snowgo

borat wrote:
The same situation as borat here.

aa335 wrote:
:-) ... (grrrrr)

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... it sure is confusing deciding on which snow blower to buy. I've read posts claiming don't buy Toro, don't buy Ariens, don't buy Craftsman, etc., etc., etc.. Very confusing trying to sort through everything and remember whose posts seem credible and whose don't.

I'm posting in this thread because my driveway is similar in size to what the original poster's is (gsnow). Being on a fairly large corner lot, I probably have between 150' and 200' of sidewalk to clear. The driveway itself is about 25' wide by 50' long. I need to blow the snow all in one direction though (across the 25' width) due to an alley being along one side of the driveway.

My latest and greatest conclusion has been that the automatic traction control on the Ariens Deluxe Platinum models would be the way to go ... thinking that it would make things easier as there would be no cables to mess with every time I wanted to turn. I also like how tall the Ariens chutes are compared to the others, as I have to clear 4' tall hedges bordering the far edge of the driveway. If I go that route, there are only 2 choices ... the 24" bucket or the 30" bucket with larger engine. The 24" would be easier to manage, but the 30" would have more power. I guess I'm trying to figure out if the engine size of the 24" machine (249cc) would be adequate power for my driveway size or if the 30" (342cc) would be overkill.

If the 24" isn't powerful enough and the 30" is too powerful (or too $#%*bersome to move around), then I might reconsider buying the L1428E Simplicity, which I think has an engine size between the 2 Ariens models I'm considering. Although then I have to be concerned with the electric chute controls handling the icy conditions.

I guess that's confusing enough for 1 post, eh? Any thoughts?

And one more thing I'd like to bring up ...

It seems that the higher end machines all have some kind of "gizmo" kind of chute on them. They're either some form of joystick control or electric. It's too bad the higher end machines aren't built with good old fashioned, simple and reliable, no-nonsense cranks.

Blowing the EOD stuff twice wouldn't bother me. I want to find something that can go "through" it ... period. The snow blower I've been using as far back as I can remember is an old 1971 Ariens. (I'm 54). Where I live (NE Wisconsin), the last 2 winters have been unusually harsh. My 1971 snow blower couldn't get through the EOD stuff after many of our storms. It just would come to a complete halt when it hit the EOD stuff. Then I would have to bring out the hand shovel to finish the job. That's a lot of snow to carry around by hand (3 car wide driveway) and I don't want to ever have to do that again. I may have even torn a rotator cuff carrying the heavy wet snow around (... because I can't toss it 3 car widths). So anyway, that's a big reason why I'm looking for a new machine.