Snow Blower Driveway test

[nobbie48]

A guy I did a lot of favours for said thank you by dropping off a 40 volt Ryobi snow blower and turbo leaf blower.

The leaf blower got used on the eaves troughs the same day and it's the fastest they've ever been cleaned. 100+ MPH.

The snow blower will have to wait a bit to see actual snow but it did move some slush around today. Compared to my 9 HP 24" gas thumper the Ryobi is quiet and easy to maneuver. Our needs have changed so I don't see keeping the iron horse one.

Obviously the single stage won't throw snow as far and it isn't self propelled which could be a pain on a slope.

Saving battery power means a lot of button pushing but no shifting gears. One less oil pan to change.

 

[LBV]

Nice to see guys like that in the world still!

We had about 9" of snow here in Brampton ... so far anyways.

 

[Zoodles95]

This evening was the first time to try out the Greenworks 80V snowblower. At our old place we had a plug in Toro which I think had an 18" clearing path. This new one is a 22".


Unlike my Greenworks lawnmower there are 2 slots in the snowblower. One is live and the other is a storage unit.



Road, driveway, and walkway full of slushy like snow which is a bugger to shovel.


About 6" thick give or take? And heavy stuff...


Our driveway can park about 8 cars if you wanted to; so a decent size. I almost got it done before I had to swap the battery. I also used the snowblower to clear a path from the shed, through the backyard and gate and to the driveway. I think I may have been able to do the driveway and walkway if I had not of cleared part of the backyard too. Just the same I have 2 batteries since one came with the lawnblower and one with the snowblower.



It did a good job. For the property we have the 80V lawnmower and snowblower do the job we need without having to do with traditional gas alternatives. There are 120V lawnmowers on the market and with 6 A/hr batteries a battery powered option will meet a lot of people's needs.




The batteries charge from dead to full in around 35 to 40 minutes. Very good quality batteries and chargers. The charger was smart enough to recognize that the one on the left was the "hot" one that had ran out of juice. After 10 minutes to cool down it was happily being charged.

 

[mimico_polak]

Nice to see the electric work that well. I got tied up at the cottage building a wood shed and took all weekend. Will be buying the snow blower this week and completely disregarded the electric option as we have a 9 car driveway, plus a lot of space around the house that needs to be done. The ARIENS 24" is top of list right now, but will look at the electric as well. Thanks @Zoodles95 !

 

[pfbmgd]

Nice to see the electric work that well. I got tied up at the cottage building a wood shed and took all weekend. Will be buying the snow blower this week and completely disregarded the electric option as we have a 9 car driveway, plus a lot of space around the house that needs to be done. The ARIENS 24" is top of list right now, but will look at the electric as well. Thanks @Zoodles95 !

I would look at older snow machines . They are way better build then today's . My Poulan gave out in 5 years . My previous blower was over 25 years old .

Most snow machines are made in China at a couple of giant factories . No matter the brand they are made pretty well the same and the same parts . Usually just the motor changes and the color .

 

[POWERMAN]

Nice - thanks for the review.
Are they made in Japan?

I was considering purchasing a single stage Honda with electric start assist - decided to hold off for now due to working from home and only having to use the car for grocery trips once a week.

 

[Lyndsay]

Damn. This thread reminded me I forgot to bring the carburetor from my snowthrower into work today for a proper cleaning.

 

[nobbie48]

This evening was the first time to try out the Greenworks 80V snowblower. At our old place we had a plug in Toro which I think had an 18" clearing path. This new one is a 22".


Unlike my Greenworks lawnmower there are 2 slots in the snowblower. One is live and the other is a storage unit.



Road, driveway, and walkway full of slushy like snow which is a bugger to shovel.


About 6" thick give or take? And heavy stuff...


Our driveway can park about 8 cars if you wanted to; so a decent size. I almost got it done before I had to swap the battery. I also used the snowblower to clear a path from the shed, through the backyard and gate and to the driveway. I think I may have been able to do the driveway and walkway if I had not of cleared part of the backyard too. Just the same I have 2 batteries since one came with the lawnblower and one with the snowblower.



It did a good job. For the property we have the 80V lawnmower and snowblower do the job we need without having to do with traditional gas alternatives. There are 120V lawnmowers on the market and with 6 A/hr batteries a battery powered option will meet a lot of people's needs.




The batteries charge from dead to full in around 35 to 40 minutes. Very good quality batteries and chargers. The charger was smart enough to recognize that the one on the left was the "hot" one that had ran out of juice. After 10 minutes to cool down it was happily being charged.

The endurance appears to be better than my 40 volt. Since the garage is a temporary shop and the car in the drive the clearing was guestimated at about 800 square feet on a charge. The Ryobi uses two batteries in parallel so both drain at the same time. Recharge time seems to be OK but I didn't time it.

A lot depends on the type of snow. Slush is a pain. Light and fluffy blows all over the place. The Inuit. being dependent on snow conditions had 26 different words for snow. I've added a few of my own but they come out as ****** **** when I type them.

For my limited driveway I wouldn't mind a narrower unit. Another pass or two in trade for a smaller storage footprint.

I have a bunch of Ryobi stuff and didn't want to add another charger spot. I also have a Milwaukee and Bosch.

The noise level difference is extremely apparent. Went from Harley to Vespa.

There is no question the 9HP two stage kicks ass but our needs have changed. I used to help the neighbours as they were elderly. Now I'm the old goat. The city does the main sidewalk pretty fast so it's just the driveway and it's no rush.

 

[Zoodles95]

The endurance appears to be better than my 40 volt. Since the garage is a temporary shop and the car in the drive the clearing was guestimated at about 800 square feet on a charge. The Ryobi uses two batteries in parallel so both drain at the same time. Recharge time seems to be OK but I didn't time it.

A lot depends on the type of snow. Slush is a pain. Light and fluffy blows all over the place. The Inuit. being dependent on snow conditions had 26 different words for snow. I've added a few of my own but they come out as ****** **** when I type them.

For my limited driveway I wouldn't mind a narrower unit. Another pass or two in trade for a smaller storage footprint.

I have a bunch of Ryobi stuff and didn't want to add another charger spot. I also have a Milwaukee and Bosch.

The noise level difference is extremely apparent. Went from Harley to Vespa.

There is no question the 9HP two stage kicks ass but our needs have changed. I used to help the neighbours as they were elderly. Now I'm the old goat. The city does the main sidewalk pretty fast so it's just the driveway and it's no rush.

This unit has 4 A/hr batteries. Not sure how large the capacity is on your 40V unit. Mine came with one battery and charger but because we have an 80V lawnmower we have 2 batteries and chargers which adds flexibility.

My lawnmower can do the front yard o problem; but not quite enough to do front and back. Good thing is that the recharge time is so quick.

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[SVeezy]

Good info, I’ve been looking at both the electric mowers and blowers. They’re on the pricey side but if they work well it will be nice not having to deal with gas anymore.


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[PrivatePilot]

My BIL bought a "hybrid" electric blower last year around this time to replace his old 30 year old electric one that finally died. New one is batteries when you can, but it has the ability to plug in to an extension cord if needed. He said he only needed the cord once last year for a 4 car driveway.

Once you've gone electric for this sort of stuff (and assuming typical consumer type properties, you're not going to clear an industrial parking lot with one of these small consumer level machines) you'll never want to be bothered with gas ever again. I bought a well loved Ryobi 48v electric lawn mower about 5 years ago and have never looked back either.

I currently have a cheap ass electric (corded) blower that gets the job done but when it dies it'll be a battery unit for me as well.

 

[nobbie48]

My BIL bought a "hybrid" electric blower last year around this time to replace his old 30 year old electric one that finally died. New one is batteries when you can, but it has the ability to plug in to an extension cord if needed. He said he only needed the cord once last year for a 4 car driveway.

Once you've gone electric for this sort of stuff (and assuming typical consumer type properties, you're not going to clear an industrial parking lot with one of these small consumer level machines) you'll never want to be bothered with gas ever again. I bought a well loved Ryobi 48v electric lawn mower about 5 years ago and have never looked back either.

I currently have a cheap ass electric (corded) blower that gets the job done but when it dies it'll be a battery unit for me as well.

A friend called me to see the used snow blower he bought. He said it was a one owner. When I saw it written on it was "XYZ Developments Inc" Yeah, one owner, an apartment complex.

My Ryobi came with two 5 amp batteries and I have one slightly smaller one from the lawn mower.

 

[Zoodles95]

My BIL bought a "hybrid" electric blower last year around this time to replace his old 30 year old electric one that finally died. New one is batteries when you can, but it has the ability to plug in to an extension cord if needed. He said he only needed the cord once last year for a 4 car driveway.

Once you've gone electric for this sort of stuff (and assuming typical consumer type properties, you're not going to clear an industrial parking lot with one of these small consumer level machines) you'll never want to be bothered with gas ever again. I bought a well loved Ryobi 48v electric lawn mower about 5 years ago and have never looked back either.

I currently have a cheap ass electric (corded) blower that gets the job done but when it dies it'll be a battery unit for me as well.

Agreed. For most "normal" consumer use the battery powered stuff is great. Now if you have significant acreage then your milleage will obviously vary.

The good news is that it is only going to get better. 120V stuff is juat starting to trickle out and battery tech never ends. Once you can get 6 A/hr or 8 A/hr batteries then it will be right there with gas.

The big thing I love about our battery powered lawnmower and snowblower is the "freedom" of no cord. With our old plug in Toro I pretty much had to stop at wvery turn to make sure the cord was out of the way.

We are still corded with the weed whacker and hedge trimmer. Weed whacker is getting old and when it gets to the point of replacement I may go battery. I have a 100 ft cord but because I am mainly going around the 2 yards I do not have to fight the cord so much. Same with the hedge trimmer. Typically there is a spot or hedge we target and it is not like we are going all over the place. I may buy a leaf blower next year. Corded or battery? Hmmm...

The hybrid tech is a cool idea.

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[GreyGhost]

The endurance appears to be better than my 40 volt. Since the garage is a temporary shop and the car in the drive the clearing was guestimated at about 800 square feet on a charge. The Ryobi uses two batteries in parallel so both drain at the same time. Recharge time seems to be OK but I didn't time it.

A lot depends on the type of snow. Slush is a pain. Light and fluffy blows all over the place. The Inuit. being dependent on snow conditions had 26 different words for snow. I've added a few of my own but they come out as ****** **** when I type them.

For my limited driveway I wouldn't mind a narrower unit. Another pass or two in trade for a smaller storage footprint.

I have a bunch of Ryobi stuff and didn't want to add another charger spot. I also have a Milwaukee and Bosch.

The noise level difference is extremely apparent. Went from Harley to Vespa.

There is no question the 9HP two stage kicks ass but our needs have changed. I used to help the neighbours as they were elderly. Now I'm the old goat. The city does the main sidewalk pretty fast so it's just the driveway and it's no rush.

Do you still have the two-stage? Sell it to @mimico_polak and give the old girl a new lease on life.

 

[GreyGhost]

Agreed. For most "normal" consumer use the battery powered stuff is great. Now if you have significant acreage then your milleage will obviously vary.

The good news is that it is only going to get better. 120V stuff is juat starting to trickle out and battery tech never ends. Once you can get 6 A/hr or 8 A/hr batteries then it will be right there with gas.

The big thing I love about our battery powered lawnmower and snowblower is the "freedom" of no cord. With our old plug in Toro I pretty much had to stop at wvery turn to make sure the cord was out of the way.

We are still corded with the weed whacker and hedge trimmer. Weed whacker is getting old and when it gets to the point of replacement I may go battery. I have a 100 ft cord but because I am mainly going around the 2 yards I do not have to fight the cord so much. Same with the hedge trimmer. Typically there is a spot or hedge we target and it is not like we are going all over the place. I may buy a leaf blower next year. Corded or battery? Hmmm...

The hybrid tech is a cool idea.

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I wouldn't buy a corded anything (yard-equipment related) for more than $10. Either gas or battery. The pendulum is swinging towards battery. I am encouraged that they keep improving batteries but that also means that when your current batteries die, the odds are that you throw the whole thing out and buy a new system with new batteries as yours won't be available. Good gas is more of a pain to maintain but should last your lifetime.

 

[nobbie48]

Do you still have the two-stage? Sell it to @mimico_polak and give the old girl a new lease on life.

A friend of my wife had dibs on it but has decided to go electric so it's available.

 

[GreyGhost]

I would look at older snow machines . They are way better build then today's . My Poulan gave out in 5 years . My previous blower was over 25 years old .

Most snow machines are made in China at a couple of giant factories . No matter the brand they are made pretty well the same and the same parts . Usually just the motor changes and the color .

I agree. If you are going to buy a new cheap one, just buy a cheap one. Don't get caught in the mushy middle where they are prettier but still crap. If the budget allows, Hondas are great but are much more money than store brands.

 

[mimico_polak]

I agree. If you are going to buy a new cheap one, just buy a cheap one. Don't get caught in the mushy middle where they are prettier but still crap. If the budget allows, Hondas are great but are much more money than store brands.

I've basically focused on ARIENS from all the reviews I read. Plus the 2 at the cottage that have worked properly for 10+ years are a good testament to the brand in my experience.

 

[SVeezy]

Question for those with battery powered snow blowers... how well does yours deal with the windrow the plow leaves at the end of the driveway and what voltage is yours? My driveway is not that big so shoveling isn’t a problem it’s that damn hard packed pile from the plow that I hate.


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[GreyGhost]

Question for those with battery powered snow blowers... how well does yours deal with the windrow the plow leaves at the end of the driveway and what voltage is yours? My driveway is not that big so shoveling isn’t a problem it’s that damn hard packed pile from the plow that I hate.


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Does anyone make a battery power blower with a low speed metal auger? Plastic/rubber single stage can't work miracles in a row of ice boulders no matter what is powering it.