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Ive personally always enjoyed the old fashioned snow shovel n sweat for my driveway and sidewalk. This year I’m calling it quits. I’m gonna jump into a snow machine.
Lets hear recommendations and why not tell your story of how you came into the blower you’ve got and what you’ve had previously. Old and new machine reviews from personal ownership experience please
Honda ... i’m on my third one in 25 years and the first one i owned in 1991 still works better than the cheap second hand Columbia i use in the backyard !
Only reason i upgraded is because i wanted a 28 inch hydrostatic model ...
I have a 208 CC (Honda clone) 24" Cub Cadet 2 stage blower. Owned for about 6 or 7 years. It has heated grips which I really like, steering and a light for blowing at night. I was going to get a honda but just couldn't justify the $$ and they are hard to find used. IIRC I think I got it at HD for $800.
Toro Snowmaster 724QXE., 3-4 seasons now. Great unit, enough power for driveway/sidewalk snow and snow plough dumps in my area. Good size. Single stage that functions like a dual stage without the negatives of dual stage. Neighbours around me have huge dual stage units, Honda and some other brands. They look cumbersome and I finish before they do. Likely the maneuverability benefit of single stage. The only downside of my mine is at times I feel it could use more weight at the front for real heavy, icey, packed snow plough dumps. Still gets it done just requires adjustment in use for the rare real tough jobs.
Went with Toro because I have a positive history with their lawn equipment. Looked at Honda because I've read about their quality but price was higher in the same category than I wanted to spend and maybe overkill for my use.
I too liked shovelling from the younger years when I lived with parents. Moved from a condo number of years ago and it got real. Second season I said screw it, why deal with it when I can get a snowblower for $900. Haven't looked back.
Full serve removal - $590 a year and no messing with shovel or blower. Done before I usually get up as well. I put in many, many years with the plastic shovel, was time to treat myself.
I have a single stage gas Toro (21" blade). The ones with the rubber flap/blade.
Yes it's smaller, yes I may have to do it twice during heavy snow falls but it fast and can easily tyoss 30 feet.......works great on a 3 car wide 2 deep driveway ( about 30-40 minutes)
- it's smaller & lighter so can do the front steps and landing too (Important as you age, about 40 lbs. I always chuckle at the 300+ lb 4sp behemoths. Where the hell do you store that?)
- smaller ( takes up less less space, can be hung from the wall)
Rubber bladed units go right to the pavement (Teflon scrapper on the bottom)
Dual stage metal augers do not (blades can damage pavement) so usually, you'll see some shovel the leftover top layer by hand
Full serve removal - $590 a year and no messing with shovel or blower. Done before I usually get up as well. I put in many, many years with the plastic shovel, was time to treat myself.
I thought it's like $400 a year, you must be paying the Porsche premium.
Honda hs622? - pic of it throwing snow (January 2007)
We since upgraded to a bigger Honda HS1132 because our driveway is big.. It is about 35x60'.
I've only had Honda snowblowers.
The HS622 I bought new sometime in 2000-2001, paid $1400.... sold it 9-10 yrs later for about $1200 IIRC. It was still a currently listed model, but the MRSP had gone up to about $1700 with inflation etc.
Bought a used Honda HS1132 to replace it since our driveway is large. It needed a little bit of work and a tuneup (ran rough and one of the augers was seized) but I got it for about $2000 IIRC.
The HS622 was good for small suburban driveways with smaller garages.
Pros:
Moves a lot of snow, no problems with heavy snow. I bought it when we were in Stratford which is on the edge of the Lake Huron Snowbelt...
Pretty small footprint for storage
fairly light for it's snowmoving capabilities
Cons:
A little awkward to turn... better if you have a longer driveway and fewer turns.
only 2 forward speeds - not hydrostatic... the fastest forward speed isn't fast enough if you want to clear a couple inches with it.....
The HS1132
Pros:
Moves a lot of snow, and big cut path.
hydrostatic transmission,.... a bit faster forward speed, and the cut path was 50% larger than my old one.
Cons:
Even more awkward to turn... it weighs about 200-300lb range, so you have to manhandle it to turn it around... I can see me wanting to maybe look at something that turns a little easier in the next 10 yrs or so... (I'm a 46 year old desk jockey with a wonky back)
Do you get a lot of snow where you are?
We get a decent amount of snowfall where we are now... about 5 snowdays per year, large driveway and had backyard rinks about 30x50' in size... the smaller honda was doable, but because of the size of the area I was clearing, opted for the larger one when I could find one in my pricerange.
11 yr old blowing snow while I'm at work... with the hs1132 (January 2016)
I have an old (probably form the early 90's) Bowlens 2 stage snowblower with an 8hp Briggs flat head engine. Bout it almost 20 years ago at an auction from the Toronto School Board. Did a bunch of maintenance over the years and one engine change because one summer field mice set up camp in the cooling shroud and caused the engine to overheat and size up. It's an old, rusty loud machine but it does the job and the neighbors like it when I do their driveways too.
depends on your job. And who is doing it.
For Toronto. I like a 2 stroke single stage. Its fast, light and easy to work.
I can toss it in the truck and take it to my mothers and do her driveway.
I doesn't like more that 8 inches of snow, and bogs in the city's snowplow berm.
Cottage? 12-18 inches of snow. Honda 928 on tracks. Why not bigger? I wanted to take it through the house so I can do the deck. 28 inches fits through the kitchen door.
Tracks don't make a mess of the deck. I have even taken it up on the roof.
If I were doing it again. I would get the cool, power shoot stick. I thought it a gizmo, but now think it would work well at directing that snow.
12-09-2018, 08:04 PM
O/T - The Unofficial Snowblower Thread
It's an old, rusty loud machine but it does the job and the neighbors like it when I do their driveways too.
