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

Steve, Here in NH (I live near Nashua... I believe you mentioned you live up by Concord) it's not  realistic to expect that  if you can get rid of snow down to bare tar you will have a driveway that's not slippery. 

For example, yesterday afternoon we got about one inch of wet snow.  Rather than use the blower, I got out my push shovel-- you know the kind, with a wide blade that's very concave... designed for pushing the swow across the drive onto the grass.  I pushed off the snow/slush so that virtually every iota of snow was removed.  Walking down the drive this morning when it was about 15 degrees, I could see that the trace moisture from the snow remained on the blacktop and had frozen, making the drive quite slippery in spots.

It's possible that if we had gotten a bit more wet snow, I would have likely used my blower, perhaps leaving more snow behind than I did with the shovel.  Now, that snow would have also frozen and perhaps made the drive slippery, but maybe less slippery than it was this morning.   Perhaps the mounds of snow and remnants left behind would have frozen and provided more traction than a thin layer of black ice-- I can't say.  But in any event, I think it's dubious to expect that after blowing snow with a single stage machine the driveway will be consistently less slippery for your aunt than if you did it with a two-stage machine. 

Still, I can understand the logic of having a small machine and a big one to address various levels of snow, especially if you have a good-sized driveway.

By the way, why not get your aunt a pair of Yak-Trax for her boots?  You can get them at EMS in Concord-- they are pretty effective at giving good traction on ice.  When I hike in the winter, I wear Micro-spikes, which are like mini-crampons that let you walk up icy inclines easily.

Steve, I owned a Toro 1800 Power Curve. I bought it used but in good condition. At the time, I was using a garden tractor with a snow thrower attachment to clear my driveway. I wanted a smaller machine to do my front walk. The 1800 would throw 6" dry powdery snow about 15 ft., but in any other conditions (wetter, deeper, or crusty snow), it was not up to the task. The 1800 does not have the type of rubber paddles that help propel a gas powered single stage machine forward, probably because it did not have any power to spare. The power cord was a nuisance. On the plus side, it was quieter, had no exhaust smell, and was easy to store and maintain. I sold it after one season.