Tools & Hardware : Mantis ComposT-Twin #4000-00-02

Rating: - Love it - keeps the rats out
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.

---

Rating: - Great Composter. It really makes compost in two weeks.
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.

---

Rating: - Compost Twin
Talk about a nightmare to put together! Two people and three hours (and must swearing) later, we finally got it put together. So far, so good, and I'll let you know how it goes in the spring.

---

Rating: - Keeps the Bears Out
It's working and keeps the Bears Out, I can hear them tumbling it at night but they can't get in. A little heavy to rotate, but I still love it.

---

Rating: - 5 1/2 years and loving it
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!