Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Looks like I may be the first reviewer for this product so I'll try to be detailed. I bought this after debating this product or an electric snow shovel for cleaning my deck and walkway. I settled on this because of the following reasons: - It has an 11 Amp motor which is bigger than the 10 Amp motor on the 323E/324E or the 7.5Amp on the Toro. - It is 15 inch as opposed to the 12-13 inch on the shovels. - It has a 180 degree directional discharge chute and the electric snow shovels don't. - It is still light enough that I can move it around with ease (as opposed to my 200lb Craftsman 24 inch dual stage snow blower). Note that this product weighs about 22lbs on my bathroom scale so that may not necessarily be consider lightweight to some people, but light enough for me to carry it up and down the stairs with ease. - It has 8 inch snow depth as opposed to the 4"-6" on the electric shovels. - It is not much more expensive than the shovels. - It's made by a reputable company. The snow thrower (this is single stage so technically this is not a snow blower) comes packed on a small box that I easily carried up the stairs. First impressions from my wife is that it looks like a toy, which helped me justify the purchase by saying it was not expensive, so that's a plus on my list. The wheels do look a little cheap but perhaps they are all that they need to be. The rest looks solid enough. The plastic auger blade seems durable. It is easy to assemble and instructions are detailed with good detailed drawings and they come in English, Spanish and French. The only issue I had assembling it was with the deflector bolt because the included washer prevents the square neck of the bolt to catch on the discharge chute inner hole that is supposed to hold the bolt and prevent it from turning when the deflector knob is being tightened. Snow Joe, if you're reading this, you can easily solve this issue by using a bolt with a longer neck. But no biggie, just use a pair of pliers to hold the deflector bolt while you tighten the deflector knob, once it catches on then you don't need the pliers anymore and you can just tighten the knob as intended. There is conflicting information about the required extension cord for this unit (which is not included and needs to be purchased separately), Snow Joe's website says you need 12g for 100ft and 14g for 50ft but the product comes with a warning booklet attached to the power cord that says to use a 14 gauge for 100ft and a 16g for 50ft, same as it says on the manual. They all say not to use an extension cord longer than 100ft. Overall I think this is a good product for the price as listed on Amazon, which is lower than manufacturer's retail. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet so I'll update this review after I try it out.