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

Finally got some snow here so I took out most of the fleet to have some fun and put the machines to use.   Beautiful weather.  Crisp, clear with a bit of a breeze but not too bad.   First up is the Craftsman SS then the Toro 221 and finally the Simplicity.  Not too much snow maybe 5 or 6 inches but nice consistency. Fine, fairly dense and dry.  Here's a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/p7U9Jk8s8VM?hd=1

Mine is an Ariens SS322. I wish it was the SS522 variant with the larger HSK850, but oh well. Ariens doesn't seem as well known for their SS machines as Toro is, but hopefully Ariens' are still good.

The Power Shovel, is that the one that has fixed vanes to always blow forward & to the right, or whatever? I was impressed with my little Toro Powercurve 1800 electric, it did surprisingly well on deck duty, even with deep, heavy storms last winter. And it was very compact, and only about 25 lbs (as light as a 2-stroke SS is, they're still a lot bigger & heavier than an electric). My parents have it now, but there hasn't been any snow for them to try it on.

Ariens are famous for snow removal equipment but not so much for the SS machines.  At least not around here.  Personally, I've never seen an Ariens SS machine. 

The power shovel throws snow forward only.  Looks like an upright vacuum cleaner.  No side to side deflection.  However, for a little machine, it's fairly impressive.  Next snow, I'll try to do a video of the power shovel in action.  Actually, if you check Youtube, you'll probably find some examples.   Here's a pic:

RedOctobyr wrote:

Here ya go Red....note that it was only used once!!! How lucky can you get.

PostingID: 2818536415

Thanks for the info Frank I'll stick with mine for the moment, I can't beat the money I have into mine (free + a belt and carb kit, so ~$25 total). But I'll see how mine does if we ever get any deeper snow. If it's underpowered (rather likely), I'll probably try to boratify it, and/or keep an eye out for something inexpensive and more powerful.

Plus I think I'd need to be able to justify shopping for a different machine  I have my new-to-me 2-stage, my old 2-stage (waiting for some snow & demand on CL before listing it), and my new-to-me SS. If I announced I was shopping for *another* one already, with no real runtime on the "new" ones, I might have some 'splaining to do