Quote:You'll have to give us a Consumer Report on that electric snowblower, Bob.I know you were half-joking, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Toro 1800 Power Curve Snowthrower, Model no. 38381. According to my brother-in-law it's so new they couldn't get it in stores, they had to order it and have it shipped to them. By spec it's supposed to handle up to 12" of snow, in 18-inch wide swaths, but frankly, I was doing two feet of (light, fluffy) snow with it in about two passes. Next time, I'll take my brother-in-law's advice and go out mid-storm and take down the drive when the snow's six to eight inches, and finish it off afterward, but just attacking the aftermath of this snow straight seemed to work just fine.
It took me a little bit to get used to it, so this first usage probably took longer than it would normally have -- I spent about 3.5 to 4 hours outside (where I normally take 2), but that also included doing the sidewalks, which I normally don't bother with after a storm of that magnitude. I'm expecting that next time I should go a bit faster.
My only complaint is that by god is it paranoid about getting out of your hands and control. This starts with a safety key that has to be inserted in the handle before you can press an interlock button that then allows you to squeeze the power control bar -- which finally starts the thing spinning. (And lets out that little mouse.) You then must hold the power control bar with both hands or the thing promptly shuts off. If you let go far enough you have to press the interlock button again to let you start it once more. Most of my first half hour to hour of using the damned thing was getting used to how sensitive it was to being "let go"; sometimes it seemed like if I didn't keep a deathgrip on the power bar at all times with both hands, it would simply shut down on me. I eventually figured out how to keep it running if I had to hold it one-handed, but until then it was annoying and frustrating.
But once I had that figured out, it chewed through snow 18 to 24 inches deep with only a little extra effort. I even managed to take down most of the end-of-driveway plow-built berm with it, although for the tallest part I helped it by breaking it down with a shovel.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.