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

I would like to buy my husband a snow thrower before the snow season starts. I have a pretty steep asphalt driveway, and a parking area that would fit about 8-10 cars. The parking area is pea stone. We live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, so winters are not very predictable, some years we get hammered with snow, and other years we get nothing.  My husband is meticulous with his toys and can fix or build just about anything so service is not an issue.  What type of machine should I get him? Are steep driveways an issue with these things? Will the pea stone shoot out like bullets into my yard or is there a height adjustment on the machines? Are they self propelled or will he be pushing 200lbs up the driveway? Thanks for your help...Goodwife

Pea stone is pretty bad, no matther what machine you get, its going to shoot them out. you can raise the skids up to avoid it, but this leaves a layer of ice and snow that can freeze. There is not much you can do about it. As for what machine to get,  I reccomend Ariens all the way. I think that at least 80% of the people on this board would agree. Myself,  I  wouldnt buy anything but an Ariens. Go to home depot and price them out. Home depot has the lowest prices. Lowes doesnt have Ariens.  Living on the Cape, dont get less than 8 horsepower (more is always better). The model numbers refence the size of the machine. For example an Ariens 8526 would be an 8.5 horsepower and 26 inch wide auger... whereas an Ariens 1236 would be a 12 horsepower and a 36 inch wide auger.. The more horsepower the better and the wider the auger the better. Ariens changes the sizes of their machines all the time so you have to see what is availible. There are also fancy  add-ons like a headlight and elecric start (electric start is real nice). If he is like most guys, including myself, he will want the biggest machine and the most add-ons that he can get. But this can cost a small fortune. Like I said before, dont get less than 8 horsepower and you'll be fine. Try and find a home depot coupon for 10% off . Go there and see what they have and what you can afford....A definate, shoe-in way to make him happy is to go around to all the neigbors houses and see who has the biggest machine, then buy him one that is bigger than that. :-) .....  Good luck. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to help you as best I can. .

oh yeah. steep drivewway issue... Thats a tough one. These machines are all self propelled. They are very powerfull. The machine will not have a problem pulling its own weignt up a steep hill, but with ice and snow it might get slippery.  How steep are we talking about? If a person were to try and walk up the driveway during a blizard, would they be able to? Someone else might want to chime in about this one. I have never had a machine slide down a hill on me, but It could happen.  You can buy chains for the tires to add traction. You would buy them separate and It would probably be a good idea.

yeah, I was actually going to suggest the 8526 also..My neigbor has one and it can pretty much keep up with my 1236. Its big enough to handle the end of driveway but not so big that you can't man handle it around a bit...