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

This site helped me greatly 2 years ago to decide what I needed. 

 Conclusion=there is a group of brands making each other better by competition.

AND there is somegroups to avoid.

I'm happy with my purchase, esp. because of my hill!

  18 degrees

P.S. why are people moving there snowblowers around so much in the summer?  In my garage the snowblower is inside and the car sits out in the weather.

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TOROS

faithfulFrank wrote:
Hi Frank, what do you ean shift on the fly ?

I have an old MTD brand blower, and I must stop moving with the snowblower before changing gears,, don't the Ariens work the same way ?
.... meaning you must put the thing into the gear you want, then pull down lever that engages the gear drive, which is located on the right handle bar ?

thanks for your time

You can shift into forward gears without declutching, just not from forward to reverse or vice versa.

I haven't used every type of snowblower, but Honda is the best I've tried.  Ariens are easy to work on, and you'll get plenty of practice.  The snow/hr ratings are garbage, because my hs828 could easily more more snow than my 1336dle pro.   Its not the shifting.  I think anyone who can drive a standard knows it doesn't slow you down after a week of practice.  The hydro drive is so much more efficient you save a ton of power for the auger.  They're both about the same in powder, but get some heavy snow (which is when you actually need a snowblower) and the honda shifts into a power band on the auger and goes FARTHER!  The Ariens is not the same.  Nowhere near the power in heavy/wet snow.  You can disengage the wheel-dirve models, and push them but they start so easy and are so quiet, why not?

If you go with the Honda don't bother with electric start unless you need a light.  The motor decompresses on start up, so my 6 yr old daughter could start one, and alway on the 1st pull.  They're amazing.  Not even in the same class.    If its money, then buy a cheap one from sears, but don't bother with a $1500-$2000 not-much-better-than-a-cheap-one machine with 95% of the same parts and the same color paint.