Mantis 7940 4-Cycle Tiller Cultivator Powered by Honda – Lightweight, Powerful and Compact - No Fuel Mix, Sure-Grip Handles – Built To Be Durable and Dependable

But it's not. It can dive into big heavy clods and reduce them to powder in a few passes.Diving into clods won't be a regular thing. The Mantis will mostly be used for cultivation and preparing small beds here and there for annual flowers.The Honda 4-stroke starts very easily. You can't go wrong with Honda.CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN ALMOST 6 YEARS SINCE I BOUGHT THIS THING. It suffers the usuall small-engine neglect...It goes 6 weeks or more sometimes without running....BAD. I was having trouble keeping it running and was about to buy a new carburetor. But I just poured a half bottle of carb cleaner in the gas and now it runs like new. HONDA! It is a great tool.... my garden soil is now perfect and I will cross my fingers and put in more kale, cabbage, etc. Houston! You never know if the weather will turn out winter perfect as it often does.Sept. 20,2025.... Update. The Honda started right up after about 3 months rest. Works just as it didn'tI've had it long enough so I don't keep it in the garage like something delicate. It's under a tarp on the back porch. Still starts right up... of course, Honda... So light I can carry it anywhere. Put in the back of the car. In no time it makes the garden look great and makes it just right for planting.And now in March 2020. Same opinion. Starts easily even after sitting idle for a month or two. Does a perfect job of getting new ground ready for beans. The two pictures on the right...only about 20 minutes apart. I'm glad I got it.Time has passed. I like it even more. It's so nice to crank it up and reduce our garden beds to powder in no time. Now and then I hit a brick; it bounds up into the air, comes down and keeps working. No damage. I will have to read up on mantises. Whatever they are they are tough.Started right up after a rest of a few months. Runs just like it did when new. If it starts to run rough or quits on you..... change the fuel filter. They cost very little on Amazon.

I must say I am impressed. Researched many tiller models, some mini and some not-so-mini. Settled on this Mantis after surveying reviews here and elsewhere. What a delightful little machine. The money and time it has saved allowing me to do the project I had paid for itself a couple times over.In spite of its relatively lightweight status (24lbs I think?), it did a surprisingly good job of digging into the heavily compacted dirt and clay in my yard. Doubly so because of roots I asked it to go through, leftover from the four trees we cut down. I do have a few recommendations for getting the most out of it:(1) Make liberal use of the ability to easily reverse the blades back and forth from “cultivating mode” into “tilling mode.” The cultivator mode made a HUGE difference in being able to cut through tree and plant roots without tangling and/or jamming every few seconds. Once the roots and plants are well dealt with, a quick return to the more aggressive tiller mode churns more deeply in very short order. NOTE: this also reduces the amount of bouncing that seemed to irritate some other reviewers. And me. :-)(2) Take your time and let it do its thing. Some want to make a single quick pass and then wonder why it only takes off an inch or so of the hard compacted top layer. Remember that it is, after all, a MINI tiller. Give it a moment, pull it back and forth a few feet to remove some of the dirt pile that builds up under the tines, and it will settle in for the deeper churn right quickly.(3) Get the kickstand. It’s too convenient to skip.(4) I think the real value of this machine (for me, anyhow) lies in its ability to do double-duty. Or quadruple duty, I guess. Treat yourself to the attachments. The power rake, edger, and aerator attachments are fantastically effective additions that really round out the Mantis’s capacity and utility in the yard, turning it into a true year-around workhorse. The attachments have been utterly worth the added expense, and switching between them is an easy and quick affair.My review was not solicited. I am submitting this review only because I am so tickled with it’s performance. The only criticism I can offer so far regards the less than perfect directions for assembly. Some of the nuts did not match what was described or displayed in the directions, and the wording was not entirely intuitive in every instance. Having said that, a little looking at what I had in the box made it clear enough what was needed, and it worked out just fine.The only caution I would have for potential purchasers is the size. This isn’t a critique of the unit itself so much as a cautionary comment to make sure it is what you want. It does a fantastic job for a mini tiller. But it is a mini tiller. My house sits on just shy of 1/3-acre and it takes a long time to work my entire lawn in any mode. If I had more storage room, I’d be wanting their larger model. Especially if my plan were to till the entire yard. Having said that, it does a fantastic job. I am highly impressed that such a small unit can do so much and do it effectively.The amount of time, effort, and money this Mantis has saved me has made me a huge fan. Far better machine than some of the other tillers I have used in the past and I couldn’t be more tickled with my purchase!

The Mantis tiller with the Honda engine is just the right size for my hoop house. Honda engines are so reliable and I have several on other equipment. It is lightweight which is good because I am an 80 year old female senior. It is very powerful and compact and tills great. I only have to have it powered up a little for it to do a great job. I assembled it just fine except they had given me American nuts for 2 Metric bolts. I had a hard time putting the nuts on but soon discovered why and was able to purchase a couple Metric bolts with Metric nuts. Everything went on according to the directions. I emailed Mantis about that problem and they responded immediately telling me they would send the hardware but I had already purchased the correct hardware so didn't need it. Great customer relations.

The Mantis 4-Cycle is my first ownership of a tiller/cultivator having previously usually rented (or paid someone else) to rototill my yard for gardening purposes or landscaping. The assembly went relatively well though I found some of the nut/bolts to tighten the handles to the base seemed ill fitted and took quite a bit of dexterity/strength and the right vise grip to get it tight. However, all was good. Then when I went to put the wheels on (purchased separately) I realized I was going to have to undo what I just spent some effort to tighten. Hmmm, could the directions have given a little forethought to us newbies? I watched several videos and it really helped with the kickstand and all in all thought the assembly was within my tolerance and would rate it 4 stars.I went with 5 stars because the machine is a kick to use. Here in the Pacific NW I used it literally within the first few days of March. I had a 25 X 20 patch that was rototiller a year ago and never planted. There was some clover and other grass that had grown in the area mentioned.The soil was slightly wet but the machine handled the task really really well. Yes, once there was a larger rock which required me to stop and take off the wheels, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary regarding clumping. And, changing the direction of the wheels from tilling to cultivating was very easy. Much simpler than I predicted based on my assembly experience. The soil appeared well pulverized, and I was able to mix in 3 or 4 cubic yards of compost really well.Other things that stood out to me include the machine runs relatively quiet, especially when idling. I did lose a nut and bolt from the kickstand, which may have been because I didn't tighten it quite enough. I've also noticed the motor turns slightly to one direction but it doesn't appear to effect the function at all. Again, I'm aware that I probably need to tighten a few items.All in all, the machine is fun, manageable for someone turning the big 60 later this year, and has me wondering about when I get to use it again.

I loved this rototiller when I first got it—it was easy to use and worked beautifully. The first year, it ran like a dream. However, after sitting through the winter without being cleaned out, I struggled to get it started in the spring. I later loaned it to a friend for a month, he struggled to get it going, and since then, I haven't been able to get the engine to turn over for the last four years. I did have it serviced once, and the technicians cleaned out the fuel lines, but it still wouldn’t start.When it works, though, it’s powerful yet easy to handle, making it perfect for small spaces. I’ve even used it to dig deeper into compacted earth for aeration, and it performed well. Unfortunately, as I’ve gotten older, I no longer have the strength to keep troubleshooting and starting it. Overall, it’s a great tool—when it runs—but maintaining and restarting it has been a challenge.

Let’s get this out of the way upfront - I am an old-school Mantis fan and a 2 stroke diehard. With the advent of premixed premium 2 stroke fuel, there didn’t seem to be a reason to rock that boat. That is, until my 20 year old Mantis tiller finally refused to start. Seems to have finally lost compression, and I’ve got no complaints based on how much usage it got, it was WELL worth the money.Enter the Mantis with the Honda 4 cycle. The only thing I appreciate more than the simplicity of a 2 stroke is the reliability and durability of a Honda powered piece of lawn equipment. Why not buy the Honda tiller you ask? Because Mantis is the only name in mini tillers as far as I’m concerned, again, I had one that lasted through 20 years of abuse and never broke a handle, a gearbox, a tiller tine, nothing.Made the decision to go 4 cycle, and I’m glad I did. 5 stars all the way around.Assembly? EZ-PZ. Grab a 7/16” socket and wrench and get after it, you’ll need a 3/8” wrench for the kickstand if you got that too.Starting? Fast. Easy. 1-2 pulls, idles perfect out of the box. She’s a little noisy at full throttle, but that doesn’t bother an old gearhead like me.Light enough and has roughly the same dimensions as my previous unit, which means maneuverability is excellent. Great for gardening, installing landscaping beds, trenching for rock borders, Hell, I even used mine to dig a 3 foot deep trench for a drain-tiled downspout (till and scoop, till and scoop, keep hunching down, you’ll get there).Overall I cannot recommend this unit enough.

Nice small tiller. Does a great job.

If you are skeptical that a small tiller like this can do any good work as I was don’t be this mantis tiller is a freaking beast. It will flat out rip up some ground. The only thing I wish I would’ve done is get the six time version over the four-time version. This teller is absolutely 100% worth the money you’re gonna pay for it. Grandpa used to always tell me when buying something cry once by the good crap well this is a cry wants purchase and you will not regret it. Absolutely amazing little teller. I use a teller about every other day in my garden.

There's no comparison when it comes to Mantis! I'm a professional landscaper and can say, without a doubt, that this is the best tiller/cultivator you will ever use. My first one lasted 7 years of constant use, unfortunately I managed to destroy it by using gas with ethanol! Do not make this mistake! Make sure you buy manufactured fuel! Don't let the size of the tiller fool you, it has more power than any of the large ones I have ever tried. With the added bonus of being easy to transport to different locations and this thing never fails to start within the first two pulls.

I bought the 2 cycle version of this tiller some 18 years ago - was the best smallest and deepest tiller on the market and was extremely pleased with it. I hadn't had much use for it since moving, so sat in the garage for 13 years unused until last year when I tried to start it again - obviously after all that time it needed some repairs and did remind me of it's particular starting method (choke, pull until it fires, choke off, 2 pulls and starts). However, after 13 years of disuse, it just wasn't working the same, so needed to replace it.Doing some more research, this is still the best option on the market for a small tiller that will till deeply. When I saw Mantis offered a 4-cycle engine (no more 50:1 oil mixing) using a Honda engine (regarded as one of the best small equipment engine manufacturers you can get), I decided to get the upgraded version of this tiller.Package showed up via UPS within a week of ordering it - faster than the expected delivery time they originally advertised. Didn't take too long to assemble it (attach handles and kickstand, really). Used it yesterday for the first time and works like my original did 18 years ago, if not even better with the 4-cycle engine. Very pleased with it. If tilling in heavy weeds, you will have to stop from time to time to clear the weeds that get wrapped around the shaft, but is relatively easy just by taking off the tines and cleaning it out.One concerning item is that it was tagged with a warning on the engine to avoid gas with ethanol, which is not an easy task since most places in Canada have now mandated 10% ethanol in gas...and many companies also use it as an octane booster. Issue with ethanol is that on some engine components (some plastics), it dissolves and picks up traces of the plastic molecule and when burnt, will gum up the carb and other systems over time. One upgrade might be a metal fuel tank as is likely the greatest exposure and don't see people draining the tank between uses.Overall though, very pleased with it...

Easy to assemble, Arrived on time, Can't wait for spring, tough stuff.

We used to till our garden and it did a wonderful job; lovely machine

Don't get fooled. This little machine bucks like crazy. Will only work on soil already well worked and free of all but the smallest weeds. The little Honda engine is good as you would expect but the frame work is light and doesn't anchor the engine well enough to keep it from jumping all over the place.