As you all know we, here in the NJ-NY-CT area, we got hit pretty hard with this last storm. I just wanted to write up my experiences with the product that I ended up buying (thanks to this board) so another confused sole might learn from me J
First, I would like to thank everyone’s comments which lead me down the path to buy a Simplicity 1930E, yes the big one. You can get a full background on what I was looking for and what my blowing needs are here: http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/18716-0-1.html. Basically I wanted something that could handle a large driveway (800ft) in the NJ area.
My experience with the machine and my thoughts are limited to this machine (and a couple of others that my friends have that a used a while ago). Here is a quick pro/cons list (I’ll detail it below):
Pros:
Lots of HP (heavy wet snow is no match even at speed 3 and 4)
Well balanced
Lots of traction
First pull start (also has plug in electric starter)
Turning trigger
Remote shoot height adjust
Motorized shoot direction
Wide path cut
Can shoot ~40ft.
Heated Handles (sounds silly but I’ll explain)
Cons:
Pricey
Still have to “man handle” it to keep it straight on the return (I’ll explain)
Reverse (even 2nd speed) isn’t fast enough
Here we go: So this is now the third snow fall that I’ve used the blower and I would have to say, overall, I’m pretty impressed. The first snow was about 7 inches and it was really, really wet. The snow liked to clump up in the shoot but it just would get knocked out as I fed it more. As long as you fed it a steady amount of snow it would keep shooting, when you didn’t feed it that much it would clog up the shoot (I’m pretty sure its because the shoot is all metal, I’ve read that in the plastic ones it doesn’t happen as much if at all). Even though it clumped up, I never had to use the handle little snow cleaning stick included on the side of the machine. I also tried the “plug in” electric start (not that I needed to use it but I just wanted to make sure it works).
One of my concerns (my original post) was if the wheels were going to have enough traction (I was thinking about going with a trac machine). No problem there at all. This beast will climb anything, I never had a stuck, or slippage problem at all. I could even climb the snow piles at the end of the road with ease. When you are in 18 inches of snow, its already challenging to turn, I couldn’t imagine turning a large machine that is trac’ed. The only minor issue with this wheeled machine is if you are on a hill and you have the drive engaged it will pull no problem, if you let off the drive, it will start rolling backwards and the only way you can really stop it is engage the drive. I don’t know if all wheeled machines are like this so don’t go track for this reason only. With all its weight and all that snow under your feet, unless you have some serious cleats (nails or something) in your shoes, you aren’t stopping it (based on the incline of course).
The second snow storm we had here was the night we had tons of wind here. Being that there trees on both sides of the driveway, there was some broken branches buried in the snow, not good. This time I was plowing and “snap” a shear pin, well, sheared. Brought the blower back to the garage and tried, for the life or me, to get that darn sheared pin out. I hammed it with all kinds of tools, no luck. Called the place that I bought it from and they ended up picking a day later and fixing it. They called and told me that it wasn’t me and that the auger was not put on right or something from the factory and they fixed it all, no charge. They brought it back another day later. The reason I brought this snow up is that you really rely on these things when you need them (good thing my cars are both 4wd or I’d be in trouble). Its like a life line, when you need it should be there 100% and when you don’t, it just sits in the garage or shed. Make sure you buy it from a retailer that will provide you with good service. These things come with warranties but they aren’t “included” if you end up paying for the dealer to haul it back and fourth. In my case, this thing is too big to put into a car, and I don’t have a pick up or anything. I would say pay the couple of extra bucks and get it local, avoid the whole buying from 100 miles away (or the internet) price, but that’s me; reliability and service is pretty important to me.
This past weekend, we got about 18 inches. To be honest, I was kinda geeked to get out there and throw to see what this thing can really do. As it was now my third time I was much better at handling the beast. Choked it, pumped the primer bulb three times, and pulled, first pull started it right up (cold and hadn’t been started for about a month).
This time I was paying attention to all the details knowing that I was going to write a review soon.
Let’s start at the top. The remote shoot adjustment for height is great. I can shoot it up and far when I want to cross areas that I already plowed or will be plowed or I can turn it down to dump the snow right next to me. It’s easy and quick. Moving down, I really love the motorized shoot rotator. I haven’t really used one that is manual (screw type) but as much as I was flipping the machine around I could see how that could be come annoying, cranking the handle. Toro has some sort of “quick-stick” which I would think is much better than the old screw type, just don’t know if after time, it might become loose or something (just speculating, so please toro owners, don’t hammer me for that J). For lazy old me, I like the motor.
Going up to the handle bars, the diff lock trigger is nice but could use a bit more refinement. When the trigger is pulled, drive is disengaged from the right wheel and so is the diff lock allowing you to turn. Between the locked diff and the knobby tires, its pretty hard to turn without releasing the diff (there is also a pin on one side of the wheel that will make the machine single wheel drive. I can’t figure out why someone would do this but to each their own). When the machine is really pulling or there is tension on the drive system (either pulling you up a hill or throwing snow) it’s pretty hard to pull the trigger. Better to just stop (release the drive) and then pull the trigger and then engage the drive again. I found myself just releasing the drive, pulling the trigger, and just swinging the thing myself. It is a pretty big machine but turning without the assist isn’t that bad since it’s well balanced. The blower has 5 forward and 2 reverse speeds. 1, inches you along deep snow or if you are on a steep incline, where 5 is pretty fast, light snow or just getting from point A to B fast. Reverse is pretty slow (same as 1 and 2), I would like to see 2 a bit faster (maybe something like 1 and 3) but not that big of a deal. The speeds can be switched during blowing as the blower supports single handed operation. Single handed operation: Above the right handle is the auger engage and the left is drive engage. You can start the auger, then engage the drive and let go of the auger handle to switch speeds, change snow throw direction or height. And now, for the heated handles: I know if sounds a little silly, trust me I was like “Who needs that crap” but I would have to say it’s a pretty darn good feature. It’s not going to eliminate gloves or anything but it does allow you to wear much thinner gloves so holding the handles don’t tire your hands out. The first time I used the machine I had ski gloves on and my hands hurt after just 20mins (yes, I’m out of shape and all that but still, something I didn’t need to deal with). The second time I turn the warmers on and I had mittens on. I know that sounds strange but with your fingers all together your hands stay warm, and the thinness of the gloves make handle holding light work.
The only thing that I noticed to be a bit of an issue was keeping it straight. When you are making the first path/cut there isn’t a problem. On the return, when one side is blown and the other side isn’t, the drag forces it to turn into the snow. I basically provided the same drag on the opposite handle to keep it straight. This also could be because of the shoes and they way they are adjusted or something. I’m wondering why they don’t just use small wheels, maybe some sort of ball roller or something, instead. I’ve noticed that the shoes tend to get caught up with leaves and cause drag. Yes, I should have blown all my leaves so I guess that part is my fault.
All in all I’m very happy with the machine. One of the things that I was thinking was, “Should I save a couple of bucks and get the smaller width one?” I didn’t, I went big and boy am I happy I did. It makes it so much easier as I don’t have to make that many more passes. The extra size for the money is worth it. In my previous post, someone said, “there is no need for anything above 10hp”. I would have to disagree with that. When your width is this wide, the snow is really wet, and you want to blow at speed 3, you need all the HP you can get. When I was in 4-5, it would really bog the machine down and I could hear the engine stressing.
I also examined the machine for its mechanical build. I like the commercial quality, all metal, not much plastic anywhere. It looks like it is built to last and from reading some of the other reviews on the site about the company, so far that holds true (minus my one off problem). I’m very happy with the machine (again, thanks for all the people that help on my first post) and would defiantly recommend it.
My only real complaint is not about machine but the company’s web site. Frankly speaking, it sucks. There isn’t any detail pictures and, IMHO, not enough detail on each model as many of the other manufacture have on their sites. To that, if anyone has any questions, or want any pics, let me know and I’ll post them.
-Jay
