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

About to buy a two-stage snowblower. Fairly large driveway with large open space as it turns into bays. One-stage Ariens not cutting it. Might buy the Toro 826LE for about $1,299 but wondering if there's something better in that price range. Ariens? Another brand?

Used the Snapper L1428E for first time today. Amazing how easy it cuts through everything, including EOD stuff. Not a huge snowfall, about four inches, but enough that would have given my retired one-stager a rough time. The Snapper seemed like it was almost laughing at this amount of white stuff. Takes a few minutes to get used to maneuvering the big machine, but releasing left-wheel to spin around helps a lot. Snowing again heavily so I'll probably have another run later on. No glitches at all. Biggest difference is I can throw snow far enough I don't have to go back and forth across three wide driveway. I can go down lengthwise and throw to either side. Very happy with purchase so far.

Glad you're happy with your purchase.  The remote lock/unlock is a very useful feature on a 250 lb machine.  I think that you'll find your Snapper has plenty of power to cut through 8 to 12 inches of snow just as easy as it handles a 4 inch snowfall.

Here is a picture of my finished driveway after first use of Snapper L1428E.  About six inches total with two snowfalls.

The picture didn't work. 

Four inches of wind blown/packed snow will just whet it's appetite.  I clear a 70' path around the back and side of the house to the area where the gas & water meters are so they can be accessed by the readers.  This area is particularly prone to drifting and packing.   If I get a foot of snow on the driveway, I'll have  two and a and a half at least back there.  This is one of my favourite places to blow snow.   I have the whole back yard to blow it and can use the wind to my advantage.  The Simplicity goes through drifted/packed snow with consistent ease.  The engine changes tempo but rpms don't drop past 3500 to 3550.  It just keeps pumping a solid stream of snow until the job's done.  After a big snow, it's not unusual for the snow thrower to run a good two hours with only brief interruptions of max power demands.  It might not be the best snow thrower out there but I don't see too many on my block (and there's lots of them) that  are out-performing this machine.  Even the guy with the new Honda isn't moving snow like this thing.  I will admit however that his Honda looks a bit small.  Might only be a 7 h.p.   That combined with inexperience might be contributing factors.   

I remember my old Craftsman machine even when it was new, didn't have the overall power, balance and efficiency of this thing.  As it got older, it began to loosen up and you could feel the frame and handle flexing, vibration increased and even though the engine ran well, efficiency fell off considerably.  I suspect that as the machine aged, wear was taking it's toll and the sloppier it got, the more it worked against itself.   I guess only time will tell how weld this machine holds up.  It's on it's second season with about 25 hours on it and it's still running like new. 

  A job that I used to do reluctantly has now become fun.  The more snow that falls now, the better.   "Bring it on."  I say!