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Used this for the first time today: dug my 50' driveway out from 12"-16"of snow (mostly dry, powdery stuff). Am surprised at how strong the motor is. Saved me at least 2 hours of hard shoveling and no strain on my back either. My only nitpick is that it's tricky to tighten down the hood on the exhaust chute to just the right tension, and you have to use tools to make adjustments. The force of the snow kept pushing the hood up so that snow went out at a higher angle than I would have liked. Will need to tighten it down some more after the thrower has dried out. Other than that, the thrower works great: plug it in and go.
Update 12/20/2009: Took it out for the first time this season. It went 10' down the drive and then stopped. Outlet was fine, cord was fine, blower not. I shoveled the drive by hand, ordered a replacement off Amazon, then figured "what the heck, I got nothing to lose at this point" and opened it up. (Note to self: next time, just take off one of the black side panels rather than immediately unscrewing everything holding the big, shiny red cowling on...) I didn't smell or see any melted plastic and all the belts were intact. Then I noticed that the ends of the black wire that connect the motor to the on/off switch in the handle had come unclamped. (smacks head!) I hooked them back up with a new electrical connector, put all the screws and bolts back on, and the thrower fired up just like new and I was able to clear the pile of snow the plows had just deposited at the end of my drive. Lesson learned - sometimes appliances _can_ be fixed by the user.Get more detail about Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower #38025.
