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

Well the real test came today. We had all night squalls and between the actual accumulation and the aggressive plow action, there was 1-1.5 feet of loose to packed/chunky in the driveway. I was thinking Oh man, this little guy is going to have some trouble with this. But it didn't. The first path was the most challenging. I just took it slow. It had a tendency to ride up a bit but I didn't fight it and just ran back up the same path and got what it missed the first time. On the next few runs the snow was higher than the blade. I basically just bit off about 6-8 inches of the drifts and it handled it fine. It was throwing farther than I have ever seen it. That snow was flying 25 feet plus, almost into the adjoining yard (they're small lots). Very satisfying! I was very impressed. This is almost the worst (I haven't had to tackle heavy wet yet-- that will be another posting) you get around here and the Ariens came through. That little 7.5 would get a bit slowed down when you hit the deep stuff but it never choked and the chute never clogged. Like I said, instead of tackling each row full on like you could do with a larger machine, I took off 6-8 inch bites. It probably could have handled the whole width of the blade but I tried to be cautious. It just took me a bit more time but that was OK. Not all is well however. See my next post.