The scoop on 'Mantis ComposT-Twin'

I bought my Mantis ComposT Twin about 8 years ago. It was easy to put together, the Mantis Company personnel were friendly and helpful.

We've been successfully composting for 8 years and it's great. No pitchfork required, No backaches afterward. You can order replacement screens and replacement plastic vents (especially if the squirrels like what's cookin' inside and decide they want to peep inside.) In 8 years, we've only had to order one replacement vent due to squirrels. After awhile, the squirrels leave it alone.

You open the bottom of the composter with a wheel barrel underneath of it, and you're good to go. It's great that one side can be cooking, and you can add new scraps to the other side.

A must have for the serious recycler. Between paper/cardboard recycling, glass & cans recycling, plastic recycling,and now with the Mantis ComposT Twin with kitchen and yard recycling....we only have to put regular trash out once a month....

I've had my Compostwin for a year now, and I'm very pleased. Compost does not completely digest in a few weeks for me, but if I was in the garden every day, turning it, had the perfect combination of bacteria and materials, and didn't keep adding materials, that might be another story. My only beef with a composter of this type, is no wonderful wormies can get in and work their magic. I love worms in the soil....

DO NOT BUY ComposTwin FROM AMAZON.COM!! For some reason they cannot process the fact that the item ships in THREE cases. I am rating the company Neutral because the issue was with Amazon and NOT MANTIS. In fact after 3 attempts (I still only have 2 boxes) and 4 months I am just cancelling my order with Amazon getting a refund and ordering directly from Mantis. Yes, I now have to pay shipping. It is worth the money just to not deal with Amazon and e-mailing back and forth with their customer service!

I purchased a mantis twin composter 5 years ago. The assembly instructions are good, and it was not difficult to put together with two people.

After three years of use a plastic turning cog failed and we ordered new ones. They came, but were not identical to the original and the stand had to be again disassembled and redone a second time, but was workable after a friend helped modify the space needed for the part.

The hinges on the doors are the weakest part (a tab that goes in a slot on the drum) and the hinges broke off after a few years use. Rather than pay for new doors, the same friend put a different type of hinge on. Otherwise the system has held up and it is out in the weather (some severe extremes) year round.

I have never gotten compost in a few weeks, but if you have back problems, or physical limitations and are determined to compost, in several months time the compost twin will give you compost with less physical effort than other systems.

Got the Compost-Twin. Fast service. Well packaged. Solid, strong parts. Actually fun to put together. Very detailed assembly instructions. Nice looking finished product.

Now I'm ready to enrich my garden with black gold! Hope it works.

We called ahead to tell them we'd be traveling 125 miles to purchase two of their composters and asked how we could reserve them. They assured us there were plenty in stock and there was no need to reserve them. I called two days before making the trip to make sure there was no problem and got the same response. They weren't even willing to take a deposit for them.

We made the trip only to have a young girl at the desk inform us that she hoped we didn't want to take one of those home with us because they just sold the last one. Things went downhill from there. She insisted we'd have to pay the high costs of shipping and her product knowledge was pathetic. We asked to speak with a manager. She went into the back office and came out to tell us that the manager said he'd pick up the shipping, but that he was not available. We never received as much as an I'm sorry for the inconvenience. There's much more, but I don't wish to bore you more than I am.

We were going on to a 4 hour meeting for my husband and my plan was to get the tape and book that comes with the composters out of the box during his meeting so that watch the tape in our van and read the book. I asked her if I could get a tape from her. Of course, she told us that we'd have to pay for it, which we thought was a bit much since they'd screwed up so badly, but we did. She assured us that it would have all of the information I was wanting to learn about how to compost and that the book wouldn't give me a whole lot more. We got to the van and thought maybe we should check out the tape. It was nothing more than a 3 minute sales tape and no composting information at all!!!

We returned the tape and asked for the book instead. She insisted that we'd picked up the wrong tape, when in fact she had looked at it before send us out the door with it. Well the book cost another $5.00. We left there thinking maybe we should get our money back and pretend we'd never heard of this company.

When our units arrived the box was open and there was a part missing. We got a very nice service technician on the phone after being on hold for 10 minutes. He quickly sent us the part. While on the phone with him, we told him of our experience. He insisted that we leave a message on the managers voice mail and that he knew the manager would call us back under the circumstances. We did not get a call. About ten days passed and we started receiving copies of their sales tapes (the same one they charged us for) and so we called to ask them to lose our names and while on the phone my husband asked to speak with the general manager. Of course, he was not available. My husband said on his voice message, "I don't know if it is your way of doing business not to return calls, but you did not return mine." About 15 minutes later, we got a call. It was fairly courteous, but we feel it was also unproductive.

We have the two units and are using them, but it's too early to know if they work as described. We can tell you that it says in the literature that you will have great useable mulch in two weeks and the book they sale says if anyone tells you that, they are not telling you the truth. Need I say more.