opinions on rototillers

[Boogieman142]

My fathers 70th birthday is this year and his tiller is just plain wore out. It was my grandfathers tiller, front tine w/3.5 hp briggs on it. I am looking at buying him one for his birthday along with a greenhouse(he loves gardening). It is clay here and i was leaning towards a rear tine tiller. I know bcs is the best but can't afford it. Have about 1k to spend. what do you guys think?

 

[Greenthorn]

I have a 20 year old PONY that works great, even my wife uses it. Course I don't think troy-bilt is built the same as they were 20 years ago. Paid 100 bucks for it in 1997 at an estate sale.

http://www.troybilt.com/webapp/wcs/...4970_54970_-1?cm_mmc=Google-_-WG-_-Tillers-_-[troy-bilt%20tiller]&002=2364598&004=768205713&005=2078975682&006=7115004243&007=Search&008=

 

[mrhornet]

I would second the pony. My wife’s grandparents are in their 70s and this is the one they decided to keep when they thinned the toys out of the garage a couple years ago. They both use it. But after looking at the troybilt site I do kind of like the idea of the bronco with the counter rotating tines. Never used one but I know firs hand what happens when you get the tines on the surface and it sends you running across the yard. If this is good in clay I would defiantly get it for your situation.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Mantis- your search is over

Mantis Garden Tools - Official Site

It does everything they say, used mine all day yesterday

 

[Boogieman142]

thanks everyone for the comments, found a very lightly used bcs 730 with a tiller attachment and a chipper attachment. drove 4 hours each way to get it too.

 

[Walt41]

The BCS 730 is a fine machine, I fixed one for a guy a few years back that had a Kohler engine on it. He had the tiller and sweeper attachment for his.

 

[Kogafortwo]

I love the Mantis myself

 

[pdqdl]

BCS is the best I've ever seen. I never saw one until I bought it, and I only got the tiller part as an afterthought.

It is truly impressive. Works great, easy to use, tough as a boot.

 

[saw dog]

Hi
If you could find one, the Airens rear tine tillers are hard to beat. Airens still makes a tiller but they are like a lot of things built to day, they don,t compair with the ones built in the 60s and 70s
If your not in a hury you can still find them. If you are lucky enough to find one that has been taken care of and with low hours it will last through a number of generations. They are much eaiser to use than a Troy Built, if you purchase one you will never regret it.