sharkbait

I think I've got it narrowed down to two now :) My dealer has a L10530 30" 10.5hp Intek and a P1524E 24" 14.5torque SnowMax professional for $150 more. What's the difference between the Briggs OHV Intek & OHV SnowMax? The Professional is 6" narrower but does it make up for it with a better engine? or is it the same engine just marketed different for a different model? Or could I just save myself $150 and gain 6 inches in width and have the same engine? On the Simplicity website it lists the models in HP while the dealer sheet I have it lists them in torque. I'll list it out for anybody that's interested. P1524E HP10.5 torque14.5, P1628E HP11.5 torque15.5, P1732E HP13 torque16.5. L9528 HP9.5 torque13.5. Anyways that's directly from their website and literature so that kind of helps me understand how Briggs compares their HP and Torque ratings.
Thanks again guys

Back in High School I worked at a gas station that did tire repair and sales. When we had a real difficult fitment problem like that with trailer tires, bobcats, etc... and the belt wouldn't work we used to give it a small shot of starting fluid on the inside on the rim, stand back 5-10 feet and throw a match at it. BOOM!! :) It would automatically seal right on the bead :) Looking back that was probably one of the dumber things we did, but it worked. I DO NOT RECOMMEND, NOR CONDONE THE METHOD, but it works. Off the vehicle of course.

Thanks for the fast replies, I'm actually leaning towards the Simplicity right now, a local dealer has a couple L10530's on hand for $1499, $100 off MSRP. Now if I could just convince my live in banker it's worth $450 more than the Craftsman. Anybody out there have this specific model or one similar and have any insights or reviews? Any non-partisan websites with reviews?

Thanks again

I've been researching here for weeks trying to make up my mind on which blower to get. I've got it narrowed down to either the Craftsman 881060 with the Briggs OHV for $1050 or to pony up another $600-700 for a better name brand, Ariens/Toro/Simplicity. Is it really worth the price difference for the name brands? We're talking 50% again of what you would pay for the whole machine. True, Craftsman build quality can be sketchy at times(Craftsman chute control vs. Toro), but this model does have most of the options that the others offer at a lot lower cost. I guess I would prefer the high HP/torque Briggs OHV engine but I can't find it in a name brand machine without dropping close to $2000. Any advice or suggestions?
Thanks
p.s. I live in Minnesota on the edge of a big lake and have a 20x100ft concrete driveway that drifts up to 40" multiple times in the winter.