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

We finally got our snow here in Maryland and I was able to use the 1132. My previous experience has been with an MTD 26" track drive with individual triggers to help steer the tracks.

So I wasn't sure what to expect. This snow is probably the heaviest I've seen; it is about 12" of packed snow that was on the verge of being slush. This was not some light, fluffy snow that you throw rooster tails 70 feet into the air, this was the kind that would make you cry if you got out a shovel.

My dilemma this year is that on one side of the driveway, my wife had extensive landscaping done, so snow has to be thrown 30' to get to the other side of the driveway. The old MTD could not do this with the easiest of snows; this snow would have gone about 10 feet maximum. So with some trepidation, I filled up the tank of the Honda, fired it up (and by the way, the Honda has no primer bulb, you choke it, and one pull and it fires up with a quick tug of the rope) and started blowing this heavy snow to the far side of the driveway. And to my pleasant surprise, not only did it move it 30', it probably moved it close to 50' with about 25' of height. The velocity was such that on the MTD, the chute would pack the slush and push it out in big logs in these kinds of conditions. The Honda labored if I went too fast, but with a reasonable speed, I move the snow far away from the house into an open field.

From there, I did the 400' private road that leads to the main road, and here, the blacktop was not quite as smooth which led to some sideways movement of the big 32" bucket, but nothing more than I experienced with the MTD.

I have a steep hill that leads down to the road and here is where I ran into the EOD piles. This was hard packed slush about 18" high. From a throwing standpoint, the Honda never waivered; it threw the slush a long distance way back into the woods. The uneven blacktop again proved a bit of a challenge; I think I may have to adjust the scraper bar a bit to its not so aggressive. The 3-way height adjustment was okay, but I can see where a power adjustment would be a big help as you back up to take a 2nd swipe at the pile. However, I'm quibbling. The Honda just ate this slush up and threw it 30-40 feet.

I was feeling pretty pleased with it, so my poor struggling neighbor with her 5HP Craftsman was struggling with a Tecumseh engine with a dirty carb (that pinhole needs to be cleaned), so I got her running and then I did her driveway. She was very grateful.

All in all, what are my impressions?

PRO: This thing throws snow. It throws it far and doesn't clog up. Even if the augers are completely jammed, it just keeps throwing snow. The MTD would not do this. The 11HP Honda engine has a ton of power. When you go into that big pile, the governor throttle up, it takes on a deep roar and it keeps going. It takes a lot to get it to slow down, on the order of 20" of EOD the full width of the bucket. You had to go slow. The hydro transmission is a big time saver, as you don't have to stop to change speeds.

CON: It is, alas, not terribly maneuverable. While this doesn't really pose a problem for me, if you have a lot of turning around you have to do, you're going to muscle this one. You're not going to hand this to your wife and tell her to "take care of the snow". I think the triggers on the MTD were a help, although less than you might think. I worked marginally harder than the MTD. I think the tracks take getting used to. The advantage is that on the icy hills on my driveway, I let it pull me up the hill. If I had a wheeled blower, the hills would be a bigger challenge.

Overall, I am very pleased with it.