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

I was just at the Home Depot in Edmonton, Alberta and they had the new Toro 621QZE snowblower in stock.  It was priced at $839.  I was going to buy the 421QE last year but read that a lot of people were having problems with gas leaks and there was a recall out on them so I didn't buy one.  Does anyone know if the new 621QZE is using the same engine that was in the 421QE?  It's a Toro Premium 163cc 4 Cycle OHV engine and I'm wondering if it's a Loncin engine.  As in another post, this machine looks huge for a single stage snowblower.  I would have the same problems trying to store it in the garage with 2 cars in there.  There's not much extra room in the garage at all.

The 621QZE model essentially the same as last years 421QE.  Last year's 421's only has two variants, 421Q and 421QE, E for electric start.  The 421 is the premium model, so quick shoot and zip deflector is standard. 

This year's 621 line has all the variants of last year's 221 and 421 models.  You can now get a 621 with or without quick shoot (Q), without or without zip deflector (Z), and with or without electric start (E).  Toro has to be competitive in pricing by offering different price points.  A $800 single stage snowblower won't get a lot of buyers, but $500-$600 is reasonable.

In the past Toro has used 421 to indicate a 4-stroke model, where as the 221 is a 2-stroke.  Now that there is no more 2 stroke models, Toro renamed the 421 to 621 to be consistent with the rest of the industry (HP-Width) designation.

" I would have the same problems trying to store it in the garage with 2 cars in there.  There's not much extra room in the garage at all."  The Toro 418 model would be your consideration if space is an issue.  The performance of this machine has been lackluster.  The size is attractive and the over all package is well done, but the engine is anemic.  I don't recommend this one unless space is the over ruling criteria. 

To me, there's no such thing as "extra room" in the garage.  You have to make room.  I have a 32" wide snowblower that has to get by parked cars in the garage to get outside.  Every year, I move summer equipment that can be carried down to the basement to free up some free space.  If you move things off the side of the car up on shelves or overhead storage, you can get a Toro 21" snowblower in there.    You just have to park one of the cars a biased a bit to the left or right to make it work.

I'm wondering if Toro fixed the leaking gas problem that the 421's had.  I know that there was a recall on it last year and it's posted here.  If the 621 is just a rebranded 421 I'm hoping that the same problem doesn't exist.

I'm sure that because Toro had a recall on the 421's, the problem wouldn't exist on this year's 621's.  It costs them more money to do recall through dealers than taking care of the issue at the plant.