That pricing thing - it's true for a lot of product categories. I recently bought a Weber gas grill from a BBQ specialty store. It was ten bucks LESS than Home Depot, and included any bottle of BBQ sauce or marinade from their selection, as well as a refrigerator magnet with their phone number on it. They offered to assemble the thing for free (small grill - would've fit my vehicle when assembled), but I didn't need the help.
*AND* you just supported your local economy by purchasing through the local supplier. I'm a big fan of buying from local businesses as opposed to chains and will be checking out some local cabinet wholesalers when I get ready to replace my kitchen base cabinets.
Tell me about it! I recently bought a Bosch Vacuum cleaner. I was about to buy it online, and all of the online stores had it for roughly the same price. They all had some sort of "deal sweetener" tacked on, such as a free box of bags, or whatever. Just for the heck of it, I called a local vacuum cleaner store. Their price was $100 lower for the same unit, and they included 2 boxes of bags, and a floor attachment for which all the others wanted an extra $39. I didn't have to wait two weeks for delivery, and if it breaks, I don't have to pay to ship it back somewhere.
Online and big box stores have learned that most people just assume they are the cheapest, so they often can sell at list price or even above, without anyone questioning them. Heck, I've even found that some grocery items are much cheaper in the smaller package sizes than they are in the "jumbo family economy size". Consumers have let down their guard, and retailers are taking full advantage.
CWM
I'm going to jump in to defend the single stage machines. I owned a Toro 2 stage first, and switched to a smaller Toro single stage. Here are the benefits: Small and light to use and store. Throws snow farther than 2 stage type. 2 stroke engine starts on first pull, even first use of the year. No crankcase oil to change, just run it dry of fuel and put it away for the off-season. Not self propelled and does not need to be. I push it at whatever pace I want. Old 2 stage had it's own speeds. Usually too slow or fast for the conditions. I mostly drove it in one direction and had to drag it back manually to make another pass. Small unit can be used to do driveway, walks, and deck. Fits in trunk of car. Handles Boston area storms fine. Fist pass down our 40' driveway in 26" deep snow is slow. After that, you just take half at a time and it clears to the pavement with no problem. I totally agree with the advice to buy from a specialty supplier. Big box is not worth the downside of the money savings.
This is why Wal Mart is successful - they've got their customers convinced that they've always got the best price. Some people are so gullible that even when they see actual numbers which prove other stores are cheaper, they don't believe it. Our local newspaper does a sample grocery survey once or twice a year, taking the same list to Wal Mart and two regular supermarkets. It's about $100 worth of stuff. Wal Mart has *never* been cheaper than the two supermarkets for the whole list. Even so, I have a neighbor whose response to this is "Yeah well ok yeah umm but still...". :-) She can't stop shopping at Wal Mart.
I have the Sears single stage unit you mentioned and I like it a lot. It handles snow very well, starts easy, and only takes up a little space in my garage. Also, I like that it is NOT self propelled. You can go as fast as you want (or the snow will permit). Sometimes I can almost run pushing the thing down the sidewalk. Get done faster than if I were to have a self propelled two-stager. I live 20 miles north of Detroit and it has been a long time since I've had more snow than the single stage unit can handle.
If you have a huge snow storm and a single stage blower, you just have to get out there and start blowing a little earlier (before the snow gets to be too much to handle).
Two-stagers are nice and have a lot of capability. But, in many places they are just overkill.
I have a 120V electric starter on my 8HP HomeDespot special (Yard Machines). The only time I use it is the first start of the season. It's pretty easy to pull start after.
Aha. That is the type I will for sure go with.
My current one is an old off-brand that I bought for $50 as a basket case. Shot motor but I already had a motor that wasn't in use so... Good machine but small and underpowered for the plow berm. Being on a state highway, I get 15 to 20 ft of highway snow piled into my drive.
Someone did mention that single stage throws farther. True. I found that a two stage will throw well but they want to be 'crowded', i.e., keep the blower chamber full. Makes for fast clearance up to about 4" then I have start slowing down to what the motor will pull.
Harry K
Harry K
One other thing that's nice about the single stage blowers are that they are a lot easier to maneuver and man-handle around. Ligher, not transmission to deal with for forward and reverse.
My single stage has electric start but I never use it. I guess I can see an elderly person taking advantage of it though.
You need to first say, how long is my driveway. If its between 20' to
50' and something like 20' wide a good single stage snowblower will work ok.I am not a big fan of sears stuff myself. If you can find a good deal on a Honda HS520 (hs520as (electric start)) that unit will keep up just fine with (and probably beat) the el cheapo dual stage cheap units. Just beware, honda powerequipment is not cheap and neither is their quality.
If you are going to go with a 2 stage unit I would recommend either a deere, ariens or toro. Generally they make decent equipment, but most importantly they make parts years down the road.
If you have a murray (same as mtd, yard machines etc) they were all made by the same manufacturer (Murray) for Sears, Troy and a few others. Parts for the older units (between 5 - 10 years old) are becoming hard to get now that briggs bought them out. Dont believe me?? Take a look at the
"Recently, Briggs & Stratton purchased some assets from Murray, Inc. Briggs & Stratton is currently working on migrating these assets (i.e. parts, accessories, etc.) to our parts numbering system. Unfortunately, not all Murray parts will be available for sale through Briggs & Stratton. To purchase Murray Parts:"
While looking for parts for a 5 year old blower I found a message about older parts having limited availability and stuff from 1996 being no longer manufactured.
Sort or screws people with older units that might need a minor part. At least toro, honda and ariens offer parts for machines that are 25 years old. I give them lots of credit for that!
Tom
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