Well, I must confess... I have been lurking on this site for a while because my wife's yardsale put me in a bind. She sold my
12 year old 24" MTD with 10HP Tecumseh Snowblower at her yardsale. I bought this machine in 1997 for
$599 at Sam's Club and sold it for
$100. Now, you are probably going to hate me... but it still had the original oil, spark plug and belts. I had never applied a drop of lubricating oil or grease in anyplace on the machine. This machine started up 1st pull everytime for the 12 NH winters I used it... and never had a part failure other than a total of two shear bolts. It NEVER FAILED! So why get rid of it? I moved into a new house 3 years ago with a slightly larger driveway (100' ending at a 3-car garage with turn around, and front & rear brick walkways) and the MTD machine often required me to throw the snow, then throw it again as it was about 35' from my garage doors to the edge of the driveway. I just felt it was getting tired, but maybe it was my lack of care. So we sold it.
I researched a week on this site, which caused me to learn a lot from many people far more savvy than me which are the decent machines to pursue. It also taught me how stupid my lack of maintenance was and how incredibly lucky I was, my lack of attention did not leave me stranded in the middle of a snowstorm at some time over the 12 years. Believe me, I have learned, and the new machine WILL BE maintained! I was probably convinced on the Simplicity brand by the very knowledgeable (and not always subtle) Borat's bias toward the brand! Thanks for sharing your insight).
I looked at Honda's (Did not like the track-drive or the price), Ariens (Liked the huge auger and impeller, but noticed many had maintenance issues), Toro (Did not like the plastic chute or chute joystick), and Simplicity (Liked the C-channel handles, but did not like the electric chute control)... so each was a compromise of some sort. Luckily, I found the Simplicity last and found the prices were very competitive with or cheaper than the others, because they were selling them out in an off-season sale. I ran it around the parking lot (obviously without snow) and loved how it was balanced and handled lighter than it actually is. Sure, I couldn't throw snow, but have no reason to doubt the throwing capabilities stated in the discussions here. So what was the final damage? Out the door at $1,784.15... I almost got the P1732E but was worried about the larger machine's handling characteristics, as we often get EOD ice left by the over-achieving city snowplows. The P1732E would have been $170 more, (still a great price). If anyone else is interested in these machines, they have plenty more, in Nashua NH.
Thanks to all who helped me make this decision... I now feel I am ready for winter.
