Customer Rating:  
Summary: SHOULD BE MARKETED AS A CHILD'S TOY
Comment: Bought yesterday--returned today! Light, 1-1/2 inch snowfall totally baffled this so-called snow thrower. Snow just spun around, accumulating in the impeller, and never made it to the chute. Even my trick of spraying vegetable oil on the impeller and chute didn't help. My 12" Snow Fox purchased on Amazon three winters ago beats the pants off of this modified tin can. I may be losing 6" on the swath, but it's a good trade-off for retaining my sanity. Note to the people who posted positive reviews: are you sure it was snow that you were throwing?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Torro 1800 18" electric snow blower
Comment: This is by far the best purchase that I have bought in a long time!
All my neighbors are trying to get there gas powered units started and i'm just whizing the snow from my sidewalks and driveway.
I'ts hard to beleive that this unit will throw snow 30' but beleive me it
does. I would defenetly without question buy this unit very easy to use!
And Amazon to purchase as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great!!!
Comment: I love my new Toro 1800. It's small enough (I can easily lift it and carry it anywhere I want, including to the basement for storage), it's "greener" than gas-powered snow throwers, and it's cheaper.
You can't expect it to clear *any* amount of snow - but in quite snowy December 2008 here in Chicago, I could use it on 10" of snow. I could not easily use it at the curb though, where village plows put up a lot of heavier snow from the street - used shovel there. If you want to clear all snow with a thrower (i.e., without using a shovel), this Toro might not be for you.
Make sure you can reach all parts of your driveway with 100ft power cord attached to unloaded power outlet (mine is in the garage). Manual says 100ft or 150ft cords would do though.
Also, they have a terrible design of the bolt hole on the right part of the handle, where face plate is attached. You need to insert the bolt through the hole and go around a thick power cord that is inside that tube. It may be tough. Maybe try not to leave it unassembled in the cold for a long time - so that power cord inside that tube remains at least somewhat flexible.
But if you are looking for a complement to your shovel (not a replacement), I would recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Works Great!!
Comment: I purchased this snow blower in order to regularly blow snow from my 30' walkway entrance up to my front door. I also use it to clear a path up to my wood pile from my deck (50'). It works exactly as described. I am having no problems blowing snow. It is quick and easy. The long electric cord is a bit of a pain but manageable. I love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: MY BACK IS GRATEFUL
Comment: I had hopes for this item because my husband and I both have bad backs (I have 4 herniated discs, fibromyalgia and chronic sciatic pain). We have a city house with only about 50 ft of sidewalk, and 10 feet of driveway to shovel since we park the cars at the end of the driveway. I had hoped that since we don't like gas powered tools and have such a small area to do that this item would be great for us. We got the snowblower delivered from Amazon a day before a 12" snow storm. It had been reduced the week I was considering it to 279 so I took it as a sign. Got free super saver shipping. I found it slightly tricky to put together because of the wires through the handle thing, but not as bad as some made it sound. I am a woman with a some mechanical knowledge (more than my husband who also had the flu that weekend). I used it three times during the storm, after each time about 4 inches had come down. It worked great, and was almost exactly like using our electric lawn mower. I was able to move the snow with a basic push pull motion which was SOOO much better than the bending, lifting and throwing of shoveling. The only difference was that the lawn mower still cuts while being pulled back, but the snow thrower only throws snow when moving forward. It pulls itself somewhat so I also didn't find myself having to work hard at pushing it at all. (we had bought the Toro snow SHOVEL which I stopped using years ago because of the effort to push it along). My husband was sick through this storm so I did it all and it was great. I could tell that alot of it was made of plastic so I didn't just go out there and ram it through the heavy stuff the plow left in the driveway. It definitely is not happy to hit chunks of ice and has a lot of plastic parts. It seemed to want to climb up over the icy stuff which was helpful in taking it down in thinner layers to avoid breaking it. I also ALWAYS chop up the stuff with a shovel before shoveling/snowblowing if its had time to freeze. You sort of want to hold onto the machine with two hands (there are two handles) to SHAVE it down where it is icy or full of chunks from the plow. The directions recommend this as well. At @35 lbs it was fine for me to do that. My neighbors looked envious. It took a bit of time, but not having to lift the shovel full of heavy, icey snow was great. I also liked what a open area it cut around the cars, which are parked in a narrow driveway between close houses. When we shovel it usually just slides down and its hard to dig out the cars. We also have uneven slate side walk and driveway that the toro snow SHOVEL didn't work well on, but this snow THROWER was fine on it. Of course my daughter did some clean up work with the shovel afterwards. I don't think any snow blower will get it perfectly clean down to the sidewalk/pavement. So, I only used it for one storm so far, but it saved me alot of back trouble. I would recommend it for those who have small area to clear, who are comfortable using an outdoor electrical corded machine(it does get stiff in the cold and you have to keep it clear!), and those who don't mind "taking it slow and easy" with a small machine that has a lot of plastic parts. If you're someone who demands power, have a large driveway, want to do over 6" at a time or want to be able to just blast through the heavy stuff from the plow, I don't think this is for you. I also am having trouble having the hood stay at a bent angle. Wants to just shoot up straight all the time. So I am working on that, probably needs different bolt/washer. But I really am happy with it so far.
|
