Well, it's been an interesting winter. More snow than usual, and bitter cold like I haven't seen in 5 years. This was not the season to rely on a shovel - I'm feeling a lot better now about buying at January prices.
My little Toro 4-stroke handled most of the snow events with ease. It rips through powder like nothing - I pushed it into 26" with no problem. Wet snow is a different story, though. We've had a couple of major wet snowfalls since my last writing, and I have to say this single-stage machine was really laboring. It did get the job done, but often required a lengthy smash-and-backup routine when the depth went above 20".
In all fairness, this type of duty is probably beyond the machine's capabilities.Fortunately, this is only an occassional event here. The engine did surprisingly well in the wet stuff, until this last snowfall - which was nearly slush it was so full of moisture. Took twice as long as normal to clear the drive and walkways, and chute clogging was a real problem. I finally was able to tax the engine to the point where it stalled, but you wouldn't believe how thick and heavy this snow/slush mixture was. I think a small 2-stage model would have bogged down in this slop as well.
I'm givng the new Toro good marks for performance. Most winters aren't as bad as this year, so I doubt if I'll be pushing it to the limit very often. That said, it's an excellent dry snow machine - with more wet snow capability than you might expect. The chute control continues to impress me, but the extra cost is a bit hard to accept. By the way, the chute did freeze up after use (as they all do), but I'm happy to report that it took very little effort to break it loose - and the control still worked smoothly. The crude feel of the engine still bugs me somewhat, but not enough to break the deal. Think I'll be hanging on to this machine for now.
If you're in an area than normally gets less than 70" a year and you don't have a 500' driveway to clear, I'd say this Toro will do fine as your primary blower. For the bigger snow, a 2-stage can't be beat - but this little unit is quite capable in a pinch.
This message was modified Feb 22, 2008 by oldcrow
