snow throwers????

[Destroyer]

Ariens are great machines from all that I've heard and seen. (My neighbor has one and loves it). I run a 26" Snapper and am very pleased with it. (I also have 2 Craftsman units, but the Snapper runs rings around them) You push it into a snow bank, it throws it and looks for more.. To me that's all I want or need.

[yodaddy]

Originally Posted by Destroyer

Ariens are great machines from all that I've heard and seen. (My neighbor has one and loves it). I run a 26" Snapper and am very pleased with it. (I also have 2 Craftsman units, but the Snapper runs rings around them) You push it into a snow bank, it throws it and looks for more.. To me that's all I want or need.

The smaller Craftsman units are on the anemic side. This is the one I'm using now - http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_101...2_07188835000P. I can clear 1 foot of snow off a 660' foot drive and large parking area in about 1.5 hours. 2 feet of snow takes just over 2 hours.

If I ever get another new one I'll be looking at a large tracked Honda.

[cape cod v20]

I have a 7.5 hp 24" Troybilt. I just got it about a month ago ,and seems to do the job.

[phester]

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.

[bassarama]

Ariens gets my vote too.

I had an old 8 HP Craftsman for a few years, I spent more time working on it and trying to get it started than cleaning snow with it. One time I borrowed my neighbors 5 hp Ariens and quickly realized this little machine out performed my old one. At the end of that same week I was a proud owner of an 9HP Ariens...30 minutes worth of snow cleaning with the new machine, the second stage stopped working. I took it back to the store where I bought it from. The store manager give me $100 credit for upgrating to a larger model a 13HP, 34 inch cut Ariens, which were $250 off. Unless the snow is wet, I never have to rev it up all the way even up to 12 inches of light snow, a little over iddling it's all it needs. Wet snow, heavy snow, slushy snow, snow banks, bring it on, this machine will chew it and spit it out...far away!

[Bruce]

I use my F250 and its all terrain tires to clear my driveway when we get our 2-3" of snow... Not that it really matters if i can leave or not, because nothing is open.....

[Road King Cole]

I currently have a 42 inch john deere snow blower attachment for my lawn tractor. I got it years ago because back then I was not sure if I would ever be walking good enough without a crutch to do a walk behind. It's a great unit, but a pain to install\remove every fall\spring
My Dad had an ariens that worked great for about 30+ years...