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

Greetings:

I'd like some help in ironing out specifics on snowblowers and the components that make them up (and make up their engines). I have collected some data from various places, but it seems that the manufacturers are VERY against disclosing any of the nitty-gritty details about the make-up of the snowblowers (which seems silly). I'd like to limit the thread to high quality construct (meaning at or near comercial grade) 24" or 28" 2010 snowblowers to try to keep things moving forward if possible. I'll start by listed information I've gathered on the two models I am looking at most currently. If you have any confirmed factual information, please post it; but I'd like to try to stay away from unconfirmed opinions or personal experience arguments if possible.

Ariens Platinum 24 (921017)
[Engine: Briggs & Stratton 1150]
- Moderate Fuel Efficiency *F
- Torque: 11.5 ft-lbs (SAE J1940) *WARNING: Class action lawsuit against B&S (and others including Honda) for creating a false standard J1940 to conceal horsepower fraud, so this number has no real-world value. Can anyone get a real number for this please, perhaps in SAE 1349 standard? Honda has corrected their HP/Torque ratings on their website, but B&S hasn't yet.  *D, *E
- Type: OHV *D
- Crankshaft: Ball Bearing  *Snowmann, *slinger

[Gearbox: SX Aluminum]
- Steel Worm Gear *G
- Bronze sleeve bearing *G (for sleeve), *Snowmann (for material)

[Movement: Drive Disc]
- Automatic Traction Control / Quick Turn *C
- Bronze Sleeve Bearing *G

[Auger]
- Serated *C
- Nylon Sleeve Bearing *G
- 14" *C

[Impeller]
- 14" *C

[Accessories]
- Light *C
- 120V Start *C
- Hand Warmer *C

[MSR]
- $1599 *C

Honda (HS724WA)
[Engine: GX200]
- Superior Fuel Efficiency *F
- Torque: 9.1 ft-lbs @ 2,500 rpm (SAE J1349 International Standard) *B
- Type: OHV *B
- Counter-Vibration *B
- Noise Reduction *B
- Crankshaft: Ball Bearing *A

[Gearbox]
- Steel Helical Gears *A
- Steel Ball Bearing *A

[Movement: Hydrostatic]
- Infinitely Variable *A
- Fixed 2wd *A

[Auger]
- Serated *A
- 14" *trouts2

[Impeller]
- 12" *trouts2

[MSR]
- $2299 *A

Notes
- SAE J1349 assumes 15% loss of power to internal friction; in reality, this is just an average and varies per engine (so less internal friction would mean the actual HP is higher) *this can be validated at any site that defines the SAE 1349 standard

Sources
- A : Honda Snowblower Specifications (http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/snowblowers/content.aspx?asset=sb_whychoose) (http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/modeldetail.aspx?page=modeldetail&section=P2SB&modelname=HS724WA&modelid=HS724WA)
- B: Honda Engine Specifications (http://engines.honda.com/models/model-detail/gx200)
- C: Ariens Specifications (http://www.ariens.com/products_snow/s_deluxe_platinum_group/s_deluxe_platinum_24/Pages/default.aspx)
- D: Briggs & Stratton Specifications (http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engines/other-engines/detail.aspx?series=1150+Series&id=%7BB8CACFAE-E522-4511-88F6-9DA80E1C1ADC%7D)
- E: Class-Action Engine HP Fraud Lawsuit (http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/Lawnmower_Horsepower_Fraud) *there are many other references, just google
- F: Personally inferred from many (>20) personal forum posts by different owners
- G: Ariens Parts Catalog (http://partsradar.arinet.com/scripts/EmpartISAPI.dll?MF&app=ariens&lang=EN&TF=Empartweb&loginID=ariensc&loginpwd=consumer)

*I can't seem to find the link to the online Honda parts catalog again (it was hard to find and I didn't bookmark it). If anyone finds it, please post the URL

I think the choice is pretty simple.  If you have the money to spend, buy a Honda.  If not buy an Ariens.

"Durability (low rate of part replacement), efficiency, and longevity are primary concerns"
Those three relate directly to factors you should be considering.  How big an area will be clearing per use.  What type of snow do usually get, wet, dry?  How much snow do you get in a season.  On average how many inches per event.  How quickly do you want to remove the snow each time.
A 10hp will clear more snow than a 5hp in the same amount of time.  The Ariens and the Honda are both good machine.  But your specific needs and your average annual snow fall are bigger factors in making your choice than all of the blower specs.

 I live in Mi. and sometimes have to deal with drifts 30" deep. I wouldn't have anything smaller than 10Hp.  You can wear out even a good machine.  If you continually use it for all it's worth time and time again.

Sounds like DavidNJ. He got a good flogging from the other forums and decided to cool his jets and come over here to stir up trouble, again! This time under a new alias.

It's obvious he has no intention of buying anything to actually blow snow. Same clown, different circus. It's almost winter and he's asking about lawn mowers in the other forum.

Thank you, snowmachine, for that bit of information; I didn't know that Husqvarna and its child brands were not being sold in the US this year. Thus far, you were the only helpful poster.

Electrocutor wrote:

I should clarify. Huskys are being sold in US but Sears isn't selling any rebranded models as Craftsmans in the US.

Electrocutor wrote:

Electrocutor wrote:

Hmm...direct competition between Honda and Ariens?  Each one has quite different business model and customer base.  Care to elaborate on why you think they are in direct competition?

I don't know what you mean when you said helical gearbox versus worm.   Why so torn?

What is your overall goal?  To make an informed decision for your own purchase of a "snowblower" or to provide "harvested" information to others to make an informed decision?  I think people are quite capable of harvesting information on their own to make informed decision on a multitudes of models, why limit themselves with just two of the Ariens and Honda models you selected?

Shryp wrote:
Give it some time.  It's only day one.  :)

I think we should start a BINGO game.   Make your own subfunctions on a sheet of paper, like hydrostatic transmission, differential, auger diameter, impeller diameter, orange bucket, red bucket, green bucket , black bucket.....  But don't use these, make up our own and be creative.  First one to get all in a row wins.  :)

jrtrebor wrote:
Man, I thought it was simple until I read this:

"Clearing surface is unimportant: it is possible/likely that I will someday move and bring my quality snow-blower with me. The goal is to not buy 'junk' that will need fixing and replacing parts every 3-5 years: once upon a time things were made to last, that is no longer the case and you must take care to investigate how things are built nowadays to obtain the same quality of prduct."

Any sales person here care to share how you would approach this customer?

aa335 wrote:
The only tact you can take with a customer/person like this, is to explain why your product is better. Point by point identify each of those major and critical components that make your product stand out and explain why this is the case, i.e. why the construction is important, ergonomics, quality of building materials, etc... This education/cost justification is usually to no avail as people who tend to overthink decisions such as this just can't justify the higher end purchase because it is not pefect or engineered to the Nth degree (in their mind). Doing your homework is fine and is a prudent decision but going overboard nitpicking every nut and bolt is another story. I usually politely remind them that you get what you pay for and walk away. There's no sense wasting your time...

For anyone else who has been reading this thread, after doing some more research on my own (I've put in well over 150 hours of research now), I decided to go with either the Honda hs724wa or hs928was depending on whether or not the dealer thinks the electric start is necessary (the hs724 has much better fuel economy if you don't need the extra horsepower). I made this decision from further researching of the building quality of the machine. It looks like had I decided to purchase a snowblower a few years back, I'd have had a better selection, but as it is now the majority of blowers are more or less built similar for each of their respective 'lines' or 'series' except for Yamaha (which aren't available in the US) and Honda (Husqvarna may be as well from what I found, but I couldn't find enough details on the Husqvarnas to be conclusive). There are a number of improvements that other brands have put into play on newer models (which are very convenient), but the overall workmanship of their units has degraded over the past several years (mostly due to the companies being bought out I think). These two (three) seem to be built as sturdy as the older generations of Ariens, Toro, etc.

I'm sorry this didn't turn out as I had wanted to provide other people looking for information about the different brands with what they needed to make their decisions, but regardless of which brand you decide to go with, keep in mind of one major thing: the manufacturers of today make tons of different models for a reason: they skimp on quality of the lower-line products in order to lower production cost and provide a 'budget' machine, but be aware that you are far more likely to have to do repairs, buy replacement parts, and replace the machine much more often on their lesser series. With Honda, they only offer their top-of-line (and offer the full 3 year warranty for comercial use unlike the other brands); for Ariens, I personally would not purchase their units below the Platinum line. I don't have enough information on the other brands to be able to determine which series start their higher quality builds.