I admit it but you try mixing soil up in 95 degree temps and 90% humidity.  $160 bucks well spent.  

Nice!!
Where did you get it?
Is that the Harbor Freight one?

That actually is an excellent idea. Where can I can get one of those? I assume homedepot or lowes would have them? Anywhere else cheaper?

Harbor Freight yep.  They are $189 on sale now  but you can get a 20% off coupon on line knocks it to $151 and $6.99 shipping.  Quite well built.  I would redo the welds if I was using it for concrete but for potting soil easy.  1/3 hp.  3.5 CF.  

Nice !! I really like that.

Nothing wrong with that!

It's $199 at the moment. Not much more expensive though.

Wills,

I have always used the 18 gallon (about 3 cu ft) totes to make my mix.  i would measure the ingredients into them and pour them from one tote to the other and back.  I have to say, the last few batches I mixed was felt in my shoulders and lower back.  I think I am jealous of your purchase.  It would be nice if we could find one with perforated sides which would sift the powder out while mixing.

oh wow... i want one. this fig thing is going out of hand... lol

I have a friend that uses one, he says it adds a lot of air to the mix and really makes it lighter.
"gene''

Wills...nice setup, that will definately ease up the ware & tare on the human body...I don't mix potting soil in the quantity that you do, so I still use a wheelbarrow and a big old hoe designed to mix cement(the type with the two large holes in the blade)...at the level that I'm mixing soil, that's all I need for now...good luck with your machine.

HD and most likely Lowes sells them. They may be a bit better built or not. My drum is plastic and it has two handles. You dump it like a wheelbarrow. The one I use will mix two 80 lb. bags at once. I bought it used for $75.00. Great investment.

I thought I was lazy, I throw everything onto a tarp, lift the sides to mix then use my hands/rake to make sure even mixing.

I use the Chivas method. You may have to tailor the size of your pile on a tarp as any mix that's reasonably damp to start with and has pea gravel, Turface or some other small stone can be pretty heavy when you 3 cu yards or more of it going at once. Another plus for the tarp in addition to building your biceps and shoulders is that it stores in a slightly smaller space than a mixer. Still, if you have the space, why not?

That's not lazy , that is smart.

Best idea since sliced bread.

Love it! Brilliant idea! Gota get one at that price!

I think I have the same model, but mine looks more red than orange, had it a few years They had it marked less than $100 because it was missing the hardware bag of nuts/bolts, The guy at H.F. just told me to call them and request it mailed to me. I have mixed quite a lot of concrete and potting mix with it,  but I guess I am even lazier, as by the time I wheel it out I could have already mixed most times. Cap the the lid on a 55 gal  barrel and roll it around, but the barrel roll doesn't do quite as good a job on the mix. I even tried mining for gold with it, but that didn't really pan out very well.

Strudledog,

The red one is the next size smaller, they only sell two models the red and the orange lol.  

I have the larger one they sold a few years ago, I was thinking it ran regular around $230 then. Not sure of the capacity it's up at my cabin presently. I know I would not want to do a larger concrete project with one, but works great for smaller jobs. Maybe it is a reddish-orange. My wife tries to keep me out of Harbor Freight, I always walk out of there with stuff I had no intention of buying when entering. Kind of like figs I really didn't need it, but I sure thought I needed it.

Hi Willis,

USED it was $75.00

Charles,

Ahh yep that makes sense:)