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

I'm trying to decide between getting the Toro 826 2 stage snowblower with the 249 cc Briggs engine and freewheel steering or the Ariens 22" compact model with the 169 cc Robin subaru engine.  I need to clean about
2000 square feet of interlock along with my neighbor's yard when he's away in Florida on his winter vacation.   Any reviews, suggestions?  Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for the amazing advice. I appreciate it. If I were to go single stage, which is better the 221 or 421? I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As mentioned. Typical snowfalls for us are 4-6" but the end of the driveway stuff can get nasty, especially when I come home from work. That's why I was thinking 2 stage. My neighbor has a toro 2 stroke single stage. It works good on his driveway but not so good on his EOD pile. I'm actually leaning towards biting the bullet and getting the Toro 826. Lot of money for me but maybe I should just spend it once. Dealer says he can put some rubber underneath the skid shoes to protect the interlock. Just not sure about that Briggs engine? Superbuick, glad you are enjoying the Echo PB770. It was great for me during leaf season too. The newest one that surpasses the Echo PB770 is the Shindaiwa EB854. What a blower this thing is.

What's your concern with the Briggs engine?  I've got a 305cc Intek Snow engine with Kool Bore on my Simplicity.  It's got about 75 hours on it and it's been a very good engine so far.  I have noticed that it uses a bit of oil.  However, not enough to be concerned about.  It starts on the first pull, is fairly easy on fuel and is very strong.   I never used to be a big Briggs and Stratton fan but from my experience with this engine, I've since learned to appreciate them.

joed wrote:
Hi Joe, have you looked into the Ariens Compact 26? same 26" as the Toro and the same motor that you are looking at on the Toro with the 250cc. Not sure on price difference, i know that the compact 26 is about $200 more than the compact 22 here in the states. While it doesn't have the quick stick like the Toro it does have the remote deflector. Not sure if you are looking at one brand over the other, but I know the compact 26 only has the pin lock like the other compact ariens not the freewheel steering like the toro.

borat wrote: On another thread, a poster recently bought an Ariens Platinum Deluxe 24" machine that came equipped with the 249 cc engine.  He's been experiencing backfire on shutdown and then the engine won't start until it cools down for a while.  I was wondering if the Briggs engine on the toro units did the same thing?

Shiva916
I haven't seen any compact 26" units here in Canada where I live.  We don't have as big of a selection here as they do in the U.S.  If I were going to go with the 26" width, I'd rather go with the Toro 826

joed wrote:

You often hear a lot from Ariens owners as there are a lot of them. I'm a Toro owner and I'd take the Toro 826 over the Ariens. The joystick chute control is great. It's easy to steer and it has plenty of power. My Toro has been super esasy to use and trouble free. Buy once Cry once. Ariens has gone down in quality over the years. Toro sells out faster around here than Ariens. Test them both if you can. I'm confidant the Toro will be teh better of the two.

I wouldn't be worried about the Subaru engine not being powerful enough. Before last season I bought the compact 24" with the Subaru engine and it has far more power than my previous blower's much larger Briggs engine. We had a very snowy winter and I had no problems at all. In the three days around Christmas we had about 24" of heavy wet snow. Through it all I never had any problems getting the job done with that 169 cc Subaru. EOD was not a problem either. A few days after the storm my neighbor had come back from visiting family out of state and was trying to tackle the 24", which had drifted in spots, with a shovel. I broke out my new blower and went right through the deep and drifted snow. It was half way up my chest and well above the top of the blower in lots of spots, so I had to let it dig in, then back out, let the snow fall down, and go back into it again, but it never bogged down or felt like it needed more power. By that time the sun had been out and caused some melting, so there was a nice layer of slush that had to be thrown too. It was one of the worse snows I'd ever seen and I had my doubts if the blower would make it through, but it passed that test with flying colors.

Hi Joe - I agree with Steve in having a preference for the Toro 826 over the Ariens compact, but that is more of a personal preference for me rather than a specific design or quality issue with Ariens.  I really like the quick stick on the Toros as well.

As far as the singles go, I've found the two stroke to be more powerful than the 4 stroke offered by Toro.  A Honda 621 (NOT a 520) is a good, powerful single stage if you have a strong preference for 4 stroke, but they are rare in the US.

One other thing to consider is with regards to space - you mentioned a tight area.  The Toro 826 is a large unit - I have one myself (a 726te).  I assume you've seen it in person, but its worth mentioning again.  If tight space is an issue, you may be better off with the Ariens compact or the single stage.

I'll have to check out that new Shindaiwa the next time I stop by the dealer - though I'm so happy with this PB770 I don't think I'll be wanting of another blower anytime soon :)

"I'll have to check out that new Shindaiwa the next time I stop by the dealer"

I was under the impression that Echo bought out Shindaiwa a couple years ago.  Try to find an active Shindaiwa dealership.  If you do, you'll find Echo products on the shelves and much fewer choices of the Shindaiwa line.   

borat wrote: You're right.  Echo did buy out Shindaiwa in 2008.  They've begun to share quite a bit of technology with each other.  The Shindaiwa EB854 is an amazing blower.  Here's a link to a video I did to compare my Shindaiwa, Sthil, and Echo blowers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYNi0dD2X98

I think I'll go into the dealer's at the end of the week to see these machines again.  I'm really torn as to which to get.  I like the toro 826 but not sure about space, price, nor the Briggs engine.  The Robin engine is terrific but I'm not sure if the Ariens compact is big enough for the job nor strong enough.  Love the single stage toros but then I'd have too many blowers in the garage and the wife would kill me.  Going to be a tough choice.

Hi Joe, I don't think you can really go wrong with either choice. The Toro is a very nice machine and I looked at it as well when I was checking out new blowers. I didn't have much money to play around with so I'm not going to lie the cheaper Ariens was much kinder on my wallet and for the size driveway I have i didn't think that a little wider machine would save me all that much time. A nice single stage may also serve all your needs as well so it won't be an easy choice for sure.

It's great to see some feedback about someone who has actually used a machine with the Subaru Robin motor on it. I have to say that while things can look great on paper I am more concerned as to how they actually do in the real world and I'm sure most people would agree. While not all snow is the same I look forward to actually taking my machine out and building my own opinion of it.