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

I moved to a new house, top of a hill, with farm land across from my driveway.

This is our second winter, and my MTD is not up to the task of clearing the packed snow that blows into my yard, sometimes daily.

I have been looking for a couple weeks, and had made up my mind to get the Honda. I had been to the Yamaha dealer previously, but they were not willing to deal.

Well today a new twist, I went back to Yamaha, and was offered the YS928J for the same price as the HS928TC.

Specs are very similar, with some different features. The Honda has full Joystick control on the chute, and is 100 lbs lighter.

The Yamaha has plastic coated chute, manual up/down. Has no shear pins, which may be a bonus, if the 'Shock Protection' works correctly. Also the Yamaha is quiter.

I have been reviewing this site, however, there is limited information on the Yamahas, likely because they just came back to Canada in 2009 (15 year Hiatus) and I am not sure if they are available in the U.S.

Has anyone out there used these models? Can you offer an Opinion?

I'm not sure what is the motivation for pushing Ariens so hard.  I mean I know it's money but there is something else involved.  They were pushing so hard it became insulting and condescending.  Makes me wonder what kind of attitude they represent when I have to get it serviced under warranty.  I went with my gut and took my money elsewhere.

Cool.  Be sure to take lots of pics if you do get one of these blue monsters!!!!



rubinew wrote:

For sure, what ever I get, I will post some pics, maybe even get the wife to take a video.

Or I could vidoe tape her using it :-)

Happy New Year to Everyone!

aa335 wrote:

I went through the exact same thing. They pushed so hard even knowing that I was primarily interested ina Toro of which they had plenty in stock. I bought a Honda 928TAS then after a serious bout of buyers remorse returned it and got the Toro and am very happy I did. Ariens might make a fine machine but pushy dealers is just odd. I mean they sell John Deere, Ariens and Toro during peak season it's like selling water in the desert. I don't trustthe local Simplicity dealer. I've heard bad things about them. Not the product but the dealer taking too long to fix things scams and rip offs so I didn't consider one because of the dealer. I did try one out in another city but didn't like it over the Toro.

Service is ok at the Toro/Ariens dealer even tho they mostly sell John Deere stuff year round.

rubinew wrote:

I take pics of my wife using our Toro and she takes vids of me, it's a lot of fun. I took vids of her at a New Years eve party where she and her Filipno friends got pretty wild. Gotta put those up tommorrow.

Steve_Cebu wrote:
Geez, I can't wait.  :)

Steve_Cebu wrote:

hmmmm, we seem to be straying from the topic!!! :-)

rubinew wrote:

Life has diversions from time to time.

Anyway I hope to see some pics/vids of your soon to be new Yamaha snowblower.

borat wrote:

Hey Borat, happy new year!

I agree, the weight may be an advantage. The 624 at 250 lbs sure chewed up some ice and packed snow, I am sure the 928 will do better.

You are right about the back injury!! I tried to move the 624 in the show room, turned off, not possible. Those tracks sure grip :-) Same with the 928 Honda.

The Honda has a lever, to disengage the transmission, to help move when off, still a bit of a struggle, as the shaft and part of the drive still turned, could feel the resistance.

The Yamaha just has the pins that you can pull, to unlock the tracks from the drive shaft, this made it very easy to roll around. Only prob, it was a bit of a task to line up the holes and get the pins seated back in place.

Of course one would only do this at the end/beginning of season, then they would stay put.

Hey Rubinew,

Sounds like a snow fence positioned back in the field a bit could eliminate some of those 4 foot, hard packed drifts. Is that an option? Might make life easier in general.