Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

The Toro Retails around $1000 and the Ariens is in more in my price range at about $830.  What made me choose these two is that they both have Tecumseh engines and all of the Tecumseh engines I've delt with have been great.  I'm doing this research for my father who will be spending the money, I'm 17 and almost always snow blow the drive for him.  He has a heart problem and diabetis.  The less expensive toro than the one I was looking at had an R*Tek engine and I would much rather go with a Tecumseh.  There is the debate of L-Head versus OHV and from what I see is that they give more power with less CCs and are quieter.  I really don't care about sound (neither does my father)  just as long as it will last a long time and will be dependable.  I'm also a Fan of buying American and Made in USA equipment.  The Ariens web site cleary shows Made In USA but Toro is really secrative of where theirs is made.  I had always thought Toro made theirs domestic.  That alone may shift our choice of which to buy.  I was also checking out some Craftsman (from Sears), Yard Machines (home depot), and some Troy-Bilt (from Lowes) and they seem cheaply contructed compared to the Toro and Ariens.

I live just outside of Buffalo, NY in a suburb called Amherst.  We don't get the brunt of the lake effect but most snowfalls 4-8 inches and storms range from a foot all the way up to drifts with  5+ feet.  We can get anything from as little as 70-80 inches to well over 150 inches, sometimes over 200 inches in a stormy season (from what I have heard this could be one of those seasons).  I'm looking for something that will laugh at the 5inch range do great in the foot range and get the job done with 2 foot range.  I know there isn't really any blower out there thats going to move 5 feet with ease.  I know both of companies make great blowers and dealer support is really equal for both in my area.  The Price limit is $1000 right now.

The reason we need this new blower is because the 40 or so year old "Hahn-Eclipse Snow Giant" has died.  It made a loud clang after about 3 feet of a row then when I tried starting it again all the parts just spun freely.  The engine on it was a 7HP techumseh and there wasn't a thing I could throw at it that it didn't make its way through, not fast but it cut through nicely.

Here's some pictures of Snow Giant, rest in piece.  We're still going to take it to the service center (where we'll probibly end up buying a new one) and see how much it would be to fix.  The last 2 seasons its broke down during so it might just be time.

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Well ended up with neither of the units I was first considering.  Little known to me Ariens made a 8526LE $999, for some reason it didn't click in my head that for this year they upgraded it to the 926LE (that and I overlooked the Ariens 2006 lineup post).  The local store (Jim's Lawn Equipment) was selling that for $999.  

When we first walked in we didn't see it.  The last one was in the back getting last minute adjustments to it as it aready had a home to go to.  We saw 2 Ariens in the main show room, an 11526DLE and a 1336DLE.  Although large and would be great to own they were both above the price limit.  So after almost putting the OK on a Toro 826LE my father asked "what does Ariens have in the 1000 pricerange?" just to be curious, we figured it would be one of the smaller compact units.

Well we were wrong, he said "they make a 26 inch with an 8 1/2 HP engine".  I was surprised to hear that, then he showed us the unit and corrected himself to say it was a 926LE.

Well....We go in tommorow to finalize the paperwork and then we will be the proud owners of an Ariens 926LE.  The price is right, more powerful than the Toro 826LE (for same price), comes with the "shovel", driftcutters and all the others of a 926LE.  Jim's was all out of them but they are on a truck scheduled to arrive soon (he was actually telling me they were suppose to arrive already and he is raising cain with the shippers).  The controls are all steel contruction, no plastic as seen on the Toro.  I like having steel to reasure no breakage.

Thats the model we are going to buy.  I had overlooked the Ariens because of price (thinking I wouldn't find one for/under 1000 that wasn't a compact) but we couldn't say no to a 926LE for $999.