Before we dive into the details of the 4-cycle Mantis tiller models let’s talk about why you’d want to use a tiller in the first place. These smaller tillers are often referred to as cultivators or mini-tillers while the larger sized models are typically called garden tillers, such as the Husqvarna FT900-CA.

Spring has just arrived and I know that many of you will be looking to prepare your gardens for the growing season. A tiller is an indispensable tool to help you achieve the optimal results with your garden.

Mantis Tiller 4-cycle

Cultivators, such as these 4-cycle Mantis tillers, are like blenders for your soil. Their purpose is to allow air and nutrients to easily flow through soil in order to nourish your plants. These 4-cycle Mantis tillers will easily break hard ground, allowing you to stir, mash and mix your soil to prepare the earth for planting. Also, they are used to stir and blend compost or fertilizer into the ground.

You should be thankful that you live in the 21st century for many reasons, but one of them being that in ancient times tilling soil was carried out by having animals, such as horses, mules or oxen, drawing the cultivator across the land. This practice is still done today in poorer countries.

In 1912 an Australian named Arthur Clifford Howard invented the first rotary powered hoe, which is the predecessor to the modern garden tiller we use today. His initial design was crude but proved out his concept, best described by this excerpt from an Australian biography site:

Using various pieces from farm machinery, he rigged a drive from the tractor engine to the shaft of a one-way notched disc cultivator. He found that the ground could be tilled without the soil-packing that occurred with normal ploughing. But the fast-spinning discs threw the soil sideways until he developed an L-shaped blade mounted on widely spaced flanges fixed to a small-diameter rotor.

As seen in the photo, the Sun Joe TJ600E is an extremely popular electric cultivator for smaller jobs with narrow spaces and the Husqvarna CRT900L is an excellent rear-tine tiller for large open areas.

Some people still like to use spades and shovels to mix their soil but this is backbreaking work if you have a lot of ground to cover. If you don’t want to invest in a proper tiller or cultivator then you should at least consider renting one from your local hardware store. Tools are a worthwhile purchase if you intend to use them on a regular basis.

Mantis 4-cycle Tillers are Time Savers

Although these Mantis tillers 4-cycle aren’t cheap, they are extremely efficient and will save you a considerable amount of time and strain on your body. Not to mention the fact that your garden will be far more bountiful in the long-run.

But you do have a cheaper option — not better, just cheaper — but if you’re on a budget then it might be worth considering. Although, I wouldn’t recommend manual tools if you have a large area that you need to till and prepare for growing.

Somewhere in between a shovel and a tiller is a manual tool such as the Fiskars Telescoping Rotary Cultivator (Model: 9896).

Mantis is a very reputable company that’s been making home and garden tools for over 35 years. And guess what their very first product was? A garden tiller! Yup, they’ve been refining their products for a long time and they also stand behind their products with exceptional warranties. All of these Mantis 4-cycle tillers have complete 5 year warranties on every part of the tiller and a lifetime warranty on tine breakage.

Now, let’s get to the reason why we’re here: Learning more about the Mantis Tiller 4-cycle models.

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7262-00-02 | Mantis Tiller 4-Cycle

This 4-cycle Mantis Tiller (Model: 7262-00-020) is an impressive tool capable of effortlessly mixing and churning soil around plants and raised beds or turning solid ground into a new garden. It will even break and mix clay if you need it to. This is a compact tiller intended to maneuver where large tiller can’t get to.

It does a great job of turning soil, weeds, small roots and garden waste into fine soil. The 25cc Honda engine is quiet and does a great job of powering the 4-cycle Mantis tiller for optimal power and efficiency. If you find that you have a lot of rocks in your soil then the patented serpentine tines are designed to bring them to the surface enabling you to easily remove them. Make sure you hold on tight if you do have a lot of rocks as this tiller has a tendency to sway around when the tines strike rocks.

Very versatile as it’s capable of tilling soil up to 10″ deep but you can also reverse the tines to cultivate a shallow depth of 2″ to 3-inches. The tines can be easily removed for cleaning or untangling roots, so your downtime will be minimal if your tilling through a lot of weeds and roots. The design of removing them is quick and easy — just remove 4 cotter pins.

Make sure you use the recommended fuel, which happens to be 89 octane. Premium fuel should be what you put into this Mantis 4-cycle tiller. Not only will it run more effectively and cleaner but more importantly it will extend its life.

It’s safe to say that Mantis has one of the best warranties for lawn and garden power tools as you get a 5 year warranty on everything, including the engine. No questions asked. And, you get a lifetime warranty on the tines. I think that’s a very good warranty that you need to consider when deciding on what tiller to buy. Let’s face it, you’ll be pushing this tool to the limit and knowing that it’s all covered will give you peace of mind. Just don’t abuse it.

Handy Mantis Kickstand

You can make your life a little easier by purchasing the Mantis kickstand accessory (4333). I wish Mantis included this with the 4-cycle tiller because it’s extremely convenient allowing you to easily store or leave it in place when you want to take a break. Sadly, you’ll have to buy it separately.

This Mantis 4-cycle tiller is very portable weighing only 24 lbs. The handles fold down so you can fit it into the trunk of your car if you need to bring it somewhere. Maybe you’ll want to till the garden of your grandmothers house and help her out. Who knows, but it’s nice to have a portable cultivator that you can easily transport around if the need should arise.

This 4-cycle Mantis Tiller (Model: 7262-00-020) is best suited as a cultivator, making it perfect for maintaining your current garden beds. Yes, it’s fully capable of breaking hard ground but if you have large areas of ground that you want to turn into garden beds then you should purchase the larger XP Deluxe model, which I’ll cover next.

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25cc Mantis Tiller 4-cycle Maintenance Kit

For the 25cc Honda engine, which is what the 7262-00-020 tiller is powered by. You can buy this practical kit (3777-00-02) that gives you everything you need to maintain your Honda engine. It includes:

• 2 bottles of premium 4-cycle engine oil (2.6 oz. ea.)
• 1 funnel
• 1 spark plug
• 1 air filter pad,
• 2 oz. tube of transmission grease
• 1 transmission gasket
• 2 tine retaining pins
• Combo wrench

  

  

Features (Mantis 7262-00-02):

• Powerful 25cc 4-cycle Honda engine.
• Lightweight at 24 pounds. Very easy to move and transport.
• 9″ wide design makes it highly maneuverable in tight spaces.
• Up to 10″ tilling depth.
• Variable speed control with fast shut-off.
• Strong one-piece cast gear box.
• Patented reversible tines can be used to till down 10″ or shallow cultivate the top 2″-3″ of soil.
• 5 Year warranty, including engine, plus a lifetime warranty on tines against breakage.

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As with many products, they come and go. Some product may not be available anymore so currently we recommend these Mantis Tiller’s:

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7566-12-02 Deluxe XP (with Kickstand) | Mantis Tiller 4-Cycle

The 7566-12-02 Deluxe XP Mantis 4-cycle tiller is a step up from the previous model as it has a beefier 35cc Honda engine and with a 16″ tilling width, making it well suited for more cultivating open areas and larger garden beds.

This model weighs 35 lbs so it’s still a lightweight tiller that you’ll be able to navigate your yard with relative ease. A nice feature is that even this has a wider tilling width you can take off the outer two tines and use the inner tines to get into narrow areas. In a way, you really get the best of both worlds — and it comes with a kickstand as well.

The tines will only engage when you squeeze the trigger providing you with more flexibility in terms of how you work. It has comfortable handles that can be adjusted to suit your own height. If you’re going to be using this 4-cycle Mantis tiller for hours at a time it’s good to know that you’ll be relatively comfortable.

There are a lot of similarities between this model and the 25cc 7262-00-020 model, so I won’t repeat the similarities.

Learn more about the Mantis  Deluxe XP at Amazon.

Features:

• 35cc 4-cycle Honda engine.
• 16-Inch Tilling Width.
• Up to 10″ tilling Depth.
• Soft comfort ergonomic grips to reduce fatigue.
• Height adjustable handles.
• Front bumper handle and kickstand.
• Strong one-piece cast gear box.
• Patented Serpentine Reversible Tines.
• Throttle Activated Centrifugal Clutch.
• Tines engage only when you squeeze the throttle.
• Variable speed control with fast shut-off.

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7264-12-02 | Mantis Tiller 4-cycle

The 7264-12-02 Mantis tiller 4-cycle is basically the exact same model as the first 25cc model (7262-00-020) in this article. The only difference that I can discern is that this model has a kickstand.

To be honest, I don’t have much to add to this particular model since everything that needs to be said has already been said earlier in this article.

Learn more about the 7264-12-02 at Amazon.

Features:

• Powerful 25cc 4-cycle Honda engine.
• Lightweight at 24 pounds. Very easy to move and transport.
• 9″ tilling width is designed to make it highly maneuverable in tight spaces.
• 10″ tilling depth.
• Variable speed control with fast shut-off.
• Strong one-piece cast gear box.
• Ergonomic grips for added comfort.
• Adjustable handles.
• Comes with a kickstand.

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Cheaper Mantis Cultivators to Consider

If you don’t necessarily need the power of a 4-cycle Mantis tiller than you may want to consider the less expensive 2-cycle model (7225-00-02) and 3-Speed electric (7250-15-02).

Mantis tiller 2-Cycle (7225-00-02)

Five Year consumer warranty on tiller, including engine, with a lifetime warranty on tines.

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Mantis 3-Speed Electric (7250-15-02)

Weighing only 21 lbs this Mantis electric tiller is capable of tilling down to 10-inches deep. It can also cultivate a shallow depth of 2″ to 3″ deep. It’s an electric so it runs clean and it’s quieter to operate.

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Heavy-Duty Tiller Options

These Mantis tillers 4-cycle models are best suited for cultivating existing garden beds but they are fully capable of breaking new ground — just not on a large scale.  If you’re looking for something that can cover a lot of ground and create new garden beds over large areas then consider these two tiller models (see below).

To put it in perspective, the most powerful Mantis tiller is powered by a 35cc engine. In comparison, the Husqvarna tiller is powered by a 160cc engine and the Earthquake tiller is powered by a 205cc Briggs & Stratton engine.

Mantis 4-cycle tillers are excellent for small projects around the home but if you have big wide open areas to cover and you want to break new ground then you have to look at a commercial grade tillers. It really depends on the size of your property and what your goals are.

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Husqvarna CRT900L 4-Cycle Tiller

17″ Rear-tine tiller.

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Earthquake 7055C | 205cc 4-Cycle Tiller