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.

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.

Update
Just a quick update and request for some more advice.  My dealer was nice enough to allow me to take home a demo toro 826 to see if it would fit around the corner of the home.  I really like the machine but here comes the bad news.  The 826 just barely squeezed through and that's with no snow.  I think with snow on the ground, it won't fit. So, I guess I'm going to have to go with a compact version.  The dealer has 3 choices:
1. The compact Ariens 22" with the Robin Subaru.
2. The compact Ariens 24" with the Robin Subaru.  Last year's model.  It only has a 17.5" housing vs a 20" housing on the 22".  Which would be of more value, greater housing height or greater overall width?
3. The compact Toro 722 powerthrow.  This has a 205 cc Briggs engine.  It doesn't have serrated augers like the Ariens.  Does that make a difference?

Anyhow, what would you recommend?  The toro is $999 and the compact Ariens are $850 on sale.

Thanks again.

Hi Joe, I think if it were my money in that case I would go with the Ariens 22. I personally feel that the taller housing is of more value than the wider housing in a situation like yours. The taller housing will be nicer on the big EOD piles - I don't think you'll be missing the extra 2 inches of width, especially in the tight areas. That toro is pretty long, huh? I remember being surprised at the length of mine when I got it home and in the garage.

joed wrote:

I'd say go with the smaller Ariens over the Toro 722. The advantages of the Toro are lost on the models that don't have their premier features.

Update #2

Well, after much thought, I decided to go with the Toro 826.  I figured out a way to get it through the tight spot around my house.  I got lucky too because my dealer had a sale going on this weekend to clear out some stock.  Normally the 826 goes for $1499 Canadian.  I got it for $1299.  Pretty good price considering the compact Ariens would have cost me about $900.  Though the Subaru engine would have been great, I still think that the Toro 826 is a much better unit than the compact Ariens, even with a Briggs engine on it.  Though it looks like a big machine when you first see it, I can't believe how easy it use to move with that freewheel steering.  Anyhow, all I need is snow to see how it works now.   Thank you so much to all of you for helping me out during this process.  I really appreciate it.  Big thanks to Steve too.  I saw your videos on Youtube with your Toro 2 stage unit and it helped to convince me that the machine was easy to use.

Im currently in the market for a snow blower as well and I have my eyes on the 826 OXE as well. But why were you comparing the compact with this model? IMHO the Ariens 24" Deluxe w/211 cc Subaru engine or the 24" Platinum with 249cc Brigs would have been more of a fair comparison. The compact is nothing more then an orange snotek. LOL