I actually have been griping at Honda for sitting their arse for not introducing anything new for so long except for engine displacement increases and skid shoes changes. Well, they did have the crazy 36" hybrid which is $8000 snowblower which has very little customer base.
The new models are a welcome change which the US market has been asking for all these years. Ease of turning, hydraulic assist for bucket height adjustment, electric chute/deflector controls, and onboard electric start, and decent LED lighting. It's about time a Honda is actually a Honda snowblower, with features and sophistication that matches the price tag. No one today will spend $2000 plus on a snowblower with a worm gear crank and pedals they have to step on to change the bucket height.
I'm liking the new models but I will sit tight as Honda work out the bugs and kinks. I'm not spending $3000 on a snowblower and having to properly torque the handle bolts so that it won't rattle my teeth loose. Some of you may recall the HS720 had vibration problems. Yup, Honda says to torque the handle bolts at specific torque to mitigate the vibration. The chute direction lever notchy and high effort detents was not typical of Honda finesse.
Why am I talking about about a $800 HS720? Seeing how Honda handled the problems of that snowblower, I am curious how they handle problems of a $3000 snowblower. Let's hope they did all their beta testing before releasing the product to market.
One thing I'm not certain is the trigger steering on the new 2 stage snowblowers. Is it an on/off switch or is there modulation to control the turn? Is that too much to ask of a Honda? Will the 32" snowblower have traction motors instead of hydrostatic drive?
This message was modified Sep 1, 2015 by aa335
