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

I live in central Ohio and don't have a real Ariens dealer anywhere near me.  We don't get a ton of snow but on occasion we get hit pretty good.  My current single stage kind of gets me by but I have had to repair it already after only 3 yrs.  I have a 3 car wide driveway  (but not really long) so I need to be able to throw snow a good distance and also be able to handle the frozen chunky stuff at the EOD. I make a lot of turns.  I'm considering 2 machines: 920015 ($899) on the low end or 921020 ($1249) as a higher end option. My questions are:  How convenient/reliable  is the new quick-turn chute & deflector vs the 2.5x crank?  Is it a must-have? Are the materials in the deluxe better grade (steel thickness,etc.) than the compact series?  I'm not sure if the 249cc Briggs motor is made in the US or China.  Does this thing have enough power for the EOD?  I'm kind of leaning toward the Subaru 287cc motor on the Deluxe series unit, even though I'm wondering if a 30" unit might be a little large for my needs.  To me it seems like you're getting a Honda equivalent engine for a great deal.  But perhaps I'm putting too much stock in the whole Subaru thing and overbuying on the machine.   Given these questions and criteria, which model would be the best choice for the money?  

I don't recall saying it is 'Iffy'. Just, their are 5 ways to turn: wheels always locked together, one wheel always in freewheel with pin removed, one wheel toggled into freewheel with hand lever (Ariens Deluxe 28/30, Simplicity), differential powering wheels to a minimum of output shaft speed (Ariens Platinum/Professional, some Deere), operator controlled momentary left/right/both freewheel (some Toro, MTD/Club Cadet/Troy-bilt, some Husqvarna). Reports are inconclusive of which is best with no reported disadvantages to the last.

Sorry DavidNJ, didn't mean to misquote you.  Here's exactly what you said: "The Deluxe has a release on the left side only. In the store it seemed a little erratic;".  Anyway, I don't want to have to worry about stopping every time I need to engage/disengage the axle lock mechanism.  There's my reason for going with the Auto trac diff.  If it's good enough for the Pro models I'm sure its probably pretty good. 

I tried the Hillard AutoLok on a Deere 1330SE today...it wasn't bad. There wasn't any snow, but it seemed easy enough to handle.

In the end the dollars and sizes are fairly small; over the next 15 years you will be spending 'quality time' with it for hours in bitter cold weather with a piercing wind. The Platinum Ariens should serve you well.

slinger wrote:

I guess it's tough to pony up the $$$ if you don't have it. I figure it's a huge savings over a plow if it lasts 10 years and the plows do an awful job and leave a lot of snow behind as well. For us we needed easy to use and reliable and cost while a factor was less important that being able to blow the driveway easily and without back breaking effort. The Briggs motor work very well no complaints with it yet. The dual triggers and the quick chute make doing the driveway a breeze for me. Just buy the machine you prefer and like to use teh best since it's a 10+ year decision.