There's a thread on the "other" forum which discusses this. The Sno-Tek is essentially an enlarged Ariens Compact platform built at Ariens plant 3 in Brillion, WI.
Differences between this model and the Ariens Compact are:
Recoil start only
Polymer discharge chute (easily the most heavy duty poly chute on any snow blower; steel cap, steel backing plates, steel mounts, .180" wall high impact HDPE)
Enlarged blower housing (taller)
LCT OHV engine (vs Briggs OHV or Subaru OHC on the Ariens Compacts)
2 year warranty (vs 3 year on the Ariens)
Black paint and some styling/decal differences
A few more notes:
The Sno-Tek models received the same high flow discharge chute geometry and fan speed increases that the Ariens Compacts received this year to take advantage of the power increases (no fan speed increase on 22").
Thousands of man-hours of engineering and test time were spent developing the snow package (over a period of 2 years) to alter and validate it for Ariens' approval (much of which by former Tecumseh and Briggs engineers employed both at Ariens and LCT). Solid engines.
This is the second year this engine has been available. In 2008 there were production releases in Canada under the Craftsman and Poulan brands (from HOP). Results were good (according to LCT).
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This message was modified Sep 16, 2009 by Snowmann