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

To all,

I am a bit confused as to what size of snowblower I should be purchasing to meet my needs.  I'll start with a small description of requirements, I have a double lane driveway about 30+ feet in length, so I can have 4 full sized cars in the paved driveway.

I am located in eastern Canada but the snow over the last 7 years has been much less than I have been accustomed too, today on Feb 2nd we are getting thunder and lightning which I never remember getting in all my life this time of year.  When we get snow it's usually around 20 centimeters and often it's the good old heavy wet snow.  My driveway makes it's own little valley type so actual depth of snow is probably around two feet on a given dump of snow.

I am not too concerned if I clear the driveway in 10 minutes or 45 minutes, I just don't want to throw out my back shoveling anymore.  People tell me I should get a 10HP but others say an 8HP would be fine, I rather not spend the extra money if I don't need to and from what I can understand the power is all relative to the bucket size on the blower anyways.  I had my eye on a 26 inch/8HP tecumseh blower made by MTD for a reasonable price of 899 with 4 year limited warranty.  I checked out Ariens as I know that's the typically better brand but they were approximately 1,950 and I don't know if I can justify that expenditure.

Any thoughts if the 8HP dual stage would be enough or should I wait to find a 10 hp?

Thanks.

there can be some great used deals out there.,especially when the weather gets warmer.

I have not ruled out that possibility but I find they tend to be expensive, but perhaps my idea of pricing for a used blower is incorrect.  For example, a 1988 8HP Ariens, was just re-done to be snow ready going for 500.  3 year old 8 hp Ariens going for 1000.  10 HP MTD's that are 8 years old going for 600.  I just figured for that kind of coin I may as well get new, although in the month of April/May they may be further discounted as you suggested.

borat wrote: Yep Borat you are right, MTD bought a couple of company in the last 20 years, as far as I know, I owned an old VIking snowblower 1 stage with a 7hp tec and Eaton sold this line of MTD product.

  which direction does your driveway face???? which direction is the prevailing wind???  do you have fishing lakes nearby????     the best  snowblower to get is the one you can afford

Hay Denis I grew up in Montreal and we had a Viking single stage 5 horse blower from Eatons. It was a great machine.
I now have a Simplicity intermediate and I'm very happy with it.