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I live in Maryland where the snowfall is deep and frequent enough that having a snowthrower is a convenience. With a 50 ft driveway, it becomes a necessity. But a $700 dollar snow tiller becomes overkill.
We've had 5 snow falls since we got this.
Fluffy snow: No sweat. This thing cut my time shovelling by more than 75%. What normally took me 2 hrs to complete took me 30 mins with the power curve.
Compacted semi-melted snow: Also easy. It usually picks up all the way down to the underlying surface so long as its an area that hasn't been driven on or stepped on more than a few times.
Slushy snow: Also fairly easy. But the diverter needs a lock. It tends to drift from the force of heavier snow hitting it.
Ice-snow mix: A more difficult task. The offending mixture needs to be broken up before being thrown. The rotor seems to handle slightly hardened ice platelets pretty well. If its solid ice, forget it.
Deep snowfalls: Anything more than 6-8 inches gives it a hard time. I need to come at it in levels. First a take as much as I can off the top, then come back for a second round on the bottom. In practice, this means working the blower back and forth a foot or two at a time.. first the top then the bottom.
Other (random) thoughts:
- Had the chance to peer inside and was happily surprised to see the simplicity of the design. I was working on the icy snowfall in Feb 2006 in Maryland when the original slush started turning into solid ice as daytime temps dropped by about 10 degs over the hour that I was working on clearing the driveway. Hit a patch of very thick ice. The blower kicked up and the rotor stopped spinning. Cursed under my breath and expected to send it in for service. Opened it up and noticed a belt had slipped off a pulley wheel. Re-seated the belt and happily continued on.
- I have to reiterate the point about the lack of a lock on the diverter. The diverter seems to have a preferred angle and orientation (pitch and yaw) that it drifts to over time. Unfortunately for me, the pitch is way too high, almost throwing the snow straight up in the air. A future redesign by Toro would be terrific.
- I also agree with many others about the bittersweet handle switch. Instant startup. But with thick gloves on (its winter after all!) it sometimes grows difficult to keep the switch depressed. The switch is springloaded and runs along the handlebar. It has a lot of give and holding it down on one end with one hand doesn't always engage the switch. Has to be held with some force. Arthritic users might find this a terribly poor design aspect.
- The heft and weight. It's light and the wheels seem dismal. But this might be as good as it is bad. With the lighter wheels I can slide the unit sideways, which I'm often doing around tight spaces where I don't want to step into deep snow drifts. Having said that, there are times where I wished it was a little heavier so that it isn't bouncing around as much on the heavier icy parts.
- Get an outdoor extension cord for low temperatures. They remain more flexible when its below freezing.
- Its an electric motor so it has the accompanying higher pitched "squeal" than similar gas motors. Not exactly confidence inspiring. But overall, it gets the job done.
Get more detail about Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower #38025.
