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

Hi all,

I've been reading this and other forums for quite sometime for research into the best snow thrower for my needs. I live in SE New Hampshire, and often fall within the higher snowfall band that typically cuts from SE Mass to the NH seacoast. My driveway is 90' long and widens to around 36' down a gentle grade to my 2 car garage under my attached family room. For years we had a guy come with a plow for a very reasonable price, but eventually he gave up the business, and we've been shoveling the last 3 yrs.

Most of my neighbors have various snow throwers in the 8-9hp range, most of them being Craftsman models. I asked my neighbor up the road for his opinion, who had purchased many snow throwers for his employer, and he recommended Toro as a brand to consider. He said the QuickStick and the plastic chute are by far the best features, so I went to a local dealer to check them out. I had thought the Cub Cadet model that Home Depot carries for $749 looked like a good deal at first, based on features, but come to find out it's only 5hp. When I saw one at the store I thought it was not all that sturdy and the handle assembly was a bit wobbly, with twist type bolts with butterfly plastic heads. I can see these eventually vibrating loose over time.

I checked out Philbrick's Power Equipment in North Hampton, NH, and thought they were excellent. They had a huge stock of Simplicity, Husqvarna, Toro, and Honda models to choose from. The 826LE was on sale for $1099, with the 828 LXE with the FreeWheel steering for $1400. The sales staff was very professional and knowledgeable. They recommended but didn't 'hard sell' the tire chains that I had already decided to get on my brother-in-law's advice who made the trip with me to help unload it once I got it home. The salesman also recommended the shear bolts for the the serrated auger, and after including those to the chains, I was out the door for $1177.

Based on this experience, I'd recommend trying to find a local dealer over the big box store, especially when they have a large service department, with a large parts inventory on site. When they were ringing up my order, the woman behind the counter was saying to her coworker who offered to bring coffee, "That would be great, I've been here since 8:30.." I said, but aren't your hours 10-4 on Sunday? "Yes, but yesterday was crazy, and we still had service orders to process and we needed to get them done before the storm hits tomorrow". This is the kind of family owned and operated (staffed) business I will drive extra miles for.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's storm, which is supposed to deliver a foot or more of snow.



ace72

I'm glad you like your Simplicity, the dealer I mentioned before carried a full line too. I didn't see see a comparable Simplicity model for $1099 that I paid for my Toro, which is normally $1249 USD.

I just finished my driveway in about 20 minutes that was covered with about 5" of heavy wet snow. The Toro blew right through it without a problem and never clogged once. It will be interesting to see how it handles larger amounts.

Here's a link to all the features mine has, I didn't think the FreeWheel control was worth another $300.

http://www.toro.com/home/snowthrowers/gastwostage/feature_826LE_powermaxauger.html

The website is odd that it mentions eliminating the shear pins, cause the auger has sheer bolts which I did pickup and extra 2 pair 'just in case' pictured below.



ace72