Customer Reviews

Mantis 4000-00-02 ComposT-Twin Composting Bin

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this for my parents last year. It took me about an hour or so to put together by myself. The cylindrical body is constructed by flat sheet metal rectangles that you wrap around the circular disk that make up the ends and middle divider. I am sure if I had help, construction would have been quicker and easier.

The doors are my biggest compliant. They are made of sheet metal material and make for a flimsy door. Also, the door hinges are not of rugged quality. They are merely bent tabs on the door that slide into slots of the cylinder housing. The paint quickly chips off the hinged area. Additionally, the springiness of the sheet metal door compounded with the hinge design makes the door clumsy to open and close. On top of this, if you want easy unloading of the composter, you will need to remove the doors. This is no big deal, but reattaching the doors is cumbersome.

What I do like about this composter is that it is raised off the ground just high enough for my dad to roll his "luv cart" electric wheel barrow underneath and the compost dumps into it. This makes for easy unloading into the cart. This is imports for the following reason: Unloading the composters requires the most physical effort of composting. Loading the composter requires the least effort because you usually only load a little bit each day. This composter was designed to make unloading easy. Most other composters are on the ground which requires lifting of the heavy load into a wheel barrow or lots of shoveling into the wheel barrow. This is the main reason I bought this product for my parents.

This composter is not bad, but for $500 I would expect a more user friendly design for assembly and usage.

I've had a compost-twin for 5 1/2 years, and I love it.

I'm a lazy-gardener type with a large garden. I throw anything I want into one side of the composter, and it's amazing how quickly the volume goes down. Eventually (and it is eventually) one side fills up, and then I close it up and forget about it while I fill the other side. I turn the composter when I feel like it -- 30 turns, but rarely more than once a week or so. By the time the second bin is full, the first is ready to empty.

And, as another reviewed noted, the compost-twin is *easy* to empty.

The doors are indeed the weak point. They feel flimsy, and a hinge recently broke off one of my doors. But that was after 5 1/2 years of steady, constant use and no protection from the New England weather. A new door costs $50 including postage. This doesn't seem so bad to me.

It took me a little while to get the knack of taking the doors on and off easily, when I went to unload the composter, but now I find it very easy indeed -- I'd forgotten that I ever had any difficulty.

So yes -- this is a composter for people who are willing to do some advance investment (both the money and an hour to set up the thing) in order to have years of easy and high-quality compost.

One more note: Don't worry about using compost starters, and don't clean out your composter between uses, as the directions instruct. Instead, leave a little bit of finished or semi-finished compost in the bin as a "starter" for the next load. In the spring (if you're in a winter-freeze area like I am), find some good soil in your garden and throw it in the composter to start the process going. Cheap and easy!

I am a lazy gardener. Don't get me wrong, I love to spend time in the garden but I hate to spend it doing something that could be done easier. What does that have to do with making compost? Everything!

I do not turn my compost bins. I let the worms take care of it for me, but they are not the fast workers. It takes about a year for me to get a batch of compost. That is ok with me. I have multiple bins going. But, I have always thought that a tumbler would be the way to go. I could crank it everyday, as long as I remember, and compost would come out every two weeks. What was stopping me? A few things.

- $500 for a composter?
- the legs look flimsy
- does it really work fast?
- Is it big enough?
- How well is it built?

Well, I bought one. It got to me in less than a week during the heavy Christmas mailing season. WAY TO GO AMAZON!

The legs are very strong. Steel support and the barrel is well designed. Empting the compost is so easy. Just pull a wheel barrel under it and turn the crank.

It is plenty big enough. In fact, I am having trouble feeding it.

Compost in 14 days? Not for me. Did I tell you I was lazy? Maybe I do not grind things up enough or maybe my recipe is not perfect, I don't know. What I do know is it speeds up the whole process with very little effort on my part. In a couple of days the mixture is very warm. By the end of two or three weeks the mixture is cool again, moist, and about half finished. Perfect for putting in my old bins for a month or two of seasoning.

You'll notice I have not discussed the $500. That is for you to decide on. I just know that I will get good compost, much faster, and with far less work than before. All I need now is to make friends with a professional gardener so I can take some of the leaves and grass clippings he is collecting. Did I say I am having trouble feeding it?

I was skeptical about the claim of making compost in two weeks--my previous stationary composter from Price Club took about a year. But now two weeks later, I have about 10 cubic feet of compost. I don't have a chipper-shredder, so I chopped up the big pieces with scissors.

One reviewer had trouble removing the doors--my doors don't have this problem--they come off and go back on easily.

Unfortunately, I can't get my wheel barrow under the composter without bending the composter's metal frame. I wish it had two more inches of room on the bottom.

For those wondering whether they can use all the compost this thing can make--don't worry. If you want to mulch an 8000 square foot garden with 3 inches of compost, you'll need 2000 cubic feet of compost. You'll easily use all the compost you can make.

At first, I wondered whether such an expensive composter could pay for itself. So I computed--it can make about 200 cubic feet of compost/year. Compost costs about $1/cubic foot. So it makes about $200 worth of compost/year. It'll easily pay for itself.

I've had this for a few years, and I know the following:
*It lasts
*It's big
*It works
*I don't get compost that quickly, but I don't care
*The two tumblers is key. Keeps you from caring about how long it takes
*Mine squeeks. Loudly when turned. Am too lazy to lube it, so maybe that's my fault.
*Doors are irritating; "hinge" system sucks as pointed out by earlier poster.
*I found it a bit cumbersome to assemble, but not hard per se
*Like a prior poster, I got mine due to rats in my compost. This solved that issue.

I would buy it again, but wish the door hinges were better; they should be at that price.

My package arrived with four of the long spacers and none of the short spacers. A few other minor parts were also inconsistent from the listed contents or missing.

The manufacturer was unwilling to send me the two spacers I needed and told me to take it up with Amazon. They claimed they did not know how Amazon packaged (unless I heard incorrectly, Amazon claimed to dropship from the factory.)

Amazon.com was very helpful. I've never called Amazon support before after about 100 orders. They sent me a new package, told me to pull the pieces I needed, and then I could contact them to return it.

(It would have been difficult to refund the first item since I'd recycled the boxes.)

The actual product is quite large and well built. Instructions are better quality than the typical horrible Ikea furniture.

Honestly, we were getting rats. Lifting the compost off the ground solved the problem and now we get faster compost. It's easy to turn so the compost actually gets turned regularly which yields faster composting. We can fit our yard cart underneath so moving the newly made compost is easy too.

OK, it isn't cheap. And you need to assemble it. And it is kinda large. But I love it. Just what I wanted - large capacity, easy to turn, well made. The doors are thin, but seem to be adequate for purpose and the latches are excellent.

Assembly takes some time, but isn't hard. You WILL need a helper for some things, but I did most of it by myself. Took about 90 minutes. Read the instructions first, then go back and assemble. Instructions are accurate.

The thing is big - you need about a 3 x 5 foot area for it.

I have loaded both sides with grass, leaves, scraps, etc. Should have some nice compost for the spring.

Mantis 4000-00-02 ComposT-Twin Composting Bin

Assembled Easter weekend. Hand crank not in package. Ordered crank that came a week or so later. Makes compost quickly. As a novice, I made good compost within 6 weeks; am doing better now watering more frequently--keeping it damp as a sponge.
Delighted with the compost and the concept that two bins can be composting on different time cycles.
Problems: one of four door clips has broken. One of four door "hinges" is beginning to fracture. I can forgive the clip, but believe the doors, of which the hinges are simply a bent part, should have been made of more durable steel.

Review is of the assembly of the Mantis unit. Instructions could be written more completely. All parts fit together nicely.