marva, the plastic chutes are no problem. The materials are very good and stand up over the years so not much of a concern.
For better recommendations how long, how wide and how steep is your area? Do you have walkways, path out back or any other areas like turnout off the driveway or large area next to the garage? Can snow be thrown to both sides? Is there any p;ace requiring great distance to throw the snow? Also, what town or city are you located in? We can lookup your yearly average snowfall which is an important factor.
I would not rate Troy-Bilt as high as CR. They are a basic and ok machine for the price. They are not the Troy-Bilt company from the years that built the reputation. They were purchased by MTD and the machine an MTD with nothing Troy in it anymore. There are better quality machines but a cared for MTD can last 10-20 years depending on use and maintenance which is easy to do.
This message was modified Jan 17, 2011 by trouts2