Solid machine that does more than I expected February 14, 2011

Bought this snow blower in Jan of 2011 after getting hit with a few different snow storms during that record breaking winter season. I was debating whether to buy a single stage blower or to pony up the extra money to get a 2-stage. My fear was that the single stage might not be powerful enough when we get large or wet snowfalls.

I am thrilled that I decided to purchase this single stage snow thrower. It has one of the more powerful engines out there and the fact that you don't need to worry about mixing oil/gas makes it convenient. This machine had all the power I've needed so far to throw deep & wet snow a solid 20'. And it hasn't clogged once! The electric start is a nice feature too.

So far I've used it on 4" of fluffy powder, 10" of wet/heavy snow and then again whey trying to clean up other areas that included 18" of wet/heavy snow. It's been able to easily handle all of the situations, but with the 18" stuff it would require going back and forth a couple of times and some tilting/rocking.

The biggest con (if you would call it that) is that it is not self propelled. For my needs (flat driveway) it isn't a big deal. The "auger assist" may do _something_ in the smaller, fluffier snow falls, but if you have a good amount of wet snow, you will find yourself doing a lot of pushing. That's just something you should expect with any non-self-propelled ones, but I didn't find it that big of a deal for my purposes. If you have a steep driveway, you may want to consider a self-propelled model.

I would definitely recommend this product.

Spend the extra $$$ and get a real snow blower!!! February 07, 2011

This gas snow blower might work for those that receive only 2 to 3 inches of snow per snowfall. Living in South Dakota, I shouldn't have tried this snow blower in the first place. Since Sears did not have their $599 best buy model and any other models in the $600 too $800 range in stock, I decided to give this a try.  In my first opinion, I thought this blower was very cheaply built with plastic parts. Started just fine with electric start. When I tried it on some powdery 2" snow area, it cleaned it nicely. But when I tried it on about 6 inches of snow, it just wouldn't move a bit and I had to push so hard to move forward. Also, this machine didn't do a thing when I tried to remove the snow that gets shoved in the driveway entrance by the plow truck. To be honest, my Toro 1800 electric snow thrower did a much better job than this junk machine. Also, this machine is way louder compared to powerful snow blowers and vibrated quite a bit (everything was assembled by sears when I brought it home, so no loose parts).  After using for about a week, I got fed up with this machine. I returned it to sears (remember there is a 15% restocking fee with used snow blowers at Sears!)  So here is my warning to those living in mid-west or north-east... DON"T BUY THIS EVER, OR YOU'll REGRET IT. YOU'RE BETTER OFF WITH A $10 SHOVEL.

I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 star since this might work for someone in Texas or New Mexico or Nevada and has a very tight budget.

Yes, it throws wet snow January 29, 2011

Craftsman 179cc 4 cycle Single Stage Snow Thrower with Electric Start

Purchased 1/28/2011. Machine works nice ! Easy to assemble and started right up. Electric start is nice. Pull starts easy when warmed up (haven't tried pull start when cold yet). Live in Westchester NY and had 15" of wet,heavy snow and the **** thing threw it 15-20' ...  

Quality isn't as good as I expected December 29, 2010

I've owned this for one full winter and am halfway through winter number two. I've got several issues. 1. the electric start gears sheared off and stripped so the electric start doesn't work, 2. the pull cord rubs where it goes into it's housing and eventually frays and breaks, 3. the unit plugs constantly (even with dry snow) and 4. it doesn't throw snow very far.

At the beginning of this winter the electric start (where it mates up with the flywheel) sheared off the teeth. I didn't think this was a big deal since I figured I could just use my pull cord to get me by until spring. That way I wouldn't have to have it in the shop for a few weeks during the main snow season. What I didn't realize was the pull cord was rubbing where it goes into it's housing. It frayed and broke the first time I used it so I couldn't start the thrower with either the electric start or with the pull cord. I was halfway done with clearing 10" of snow off my drive when this happened.

I replaced the cord (from a small engine shop) and it frayed and broke again within four snow clearing sessions. I finally replaced it with a higher quality pull rope and am going to get parts on order to repair the electric start. Hopefully this will last.

The thrower only works well with about 6" of dry snow. Any less/more or if it's at all wet then it plugs. Any more/less and it doesn't throw very well.

I feel that I should expect to not have any mechanical problems with a unit this new. I've used to about 15-25 times on a drive that's about 1,500 square feet. I'm not doing anything crazy with it.

I wouldn't buy this model again and don't plan on buying another Craftsman snow thrower.