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

I've been researching several different blowers. The Poulan Pro PR1330ES, which sold out, then the Husky 1827 and the Ariens ST30LE/DLE. I really liked the Craftsman (MTD) 88833, but it's 33" and $2000+. But then I found the CubCadet 930SWE. It has everything the 33" has except it's 30" and $1600. Weighing in at 385Lb, it's no tinny sheetmetal toy. I know the MTDs get a lot of crap for being bottom of the barrel, but thing thing is a notch above the Troy-bilt 3090XP and red craftsman blowers. The impeller size is a whopping 16 inches. And if I want (if the 357cc doesn't have enough oomph) I can drop in the 420cc motor.

16" impeller (4 blade) / 16" auger,
357cc engine (Zongshen). 11HP I believe.
Crank (no cables) chute rotation
Power steering
16 x 6.5" tires

I never used one but I played with a Cub Cadet 930 at Home Depot.  You're right...the thing is massive.  At 385lbs it weights 130lbs more than a 28" Simplicity and 92lbs more than my 28" Ariens.  Every part of the Cub Cadet seemed oversized including the tires.  The only thing that would concern me is that for how heavy it is there is a lot of plastic on the machine.  I would suspect that it may need adjustments more often than some other snowblowers but if your handy with a wrench that wouldn't be an issue.  My other thought is that the overall weight and oversized tires may help this machine plow through EOD snow without riding up over the pile.

I used it for the first time today. Maybe 4-5 inches of light snow. I couldn't  resist trying.
Stated easily, of course. Engine has a deep thumping sound to the exhaust. Less disturbing than the 10 year old Techumseh 5HP Snow King.
It threw the snow 10-15 feet at low RPM. Just a little above idle. Full throttle turned the ejected snow into powdered snow that only flew 25ft or so.
It also ingested a frozen roilled up newspaper. The same exact thing happed to my older blower a couple of years ago. It resulted in a slightly bent impeller blade and stalled the older machine.
The 930 simply gave a solid thump and tossed the newspaper out. I inspected the impeller. No damage whatsoever. The steel is also about 3 times thicker than the old Gilson/Wards unit.
Over all, I'm very pleased