aa335

borat wrote:
and took his Ariens 'hood with him?  Where?  Hopefully not to abbysguide.com

There's rumor that Yamaha will be introducing offering a lineup with turbo diesel option, 4x4 skid steer with individual electric traction motors, forward looking radar to prevent ingestion of frozen newspapers and squirrels buried in snow.   Just kidding.

It will be interesting if Yamaha decided to market their snowblowers in the North America.  Not sure how they would position their product since Honda is quite similar in design.  In today's economy, selling premium product line to very small customer base of Honda and Simplicity is highly risky.

I haven't seen anything new for 2010 Honda in the US.  I don't anticipate anything new other than convenience features, or "gizmos".  Even if there is anything new, Honda marketing department is only going to make a gentle splash to let us know about it anyways.

I frequently check the other OPE site recently and I didn't notice a sense of the "Ariens" brotherhood going on.  Perhaps they went on and bought a Simplicity, Toro or Honda.  *Wink*

I've used the older Powerlite.  While fairly powerful for a little sucker, it vibrated and hopped around on the pavement like a paint can shaker.   It took more effort to keep it going straight than pushing forward.  I wouldn't mind seeing how the new one perform now that it is 4 stroke with more weight.

I think 50 lbs is still manageable and reasonable to toss in the back of a wagon.  I'd wouldn't mind buying the Powerclear 180 and an electric power shovel, but I already have 2 snowblowers.  :)  The wife, 4 year old son, and all my friends already asked why I have two snowblowers.  Any ideas for a reason?

No one has purchased the Powerclear 180 and posted a review about it.  Dealers are just beginning to stock it. 

"That's what she said." 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I'll add another shameless plug for the HS928.  It has a powerful engine, 9HP.  It can never be too powerful, it has throttle control.  Bucket size is 28 inch.  Axle is solid from left to right wheel, no differential to benefit from or to worry about breaking.  Chute rotation is a worm gear and crank, and deflection cable actuated.  It is all manual, no electrics.    Again, no benefit, no worries about failures.  The chute design is what Ariens and Simplicity tries to emulate, allows tight stream for accurate placement of snow discharge.  So far, it is one of two brands of snowblower that has hydrostatic transmission.  Both of these brands start with the letter H.

Negatives? 
Price.  Get one now because the price will go up next year.  Guaranteed.  Even used ones command high price and hard to come by.
Price.  Everyone hates their high price.  Except the manufacturer.
Price.  Everyone thinks you're nuts for paying that much to a company that also makes cars, motorcycles, weed wackers, and lawnmowers.
Features.  It doesn't have convenience features of Toro, or as much black space age polymer.  *wink*
Involvement.  Yes,  you do have to work it.  It ain't going to do it all by itself.  Except...I ain't going to there.. unless you want to pony up a few more Benjamins or put up your car as collateral.

Positive? 
The design has been locked down the last 5 years.  You won't feel cheated when next year model comes with something better.  You don't feel stupid that you didn't buy last year's model because they built it cheaper this year.
It already comes with the most powerful, advanced, and proven reliable engines from the manufacturer.
You won't see the same snowblower with a different branding or paint.  In other words, you can't get it painted in green and yellow.  However, you won't need to pay extra for green paint and outsourcing.
Clean design.  Tidy cable management.
No fancy acronyms or confusing product segments.