kuma99 wrote:electricity + wet = yikes.

This bad-boy pulls 15 amps. That means you ned a real outlet. 3-prong and preferably gfci.

Longer cord ups the amperage requirement

50 foot needs 12 ga cord.

100 feet needs 10 ga cord.

150 feet needs gas blower.

longer the cord, more it draws. Same with wetter snow- it will pull a higher amperage.

Be safe.

I don't know what experts recommend for wire gauge, but I have had one of these for a decade, and run it with 300 feet of mixed 12 and 14 gauge cords plugged into a GFCI. You don't need a 3-prong cord/outlet unless the equipment has a ground prong. As this is double-insulated, it probably does not require it. I currently (heh) use a 300 foot cord made from 2, 100 foot, 12 gauge cords, and a single 100 foot 14 gauge cord on the end closest to the equipment. The joints are soldered, heat-shrinked, and wrapped with waterproof tape. The lighter cord on the equipment end makes it lighter to pull along with me. I've been using this setup for over 15 years, for snow and for my lawn, and have had zero problems.

Here in New England I just dealt with a 27" snowfall last weekend using a decade old version of this blower. I cleared 9" off Friday night, and cleared drifts over the height of the top of the chute on Saturday once the snow stopped. It takes patience, but it gets the job done. It is MUCH easier then hand shoveling. This is easily worth $135 delivered for me. Replacement parts for the wear surfaces (skids, blade, and impeller) cost ~$40 every 4-5 years, so getting a new chassis and motor along with it is a no-brainer.

SalsaShark42 wrote:Yeah, good luck with this, unless you live in Texas.

It's electric and has no torque, which makes it completely ineffective at handling "wet" snow.

It's also single stage, which means if you get anything more than, say, four inches of snow, this thing will clog.

Do you have one of these? I do and mine has never clogged! The essential idea here is that it is made by Toro! The same company that makes all the high powdered gas snow blowers used in snow country. That's why I bought this and that's why it works just like every other toro snow plow! BECAUSE IT'S A TORO. Can you imagine Toro building something cheap that would wreck their reputation?

don't have much use for this in Florida :P

These comments are all well and good, but I think everyone's forgetting the really important question here: exactly how hard was it to type the write up for this?? With all the random bold, italic and underlines? One More Friday Gone! Did your eyes go completely buggy after writing it?
:o)

I live in FL.and I talked to my old friend in Milford CT. the other day,and he told me the first foot of snow was the wet stuff,and the other two feet was power,and he has a 13HP gas snow blower,and his went right through the hard packed stuff with know problem,but some of his neighbors had the smaller engine,not sure of the HP on those,and could not cut through the hard packed snow,so my friend used his to help out.So I guess this one would be ok for light snow.When I lived in CT.their was no such thing as a snow blower,the shovel was the mover.

This is why Frosty is smiling...

Will this handle Texas snow storms?

GURABoy wrote:I've seen a lot of snow blowers over the years, but always gas-powered. Anyone have any experience with electric? Decent price, but I have to say I'm skeptical, like I am of electric chainsaws...

I bought one, similar size and amps to this one but not a Toro, back in December. Last week we got about 8 inches of snow. The electric blower handled it just fine. Much better than expected.
The small size also makes it easy to store and maneuver. If you don't have a huge property to clear, I would recommend an electric blower.

Who's the person in New Mexico that bought this. Does this double as a sand blower?

SalsaShark42 wrote:Yeah, good luck with this, unless you live in Texas.
It's electric and has no torque, which makes it completely ineffective at handling "wet" snow.
It's also single stage, which means if you get anything more than, say, four inches of snow, this thing will clog.

My experience disagrees with you. There is plenty of torque. One smart thing that was done by the manufacturer is that they make opening the right size so that you can't try to move more snow than the motor can handle. Wet snow is a problem, but it is a problem for all blowers that are this size. If you don't wait for the snow to sit and start to melt into slush, you will have much less clogs. Clogging is more a function of the size of the chute than of the power using to drive the blower. This blower will easily handle 8" inches of snow, probably more. Maybe you tried a crappy electric blow in the past. The current ones are not bad at all. The biggest drawback is you need to deal with the cord.

I will stick with my Wovel. Costs about the same, no cord to deal with, works great.

http://www.wovel.com/

chrismcclure wrote:Also note the puny little sissy wheels...it's likely you'll have to shovel a spot to start so you can get it going. Definetely not for places like South Dakota. $120 is nice, but just not useful up here

keep in mind that the wheels don't really come into play when you are blowing snow. When you are blowing snow the spinning rotor causes the blower to float over the snow and get pulled forward.

rocknrollohio wrote:Even though electric snow blowers are not near as good as the gas powered models, this Toro 1800 power curve is consumer reports present top rated electric snow blower

I feel this needs some further explanation. This is indeed Consumer Reports' top-rated electric snow blower, but CR hates the electric blowers. As the top model, this blower scored a 38 out of 100. Top gas-powered blowers score in the high 70s and 80s.

I have no experience with electric snow blowers and it may be fine for some situations - just thought a follow up was warranted.

GURABoy wrote:I've seen a lot of snow blowers over the years, but always gas-powered. Anyone have any experience with electric? Decent price, but I have to say I'm skeptical, like I am of electric chainsaws...

Had essentially the same Toro model about 15 years ago. Was great-everyone wanted to borrow it.
Bought it for $ 150-sold it to a neighbor who had previous borrowed it for $ 100 when I moved to FL.

Only thing was that when you expect alot of snow have to go out every couple of hours to keep ahead of the snow. But no big deal because it did such a great job.

avante296 wrote:Alternative: On Amazon there is a similar toy for 20% less with similarly good reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Joe-SJ620-13-5-Amp-Electric/dp/B0040X4VBC

I do not have knowledge of either, just noted price dif. and spec similarity.)

I have the snowjoe. It works really well. Definitely worth the money.

My mother got one of these because she couldn't push the gas powered around (even though it walks it self if you let it...) This little thing works great though. I live in Wisconsin and it has seen 4 winters now. It is limited to the range of your power cord, and due to the nature of water and electricity I wouldn't suggest using two cords. It will not chunk through Ice after a melt and freeze like the big gas one will, and it doesn't do the heavy chunks that the snow plow leaves at the end of the drive very well at all, but other than that have never had a problem. Even deep heavy snow as it is light enough to push it on top of the first half and then do the bottom half (talking about 14 inches in this case). It also has no problems with sticks and the like, just spits them on through, usually whole. Light weight and seems cheap - every winter I bring it out I think 'this is going to suck...' and it does a remarkably good job.

hushpuppy20 wrote:
I had the problem with the cord coming unplugged on me, getting wet in the snow, and then I'd be afraid to plug it back in. It might not be the safest thing to do but I've started duct taping the cord to the connector.

You can pick up devices that will the plug together, but you can get back without it. You just need to tie a knot and then plug it in. When the cord pulls on the knot it just tightens up without falling out.

I'm just here to say I live in Memphis and have no idea what this is for

Cheers.

I wonder why there is so much hate towards a very useful device? For those touting all the great things about their gas blowers, try the electric one and you will be pleasantly surprised. There is no gas to mix with oil or store in the garage. It is light weight and easy to maneuver. Your gas blower is self propelled because there is no way you could push such a heavy machine around. Not to mention that even self propelled it is not that easy to maneuver. Unless you live somewhere that gets storms that regularly dump 8 or more inches of snow on your property, an electric is hard to beat. Just don't expect it to get through frozen piles of snow that easily.

I've had mine for over 10 years. No problems in any snow but you do have to layer it if it is too deep. No gas to mess with, no maintainance just plug it in and go. I live in NW New Jersey where we do get quite a bit of snow in a normal season. Highly Recommended !

dviglino wrote:...anywhere that is not on the walkways or driveway.

I saw this and thought: YES! Finally! But then saw it was electric. Guess it could work right outside the garage, but I'd need a LONG extension cord for the driveway... and then I'm worried about electric outages.

Still. Pretty good price...

How long is the cord?

Mason Dixon line is (not) surprisingly well defined in the sales map.

gooseygoose wrote:Its crazy there is actually places that get enough snow to blow around. Tell me oh people who actually get a winter, where do you blow the snow to?

Climax....

If only it snowed in Houston...

gooseygoose wrote:Its crazy there is actually places that get enough snow to blow around. Tell me oh people who actually get a winter, where do you blow the snow to?

I blow it on my neighbors driveway and house, naturally!

acanarelli wrote:There are a few things you need not worry about with electric equipment over gas: Electric starts EASY. No need to drain fuel at end of season. Very light weight. No fire hazard keeping fuel in garage. Far less expensive than the gas alternative. Easy to store, hangs up on garage wall. No need for repair charges every 3 to 4 years.

Btw, I own a small Toro electric which my wife bought me about 25 years ago. I still have it and I still use it.

Completely agree. Here in PA we usually get 6 inches of snow or less and this does the job well. We are completely inept with gas powered equipment, so this definitely was our only choice.

If we get more snow than this can handle, we have a neighbor with a big snow blower .

Highly recommended and a great price since it's NEW!

If it snows a lot in your area or more than 6 inches at a time -- I would recommend a two-stage snow blower it's a bit more expensive but it will do the job right. And if you want a single stage, maybe opt for a gas powered one. Many people in the NE didn't have power after NEMO.

Would I like to buy a snow blower for next year? You bet! But an electric one? C'mon Woot, how good is that on a long driveway??

Your 'single stage' comment is 100% false. I have a single stage Toro and just handled a 12 inch wet snow.. no clogging.

SalsaShark42 wrote:Yeah, good luck with this, unless you live in Texas.

It's electric and has no torque, which makes it completely ineffective at handling "wet" snow.

It's also single stage, which means if you get anything more than, say, four inches of snow, this thing will clog.

Only a dunderhead would go out and try to clear 18 inches of snow with this. How about a sane approach, go out there twice !

aliusa wrote:If it snows a lot in your area or more than 6 inches at a time -- I would recommend a two-stage snow blower it's a bit more expensive but it will do the job right. And if you want a single stage, maybe opt for a gas powered one. Many people in the NE didn't have power after NEMO.

I presume this is a push blower and not self-propelled. yes?

I've got 3 shovels, a wife and 2 kids. Why the hell would I need this?

SalsaShark42 wrote:Yeah, good luck with this, unless you live in Texas.

It's electric and has no torque, which makes it completely ineffective at handling "wet" snow.

It's also single stage, which means if you get anything more than, say, four inches of snow, this thing will clog.

I own this model and while you are correct regarding wet snow you are very wrong about it clogging with more then 4 inches. It works great with even 12 inches of snow as long as it's fresh snow. If the snow has sat a day or so and hardened it doesn't have enough power. At $129 this is a steal.

tumadreconcaso wrote:Mason Dixon line is (not) surprisingly well defined in the sales map.

Came here to say this.

fgarriel wrote:I've got 3 shovels, a wife and 2 kids. Why the hell would I need this?

Because according to your picture at least one of those is an infant with dubious shoveling capabilities at best.

keep in mind this is CORDED, so you'll need a sufficiently long outdoor-rated cord. And use it ONLY on concrete, not gravel or grass (the blades are plastic and they WILL break; I can tell you from personal experience).

jsdplh wrote:How long is the cord?

short. You'll need to get an extension cord for the length you need.. be sure it's cold and outdoor rated. DONT USE AN INDOOR cord.

bluetide wrote:I am looking for a snow blower for quite a while now, gas-powered ones, but they are three times this price. Any suggestions why someone would opt for electric for gas beside the price point? Is it better to spend some more money now to get convenience of having a gas-powered one for the years to come? Any suggestions/comments? Thanks.

edit: one more point, I live in the Midwest/Chicago

there are no comparable SMALL gas snowblowers that I've found, and they're much heavier. This has its limitations but for someone looking for a lightweight snowblower, this is easier than the gas ones and far superior to other electric models with fixed blowers that only blow the snow in front of the machine.

bluetide wrote:I am looking for a snow blower for quite a while now, gas-powered ones, but they are three times this price. Any suggestions why someone would opt for electric for gas beside the price point? Is it better to spend some more money now to get convenience of having a gas-powered one for the years to come? Any suggestions/comments? Thanks.

edit: one more point, I live in the Midwest/Chicago

Spent most of my life in Chicago and now am in Western NY, so I'm familiar with what you experience.
I've had both gas & electric, although my electric is probably a few notches below this Toro. If you're just doing walkways and a short driveway, an electric should suffice and be tolerable. The cord is a pain, and if you're going more than 50 feet from the outlet, I would probably be inclined to suck up the added cost for a gas powered. The plus of an electric besides the cost, obviously, is that you don't have to worry about keeping a supply of gasoline if you get snowed in and can't get to the gas station.

I have a 2 stage gas model that will go through waist high snow packed in from the plows. However we usually don't have near that amount of snow. (chicago area)

I no longer have any gas tools except for the blower. I use a corded or reel mower instead. So I procrastinated in picking up gas for my blower and making sure it starts and ended up clearing my driveway the old fashioned way. A lot of times I would shovel anyway rather than wait for it to warm up. So I ordered a cheap snowjoe that I will try soon.

I would like to give the 2 stage to my Dad who has more interest in tinkering with it. If you do a little extra work and break up the plowed snow with a regular shovel can these electric throwers handle that at least?