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This is a wonderful product that makes clearing any dept of snow easily and painless painless. It worked wonderful during this last huge storm; we had over 24" and drifts up to 36" It was actually plowing thru snow that was taller than it was. If you can walk, you can use this. It is light and moves very easily even in deep snow. I recommend this product for anyone with mobility, back or heart issues. Of course the down side of having a power cord dragging along behind you is that you can't take off down the block and do the neighbor's walk and drive.
This was a group Christmas gift for our house. Also, when I am done, I am done, no gas smell in the garage, no maintenance. Squeeze HARD while the other person tightens the bolt. Apparently they all do, gas or electric. On the wet, wet snow will did clog up a bit. Just unplug it and forget it until next time, it is light enough to hang on the wall if you need it out of the way. I have an older asphalt drive and I was sick of having the snow shovel snag every four inches on a crack and bump in the pavement. We have an 18' x 90' drive way, four car back parking area and an 80' long sidewalk that must be kept clear due to the insane dog walkers in our neighborhood.
Put some Velcro on the side of the snow blower handle and then stick a few strips of Velcro on the paint stick and it will be there when you need it. I did find that on those really tall snows using a vacuum cleaner, back and forth motion worked better than just forcing it thru. But other than that, my dad and I put it together in about 20 min. If it is not throwing snow, stop using it immediately. It is however, light enough and CLEAN enough to chuck in the car if you do have to make a mercy run to relatives' house.
I use an 18" paint stir stick to clear the chute. It will screw stuff up bad if you don't unclog it. The Toro 1800 Electric Curve Snow Thrower is very light and very easy to move and lets me clear all of my areas with NO BACK PAIN. For the huge drifts I either did them in 9" widths or just knocked the first 12" or so on to the ground with my shovel, cleared it and then went back and gobbled up the rest.
When putting together the snow chute, you will need two people and a pair of big vice grips. I have seen people complain about dragging a cord, but for me dealing with a cord is better than the hassle of trying to start and maintain a gas blower. But I have heard from a few of my male friends that not everyone considers that a downside.
WOW - incredible power for an electric snow blower. The next day, after another 12" of snow - we hit it again and this blower just keep right on ticking and never looked back - it will however clog if you angle the chute too low, so we found that by keeping it set to pitch the snow high, it never clogged, not once. If you don't have PRIME shipping and you regularly buy stuff on Amazon, it's a great deal. We were blowing snow 30' with ease and it was showing blacktop on the first swipe - since it is only rated to 10" of snow, I thought for sure we'd be in trouble - and some was going over the top but it was gobbling up most of it and pitching it well out of the way in no time at all.
Toro even added a stress relief tie off so you can tie your power cord to the handle to relieve the stress on the cord. so high it is. you could lose a finger. Speaking of cords, the manual recommends a maximum 100' cord with 14 gauge wire, however we used a 16 gauge 100' cord with no issues however for safety reasons, it would probably be wise to invest in a 14 gauge cord (12 would be even better but is VERY heavy). OR better yet, just unplug it for a second. We had the 12" wide version and it was adequate for most snows we get here in Northern Virgina - but we just got walloped by 24" and I knew we were in trouble, so I ordered this on a Wednesday evening and had it sitting in my driveway at 10AM the next morning - that lone is amazing.
But if it does clog, simply push the clog down the chute, being very careful to make sure no one is standing at the handle and accidentally triggers the pressure switch built into the handle. I too have a neighbor with a huge gas powered snow blower (he moved here from Chicago) and he was cleaning his 75' driveway at the same time we were and ours was keeping pace with his much wider model - so considering the cost differential and the environment, we are very pleased with our decision to buy this snow blower - Toro makes a great product line and this just verifies that. Well, once we hit 18" and more falling, we ventured out to see what this little lightweight could do and were amazed - I know I keep using that word but truly, this little power house is just incredible. It took a little learning curve to figure out how to pattern our swipes, but after a few minutes we figured it out.
Once I figured out how to deal with dragging the power cord I was able to get the job done in short order. Only problem was figuring out how to handle the power cord. I had to remove the end plate on the main body to pull the slack out of the handle. Total assembly took about 30 minutes. I hate snow.
It handled the 7" of snow as easy as the 4". After reading the reviews I decided Toro had the better product so I bought mine at the local Home Depot. This machine is worth every penny. We are projected to get another 18" of snow tomorrow and I have called around looking for a second thrower so my wife can have her own. My neighbor with the Snow Joe was complaining that his thrower would not clear the 4" mound of snow along the side of his driveway.
The body would ride about 3 to 4" off the driveway throwing the top layer off. Snow when it melts makes my cars dirty. I took it out for a test drive in 4" of snow and it cleared my drive and sidewalk in 15 minutes. After clearing the driveway we went to help out the neighbor who had done nothing to his driveway since it started to snow. Assembly was fairly simple but had a problem assembling the handle. After shoveling my 35' double driveway and 30' sidewalk twice this year I swore I would never do it again.
It cleared the snow right down to the concrete and threw the snow at least 35' plus. Found it easier to not force it down but let it ride as high as it wanted. I was torn between the Snow Joe and the Toro 1800 Curve. I know this because it threw it from the top of my driveway out into the middle of the street. Woke the next morning to 7" of snow. I hate shoveling snow.
That made less work on me as forcing the thrower through 19" snow was tiring. She cleared the driveway and sidewalk in less time with me keeping the power cord out of her way. After plugging in, I started to clear his drive. He measured the depth of snow on his drive and it was 19". Doing short 2 to 3' long cuts then going back and removing the lower layer seemed to work best. He is looking for a Toro 1800 Curve.
I actually enjoy getting out in it now. Four stars only because of the cord. This little machine has changed my whole outlook on snow. When I heard we were getting a third storm with possible 18 - 24" I decided to buy a snow thrower. The thrower was buried in the deep snow and was much harder to push but it threw the snow out clear of the driveway. Showed the wife how to use it and that was a mistake because I have not gotten to use it since.
Slack in the power cord running up the inside of the handle made assembling the handle difficult. After four hours I repeated the process in another 4" of light snow.
You are creating a small avalanche that decreases the height of the snow to where it is manageable for the Toro. Pull the snow shovel handle towards you. Do this across the entire width of your desired path. I just used my Toro electric snow thrower to clear away 30 inches of snow from a 50' long driveway. Works great. First, use a snow shovel to go vertically in about 4 to 5 inches from the edge of the snow with the shovel. After 10 years of using my Toro I found a way to clear a snow path easily when the snow is higher than the 11 inch opening. Push the shovel down about 10 inches or less.
I would buy it again Owned this electric snow blower for 15 years. It runs and runs and runs.
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