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

Let's break it down. Apart from saying it's the overall design of the machine, what particular design features contribute most to the success of this SS blower? Any way they could improve it even further (realistically)?

slinger wrote:
Most of the time, the extra power of the larger engines won't make a difference.  EOD isn't going to be that different either.  All of them have rubber augers that have trouble chopping up the hard chunks and ingesting it so it can fling it up the chute.  That's why 2 stage have metal serrated auger, to break up the hard snow.

I don't see Toro as giving up anything.  Toro's innovation is what defines the performance bar.  Other manufacturers merely copy the curved paddle design and stuffing a larger engine. 

Where you see other manufacturers try to make the Toro look bad is trying to blow wet heavy snow or slush.  The Toro's tend to plug up at the chute, this is more prevalent on the older 2 stroke machines.  The powerband of 2 stroke is at higher RPMs.  If the RPM drops too much, it doesn't have any power.  This isn't a problem on the newer 4 stroke, it has plenty of torque at the low RPMs.   In either case, the plug can be easily cleared by easing back and let the paddles spin up to speed.  The snow plug will fall back and the paddles will hurl it upward.  The chute clears out without user invention.  Done.

In fact, two other competing brands have done videos of this highlighting the Toro's weakness.  Of course, they put in their 208cc SS against Toro's 2 stroke 221Q's.  That's a unfair situation.  You don't see them bringing equivalent spec machines to the table.   Anyways, the point is, when a manufacturer does a comparison, the fairness is always in question.  The tests are rigged and deck is stacked.  These tests should be conducted by impartial 3rd party with no motives, I don't mean test conducted by OPE dealers.  And I don't mean Consumer Reports either.  They have a weighing system heavily bias towards price, bang for the buck skewness.  But that's another matter, I digress.

I guess Toro could respond by putting in 208cc engines on the new SS.  It would get bigger, heavier, less maneuverable.  It's been 5 years now with no bump in engine displacement.  That says something.  They either don't need it, or they are working on the next best thing, while competitors lazily copy the old design and stuffing in larger engines, and undercutting price.  I do hope that Toro's is working on the next best SS.  :) 

oldcrow wrote:
It is much crazier when you look at SS 14 years ago selling at $600 to $900.  These prices were in 1989.  That includes Simplicity, Ariens, Toro, and Honda.  They didn't even come with remote chute dilliwacks. 

So in today's prices a Honda SS is going to be $1200.  Why buy one of these when a Sno-Fuzz is only $600, engineered in America with foreign parts? 

slinger wrote:

AA335 is correct about EOD and rubber augers. They are not optimal but it does everything really well. I don't think more HP will help that much on EOD situation. My wife liked the SS but she said EOD was very challenging.

My old Craftsman SS has the older style rubber edged steel auger that more resembles a 2 stage spiral but with the short flat throwing section in the center. I think that auger shape actually works a bit better on the EOD, but gives up a lot in the throwing distance department. That thing was so easy to use and started first pull every time (after the initial winter start up). It had a crank for chute control which was fine (after I modified it!), and a friction deflector that worked ok, but was inconvenient.<BR>Living in central Ohio, a good SS is really the way to go. I have an Ariens Platinum and it is rarely needed. But I do appreciate the headlight and chute control operability from the dashboard without having to stop and re-adjust all the time. The wind seems to change constantly and having that remote capability is a big help. That's why I was hoping the new Ariens SS would be like a higher quality version of the Cub Cadet 221 LHP SS. (still built by MTD?) That thing gets a consumers choice award... I guessing it's mostly because it's got all the desired features on it. I don't know how well these work but that would be my ideal SS if it was a quality designed and built machine.<BR>