Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is our 3rd electric snowblower in the last 15 years. Out of all of them, this model is the best of these kinds of electric snowblowers. History: Our first, the Toro Powercurve 1800, finally died this year after 14 years of service. The huge ice chunks plowed in from the town broke its blade. Side by side with the Snow Joe, the Toro looks puny. But, the Toro gave us many years of trouble-free service. Because parts are still readily available, we'll repair it and use it to clear porches and steps. It's lightweight and small enough to replace a manual shovel. The Toro is a champ and we expect many more years of service out of the Toro after our repairs. Our second electric snowblower was a Greenworks model. It was inexpensive and worked OK as a fill-in. BUT, it's cheaply made and poorly designed. Bolts flew off during service. The turning chute wasn't designed for snow because all it did was collect snow in the collar and ice up. In order to use it we had to use a hair dryer to de-ice it so that the chute would turn. It's completely zip-tied together at this point and we'll be glad so see the back of it. We're sending it to the dump and won't buy this manufacturer's products again. None of these problems occurred with either the Toro or the Snow Joe. Now we come to this Snow Joe. We bought this older, soon to be no longer available model because we like several features not available on the new and 'improved' versions of this snowblower. The first is the handlebar across the top for the power and the second is the stability bar across the handles for the chute turning control. For power control, all of the newer Snow Joe models have the flip out plastic lever on one side and they're a pain (same as the Greenworks) to use because they're only for one hand. If you have a lot of snow to blow, that hand gets tired fast. The top bar on this particular model means that it can be powered with either or both hands, it reduces fatigue and makes it easier to run. The removal of this bar in the newer designs isn't an improvement (Snow Joe, take note). For stability, the removal of the stability crossbar for the chute control is also not an improvement. When the snow gets deep, this bar serves multiple functions. It makes the control of the chute direction easier, it stabilizes the chute control and stabilizes the machine's entire handle structure in heavy work. Snow Joe, please bring back both of these features in your next versions. Lastly, it has POWER!. We love the big back wheels for movement and stability. Its 21 inch chute width makes the job about 2x faster than its predecessors (in our lives). The machine's blade is hardened rubber attached to a steel auger. This is a huge improvement over all other manufacturers who still use plastic blades. This rubberized blade won't crack or chip in cold weather and the steel auger is strong. The rubber parts of the blades will be easy to replace once they get dog-eared by removing a couple of bolts. The chute's turning mechanism is smooth and neither sticks nor has a mind of its own during operation. It stays where it's set until the operator moves it. In wet snow the chute doesn't direct the snow as well is it might. For some reason the snow sputters around the exit instead of shooting out. But, it still throws deeper snow about 15' - 20' and clears right down to the pavement. It's good in both powder and wet snow. Lastly, it's good for snow depths that are deeper than its 12 inch; rating. To use the Snow Joe in deep snow means smaller bites (not the full 21 inch; width) and a slower walk. But, hey, for snow anything's better than manual shoveling. We've cleared snow as deep as 18 inches; in a single pass. We don't recommend this and normally will remove snow 2-3x over the course of a storm instead of trying to do it all at once. But, it does snow overnight...lol. In places like Tahoe where it's 3-5' feet of snow over a couple of days, the only thing that removes this amount of snow is a full-on plow. So, no, the Snow Joe won't tackle 2-3' of snow in a single pass. There's the nifty LED light up on the handle. In the newer models the light is now in front of the discharge chute. In deep snow that light placement is useless, so we're glad to have the light high up on the handle. With big storms, we sometimes have to make a pass at night or face a wall of snow in the AM. The light helps a lot. Out of the box, set-up was a breeze. All that was required was the connection of 4 super large, easy to handle knobs, install the chute control, snap the power lines into their clips and you're ready to go. Our only nit is cord control. With an electric snowblower, one of our major gripes with all manufacturers is that it doesn't seem as if anyone in design & development has actually used one of these snowblowers. We need to be able to move the electric cord from one side to the other easily to keep it out of the snow and far from the blades. Once the first couple of paths are cleared, the electric cord is put in the cleared area so that we can see it, not slip on it and plow the rest of the snow quickly. Maybe a slider bar on the back of the handle to easily move the cord from side to side? To address this cord management problem, we installed a second stabilizer bar across the handles that allows us to tie the cord around it and then connect it to the machine's plug. This also stops the cord from unexpectedly coming unplugged. This way, we can easily slide the the cord from one side of the snowblower to the other without wasting time fiddling with it or the need to have it in hand while operating the machine (take another note, Snow Joe). All in all, we like this machine so much and Amazon's current amazing price that we ordered a 2nd one as a back-up until we decide that we want a small Kubota or Husqvarna tractor for all of our landscaping and maintenance needs.