I haven't used the mantis or any other tumblers, but just from looking at some of them, they look way too lightweight for what's being asked of them.

Did you look at the past threads on tumblers? One guy made a real nice large one with a motor and sifting bins. Had some very nice pics of the system.

One thing I've noticed -- everyone thinks their system is the best one! I'm no different sometimes, I think my mesh bin system would be great for many composters!

I only used my $350 tumbler for a year and a half. I gave it away to a family member who was willing to give it a try. Found the mesh bins cheap and easy -- even easier on my back than turning the tumbler crank.

The mesh bin system is too easy to put up -- five minutes! -- lots of people want to construct a fancy arrangement. My fall leaf mixture is 125F in the core, and the ambient temp is almost freezing. The tumbler did not do much in the colder months.

I should add though, that turning the plastic barrels is a bit awkward I would equate turning my low-tech ones to turning the wheel on the price is right. I have some handles to grab and just rock back and forth til you feel you can yank it up and over. It has made good compost though. Balancing the load with the mantis is tricky, if it is unbalanced, the barrel wants to roll off once the heavy side rolls over and wallops the opposite side of the barrel. I guess I shouldn't have let it get dry and form big clumps though. I wish I could get one motorized.

I've never used a commercial tumbler system but I can understand how a homemade one would probably be better. I've used the 45 gallon drum tumbler style. Now of course not all of these homemade systems are built the same but the one I use is simple and easy to use. Having said that, some negatives I've recognized with the one I use is that the volume is limited, the door is too small and as Robert mentioned it does not work at all in the winter up here. So we built our own 1 cy tumbler with a larger door, works great but still freezes in our winters. Small piles also freeze.

Lloyd

I just also think the homemade ones are ugly. I will be putting at least one back into use, after winter of course. I still have one of the single mantis tumblers full from last season. The Mantis being so big, it was hard to evenly water all the contents to start out with, and with the addition of water now and then during the season it would drain out lots of it even after I turned it, and a good bit wasn't moist afterward. I had good results with my plastic drum ugly ones.