Anyone got a compost tumbler?

[ampere]

What I mean is one of those plastic drums that you either rotate or can roll around to make compost faster.

Are they any good? Do they become very difficult to 'tumble' or rotate once they start making compost?

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=compost+tumbler&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=669&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=Xxpd5edQ8r4WEM:&imgrefurl=www.homecomposting.org.uk/composting/buy_bin.php&docid=ozOLr96jMRTGKM&imgurl=www.homecomposting.org.uk/assets/compost_tumbler.jpg&w=131&h=200&ei=lQClT5SoE6HM0QXNx-33Aw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=785&vpy=295&dur=3468&hovh=160&hovw=104&tx=99&ty=91&sig=111082260417748307754&page=2&tbnh=152&tbnw=97&start=11&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:11,i:126" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">like this

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=composphere&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=669&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=5ud5oeLkAAV8pM:&imgrefurl=www.greenrewards.co.uk/products/Home%2B%2526%2BGarden/Composting%2B/The%2BOriginal%2BComposphere/1324495148&docid=ZMTrLp7YzIfctM&imgurl=www.greenrewards.co.uk/custom/upload/images/Product%252520Images/Original%252520Organics/Composphere%252520closed500.jpg&w=500&h=500&ei=SAGlT7WMLpKj8gOu2PTRBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=434&sig=111082260417748307754&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=165&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:74&tx=80&ty=93" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">or this
Tia

(Also posted in Chat)

I'd like one but they are v expensive :(

Had your first one - it was brilliant, made excellent compost in 6 weeks from a 50:50 mix of grass clippings and paper shreddings. Easy to tumble even when full. You do need a bit of space round it.

Read a negative review of your second one.

We have a Henchman tumbler
Ours is the original single tumbler and it's great - it takes masses and masses of stuff including grass cuttings and makes amazing compost. In the warmer weather it takes about a month to produce compost.
If you leave buckets under the vents it also produces very strong liquid plant food.

In the winter we tend to fill it in November and leave it until spring when it gives us lovely compost which can be turned into potting compost.

DH rotates it daily in the summer, in the winter it is probably rotated once a week.

Ours was originally sited on earth but it is now on a flat surface (patio slabs) and it much easier to turn - when it was on a slightly uneven surface it always felts asif it might topple while you were rotating.

Our neighbours had the first one and I have coveted one ever since. Don't like the look (quite literally) of any of the others.

::shallow::

Have used one, wouldn't bother again. You can make quite a small compost heap (better still, have two) and turn them with your fork. They work faster if in contact with the ground so the worms can come up. Turning moves the uncomposted top down to the bottom. The bigger they are the less heat they lose so they work faster.

Thanks

I think the problem for me is that my garden isn't big (11m x 6m) and there are no 'hidden corners' to put a compost heap in, a proper one, so I am currently using one of those slightly conical style ones with a lid and a base (the sort you can buy from councils) standing on the concrete patio- obvs more or less impossible to fork over!