Snow Blower Recommendations

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mikbusa said:
We don't get consistent snow fall in niagara, but when we do its usually lake effect from erie, and it can be heavy. I bought a 24" husqvarna from CT for under $1000 a few years ago, I doubt a $2500 honda will outlast it 2.5 times when it runs only a few hours per year.
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Mik,

I’ve lived through a few winters here now. And one this I can count on? Not knowing!

It’s a easy decision if living in the snow belt. Don’t mess around, get a good unit and rock it.

I know I can shovel it....if and when it comes.

I’ve had two memorable years of some pretty heavy snow fall. Last year was actually mild.

I’ve seen some yardworks MTD and the paint is gone and rusting. Only used a couple of times. Only a few years old etc.

It’s fine the motor is from China as long as it starts but I don’t want the machine to fall apart in rust in 5 Years. I guess I can just sand and rattle can paint it.

I might not pull the trigger this winter and see what happens.

Having real input from folks to know is very helpful. Reviews from the web are useless.


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I bought my Sears 18 years ago when we had the army in town to help us shovel out. I've replaced the belts once and it is starting to rust a bit at the seams. An occasional shot of grease and oil change is all it ever got. I figure it'll outlast me or at least my needs.

I just wish it could handle leaves.

Politics: When they amalgamated Toronto it became a screw up for a number of years. Some parts of the old separate boroughs had sidewalks plowed by the municipality and others not. In our little piece of heaven we were still supposed to shovel our sidewalks or face a fine. Now the sidewalk gets done by a skid steer and I just have to clear my driveway. I could get away with a smaller machine.

The city is legally responsible for their sidewalks. Apparently a civil lawsuit went to the supreme court over a slip fall incident and the court decided that the city can't pass the buck of responsibility onto the homeowner. If you own it it is your responsibility. The city had to pay the settlement.

The city can just fine those that don't comply. However with them now plowing the walks it becomes an expected service and therefore an "I thought you were going to do it" out for the home owner.
 
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I bought a Craftsman probably 10 years ago. 27", dual stage, 10hp, electric start, Briggs&Stratton engine. It was/is more then overkill for what I needed but it was almost 50% off at the time. Takes a few more pumps to prime now then it did new but still fires up and runs great (just fired it up an hour ago). I think my neighbors love it more then I do since I generally do both sides (or more if I have the time) just because its fun.
 
Come have fun at mine then! I am surrounded on 3 sides by fields, even snow fencing doesn't do much for the driveway, fair sized, I can fit 4 full sized trucks and two trailers in it. It's too big for us to shovel.

Husqvarna all the way. $1100 and going on year 13.

Old neighbors didn't have one BUT had 4 kids. When we moved here oldest was about 14. They ought to have been able to clear a single lane drive about 30 feet....nope! They just took runs at getting out in the morning. For the amount of time they spent trying to get out I would have just made the kids shovel the drive.
 
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Here they have professional services that will plow your driveway out within a certain amount of time after a snowfall. Some of the companies, swap services on some streets to get things done faster. The problem is that it's a pretty high threshold on the plow, so if there's an inch of ice underneath, you're stuck with that yourself. If there's five feet of snow, they're awesome! It's not very expensive, but it is a gamble. They're also really good for the windrow, if the timing is right, but our street doesn't always get full city service for plowing. The city tends to send a truck in to dump dirt down rather then plowing, then once a month they send in a front end loader, which then dumps all the scraped up crap onto our lawns.
 
Don't get a Honda, they're too expensive. Get a cheap brand like Yardworks or something. Yes the Honda will be more reliable, but 99% of the problems you get on the cheap ones will either involve cleaning out the carb or replacing a belt, both are easy jobs, and parts are readily available on ebay. Isn't it worth doing the occasional repair to save a ton of money? Unless you're rich, then just get a Honda.
 
Princess Auto upcoming sale catalogue is showing a battery powered 2 stage snow blower with a 2500 watt motor, 80 volts. Up to 40 minute run time. $599.99 in their surplus dept. Brand X.
 
nobbie48 said:
Princess Auto upcoming sale catalogue is showing a battery powered 2 stage snow blower with a 2500 watt motor, 80 volts. Up to 40 minute run time. $599.99 in their surplus dept. Brand X.
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2500w=3.3hp.
 
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nobbie48 said:
Princess Auto upcoming sale catalogue is showing a battery powered 2 stage snow blower with a 2500 watt motor, 80 volts. Up to 40 minute run time. $599.99 in their surplus dept. Brand X.
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Seems awfully sketchy. 2500W @ 80V is 31.5 amps. The biggest 40V batteries Dewalt sells are 7.5 Ah. The princess auto batteries have triple the runtime of Dewalt and come with a snowblower for the same price as just 2 of the dewalt batteries? My guess is less than 10 minutes runtime in heavy snow. Possibly 0 minutes with cold batteries.
 
GreyGhost said:
Seems awfully sketchy. 2500W @ 80V is 31.5 amps. The biggest 40V batteries Dewalt sells are 7.5 Ah. The princess auto batteries have triple the runtime of Dewalt and come with a snowblower for the same price as just 2 of the dewalt batteries? My guess is less than 10 minutes runtime in heavy snow. Possibly 0 minutes with cold batteries.
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PA sells a lot of reconditioned stuff. If these are reconditioned returns there might be a reason. 40 minutes seems a bit much for wet snow.

Of course one could pull the power train and make an E-bike out of a CCM.
 
danp said:
Don't get a Honda, they're too expensive. Get a cheap brand like Yardworks or something. Yes the Honda will be more reliable, but 99% of the problems you get on the cheap ones will either involve cleaning out the carb or replacing a belt, both are easy jobs, and parts are readily available on ebay. Isn't it worth doing the occasional repair to save a ton of money? Unless you're rich, then just get a Honda.
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its not expensive when you amortize it over 30 years.

the "cheap" brands don't have the same build quality and R&D a Honda does. They tend to vibrate more, they are noisier, they breakdown, are typically clunkier, and rust way too easily.

If you use fresh premium gas every season, the odds are extremely good you will never have an issue with the Honda. Nothing is more frustrating after a fresh snow fall and you are ready to fire up your blower, and you have a "carb problem".

Most people who bash a Honda have never used one. A premium product for sure, but worth it.
 
Looks like a lot of good information here. I haven't read through all of it so don't know if this was already suggested. Don't buy the machine you will need today, buy the one you will need when you are older and rely on the machine to do all the heavy lifting.
 
SunnY S said:
its not expensive when you amortize it over 30 years.

the "cheap" brands don't have the same build quality and R&D a Honda does. They tend to vibrate more, they are noisier, they breakdown, are typically clunkier, and rust way too easily.

If you use fresh premium gas every season, the odds are extremely good you will never have an issue with the Honda. Nothing is more frustrating after a fresh snow fall and you are ready to fire up your blower, and you have a "carb problem".

Most people who bash a Honda have never used one. A premium product for sure, but worth it.
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My next-door neighbor has a 10 year old Honda HS35. Every spring I tell him to drain the carb and put in fuel stabilizer and he doesn't
First snowfall, he's over at my place complaining that it won't start.
I drain the carb, put in fresh fuel and away it goes.
Once I had to a new spark plug in it and change the auger rubbers.
In exchange, he lets me use it whenever I want.
Buy a Honda.
 
JZ67 said:
Looks like a lot of good information here. I haven't read through all of it so don't know if this was already suggested. Don't buy the machine you will need today, buy the one you will need when you are older and rely on the machine to do all the heavy lifting.
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Good point by JZ67 … I have a 26 inch two stage Toro now 10 years old. I wish I had bought the model with the optional “power steering” controls to help turn it around after getting to the end of the driveway. It seemed like an unnecessary extra expense back then but now at age 65 it will be mandatory when I get my next one. Also electric start is worth the extra money …. If one method doesn’t start the machine going the other might.
 
When I lived in London, I did pick up a yardworks 30” two stage blower and had the plastic chute and did the job very well.

But is was a big machine and I remember my neighbour saying something negative about the chute being plastic and prone to cracking/breaking in cold weather and parts not readily available when needed.

After the first year, the paint was peeling and rust forming. I worked it hard but I thought I took good care of it and it disappointed me a little.

It was near New when I bought it privately off Kijiji. It had electric start and I found it started with one or two pulls just fine and wasn’t worth grabbing the cord to plug in to start.

Got the snow tires on the vehicles and the bike is prepped and parked for the winter.

Think I’m going to see how this winter goes without one.

Thank you to everyone for their thoughts, contributions and input. It has been very helpful.


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SunnY S said:
its not expensive when you amortize it over 30 years.

the "cheap" brands don't have the same build quality and R&D a Honda does. They tend to vibrate more, they are noisier, they breakdown, are typically clunkier, and rust way too easily.

If you use fresh premium gas every season, the odds are extremely good you will never have an issue with the Honda. Nothing is more frustrating after a fresh snow fall and you are ready to fire up your blower, and you have a "carb problem".

Most people who bash a Honda have never used one. A premium product for sure, but worth it.
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My 18 year old Sears will likely last until 30 but there is more to quality than two factors, longevity and will it start. Noise level and comfort are two.

It takes engineering input to make a product user friendly, things like ease of turning, location of controls, ease of maintenance etc.

Snow clearing isn't usually a fun endeavor but it's a bit more tolerable when your machine works with you instead of against you. Whether you can or want to pay for that is up to the buyer.

BTW If you're an employer and only buy your staff the cheapest tools don't be surprised if they quit or cop an attitude.
 
nobbie48 said:
Princess Auto upcoming sale catalogue is showing a battery powered 2 stage snow blower with a 2500 watt motor, 80 volts. Up to 40 minute run time. $599.99 in their surplus dept. Brand X.
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I'm naturally skeptical about this, but then again, I was skeptical about electric rechargable lawnmowers as well...before I bought an electric rechargable lawnmower. Now I absolutely love it.

But yeah, heavy wet packing snow is probably going to tax this the same as how my electric lawnmower is taxed with heavy tall grass.
 
My little lawnboy doesn't want to start. :(
Then again it had been sitting in my father's basement for 20-30 years until two years ago.
Guess it needs carbs done.
 
I forget which model we have, it was normally 899 at lowes, we got it on sale for 600 and dad got a $100 gift card for picking it up because my local didn't have any (in store purchase only). has the same briggs and stratton engine as everyone else in that price range. i do wish it had skid steer but that wasn't in the budget, but neither was a honda :D

It is a bit of a pain to turn but it has 6 forward and 2 reverse gears. could use heated grips and yeah it vibrates more than Bob does. Lost a couple screws. Got it in 2014 and so far we use about 5 litres of gas a year (or less) and we make sure to get pure gas, from a pump that has served premium last. might not make a big deal on a car with a 50-80 litre tank but when you're only buying premium for the snow blower and parking the bike i wish not to give more to the gas companies than required.
 
Lol at BOB vibrating comment! battery-operated-boyfriend fyi. :D
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