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

Going back and forth as to which one! Same price, Local dealers that service, like the look of both. Kinda leaning toward the Ariens only cause of the bigger engine 342 vs 305,is that a good reason?,or is 28" Toro a little more nibble to move around. Ariens seem to have more metal and less plastic, see I go back and forth.Please help ! Need to buy soon! Thanks for your suggestions.

Play around with each one and determine which feels more comfortable to you. Not sure what your winter snow conditions are like but the difference in engine and bucket size is marginal although the 28" will be a bit easier to manuever if you have tight areas to work around.

tgseaver wrote:

I have the Toro 1028 and quite a few videos of it on YouTube with my wife using it and she only weighs 84 lbs.!

The Toro is much easier to use over the Ariens which you will have to muscle around each storm. The Toro has skid sterring so you just pull a lever and it turns, no muscle required. Also it will turn on a dime. I've had the Toro for 3 years now and zero problems with the plastic which sheds snow instead of sticking to it. Dealers really push Ariens over Toro, yet in my area they sell out of Toro almost every year. Try them both but remember that these machines work differently on snow.

tgseaver wrote:
Well, one issue that might be important to you is concerning the Ariens ATC (Automatic Traction Control) compared to Toro's steering triggers.  Ariens used to have that left wheel knob on certain models so you could change between locked two-wheel operation and true differential.  Now the new ATC favors two-wheel operation but you can still turn when you want to.  Snowmann has described in various postings the progression Ariens has gone through over the years from the left-wheel knob lockout (going back and forth between the planetary differential and two-wheel locked operation), then to the trigger/cable activated differential/two-wheel operation (2005 and 2006 years), then finally to the Automatic Traction Control, which lets you go from two-wheel operation to differential operation upon turning either left or right.  See these for interesting insights:

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/41971-A-1.html See comments #7, #13, #14.

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/37827-A-1.html See comments #4, #8.

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/22543-A-1.html See comments # 1, #3, #5.

Toro's trigger system disengages the inside wheel, allowing the outer wheel to help you turn easily.  I have used the Husqvarna triggers at work so I understand that.   You might want to check out Steve Cebu's You Tube videos, which are very good in illustrating Toro's steering system and Quick-Stick chute operations.  Now if someone would do us all a favor and do the same with their Ariens, that would be very helpful to those trying to decide what to do. 

If steering and chute operations are really important to you, then Toro is the way to go.  The plastic on the Toro is working thus far, but If you prefer the robust all-steel build, along with cast-iron gear case and hand warmers, then Ariens is excellent there.  Check out the company web sites, too.

Prices:  Ariens Platinum 24 (250cc Briggs engine) is around $1400 or so new.  Ariens Platinum 30 (342cc engine) is around $1700 new.  Toro's 28-inch 1028 OXE (Briggs 305cc engine) is about $1800.

Hope this is helpful. 

Thanks for the replies, I am leaning towards the Ariens (bigger engine,less plastic). It might come down to which local dealer I like best. My last blower was a 12 year old 7hp Yard man track drive that you had to almost pick up to turn lol,So I am upgrading big time with either blower.

I am leaning toward either upgrading my engine or selling and buying a new larger Toro........I will keep you all posted!

Kick in a few more $$ and grab a Ariens Pro 28 - ST28DLE.  28" with a 420cc engine!  Should be able to relocate any cars left in the driveway! 

stresst wrote:

Why not buy the bigger Toro and sell or trade in your old one?

I think the problem you will have is that if you go with the 1128 you will have that PITA bar to deal with. Commercial guys up in my area buy the 1028 because that bar can malfunction and then you are stuck.

My dealer even suggested that I get the 1028 over the 1128 for this reason and they had plenty of both

Here is a pic of it and here is the description.

Pivoting Scraper

Available exclusively on the Toro Power Max 1128 OXE, this innovative design allows the scraper to pivot front to back, clearing down to the pavement and preventing sudden stops from cracks or contours.

I am in the exact same boat. I have also been going back and forth between the 2.

I currently have a 28" 9hp Crapsman which is about 5 or 6 years old. It works, OK but I was looking to upgrade. I went into buy an Ariens but ended up starting to think about getting the Toro. My friend sells both and is pretty honest about everything. He just bought the Toro, we also went in back to see how they come to the shop. The Toro machines have way less errors or better quality control from the factory. This was bad to hear since Ariens is from Wisconsin and I actually don't live that far from the factory. Now the extent to the quality issues were loose parts, parts put on upside down or backwards, so nothing that will really hinder the overall performance. The other thing I put into the mix is my father has had both Ariens and Toros but more recently Toros so I know the past quality is good. The other side of me would like to support a local made in the USA business. Another little bit is Ariens can no longer put the American flag on their machines because the tires are outsourced from outside the USA now. This is not a big deal to me.

This is what I have come up with so far:

Both have 3 year limited warranties, Ariens has 5 year on gear cases.

Price is a wash for me.

Areins has larger clearing path by 2", not a deal breaker for me because with either way you have to make 2 passes down the sidewalk.

Ariens has the larger motor, 342 vs 305cc. It may not be a lot but I am buying this for the deep heavy crap that I don't want to shovel so 40cc's is 40cc's more power that is keeping me from shoveling. Now you could go to the Toro 1128 to match the Arien's power but with that pivoting scraper, you have to have a perfect surface for it to be efficient. I do not have a perfect driveway or sidewalk. Plus the dealer suggested staying away from that.

Areins, all steel, heavy duty. Toro has plastic that is proven. My Crapsman has a plastic chute that I have sent softball size ice chunks through multiple times so if Crapsman can get it right I am sure Toro has it right. 

The Toro is easier to move around, lifting up the front, etc. However this is a positive and negative. Positive, it is great to move around the garage, etc. Negative because a light front will tend to lift up vs dig down on the hard packed stuff. The solution is Toro sells a weight for $80 to put on the front of it. The result, now you are paying more to have the same weight as the Ariens.

Turning, both have their own innovations and both "turn on a dime" I like the idea of the Toro with the triggers however they are one more thing that will need adjustment, are another thing that can get caught on something or get broken off due to them being plastic. When going forward both wheels are locked which I like. Now on the Areins, you don't have to pull levers, you just turn it. Plus it is good enough to put on the professional models so Ariens must believe in it. It seems to work just like a LSD in a vehicle. Now will both wheels ever be 100% locked like the Toro, no, but if it puts the power where it can hook up then I am fine with one wheel working vs 2 just spinning. If you have 2 wheels locked and no traction, it doesn't do anything for you.

Chute/Direction. I like the Toro how you can move everything like a joystick vs the Ariens controls. However is it just me that thinks the plastic joystick just feels cheap. I like the idea of it but then I go back to the reliability and the more things that need adjusting, a plastic piece that is sticking up ready to get snapped off. If they made it out of metal, would I feel better...maybe...I just don't feel that when you are spending over $1500 on a machine, why make everything out of plastic and make it feel cheap. It may not rust but at the same time, look what happened to plastic cars...bye bye Saturn. The Areins is simple, no frills, but isn't as user friendly as the Toro. However I don't have any problems using the controls, it is still nicer than my Crapsman.

Auger/Intake/Intake. The intake/auger is the same on both 14". The Toro can throw 45 feet, the Ariens 50 feet. Areins everything is steel. The Toro has a lot of plastic parts. I am not 100% against this but again I just don't know why they had to do it. You can say that snow sticks to the steel, but I have never had any issues with snow sticking to the steel on my snow blowers. And if the plastic has less resistance, should the Toro throw snow 55 feet due to less resistance? Anyhow, enough of the plastic. I do like the idea of the Toro putting the snow back into the auger that it isn't discharging. However I have a couple issues with this. 1. Shouldn't the snowblower be efficient enough to throw the snow that it is taking in in the first place. 2. What do you think the Ariens does with the snow it can't throw? Doesn't it just push it for a bit which in turn makes it to the auger anyhow. So why waste engine power to recycle the snow in the auger area? Maybe that is why the Toro doesn't throw snow as far? It isn't because of power because on both Toro and Ariens models, the less powerful models can throw just as far as their counterparts. I didn't design the thing so I don't know.

Headlight, isn't a huge deal for me but the Toro has theirs just mounted like an after thought, which looks chunky and can get caught on stuff or snapped off. The Ariens is nice, flush, and out of the way.

Tires are a wash.

Sorry for the long post but this is what I have been debating. So far I am leaning towards the Ariens but....

Its so funny you posted that post Steve, I think I have my Toro sold and now im deciding between the 1028 and 1128OXE. What do you mean the pivoting scrapper malfunctions?

tgseaver wrote:
 Dont worry about the plactic, last year I was in the street a few days after the storms using my machine as an ice cube maker! I live in the city and parking is a nightmare to begin with nevermind when everyone dumps snow in the street and then it freezes into small mountains. I was using the machine like I said to chew this stuff up, solid chunks of ice flying through the chute, at the end of the season I realized its indesctrucible!