Mantis 7920 2-Cycle Plus Tiller / Cultivator

Not a bad little tiller at all! I own a larger self propelled rear tine tiller that I’d used previously that did a good job but was a work out to use and much larger than I really needed. I’ve since placed it for sale and purchase the Mantis. This is a perfect little machine for the average home or small homestead gardeners. Very simple assembly, I’m certain even the most non skilled person would understand the assembly instructions. Lightweight, easy to carry from shop to garden and if toting isn’t your thing, fire it up and lightly depress the throttle and the tines will walk itself, they will lightly dig in however. Probably not recommended but it works when moving around the garden for me. Fuel consumption seems adequate enough, I can till my entire garden on less than a tank. Quieter than I expected too. I like to till deep and this Mantis does the job, just remember that unlike a typical tiller, you will pull the machine towards you, it takes some practice to follow a straight line for uniform rows. Rock back and forth and even angle the machine in the row a bit to dig deep. I’m thoroughly pleased with this tiller and wish I had gotten on sooner. UPDATE: This spring we’ve had an inground pool installed and the process wrecked our yard and left behind are huge mounds of left over dirt. Solution, use this dirt to repair lawn damage and fill in low spots in the rest of the yard. Problem, that’s a lot of dirt. Problem, the dirt mounds are tough to shovel. Solution, my handy dandy Mantis tiller to the rescue. Since it’s to lightweight I can easily work it on these huge mounds of clay and dirt, bust it up and easily shovel into the bed of our UTV and transport where we need it. I’m working the hell out of my little machine and it’s a beast.

I bought this Tiller to put up have one like it i bought in 2016 . These little things will surprise you how good they are for small jobs and some medium size jobs. Just ALWAYS use gas that’s already premixed for you and your carburetor will never give you a problem.

This little machine saved rest of this whole summer digging around the yard trying to grow new grass over our old lawn. I have failed about two times trying to re-seed the lawn by thatching, adding soil, fertilizer, expensive seeds, and countless hours of labor and found out the grass will not grow over so much dead old grass roots under the dirt. The areas that we dug out all the roots and re-seeded areas had a better results but the other areas was a so disheartening. All of the countless ours of work went to waste. And this little Mantis done the whole work for less than 4 hours. It was easy to start and light enough to move any where I want it to moved and so much power in this little thing! I wish I had this about two months ago. We still have lots of work ahead to make our lawn beautiful again but that another story. Thank you, Little Mantis!

This little monster exceeded my expectations. I garden in wood chip/chicken compost and in raised beds. I'm no spring chicken, and I have to be careful with my back. This thing is about 20 pounds and can fit in the back of a minivan or passenger car. I just packed it down to my dad's to work up his little strawberry raised bed. Two feet wide, eight feet long. About a minute with the Mantis and that ground is FINE! Lift it in and out of the bed with one hand. I used it in our woodchip garden to rip up a 10x10 space in about a minute, and it did a much finer job than than my heavy big old antique AMF front-tine monster that is more work to operate. My wife and 9 year old daughter both gave it a go, too. Talk about un-intimidating for such a powerful little package. The assembly instructions were the best I have ever seen on any product I have ever purchased that also required some assembly. There was a shipping problem, and Mantis wasted no time making it right. We used to laugh at these little things with my dad. What a comical little wannabe tiller next to a real 8hp American iron heavy as a tractor Troy-bilt horse, we would say...and not that those big tillers don't have their place, but this little tiller is a scrappy little fighter that punches above his weight, and in tight spaces, AND it is so portable. I couldn't be more pleased. If you are sitting on the fence about getting one like I was for years, just get it. You'll be happy with the machine.

I am returning this unopened to Mantis factory for several reasons. 1) It seems that about 10% of other reviewers have major difficulties starting and/or keeping theirs running. 2) I don't need that kind of frustration added to my life. 3) I checked with Schiller Garden Co.(who they say they are when you call Mantis) and you can return this within 30 days a only if it's been unopened/unused. So, if you get one that won't start or doesn't perform as you like you are just out of luck and money. 4) It's almost impossible to try to find any good information on this company such as who actually owns them and after doing a lot of inquiry it appears they have been acquired by some unknown private-equity firm/firms. I personally don't trust them.

This mantis is great it does a much nicer job then the less expensive ones. Its well worth the extra money. I ran it out of gas last fall in the spring i put fresh gas in primed it 3 times pulled it 2 times and started rite up. I recamend buying the kick stand and the sleeves that go on the shafts they make it much easier to get grass untangled.

Received this gem today. Very easy to assemble, requiring only two 7/16" wrenches (used a small crescent and one 7/16"). Ran beautifully right out of the box (it came with a bottle of oil for one gallon of 50:1 fuel mix). Tilled an 8' x 24' garden and two flower beds, one 6' circle and one 3' x 8' in a little over an hour. The soil was a bit too wet for tilling but I couldn't wait to give it a test run. It probably would have only taken 30-45 minutes if I'd have waited a day or two. The easy to remove tines make it a cinch to clean and remove bound up roots from both the tines and shaft. The "comfort grip handles" are not all that comfy, recommend using a good pair of soft leather gloves. Also, the kill switch does not work on the one I received. This should be an easy fix though, as it's most likely loose or disconnected in the handle. Rated 4-stars for the not-so-comfy handles and non-working kill switch, other than those two minor issues, I'm satisfied with this purchase and look forward to future use. ** EDIT 4/28/2018: Ground is attached snugly. Pulled the handle apart and tested the switch, nothing wrong with it. Guess I have to pull the housing to check if it's connected there. :/

Open the top and the bottom of the box. Leave the motor assembly in the cardboard cradle to assemble. The nuts are lock nuts that barely start by hand then use wrench to tighten. No lock tite required. The tines are sharp. The 7920 does not have a kick stand. (Home Depot has one for the Echo TC tiller that fits the Mantis for 19.99) I use tru fuel 50-1 premix fuel. It started pretty easily. I tilled a 4’ x 20’ raised bed and it worked great. Took some effort to control. Way better than hand tools and it really obliterated the dirt clods. Also super light weight.

Broke up some very hard ground. It took a bit of going over but did an amazing job. Easy to handle. Love this little monster!

Easy to use. Very powerful. Attachments take only seconds to change.