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

Hello everybody,

This is my first post. I found this website about a week ago and have been trying to learn from all the great info posted here. I'm 54 and live in northeast Wisconsin on a large corner lot right across the road from Lake Michigan (can you say "lake effect snow"?) My driveway is 3 cars wide and a little over 2 car lengths long, with a row of hedges bordering it on one side and an alley on the other. When I clear the snow, I can't throw snow into the alley, so I need to throw it across the 3 car wide driveway clear to the other side (and over the hedges, which are about 4 feet high). Also, I live on a busy street where the city plows are constantly coming by and pushing more snow onto the sidewalks, which are very long.

The last 2 winters have been very harsh in terms of both snow and cold. I've been shopping at all the stores around where I live trying to find a snow thrower that will fit my needs. Reliability and quality is high on the list of what I'm looking for. I've read good things about the Simplicity brand, so I visited a Simplicity dealer near me. The salesperson I dealt with suggested that the L1428E would be the machine to best serve my needs. I love the Easy Turn feature. The one feature that I question is the electric chute controls ... especially without any kind of manual override should it freeze up or short out ... or whatever.

My question: Is there any reason I should be leery about having electric chute controls? As I said, our winters can be very cold and harsh here. I'd hate to have the button freeze up on me or short out in the middle of a blizzard and have no means of clearing the snow if that should happen. I wouldn't mind dropping to the model below this one (the L1226E), which has a manual chute control, if it can still do the job with less chance of problems arising.

Oh, and one more thing. There is also a Snapper dealer in my area. According to him, Snapper is the parent company of Simplicity. So does that mean Snapper would be a better product than Simplicity? Or would they be the same machine with a different name tag on it? They offer what appears to be a very similar snow thrower to the L1428E for the same price (it even has the exact same model number) ... accept that their machine also includes hand warmers (which in my mind isn't really necessary, but I'm just letting you know).

Thanks everybody. I look forward to your opinions and feedback.

Bob

borat ... I love reading real experience posts like yours. Thank you.

With the high talk of the Simplicity, I guess this thread has come full circle to my original question on whether to be concerned with the new electric chutes on the Simplicitys. :)

Since I started this thread, I thought I should add something I found out today regarding electric chute controls. I was looking at another snow blower today. I'll spare you the details as they aren't real important. But what I wanted to mention is that I asked the owner/dealer of the store his thoughts on electric chute controls. He told me that MTD used to have them on some of their snow blowers a few years ago. He said there were a lot of problems with them when moisture would get inside the wiring and then freeze up. He stopped carrying them and suggested I stay away from them. I don't know how "normal" his experience is ... it's just what he told me.

That kind of bums me out because I really liked the Simplicity 1428. But if the electric chutes really are that much of a problem, I'll turn my attention to Ariens or Toro.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

You have to remember that MTD makes value level snow blowers.  That means that their electric chute rotation probably was a cheaper/weaker design.  Also factor the length of time MTD had this feature in the market place.  If it was their first attempt then that would explain a lot.  Simplicity/Briggs has been using electric chutes for quite a few years now and they have ironed out their problems.

Its like trying to compare MTD's quick stick chute design to the toro.  MTD makes a horrible quick stick.  Just because of this you can not generalize and say toro also makes a bad one.



Lastly a higher percentage of uneducated consumers own the popular brands... like MTD.  Not that there is anything wrong with owning one, but statistically more people will own a cheaper brand since there are so many of them in all the big box stores.  Uneducated consumers can be harder on their equipment, which would increase chances of failure.


In other words, don't worry.  Unless you are the type that will be bumed out about the purchase forever with the slightest hickup of the electric chute control.  (Remember that every brand has a small % of defects, just the nature of life.  In example, if you are the unfortunate one to get a problematic motor or something, just out of bad luck, would that tarnish your perception of the design?  Obviously the dealer will take care of it if something like this happened.  Or any problem for that matter.  These are questions to ask now to not be disappointed later on, after putting serious money down.)


BTW - I was in home depot today and looked at a Ariens Deluxe 30.  The engine was a B&S Snow Series.  NOT the Max version.  I don't know if the difference between the two matters.  On B&S website it seems the Max has the cast iron sleeve, but it doesn't state any other things.

Thanks opecrazy.

I would like to make it clear that I'm a novice when it comes to snow blower knowledge ... but learning. So please take what I'm saying here with a grain of salt ... especially if you're considering buying a Simplicity. I don't know anything about the design of the MTD electric chute (or the Simplicity chute). But I did want to pass along what was told to me, just in case there was anything to it. I'm glad there are people here that can explain the differences for people like me. Thanks again.

Snowgo - I think you'll be OK with the electric chute rotation.  When working, it should work better and faster than a hand crank.  OF course your concern is a valid one should it break (I have no experience with the electric units)  The Quick Stick on the Toro is a nice feature if speed and precision is your desire with chute angle/rotation.  The Toro, Simplicity, Snapper, and Ariens are all equivalent for the most part in quality and capability within a given size range.