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

Have you seen the junk they are now selling on the Home Depot website?It's called Sno-Tek by Ariens.It's being described as a value machine lol.Ariens will do anything to be known as the Co. that sells the most machines.They have forgotten about quality and it's all about sales.

Not everybody has $1500 to $2500 for a almost perfect pro snowthrower. If the nuts and bolts don't fall off like my neighbors Craftsman did or the plastic chute hood doesn't crack from ice impact and the engine keeps on running and the controls don't jam and the drive disc doesn't slip and the machine lasts 12 years instead of 30 you still have a product worth purchasing that reflects this economy. When and a big "IF" things get better in 4 years then go for a better piece of equipment.
Many small businessmen that I have spoken to are "holding their breath" in a "wait and see" mode in order to evaluate if they can afford to stay in business if the mandatory government health insurance becomes law. As an aside, if you intentionally refuse to purchase the approved gov't plan there is a $250k fine and/or 5 years in a Federal prison. In a word, many businesses are scared. SO....the less expensive machine may be your only choice if you need to preserve your wealth and still get the job done. It may seem that I went off on a tangent from OPE equipment but this issue and other political issues are closely tied to purchases such as this and need to be considered. IMO this company has positioned itself perfectly by hedging their bets.

Hi Guys!

The very fact that we post here means we are a little "nuts" when it comes to these machines. Most people feel snow removal is a pain in the a$$ as opposed to an opportunity to have some fun. That being said the vast majority of the population is not willing to spend major $ on something that may not be used at all in a given year. Ariens has to serve the market in order to survive and it appears the market is budget machines sold through big box stores.

Example-My 2 stage unit is an 8HP Tecumseh Powered  24" TroyBilt made for TroyBilt by Bolens before MTD owned those brands. It weighs 290 pounds,has a cast iron auger gear case with bronze gears,hand warmers,true differential system,massive bushings and bearings throughout,light , electric start and came with a seven year warranty. It listed at $1499 and was purchased from a local OPE dealer for $999 when he got stuck with 20 out of 24 units he took in .  It didn't snow much for two years hence his excess inventory. Tecumseh,Bolens,Troybilt and the OPE dealer are now all out of business (I don't consider the present MTD manufactured Troybilt and Bolens to be anything more than imposters playing off the reputation of once fine equiptment.). The neighborhood that the OPE dealer was in now has a Lowes,Home Depot , Costco,Sams Club,Walmart along with the Sears that was there before.

My point is consumers decide what manufacturers will produce and where they will be sold. We as enthusiasts are a shrinking percentage of the market  and it appears manufacturers can't be profitable by just catering to us.

No one forces you to buy the cut rate machine-The pro models are still available although it is sometimes difficult to find a convenient  dealer.

As far as respect for Ariens- I respect the fact they are finding a way to survive after losing their main engine manufacturer and having to buy engines from one of their competitors for their Pro units. I also repect them  for finding a way to compete against the budget machines that are flooding the market. 

Marc 

I'm a bit confused here. How do Honda and the other Japanese manufacturers manage to maintain consistent high quality and stay in business, decade after decade?

Ariens had built a reputation of having machines built like a tank.That's not true anymore.Especially when u have machines like the sno tek on the floor at home depot.They can build whatever they want ,to quench the thirst of the ill informed consumer but they still have lost my respect.And if u think I feel sorry for the small business who probably pays his employees half on the books and half off and doesnt report all his earnings to the IRS and writes off his personal car for business use etc etc...I dont.The regular citizen just gets shocked at how much comes out in taxes every week out of his check.

borat wrote:

Not sure if I am correct but I always viewed the Honda in relation to the Snow  market the way I view the Porche in relation to the automobile market. Essentially a niche unit with a very small market share.

They also sell most of their units in Japan where the American manufacturers have to contend with the protectionist Japanese import policies.

Marc

mml4 wrote:

Regardless. The point is that they've been making top notch machines for decades and have never compromised quality just to stay in business. I'm really having trouble understanding how building inferior products will lead to sustained business success? I'm not an economist nor do I have an MBA. What I do know however, is that if I do poor work, sooner or later, I won't be working at all. Being that the domestics are already dropping their production quality, using more and more Chinese components, what's to stop the Chinese from moving right in there to capture their entire market share? Thus putting the domestics out of business? The only trump card that the premium domestic manufacturers had was their build quality. If their lesser machines are no better than a Chinese machine selling for a couple hundred less, who will buy them?

borat wrote:

That's my point- It appears the industry can find purchasers for the low end machines but finds resistance for high end units.

Long Island N.Y where I live used to get enough snow every year to warrant having a dependable quality snow blower. For the past 5-10 years almost no appreciable accumulation at all. Three years ago dealers were unloading machines in January all over the Northeastern US including the big box stores  for up to  50% off list.  Now it seems those consumers  willing to buy a machine for the most part want something cheap just in case it does snow. It appears the "market " is not willing to plunk down a whole lot of $ for something they probably won't use very much. Implicit in that decision is the mindset that quality is not that important for something that will see little use.

Marc

Why do people buy junk?  Because money doesn't mean anything to them.  Wait untill the currency falls apart and the junk starts costing money, then we'll start buying quality again.

Why do people buy junk?  Because money doesn't mean anything to them.  Wait untill the currency falls apart and the junk starts costing money, then we'll start buying quality again.

It seems to me that U.S. manufacturers have dropped the ball a bit in their own marketing.  I just bought my first blower a couple of weeks ago and didn't really know much about them.  I saw the Troy Bilts at Lowe's and was tempted to get one.  I had thought they were a quality manufacturer, not realizing that they were bought a couple of years ago by a company that cheapened the brand quality-wise to push them in quantity at big box stores.

Well, I always prefer to buy from local small businesses and so I next stopped at the local OPE shop.  He carried Simplicity and Ariens, and I could see right away that they were better quality machines.  At that point I didn't know about the specific technical things that make Ariens so good, like its 14" impeller, the bearing on the auger shaft, etc.-- the stuff that snomann lists on his posts.

True, the Lowes blowers had more bells and whistles at the same price-- things like headlights and handwarmers-- but I wanted a machine with intrinsic build quality, not a crappy POS with plastic chutes that would break or flimsy augers that would bend.

I went on Ariens website and they really didn't get into the reasons their machines were technically better than the MTB style ones.  They discussed their reputation for quality, but really gave no details.  I think that if you are going to sell against companies that appear to give more value for the buck, based on size and features, then you need to tell people why your basic machine that costs $200 more than the loaded no-name brand is actually a better value as an investment.