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I bought the Toro 1800 from Amazon in December 2005. Initially, I had abit of a problem putting the handle and plate together but eventually got it done. A few days later, we had some snow. I first tried the Toro clearing new snow on my deck.It was easy to clear off the 10-12 inches that fell here in NYS that nite. As noted in other reviews, it was like using a vacuum cleaner.
I had no problems with the 100'extension cord, even when I worked on my driveway (140'+/-)and parking area(about 20'x25')later in the day. I knotted the cord in the special place on the handle and held "the tail" in my left hand. The cord never pulled out and never got near the machine. The Toro blew the snow about 5'-15', but the strong winds made it hard to tell how far it could throw snow on a calmer day.
The next time I used my Toro, when the snow was freshly fallen and the sun was out, the machine was easy to use. However, as the day got colder and the snow got icier, it was abit more difficult to maneuver the machine and it did not clear all the way down to pavement. Actually, that encouraged me to continue on to the unpaved section of my driveway, where the Toro worked just fine, leaving about 1-2" of snow cover-so no worry about stones getting caught in the machine or being spewed out. I think it would have better power if I bought a heavier duty cord.
My only complaint is that the carriage screws on the deflector hood are too long for the locknuts. Nothing keeps the hood in place when it is horizontal, especially with a strong wind. The deflector will fly up and with the wind blowing, I sometimes got covered in snow. I was going to call Toro for shorter carriage screws, per a previous review, but never bothered to do it.
All in all, the Toro 1800 turned out to do a pretty good job, mostly limited by me, a 5'1" couch potato. The few storms we had the past winter weren't bad, and the Toro worked well enough that I did not have to pay anyone to plow the driveway. If the deflector hood would stay put, I would rate the Toro 1800 at 5 stars. As a user of the Toro, I rate myself at 3 stars.
Get more detail about Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower #38025.
