Toro 1800 Power Curve Snow Blower

Not true, not true and not true.

meh.

kind of a mickey mouse type of snowblower, single stage is weak, shoveling small amounts of snow is good for you and easier than using a machine…

if you live where i do and get the amount of snow we get,[minnesota] then you know that only gas powered will help you in the really heavy minnesota winters.

this thing will not move any kind of real amount of snow, that i couldnt do better by hand with a shovel…

I’m in Northern Illinois, not much farther south than you, and we get lake effect snow on top of the normal snowfall. Now, this year has been pretty light, but we got 22 inches during snowmaggedon, and I (middle-aged woman) had no problem keeping up. It snowed for twenty eight hours, and went out there twice. No problems pushing it at all; the stuff at the foot of the driveway was harder than the rest, but my neighbors struggled with their gas powered models as well, and one whose gas machine never turned over ended up asking to borrow mine when I finished so he could get his car out of his driveway.

protip: don’t run over the power cord with the blower.

I have had the older model for 3 winters in Minnesota. It’s so lightweight you can easily get through snow banks and deep snow. I actually finish faster than my neighbors with their fancy 2 stage gas snowblowers. Get a long power cord that is winterized (won’t be stiff in cold weather and you’ll be fine). The chute direction control rod comes off occasionally (on my older model) so maybe build quality isn’t great but I swear by the utility of this tool.

Obviously you’ve never used one of these. I’m also in Minnesota and my father owns one of these as well as a bigger two stage blower. I’d say he uses this electric blower 75% of the time for those measly snowfalls of less than 4 inches or so. It works great for him.

I’ve got a gas powered single stage blower and use it much more than my larger two stage.

Not everyone needs a 12hp 28" two stage blower.

I would be in for one if Woot would send this to an APO address! Right now I use an electric leaf blower to clear powdery snow off my walk in Korea, or a shovel if the snow is too wet…both are slow and somewhat difficult. Would love to buy this puppy :frowning:

Sorry. :frowning:

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

My neighbor has a honda gas powered snowblower, that is about the same size. The thing is that remember electric produces the same torque regardless of rpm, while the gas powered one loses torque (hp doesn’t matter in snow blowers) when it starts to bog down. So in heavier snow drifts my neighbor’s 700 dollar honda bogs and stalls while I have a greenworks that while bogs does not stall.

Actually electric motors produce torque regardless of rpm. It handles wet snow better than my neighbor’s Honda snow blower of similar size. I can throw snow plowed dirty snow 4 feet even though its the consistency of a slushie.

Also my greenworks handled 13 inches of snow from nemo just fine.

A little more repetition. Bought one for my ladyfriend about 7 years ago in VA. Works quite well in the right conditions, meaning about 6" in lightweight snow with no problem, about 4" in heavy, wet snow with some slogging/clogging. When we’re going to have more than 6" (e.g., snowmageddon), she’ll do multiple passes, i.e., she’ll do a run at the first 6", then another run at the next 6", etc. Will not do icy snow such as that left by a street plow, plan on shoveling that. She’s in her 60’s and wouldn’t be able to handle a gas powered blower but has no problem with this electric model, it can be carried with one hand easily. At the time I bought it, it was the most powerful electric model available and that still seems to be the case.

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.

Good luck to anyone who buys this unit.

First off this is a snow thrower, not a snow blower. There is a difference.

I hope you only use it for light, fluffy snow on a sidewalk or back deck. Maybe a light snow on a normal size driveway. And that packed in snow that the plows push to the end of your driveway? You’ll burn the motor out trying.

Also, have fun dragging a cord around. I hope it doesn’t fall out every 30 seconds for you.

And this entire machine is plastic, its almost a toy.

If you want a REAL snow-blower you should be prepared to spend at least $400-500 on the low end. For $130 you get what you pay for. Cross your fingers.

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’m 32 but I have asthma so this little thrower helps out a lot!

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.

With these types of throwers the cord is the most annoying part. Just keep it to your left or right, make sure it unwinds right and get a good color like red that will be visible above the snow.

With a little practice you’ll be fine. Don’t try it out for the first time with all your neighbors out shoveling and watching/judging you if possible!

Thera are a lot of good comments posted about the Toro 38381 18-Inch 15 Amp Electric 1800 Power Curve Snow Blower. See the post by Lem for a very good discussion of the different types of snow blowers. This model was the higest rated electric snow blower by Consumer Reports, but it was still not recommended. They judged it poor at snow removal speed, poor at plow pile removal and fair at throwing distance.

For 15 amp device home depot recommends:
Max cord length Gauge
50 ft 14
100 ft 12
150 ft 10
kuma99 sensibly recommends next thickest gauge for each length. You need a cord rated to stay flexible in cold weather and a gfci cord or outlet makes sense in snow and salt.

Two good links to info on required guage by amperage and lnegth of cord:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=Extension_Cords_Reels&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053
http://home.mchsi.com/~gweidner/extension-cords.pdf

========================
Just used a Greenworks electric snow thrower after Nemo dumped about a half a foot on my driveway. It was the first use of it and I also was skeptical but
it did an excellent job.

I too live in Chicago (Buffalo Grove). I have one of these. Sorry to be a buzzkill but it’s a piece of crap. We bought this back in 2010 just in time for the storm in January of 2011 when we had 2 feet of snow. It was very frustrating. The main problem is that it’s not self propelled and you have to push it while simultaneously squeezing the bar that turns on the auger. After the couple of hours that it took me to clear my driveway my hands were all cramped up and my forearms were sore for the next few days. The electric cord constantly gets in the way. And of course it’s very weak. Works OK on under 6" of powdery snow but anything over that or wet snow… forget it. Especially wet snow - what a nightmare. This thing doesn’t throw wet snow, it drools it. The only advantage this electric blower has it’s that it’s light and small enough to be put in the laundry room sink for the snow to melt. In every other aspect it’s horrible. Finally after 2 very frustrating winters this year we bought a 2-stage gas blower. Of course we didn’t have snow for the first 2 months of winter but the last couple of weeks the 2-stage blower got a workout, including wet snow. What a difference. The conclusion - it’s a great idea but the implementation is subpar. It’s probably better than a shovel but nowhere near as good as a self-propelled gas blower.

Does anyone know how the blades are constructed? I had the smaller version of this for about 3 hours during Nemo and the plastic holders of the tire material blades broke off while plowing about 3 inches of snow. These blades look better but I can’t tell if they are metal or plastic.