"I just hope I don't have to till and reseed.".....

Depending upon...you may have to reseed but do not till.
Just take a stiff tine rake or hand held 3 prong cultivator and scuff the bare dirt. You just want enough dirt to cover the grass seed. Toss on seed, lightly cover w/scuffed dirt. If you till, you might bring up weed seeds. Don't forget to water.

HTH..good luck...notnew....

I use my mantis to break up the top of the yard before reseeding. It clears away the weeds and dead grass and gives the seed something to grip into. It is a lot easier than raking out a third of an acre with a steel rake and the results are usually very good. Here in NC fescue is essentially an annual grass and if you want a decent yard you are either watering the heck out of it all summer or you reseed every fall. I opt to reseed, though my neighbor planted Bermuda grass so I'll be going Bermuda before long, not going to fight the creeping green hoard.

I also have a Mantis. I bought it almost new a few years ago. Some parts still in the box.

It does the job well but mine is too narrow to go as fast as I want. I think there may be attachments to widen it but havent looked very hard. My garden was tilled for years with an 8HP front tine machine. That was a back breaker. After using the Mantis for a year, I gave it to the Salvation Army and since then have relied on the Mantis.

Mine came with all the attachments and they were unused. The one I like best so far is the dethatcher on my Tif Green lawn. It really cleans it up. Have not tried the edger or other attachments yet.

I did not try any of the other small tillers before buying this one.