cool down."

"Quit after two months and less than 30 minutes service life."

Seems like it may not be up to the task of commercial work.

I wouldn't let all of the positive reviews influence you based on your proposed application. I suspect they involved limited application on smaller plots. Assuming no one here is able to give a firsthand account, you might read through the reviews and glean the common themes that would be applicable to your proposed use.

I don't have experience with the electric Mantis but I rarely ever use my gas one since I bought the BCS walk behind.

My current hoop house is only 10x18'. I have big tillers and a mini gas tiller . My horse and pony are too big to use in hoophouse. My mini works great inside but even in summer when everything is open, I can smell heavy exhaust fumes. I have used a spading fork in the past , which is time consuming. The tiller will take care of it in 10 minutes. Maybe I am being over.cautious

I started with the gas mantis type. Hated it. It was so touchy. Never wanted to start. Then my DH bought me an electric troybilt. Same size as mantis. I love it. I can till 2 hours on one charge though I usually don't run it that long. I use it to prep beds for replanting after harvest. I like that it doesn't till too deep but it leaves a great seed bed. Oh, and there are no fumes to breathe!

grnnygrn

If you are planting into the ground I'd avoid all of those "Back-scratchers". You need to til the soil deeper and do less pulverizing for better plant performance. I manuver a small tractor easily in 20 and 30' wide structures. If you can't then follow Randy's advise and use a broad fork.

my gas mini tiller will work 8- 10 inches deep. more if you let it go. that is hardly a "back scratcher" my concerns are the fumes inside a enclosed structure.

Turn exhaust fans on. I have 2 mantis tillers that I had used for cultivation only but I've since abandoned them b/c they just jump around and barely penetrate the soil. My experience has been that rototillers allow a hard pan to develop and overwork surface soil. Neither is good soil management.