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mikiewest


Joined: Dec 29, 2007
Points: 262

Ariens is at it again.......
Original Message   Aug 28, 2010 7:16 am
Why must Ariens always try to give the appearance that you are getting more with their snowblowers?????For instance,Toro power max 1028OXE has a 305cc B&S engine.But Ariens has a" 305cc Ariens Polar Force Engine by B&S on their  Pro 26"Am I missing something ??I doubt B&S manufactures .a special polar force engine for Ariens lol.Also they have an ice drill manual chute control translation ...chute rotator and they have an (xs aluminum gear box )translation....aluminum gear box....Memo to Ariens your not fooling anyone into believing that yours is better  lol....That's what I like about Toro and Honda they keep it simple and their products speak for themselves....
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mikiewest


Joined: Dec 29, 2007
Points: 262

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #12   Aug 30, 2010 6:55 pm
get ready mm hurricane ed is coming fri to L.I.
Snowmann


Joined: Dec 3, 2003
Points: 494

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #13   Sep 2, 2010 10:19 pm
mml4 wrote:
C'mon Mikie-Apples to apples. The Sno Tek line isn't meant to compete with the 2 stage Toros but rather to be a less expensive alternative.

May I suggest we agree to compare units from the  different manufacturers that are at the same price point. 

Marc



Not necessary Marc. The Sno-Tek chute is equal or better than the Toro PowerMax chute. The main chute body is made from virgin high-end (6.9 melt index) HDPE with a -105F brittle temperature and .180" wall thickness. Most plastic chutes are .125 or .150 (the Toro PowerMax chute is however equal in thickness at .180"). Also, every attachment point on the Sno-Tek chute is reinforced with steel backing plates (also with a steel hinge and 17 steel rivets, not depicted). The deflector cap and handle are also made from steel (steel parts are shown in yellow). This is not the case on the Toro.

Along with extensive field testing, this chute was impacted 90,000 cycles with a pneumatic cylinder at -15F with no damage, then impacted repeatedly with a .50" steel ball shot from an air tank/gun at 100psi at -15F with only small surface dings resulting (air gun fixture pictured). No cracks, no shattering. The old timers here on this forum might remember that this was not the case with the early PowerMax chutes and impeller housings (~2004?).

As mentioned above, the price disparity between the Sno-Tek and PowerMax isn't small. The Sno-Tek line top to bottom costs roughly half of the Toro PowerMax line, yet still posses an equivalent (or better) chute. Mikie, in lieu of you forfeiting the deed to your house (we can't leave you homeless), please leave a dollar or two in the nearest Children's Hospital donation can when you see one ;-)

  

This message was modified Sep 3, 2010 by Snowmann
mikiewest


Joined: Dec 29, 2007
Points: 262

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #14   Sep 3, 2010 10:38 pm
You are correct once again snowmann.The plastic chute is sooo good that Ariens has it on all their machines like Toro haha haaa.How do you know what tests Toro conducted on their chutes??So now you work for Ariens and Toro??Snowmann instead of your company wasting $$ on some geek in a suit coming up with fancy names ,i.e. ice drill manual chute control,THF chute(I think all companies now have machines with taller chutes LOL),Polar Force Engine...what the heck is a polar force engine??I dont know.Does anyone know??B&S doesnt know..Oh yea your geek in suit came up with that lol.Ariens should ask themselves cant we build a machine that doesnt need modifications every year??Does your company have all the engineer graduates with 1.5 gpa's??What is it, everytime your co puts out a machine ,the engineers say darn we forgot to add that piece.Oh well we will add it next yr and give it a cool sounding name lol.
jviera1298


Joined: Aug 11, 2010
Points: 18

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #15   Sep 4, 2010 12:04 pm
Truthfully, Mikie sounds like some sort of middle or high school child. I wouldn't waste too much time trying to convince someone like him that he is wrong, it'll just turn into more childish mud slinging. I think we all acknowledge that Ariens makes a good product, and that every company has their little naming quirks to try to make something as boring as a snowblower and its components (to the mainstream) sound interesting and unique to get the sale.
mikiewest


Joined: Dec 29, 2007
Points: 262

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #16   Sep 4, 2010 8:08 pm
well jviera thats your opinion.Its sad that u actually think that the sno tek chute is as good as toros.I guess u also work for ariens lol.And you are also privvy to toros testing of their chutes...
Steve_Cebu


Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 888

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #17   Sep 4, 2010 10:14 pm
I have a Toro 1028 with the joystick and yeah the chute is plastic but durable and according to my local dealer they don't really break unless you hit it with something.

I can't speak about brands i haven't owned but I've seen some plastic chutes on machines in Home Depot that looked ultra cheap.

All the companies make Low, middle and high end machines. So I seriously doubt that a $200-300 snowblower will equal a $1,300 snowblower. You tend to get what you pay for.

I like everything about the Toro 1028 I have. Honda has screwed itself by not putting a differential lock on their machine IMO.

If you like Sno-Tek or whatever brand buy it. But if it doesn't work as well as other brands well.....

I like Toro, Honda, and Yamaha. Ariens has dissapointed me wit their reduction in quality from what I saw at the dealer.

Oh and they sold out of Toro before Ariens. That doesn't mean Ariens isn't good but it does offer some things the Ariens doesn't.

In that price range they  are all pretty darn good machines.

Vote with your wallet. :)

"If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England."  "If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England."
jviera1298


Joined: Aug 11, 2010
Points: 18

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #18   Sep 5, 2010 10:37 pm
Mikie, I didnt say anything about the SnoTek machines... I simply commented on your immature posting style and the fact that a similarly priced Ariens is every bit as good as a Toro. SnoTek units are cheaper than equivalent Toro units, so you really cant compare them fairly... they have their place. I'll take the metal chute over the plastic one on the Toro, and the control on the Ariens I just feel like will work in icy conditions better than the joystick. Ive seen stories of those joysticks freezing up from time to time. I think Toro makes a good unit, as well as Ariens. Mikie's bashing of Ariens is about their naming conventions and a pitiful apples to oranges comparison between SnoTek (budget) models and Toros models which are in the price range of the higher end Ariens series.
Steve_Cebu


Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 888

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #19   Sep 5, 2010 11:56 pm
jviera1298 wrote:
Mikie, I didnt say anything about the SnoTek machines... I simply commented on your immature posting style and the fact that a similarly priced Ariens is every bit as good as a Toro. SnoTek units are cheaper than equivalent Toro units, so you really cant compare them fairly... they have their place. I'll take the metal chute over the plastic one on the Toro, and the control on the Ariens I just feel like will work in icy conditions better than the joystick. Ive seen stories of those joysticks freezing up from time to time. I think Toro makes a good unit, as well as Ariens. Mikie's bashing of Ariens is about their naming conventions and a pitiful apples to oranges comparison between SnoTek (budget) models and Toros models which are in the price range of the higher end Ariens series.


Honestly I don't see how the Toro is going to freeze up after using mine even in freezing rain. Maybe a few might freeze up but that's because water got into the cables and that can happen with any machine.It's an easy fix just spray some stuff into teh cables and the water is gone and retighten. I also disagree with the metal chute is better, it's not. The plastic sheds sticky snow better. Plastic nowadays doesn't mean cheap and breakable any more. I'll take the Toro plastic chute over the metal chutes on any brand.

"If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in New England."  "If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England."
aa335


Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #20   Sep 6, 2010 10:34 am
Mikie boy, You are way over the top and out of your league. Chill out and find something productive to do. You hardly can make any convincing discussion other than juvenile knee-jerk ramble.
borat


Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Points: 2692

Re: Ariens is at it again.......
Reply #21   Sep 6, 2010 3:22 pm
I owned two 10 h.p. Craftsman machines for over twenty years.  The plastic chute was the last of my concerns.   The first machine rattled itself to death in ten years but I bought it used from a brother-in-law and it had seen lots of hard service and little maintenance.   The second machine I bought new and put a solid ten winters work on it with no real issues other than metal fatigue cracking primarily at the welds and shearing of the drive wheel axle pins in its latter years.  The plastic chutes on those machines held up fine other than the entire chute would fall off of the first machine if I used it in heavy wet snow.   There's really no comparison between those Craftsman machines and the Simplicity I have now.  The quality of the Simplicity is heads and shoulders above the Craftsman machines and the price difference between the two was only $300.00.   From what I see, the Simplicity offers twice the machine for the $300.00 premium.   The Simplicity is an outstanding value.  Too bad they're not making them as well either.  It seems that all the domestics are sliding down the quality scale.
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