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

Anyone know if Yamaha will start selling snowblowers in the US anytime soon ?Also does anyone know whats the difference between a Yamaha and a Honda as far as internally and the transmission??

mikiewest wrote:

With the current state of economy, it is unlikely that Yamaha will be imported to the US any time soon.  You know the story.

There are a small number of loyal customer base, but it will take some time for Yamaha to pick up new customers.  There are also the issue of establishing distribution/dealer/service network.

If you want one, you have to import or get some dealer to help you on a one-off purchase.  It will be expensive.  I was looking into importing a discontinued model Honda HS621 into the United States from Canada.  It starts out at $1300 Canadian before duties and taxes. 

It's your dime, how bad do you want the Yamaha?  It's cheaper to buy a Honda, paint it blue, apply Yamaha decals.  There are quite a few similarities between Honda and Yamaha.  There are a few Yamaha owners on this forums that can chime in.  If you already cringe at Honda prices, well, the only option is a used Yamaha.  Or stay with the domestic nameplates.

aa35:

You say $1300.00 for a new, discontinued Honda?   That's an incredibly good price.  Was that USD or CDN dollars?   If I saw a Honda for that price I'd scoop it up for sure. 

I do a great deal of cross border shopping.  I've bought several motorcycles, many thousands on motorcycle  parts, as well as some OPE and other stuff.  Of the tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff I bought cross border, I've paid only $17.00 duty on a Fuji digital camera.  No duty on anything else.  Remember, you'll save 20% on exchange.  

borat wrote:

Borat,

I'm not sure if you are being enthusiastic or sarcastic about pickup one at that price.  That's quite a few Ben Franklins there.

The last time I checked Honda Canada price, the HS621 was $1300 CAD.  I don't know if actual sale price would be higher than that or not.  I've read that people in Canada pay full retail price on Honda snowblowers.  You know a lot more than me in this area so please enlighten me if something I said is incorrect information.

aa335 wrote:

yeah, honda dealers up here in the great white north don't like to bargain at all.  occasionally there is a factory sponsored sale, but it's usually minimal, and very early in the season.

oakville wrote:
I find this sales tactic quite clever.  Offering factory sales early in the season to prime the pump, so to speak.  Later on in the season, hold price at MSRP when the demand exceeds supply.

aa335 wrote:

No.  Not being sarcastic at all.  The local Honda gouger here is ridiculous.   No discounts on anything.  I have a buddy who bought a 5 h.p. Honda tracked snow thrower probably 17 years ago and he paid $1800.00 before taxes, which is easily over $2000.00 after taxes.  I remember that I thought that it was an awful small machine for the price.  It was however very effective and suitable for his needs.   Funny thing is that he moved into a condominium a couple years ago and was selling off all of his OPE.  He knew I was shopping for a new snow thrower and offered the Honda to me for ....wait for it.....$800.00.   I told him he was out of his head.   He said "I paid two grand for it and it runs good so I have to make some money on it."   I replied "Just because you paid too much for it doesn't mean I'm willing to do the same."  I ended up buying the 9528 Simplicity for $1500.00 brand new.  He ended up getting $400.00 for the Honda.  Pretty good for a seventeen year old machine in my opinion.   

Borat,

I didn't know you were interested in the HS621.  This model represents how they used to make things heavy duty.  I had a chance to take one apart and see how it can be more expensive to build than the current HS520.  For a single stage, the HS621 has full metal bucket and discharge chute, and the venerable GX160 4-stroke commercial grade engine. 

Dealers around my area somehow have agreed on a common price.  There was very little discount.  They keep very little on stock, so if you don't want it at the prices they set, it will be sold to the next customer.  This winter, inventory pretty much dried up beginning of December.  However, I do credit them for being straight forward and polite, they do not play price games.  They do not even try to steer me to other brands or over-sell the Honda.  No BS.  They sell you what you fancy.  No hard sell, at least that was my experience in this area.  Customers make up their mind if they want to pay Honda premium price, or they don't. 

I did come across a wheeled HS928 which was 2007 model new that was listed at 10% discount.  And another 5 year old used but pristine wheeled HS928 at $1800.  So even on used and leftover stock, the prices on both of these were firm and the only thing they were giving away was delivery charge.  This could range from $25 to $80 depending on the distance from the dealership. 

I have nothing against Honda other than the price.  If there was a comparable wheeled Honda to my Simplicity 9528 for a few hundred more, I'd probably go for it.  However, around here, an equivalent Honda is nearly double the price.  The Honda is an excellent snow blower.  I'll admit that it's probably a better overall machine than a comparable Simplicity  but  I don't think it's twice as good.  Not by a long shot. 

Yes, Honda prices are high.  It is on the right side of the diminishing returns curve where 100% increase in price yields 20% increase in performance, if even that.  If high end audio follows this curve, it's a relative bargain, so to speak.