my older Craftsman was a bull.....it is 7hp Tecumseh, not 9 as mentioned earlier....also, I think it is a 24" path, not 26. Reguardless, it is/was a little tank. The new Ariens is basically the same size overall, however, you can fold the handles down when in storage. [they refer to that as being in the Ariens "compact" series]. Same 249cc [9hp] polar force ,briggs and stratton motor as the 28" and 30". My neighbor has a Snapper 7/24....it seems to have good power for a smaller machine, another neighbor has a Honda, 7/8 hp, they are the Mercedes/BMWs of snow machines and come with the same pricetag. Seriously, you can buy two Ariens for the price of one Honda. I used it once last year, just to test drive it, I thought it would have a little more power, but, I was VERY impressed how far it could throw the snow. It put up this column of snow about 20ft. high and nearly 30ft out.....pretty cool. Just cannot justify the 2300/2400.00 pricetag. Whatever you have, it sure beats shoveling.
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