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

Who makes the strongest, most powerful, most durable snow blower?  Price isnt an issue.  I want to buy a new one and wanted to know who is the best of the best

newjerseybt wrote:

Complexity is one thing, but if its built right and doesn't have issues I don't see it being an issue about reliability.

Hi Loudsubz:

I guess the reason I am wary is that I own a 2003 Honda HRC216 commercial 21" hydro mower and I have been losing ground speed for the last 2 years. I never lost fluid and have made a hydro cable adjustment already. It seems I lost about 1 mph  the last  2  summers. I expect the ground speed to be 3.5MPH to make the hydro cost effective. A new Hydro is about $350. ...

You ought to look at the Simps and Snappers for quality also!!

They make great equipment!!

                                                     Fred

Regarding fluid breaking Down:

The mower is only used for residential use so I don't think that is an issue for a 2 year old mower.

Maybe it is more noticeable in the Fall. I like to use the mower at 25 degrees to suck up leaves. I have snow right now so I am going to wait till next year.  Maybe I should have bought an Arien's commercial mower with the disk drive instead. (20/20 hindsight) Nothing cheaper than replacing a friction disk for $6.00 on a snowblower or mower. 

I see no need for a infinatly variable spped transmission on  a snowblower.

The regular 5 speed disk drive is robust, inexpensive to maintain, and ofers plenty of low end torque for deep snow or high speed for transport.

And yes, try to move a teack honda without starting it . Its a fight. Disk drive units will roll easily.

Have you ever actually tried out a Honda snowblower?  That infinitely variable hydro tranny is light years ahead of "disk drives".  No use for a CVT tranny on a snowblower?  What if you want to crawl beside the house and then take off at a faster speed?  The disk drive requires that you come to a complete stop, shift in to a higher gear, then start again.  With the Honda, you can seemlessly shift speeds on the fly, no stopping.  There really is no comparison.  I could never go back to a disk drive tranny.  Everyone who has tried out my Honda says the same.

Just the crawl factor of that Honda tranny is amazing.  As slow as you want to go, awesome.  Is there a chance of expensive failures?  Sure, there's a chance.  But my friend owns a Honda dealership, and has not seen one single failure since Honda introduced the Hydro tranny in 97 or 98.  They are bulletproof.

While I would love a hydro setup, once you become swift with the disc-o-matic you can pop through the gears easily.

 What means "the best" snowblower?   The more efficient?  the fastest one?  the more durable?  the stronguest one? the more easy to repare?...

Wich snowblower is the best one regardless of the price. I ask myself this question for a long time now.

After a lot of reading, trying, testing and thinking; here's the conclusion I've come to:

WEEL DRIVE: The best snowblower of it's kind (Weel drive) : The Ariens Professionnal models (For the tuffness, the availability of parts, the reliability, the reputation and the resale value) and of course the differential drive for maneuvrability. And now: the trigger for locking the differential while blowing. ( Toro and Simplicity are also very good choice, but Ariens is the winner to me. Simplicity: Not enought dealers, Toro: Not as strong as the Ariens Pro).

TRACK DRIVE: The best of it's kind (Track drive) : The Honda (For the superior traction, the hydrostatic transmission, the legendary reliability of Honda, the reputation, the best engine of all, the ability to "dive" into the hard packed snow and the best resale value)... Any ways there is not much track drive constructors to compare... 

Now the choice:

If you have some "special needs" like having to climb stairs to access a deck or a roof to clean it, a very steep or unpaved drive way. You better go with the Honda track drive. But you have to know that the track drive model are real pain to move if the engine is off. It's like trying to move a small tank. There is a feature that alow to put the transmission on "neutral" but it still hard to move. The other "problem" is that you don't turn on a dime with those two tracks. It means that the 180 degrees turn at the end of the drive way are not as easy as the weeled models. In one word: harder to manouver in tight area. But it's an awsome machine and it will resale like a hot cake at high price. 

But if you don't have those "special needs" go for an Ariens pro model Weel drive for the superior maneuvrability. 

A guy who runs a snow removal business said that he have two Honda track drive and five Ariens weel drive. He said that he's employes all firts want to try the track drive models but after the first snow storm, they all came back to the Ariens weel drive because the track drive are MUCH arder to manouver.  This tell's a lot to me!

In fact, if it was not the more difficult maneuvrability of the track drive. For all the others adventages I would say : Honda is the best of all. Without a doubt.

It might be that I'm still trying to convince myself that I made the right choice five years ago!  >>> I own an Ariens 1332 Pro.

Just my opinion.

Hope this will help.