jonb

Oops--sorry for the bad advice. Lots of pumps worked for the old 16" Powerlite. Haven't started the new Powerclear yet.

Long post, but I can answer parts of it.

Sounds like you have grass is always greener syndrome. I just bought a 221R also, and I've used a 7524 Ariens two stage for the past two years along with the little Toro 16" Powerlite.

First, it's a misconception that a two stage will just blast through EOD like it wasn't there. Maybe the big horsepower and/or tracked models do that, but the little ones stop dead when they hit anything crunchy and just spin the wheels. Packed snow? Stops dead. Ice? Stops dead. EOD? Stops dead.

Your complaint about the speed that it tries to pull you is just lack of familiarity. Yes, you can set the speed of a two stage and plod along behind it. But even the fastest speed is too slow for light snow, and every time you want to turn around, you have to screw with it. And every time you hit some crud or a drift, you have to gear down. The single stage sets it's own best speed. In 5" of snow, it blasts through much quicker. If it hits something hard or deep, it slows itself down.

About your fear of hurting it--don't worry. I got through a 20" snow with the little 16" Powerlite. Just shove it into the drift until it almost stalls, then pull it back. Repeat 1000 times. :) Took a while, but it didn't damage it.

My experience with Toro 2-strokes is that they can need a lot of priming. First start of the winter needed 10-15 pumps. Then it sputtered to life in a couple of pulls.

Well thanks for taking the time to reply.

I've had a little Toro single stage (the 16" one) for eight years now. Just had it's first service. I never maintained it, left old gas in it over the summer, etc, and it never failed to start and pulled though all sorts of crap that should have stalled it. So I'm kind of biased towards Toro 2-strokes.

Then I saw the Ariens is 22" and figured that's one less pass over the width of the whole driveway. Nobody seems to really LOVE the Ariens single stage blowers like they do their two stage ones. I'm sure the Honda is great, since everything they do is so darn perfect.

But with the prices so close, I'm definitely inclined toward the Toro without a good reason not to. And it does have the extra inch. Just wanted to make sure the new line isn't some dumbed-down, made by slave labor to meet Wal-mart's price demands model, or something.

I was all set to order a Toro 20" model, but I see they've just introduced a new line that's an inch wider, otherwise pretty similar and doesn't weigh any more.

Anyone have the inside scoop on these? Same Toro quality?

http://www.toro.com/home/snowthrowers/index.html

I'm selling my Ariens 7524. Used three times in two years: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/tls/462813522.html