Hi there,

I am thinking of buying a mini tiller - either a Mantis or the Honda FG201.
I am leaning towards the Honda as it is 4 stroke and I don't fancy the
hassle of mixing two stroke for the Mantis. Although I notice that in the
US, the Mantis actually has a Honda 4 stroke engine!

Does anyone have a Honda FG201? What do you think of it?

Are there any other mini tillers that I should consider?

Graham.

In message
"grd" wrote:

Hi there,

I am thinking of buying a mini tiller - either a Mantis or the Honda FG201.
I am leaning towards the Honda as it is 4 stroke and I don't fancy the
hassle of mixing two stroke for the Mantis. Although I notice that in the
US, the Mantis actually has a Honda 4 stroke engine!

Does anyone have a Honda FG201? What do you think of it?

Are there any other mini tillers that I should consider?

Checkout stihl mm55 multisystem, fairly new to market, had mine
on allotment twice now and faily impressed with results

Cheers

--
Duncan MacCallum

"Duncan MacCallum" wrote in message
...
In message
"grd" wrote:

Hi there,

I am thinking of buying a mini tiller - either a Mantis or the Honda
FG201.
I am leaning towards the Honda as it is 4 stroke and I don't fancy the
hassle of mixing two stroke for the Mantis. Although I notice that in
the
US, the Mantis actually has a Honda 4 stroke engine!

Does anyone have a Honda FG201? What do you think of it?

Are there any other mini tillers that I should consider?

Checkout stihl mm55 multisystem, fairly new to market, had mine
on allotment twice now and faily impressed with results

Cheers

--
Duncan MacCallum

I have used a mantis I inherited, for 2 years. It has been fully reliable.
It is light, which is an advantage, but also a disadvantage in that it
doen't penetrate the soil below about 3" without some struggle and pulling
it towards you (this may be true of all lightweight tillers).
Mixing the 2 stroke (50:1) is no hassle, and of course with a 2 stroke you
have fewer parts to wear, and no oil changes ever. But it's largely a matter
of taste.

I recieved a Mantis with the new Honda 4 cycle engine for Xmas 2004; did not get to use it until April 2005. The Mantis tiller tines does everything it is supposed to do, the problem was with the engine, the new Honda 4 stroke. It smoked through the exhaust and was leaking oil somewhere near the carburetor. After about 5 hours of use the spark plug was so fouled the engine wouldn't run. Took it twice to 2 authorized Honda dealers, no luck. Mantis does not work on the Honda engine and you have to rely on local dealers. In the USA most dealers will shun away from you if you did not purchase the unit from them. I am going to purchase another one but it will be a two stroke. Utilizing a gas/oil mixture may be a pain but if done correctly, the engine will last almost forever because of the less moving parts. Hope this info helps.

"357nickelplate" wrote in message
...

grd Wrote:
Hi there,

I am thinking of buying a mini tiller - either a Mantis or the Honda
FG201.
I am leaning towards the Honda as it is 4 stroke and I don't fancy the
hassle of mixing two stroke for the Mantis. Although I notice that in
the
US, the Mantis actually has a Honda 4 stroke engine!

Does anyone have a Honda FG201? What do you think of it?

Are there any other mini tillers that I should consider?

Graham.

I recieved a Mantis with the new Honda 4 cycle engine for Xmas 2004;
did not get to use it until April 2005. The Mantis tiller tines does
everything it is supposed to do, the problem was with the engine, the
new Honda 4 stroke. It smoked through the exhaust and was leaking oil
somewhere near the carburetor. After about 5 hours of use the spark
plug was so fouled the engine wouldn't run. Took it twice to 2
authorized Honda dealers, no luck. Mantis does not work on the Honda
engine and you have to rely on local dealers. In the USA most dealers
will shun away from you if you did not purchase the unit from them. I
am going to purchase another one but it will be a two stroke.
Utilizing a gas/oil mixture may be a pain but if done correctly, the
engine will last almost forever because of the less moving parts. Hope
this info helps.

I am not familiar with these particular modern models as I have been out of
the garden cultivator business for about 35 years or so, but the symptoms
you describe just yell at me that the engine is running on full (or near
full) choke. Sounds like flooding.
I know that some engines have a Choke on/off lever located on or near the
carb' whilst others have the adjustment as part of the throttle lever on the
handlebar.
Does the Operating Instructions inform you to switch the Choke Off,
immediately after the engine fires and runs ?
But then maybe it has an automatic Choke.?.....which is perhaps sticking.
Another cause could be a sticking carb' needle or a damaged piston ring.
Are you using a lot of fuel ? Drain the oil sump and see if the oil is
'thin', diluted with petrol......it shouldn't be.
Is the spark plug dirty and wet, or is it thickly sooty ?
Because its a new machine surely it is covered by manufactures warranty
?......unless, of course you've forgotten to adjust the controls !!
This happens zillions of times.

Sorry for sounding like a lecturing nanny.

capstan

ps....For me I'd always choose a four-stroke.....higher torque / HP and less
hassle with neat fuel.

I know this thread's a bit old, but for anybody else looking into this, I'll share my experiences of using the FG110 and the FG201- I used the former on several occasions prior to buying the latter.

I was looking for something that gave a reasonable power output, whilst being robust and portable, for use on an allotment garden on a hillside that had been previously worked, but contained the odd stone. I regard portability as the ability of me, a 40-year old man of average strength and fitness, to use it for a couple of hours, lifting it from bed to bed with relative ease, then carrying it 40 yards up a steep hill to load into my car, without having to recuperate...

The FG110 is a good little machine, but just about the smallest that I would find useful. It hasn't got much clearance between the tines and the guard, so it jams with relative frequency when in contact with relatively small stone. Older models, I understand, had an issue with the worm gear on the direct drive, which was prone to stripping- this was resolved by reducing the engine size. It's very portable.

The FG201 has more clearance and more power, and does everything I ask of it. It's not too big that it wears me out. I think it's great- it would be my recommendation.

Both models are really well made- in my experience they are no bother to get going.