We got it last time and had it assembled in like an hour. I think it's a neat idea but for some reason I can't control the moisture level inside, and it ends up with a soupy mess in the bottom that smells reminiscent of sewage.

I think the solution would be to put it somewhere with little rain exposure.

I have composted a using quite a few methods in the past and this unit will work just fine. I think it just needs tweeked a little bit.

If you're assembling this inside, make sure you move outside before attaching the 2 sides of the ball - it might not fit through the door otherwise. Luckily I thought of this in time or I might be composting in my living room!

I had this until I moved to Germany. I'd buy it again and definitely at this price. It's a great deal cheaper than most other tumble composters and works better imo.

Yup, bought one on the last round, it falls together just like everyone says - lotsa pieces but it all fits just fine. Compost doesn't REALLY need one, but it sure works better than turning the pile with a pitchfork every week. Two would be a good idea - let one cook while you stuff the other one. DO NOT OVERFILL. Repeat: DO NOT OVERFILL.

Bought one of these the first time it listed. It's a great conversation piece, and it composts well. It is a bear to assemble, though.

mike808 wrote:

I'd woot it again if I didn't already have it. It's a little pricey, but very well made, and once it is together, it's maintenance free and very sturdy. I let the kids roll it around. The price is a good price for this model.
Best price for the new model (it is also an ugly grey instead of green like this one) is $113 at Meijer

You let your KIDS roll around in it?!?!?!
Vegas

LEM- wrote:So you put a bunch of waste in it, and it produces compost???

Errr... what about smell? Does it smell respectively? Can it be kept in a house???

Also - do I have to put the said 500 pounds of waste in it all at once, or I can add more through the process? I usually don't have this much food leftovers available at a time, even if I had a BIG party!

If those are your questions, you might be a better candidate for vermiculture (worm bin composting). Worm bins don't smell, you can keep them in a house or apartment, they can be as small or as big as you want, and you get better compost if you add food waste very gradually. And it's cheap--if you find someone to give you the worms for free and you pick up some plastic bins on sale, it's a $5-$10 project.

But for composting huge amounts of waste, like yard waste or leaves, a compost tumbler is a better option. Worm bins can't keep up with high volumes of compost.

Gave this to my husband for Father's Day. Took a few hours to assemble with no rubber mallet. We throw in our grass clippings, newspapers, and kitchen waste. First batch of compost took 6 weeks. Don't over load, very hard to turn. Ideally you want two of these because you shouldn't keep adding stuff once the composting process really gets going.
ETA: blog post with pics http://pischilein.typepad.com/days/2010/06/the-compost-post.html

Are the boxes guaranteed to be beat to hell like the one in the picture?

sixdolla wrote:anyone know if this would fit a, i don't know, how about 185 lbs of say human body?? just out of pure curiousity. but if i had too?? could i? you never know might be a deal breaker if it couldn't. i'm just sayin

hint: wood chipper

Is this thing big enough to climb in and use like a hamster ball for humans?

FourMat wrote:We got it last time and had it assembled in like an hour. I think it's a neat idea but for some reason I can't control the moisture level inside, and it ends up with a soupy mess in the bottom that smells reminiscent of sewage.

Hmm, maybe I can outstink my neighbor's dog doo-doo

brkyle wrote:This looks like the exact model Costco.com carried for awhile. The consensus of the reviews posted there was "extremely difficult assembly". One lady claimed approx. 13 hours to assemble it. Other reviews stated times like 5-6 hours.

(Tedious + Exacting) != Difficult.

The writeup does say it will take 2 people a few hours to put all the pieces together. It's probably something you can do while watching TV.

PODS they are going to take over. Do not drop them in water.

mikezav wrote:Hmm, maybe I can outstink my neighbor's dog doo-doo

It's not bad until you open it up, then *wham* it'll knock you over.

I bought this thing for 2 reasons:

1. It looks like the deathstar.
2. It will take 2 people 2 hours to assemble.

Oh and I guess it's nice that it composts.

Well, lies I tell you, lies! 1 person can easily put this together in 2 hrs!

alleson wrote:I bought one from WOOT in June, too.

It is filled with maggots! The air-vents seem to be the design error allowing the flies entry. I called the company and the guy said that's part of the process.

Actually, it isn't. Sure, maggots are an essential component to breaking down decaying matter...but NOT in a human-maintained compost of ANY sort. (I know the proper ratios for compost input and I assure you that isn't the problem.)

Maggots = EPIC composting failure.

I am so disappointed and stuck with this massive ball that I can't even roll to the street for the garbage truck to deal with.

I certainly wouldn't recommend this composter, either.

You need more brown matter and more tumbling action. In my compost pile, I get maggots if I don't cover my green matter with brown matter or don't turn the pile often enough.

hahahahaha....waffle notes....I laughed so hard when I read about you pushing it around for exercise. Thank you for waking me up with a little humor.

mwagner5 wrote:How big is that thing?

It's pretty big. I have one and once it's assembled, it's the size of one of those big plastic kids balls (the ones you see people hurting each other with on AFV). Maybe a little smaller than that. Either way, big enough! I've been filling it since June and it's not even half full yet.

I got this the last time it comes up, and this time am likely getting one as a present for a friend who saw it and loved it. It's a great item, decorative enough that when someone sees it they like it, but colored just right to blend in as well. Assembly was a two person job, especially when putting the two halves of the sphere together, which took about 20 minutes of fiddling. But since then, it's been great to have, and the compost is coming along swimmingly.

Jimmy37 wrote:You need more brown matter and more tumbling action. In my compost pile, I get maggots if I don't cover my green matter with brown matter or don't turn the pile often enough.

Another design flaw to this. Once it starts filling up, it gets heavy, and harder to roll. The casters are pretty sturdy, but they're starting to feel the strain. Also, one person cannot roll the composter sufficiently by themselves to effectively mix the waste. I agree that while the aerators were a good idea, they perhaps should have put in screens or something to keep the insect populations down.

did someone already mention the "deathstar" thing yet?

moxxee wrote:That's no Ecomposter with Spider base! That's a space station!

Dantoween is a gonner.

I got one a while ago and I don't use the base either--it looks like a big garden ornament, or a giant transformer that if you press the right part will flip open into a gigantic insect!
That said, if you're thinking of getting it, get 2 so one can be filled and rotting while you're filling the other with fresh stuff.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought it was pronounced as "Eco-m-poster" ("Eco imposter")

So what kind of Pokemon pops out of this thing?

I've been doing crunches on mine. And I'm ripped!

The name makes it sound like you can use it to convert obsolete electronic equipment into a form that would somehow enrich your current electronic gadgets. I think they'd sell more if they called it an "I-composter".

I bought one of these last time and was waiting for this to come back up. Assembly took about 2-3 hours with two people and yes, get a rubber mallet since you don't want to kill those little plastic rivets. Even with a mallet we broke about 20 (there are extras).

The manual talks about harvesting lecithin from the bottom of the unit but any liquid I put in leaks out immediately. That doesn't mean it won't make good compost! It means that if you want some kind of lecithin factory look elsewhere.

I'm in for one more because of the chicken and egg problem: with only one composter I can't harvest pure compost. I'm planning on a four months on four months off cycle between two units.

At $100 it's worth the money and it's 1/3 off too (Price on non-Woot 'sale' is $150).

FYI: if you want to avoid smell in your compost bin, avoid composting onion/onion peels.

For the newbies out there, best items to compost to make fertilizer are: fruit and vegetables and their peels, egg shells, coffee and tea and coffee/tea filters.

The thing you should be most concerned with is how easy it is to turn and periodcally collect decomposed stuff.

It is easy to infer the relative ages of commenters.

Some say Death Star.
Others say Sputnik!

Most important features are size and time it takes to convert to compost. So why does the box pic say converts to compost in "as little as 6 weeks" and the ad says in about "4 weeks?" I am thinking the real number is 6+ weeks. Which is better than a regular black garbage can with holes by a couple of weeks.

naishox wrote:

I'm in for one more because of the chicken and egg problem: with only one composter I can't harvest pure compost. I'm planning on a four months on four months off cycle between two units.

Why would the chicken/egg problem cause you to buy a composter?

While on the chicken subject.... Can one compost chicken poop? I have three chickens. They poop.

Assembly: Did take a couple of hours, but it was not complicated, just a bunch of repetition.

Form: It's slightly larger than I thought it would be but it's much much cooler looking than a can.

Addressing the cons: The leaking happens to me too, but I suspect that it's because I'm not balancing the wet/dry green/brown yin/yang that the manual describes. The flies are a result of putting in vegetables that have flies or fly eggs on them. Not really a big deal. Doing a pretty good job of sticking to the script about what you can and cant put in, I don't find that there's much of a smell at all. It's not really a huge challenge to turn on the base, but I like the idea of pushing it around a yard.

I haven't been putting enough in to have a dirt harvest, but all said and done I would definitely buy this woot again.

tetchypoo wrote:I remember this video from last time. Should get it this go around...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoCpAOs0eX4

That is one irritating narrator. And irritating text. Mute. EcomPoster, EcomPoster, EcomPoster. Shut it!

Before clicking the WOOT! button, check your local COSTCO and see if they have any Lifetime Tumbling composters. I brought one for $99 dollars; it is larger, easier to assemble, sturdier, and much simpler to use. It also is pretty cool looking.

Wooted 2 last time around. Lost of fun to put together, looks cool in the yard, and it makes good dirt.

Are you People crazy!!!!

Return Sputnik before the Russians find out, and we have to go back to the cold war.

Well... unless woot has a coat for sale tomorrow, then... we will be ok.

I live in a townhouse/condo complex and have no personal area where I can plant a garden. Is there any other practical purpose I could use this for?

It looks nice, but bottomless ground-contact composters tend to work more efficiently. When you suspend the compost and cut it off from the ground, worms can't get to it, and they're excellent at helping to break the foodstuffs down.

It's all about the wormy goodness.