I am amazed that anyone would live in Minnesota or even Iowa without a snow blower.
Down here in Missouri an Ariens Professional 28 fell into my lap. It was NIB and the price was so low that I bought one as a public service. That meaning that if I buy a snow blower it will never ever snow. It is the Professional 28. I always wanted a two stage four cycle monster blower.
In 1982 I bought a Toro two cycle. They had a deal where if it did'nt snow you got a refund. Of course the actuaries had that worked out perfectly. But it has been very handy to have. I hate shoveling manually.

Usually down here in St. Louis it doesn't snow anything like it used to. Very often we just break out the backpacks and that works fine. But now at my new house I am ready freddy. The Ariens has a 420 cc engine.

 

I bought the Toro Snowmaster 824 QXE. It has the personal pace system so no gears, if you want to go faster just walk faster. And the joystick system for controlling the snow chute and deflector someone should win a Nobel prize for....its that amazing! And it was way lighter than anything else I looked at. It tore through my snow last year.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b6AdxGNboMs

 

I started out with an Ariens that's 40+ years old and in great condition that I picked up on Craigslist for a little over 100 bucks. I'll always have a place in my heart for it but the performance was never impressive.

Last year I picked up a Snowmaster too and that thing is incredible. It doesn't weigh much more than a typical single stage but it clears snow as fast if not faster than any 24" two stage. Unless something else has come along that I don't know about it's easily the best all-around homeowner blower on the market.

 

Sometimes I wish I needed a snowblower.

 

I have two Ariens one is a 30 deluxe that was rebuilt after being swamped in superstorm sandy. It started giving me some grief so, I bought a new Aerins 24 pro w/ EFI last year. I'm very pleased with Ariens snow blowers!

 

I'm a Toro guy, I love the PowerMax blowers. Sadly, I really have no need even for the little PowerCurve electric unit that I still have.

Respect for the Ariens folks, as they make some serious machines in the high end of their line.

 

That moment when you're looking through posts on equipment that you will absolutely have no need to buy because of where you live, and it coincides with the time that YouTube is down. :lol:

 

Sometimes I wish I needed a snowblower.

No, no you don't.

I have an Ariens 26" that I picked up for a few hundred dollars off on clearance at Home Depot 10+ years ago after a winter without much snow. I used to burn through impeller belts on a regular basis until I found out on another forum that Ariens had released a two belt upgrade kit to address the issue. I installed it and haven't had to replace a belt for a few seasons and then ordered every other update that Ariens came out with since that worked out so well. I'm looking forward to another 10+ years of good service.

 

No, no you don't.

Yeah you're probably right. I would just like to drive one sometime.

 

No, no you don't.

Yeah you're probably right. I would just like to drive one sometime.

Bigger equipment with blowers is much more fun. We used to use a JD compact tractor with a 60" front mount blower to knock back the plow banks and reclaim parking spaces at the dealership I worked for. Front mowers, compacts, HD garden tractors, all available with cabs and blowers! Walk behind two-stagers are usually pretty dull to operate. I really like the two-stroke single stage units from Toro though. They will eat right through 6" of snow at an amazing clip. Faster than a two-stage usually.

 

I bought a 15A plug in. Had good reviews online and seemed to work well. Going to see how a Minnesota winter handles one.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Snow-Joe-Ultra-21-in-15-Amp-Electric-Snow-Blower-with-Light-SJ625E/206079735?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD28I%7C28-33_CHORE%7CNA%7CPLA%7CSnowblowers%7CFixed%7C71700000041074957%7C58700004387938478%7C92700036924264917&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsdKl9daM3gIViUBpCh23vwcMEAQYAiABEgLSCvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CPqb8vzWjN4CFYjYwAodj50NoQ

 

:repares self to catch a ton of heat::

I'm considering buying the Ego snowblower this year. Even with 4 Nor'easters in as many weeks last year, I was basically hand shoveling everything so it can't be much worse than that. Plus I have 2 5A batteries already--having another 2 batteries would be nice to help with leaf season as well.

Anyone using it? I've also considered the SnowJoe options that @ABC123 listed.

 

:repares self to catch a ton of heat::

I'm considering buying the Ego snowblower this year. Even with 4 Nor'easters in as many weeks last year, I was basically hand shoveling everything so it can't be much worse than that. Plus I have 2 5A batteries already--having another 2 batteries would be nice to help with leaf season as well.

Anyone using it? I've also considered the SnowJoe options that @ABC123 listed.

No flak! Anything is better than hand shoveling. I actually bought a Greenworks corded initially with a 100ft cold weather cord and used it for about 5 years. Got tired of throwing the cord around.

 

For the cord I'll probably end up making some type of weighted tripod that I can roll down to the street with me and attach a self winding cord reel. I'll then run the cord from that to some type of harness attached to me so it won't be an issue doing the sidewalks as it will wind itself back up in theory. Almost made this concept with a sprayer last year but didn't have the time.

 

For the cord I'll probably end up making some type of weighted tripod that I can roll down to the street with me and attach a self winding cord reel. I'll then run the cord from that to some type of harness attached to me so it won't be an issue doing the sidewalks as it will wind itself back up in theory. Almost made this concept with a sprayer last year but didn't have the time.

Make sure it's cold weather. I didn't even know there was such a thing but it doesn't ever get stiff no matter how cold it is. I paid about $50 for a 100ft on Amazon back in 2012.

 

Make sure it's cold weather. I didn't even know there was such a thing but it doesn't ever get stiff no matter how cold it is. I paid about $50 for a 100ft on Amazon back in 2012.

Good tip! I have a variety of cold weather cords, use to own several diesel vehicles and dealing with a stiff cord in -20* temps daily led me to them. :thumbup:

 

I really wanted to get a cordless snow blower, but I'm not confident they'd easily handle the mountain of concrete the plow leaves at the end of my driveway every time. My driveway also has a bit of a slope, and I've read complaints about the Ego not handling slopes well.

 

My Ariens 28 inch commercial grade snow blower has been good to me. Its about 20 years old and has handled my 400 plus foot driveway. Only thing I've ever had to replace was a few belts and some shear bolts. I usually keep them both on hand so I can fix if they break during a storm.
When I buy tools/equipment I always try to get the best I can(within reason) this way it will last a long time. Especially equipment that is under load, a SB takes a lot of stress when blowing the snow so having bigger/better than you might need is a wise choice IMO.
I have a new toy this year. I bought a JD compact tractor 1025 with a plow, so that should handle the heavy lifting and the SB will get a break and handle the sidewalks etc.

 

I have a 2 stage Cub Cadet 524 SWE that has served me well the past two winters. The electric start is great. The only complaint I have is the joystick to turn and adjust the chute gets tight. I need to make an adjustment.

 

I've got a Honda HS520 thats about 10 years old. Works pretty good but I do wish it could handle the deeper snow a little easier.

The Toro Snowmaster really intrigues me. Most of our snows are in the 1-4" range, but we do get some heavier snows throughout the season. I really like the speed and maneuverability of the single stage Honda for the lighter snows. My neighbor had a big 2 stage and I was always done way before him when the snow was 4" or less. Now when things got deep, he seemed to have an easier time than me. The Snowmaster seems like it has the best of both worlds. Quick for the lighter snows, but also designed to handle a deeper snow too.

 

I noticed Lawnboy has a new snow blower. I'm not up on the Toro snowblower line, so I'm not sure what model from the parent company it roughly equates to.

https://www.lawnboy.com/en/products/snowblower-17740

I'm using a Cub Cadet 528 SWE zero-turn (made by MTD). The thing is a beast. You can easily damage edges in tight areas if you don't use it right. The power steering is kind of coarse, and it's heavy as heck when using it manually without the self propel.

 

So, what is a stage? is it the rotating blades/auger?

As an aside, I was reading the reviews on snowblowersdirect for the model I use, and most people were from CT, NJ, or Michigan.

 

So, what is a stage? is it the rotating blades/augur?

As an aside, I was reading the reviews on snowblowersdirect for the model I use, and most people were from CT, NJ, or Michigan.

A 2 stage has 2 powered impellers or blades....the front auger blades chop up the snow and the impeller blade blows it put the shoot. Also I believe 2 stage snow blowers are self propelled vs manually pushing them. In our location 2 stage is a must.

 

In our location 2 stage is a must.

Good to know.

 

Sometimes I wish I needed a snowblower.

Be careful what you wish for. Snow in the deep south per this article.

CNN: A mild winter could be in store for many Americans, NOAA says.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/us/winter-forecast-2018-19-wxc/index.html