Snowblowers: Honda, Ariens, Toro, or Craftsman

Location: South Eastern Wisconsin
Joined: Sep 28, 2009
Points: 35

Snowblowers: Honda, Ariens, Toro, or Craftsman
Original Message Sep 28, 2009 2:53 pm

I am shopping for a snowblower and cannot find anyone with accurate reliablilty of any of the major brands. I read consumer reports, but they do not list anything about long term investment. I am leary of thier top pick as I have seen issues with that brand of motor elsewhere. I am likely to buy a 2 stage 9 horse (300cc ) as i live on a cul-du-sac adn get plowed in pretty regualrly.

I also am trying to be considerate of my 5'9" wife and her ability to use anything, and my over eager 11year old son that is 5'

Anyone that can help?

aa335

Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434

Re: Snowblowers: Honda, Ariens, Toro, or Craftsman
Reply #18 Oct 22, 2009 2:13 pm

Borat,

You hit it right on the head. I have a Honda snowblower and they are quite expensive for what they are. However, after careful evaluation of all the domestic offering, I decided to suck it up and pay the premium price that they command. Honda price is 2 times an equivalent domestic model (size, hp, features). It doesn't blow snow twice as better just as much as a $60,000 car isn't twice as nice as a $30,000 car. It isn't twice as thick or twice as heavy, or twice as powerful. But it has two things that I wanted, tracks and hydro transmission. And despite being lower hp rating (be it underrated or conservative), it is quite efficient at moving snow.

If you are fortunate to find a used Honda at good prices, that's awesome. Those are hard to come by though.

This message was modified Oct 22, 2009 by aa335

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