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

Why must Ariens always try to give the appearance that you are getting more with their snowblowers?????For instance,Toro power max 1028OXE has a 305cc B&S engine.But Ariens has a" 305cc Ariens Polar Force Engine by B&S on their  Pro 26"Am I missing something ??I doubt B&S manufactures .a special polar force engine for Ariens lol.Also they have an ice drill manual chute control translation ...chute rotator and they have an (xs aluminum gear box )translation....aluminum gear box....Memo to Ariens your not fooling anyone into believing that yours is better  lol....That's what I like about Toro and Honda they keep it simple and their products speak for themselves....

I owned two 10 h.p. Craftsman machines for over twenty years.  The plastic chute was the last of my concerns.   The first machine rattled itself to death in ten years but I bought it used from a brother-in-law and it had seen lots of hard service and little maintenance.   The second machine I bought new and put a solid ten winters work on it with no real issues other than metal fatigue cracking primarily at the welds and shearing of the drive wheel axle pins in its latter years.  The plastic chutes on those machines held up fine other than the entire chute would fall off of the first machine if I used it in heavy wet snow.   There's really no comparison between those Craftsman machines and the Simplicity I have now.  The quality of the Simplicity is heads and shoulders above the Craftsman machines and the price difference between the two was only $300.00.   From what I see, the Simplicity offers twice the machine for the $300.00 premium.   The Simplicity is an outstanding value.  Too bad they're not making them as well either.  It seems that all the domestics are sliding down the quality scale.

how does ariens track system compare to hondas?

mikiewest wrote:
A bit off-track from current topic (pun intended), but here's the link:

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/34096-A-1.html

Also, ask coldfingers about his Ariens tracked.  I think he's the only one on this forum that still has this snowblower.

There's a $600 retrofit kit to convert wheeled to track.

borat wrote:
Or Sno-Tek??  Good call, brother!