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

Seems odd to me that Yamahas ys928j is built with  a  mz250e engine that produces only 251cc's?? Why make such an expensive machine that weights so much and include such a underpowered engine?

Everything at home depot and the big box stores sell machines at 1/4 the cost with almost twice the engine displacement...whats up with that??

Now the quality is top notch but as an owner of this snowblower I can't say that  im  not  a little concerned about its soon to be seen performance.

Jamie.

I don't think its underpowered at all.  In fact, that's the typical displacement of a 28" wide snowblower a few years now.  For comparison, a Honda 928 has 270cc engine. 

How much experience have you had operating a 2 stage snowblower?  Have you operated the new Yamaha to assess that it is underpowered?  How fast do you want to go?  While its possible to have a 22 HP, 28" snowblower that will ingest all the snow it can handle, are you comfortable controlling it while it's going at a flank speed 10 miles per hour?  It doesn't sound so fast until you realize the snowblower is chewing up the lawn and everything in its path in a near whiteout blizzard condition.  It gets tiresome and uncomfortable for the operator within minutes.  That's on a 28" wide snowblower.  Imagine how much more of a beast to tame if you were behind a 45" wide snowblower with the same engine.   Many trips to the gym is required to keep up with it.  There's a tipping point when the snowblower controls you, jerks you around and you're just hanging on for dear life.  And I'll throwing in that the surface the operator is walking on is far from being perfect, keeping balance on sloped driveways with ice can be a challenge all by itself. 

Oh yeah, and there's the usual residential properties and parked cars.  Snowblowers not only blow snow, it also excel at making projectiles that can break windows as well. 

I don't have a high powered snowblower.  Its 32 inches wide with 11hp / 337cc engine.  It weights about 300 pounds.  Well, this is on the large side of most homeowner's models.   I seldom operate it at full ground speed, just unsafe and too dangerous.  After half an hour, it's starting to get tiresome.  In fact, I only bring it out when the snow condition demands it.  For typical snow up to 8 inches, I'd gladly bring out my 163cc single stage snowblower.  I'm happier this way.  I get the job done quickly and safely, and I'm not soaking wet and tired as being behind a 2 stage snowblower. 

I think the Yamaha is a better engineered than a typical big displacement snowblowers.  It's more efficient and built with higher tolerances so the engine might have better output and useable powerband.  What I find is that Japanese snowblower tend to favor discharge distance over volume throughput.  The Honda and Yamaha have very impressive throwing distances, but it process snow slower.  The snowblowers are typically crawling and tackling deep snow, which is fine because I have no ambition of wrecking a $3000 snowblower with $500 augers.  :)  After breaking a few shear pins, people do find their comfort speed. 

I would gladly trade you my Honda for your 250cc Yamaha.  :)

Thanks aa335 for the reply!! Seeing you asked i have to admit i have no snowblower experience as of yet and I was just curious because the numbers just seemed less than all of the other brands you see around the stores this time of year.I was always of the mind set that more power is good(my Tim the tool man flaw)...lol. Maybe the quality of the manufacturing and the efficient use of power is something Yamaha has figured out.I know the older Yamaha's were awesome so I guess Yamaha has proven themselves in the past so we will see how the newer ones fair. Maybe the hydro drive and electromagnetic clutch reduce the power needs of this machine and put more power where its needed more efficiently?? Thanks JAMIE

canman1976 wrote:
For me, I don't think hydrostatic drive is more efficient than friction disc drive.  If anything, I think hydro robs more power from the engine.  The electro magnetic clutch isn't more efficient than the belt clutch.  Hydrostatic and the electromagnetic clutch are convenience technology.  Hydro allows for easy infinite speed adjustment, and well suited for tracked snowblowers (CVT variable ratio pulleys versus geared transmission).   The clutch for dealing with occasional impact without needing conventional shear pins.  (think circuit breakers versus a fuse)

The efficiency comes from the details in the rotational friction, inertia, auger, impeller, impeller housing, and the discharge chute.  There's a little bit of black magic that is in the realm of Bernoulli's principle pertaining to pump design.  Water acts funny depends on the phase it is in. 

It's not underpowered Canman. It will do exactly what you need it to do. There are two differences between your Yamaha and the one's you noted in the box stores. 1). Your Yamaha will be reliable and easy to use. 2). Your Yamaha will be passed on and used by your grandchildren long after the box store brands are in the landfill.