fishon99

My Opinion is this:

1. Buy a 4wd, that way you don't need your drive way cleared.
2. Put rubber floor mats in it incase you bring in snow from walking on a uncleared terrain.
3.Tell your wife that if she wants the driveway cleared she knows where the shovel,or wait until spring and it melts, this is New England there is snow deal with it.
4. When you are sick of her complaining get in above mentioned 4 wheel drive and go icefishing so you don't have to hear her complain.
5. drink heavily while ice fishing and have a friend drive you home, the alcohol will ease the pain when your wife beats your @$$

mdrew9

1. Unfortunately I have a side walk that needs to be cleared as well, so the 4wd doesn't do much there.
2. Aren't rubber floor mats kind of standard in New England?
3. Telling my wife to shovel the driveway... I might as well cut off my own dick, because there will be no way it will ever get any use again.
4. My wife already beat my ass, see #3.

74Formula233

If the $1,000 is absolute ceiling, I would seriously consider the 824E Deluxe.

http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/...o_thros/824_e/

If you think that you can go smaller, don't be afraid to consider the 624E Compact......

http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/...o_thros/624_e/

Although I tend to buy the best/biggest I can afford (within reason) so that I don't:

1) Kick myself later
2) Have to keep buying new equipment due to early wear/tear LOL

Also, don't worry about NOT getting the cast iron gearcase.....I'm sure their aluminum gearcases are better than most and will last longer than most.

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GP-TJ

After I posted I went over and saw they don't make the 926le anymore. It is a pretty good machine for the price. It was right at $1000. My target was 8hp or larger when I bought it.

GP

mdrew9

Ok so I have narrowed it down to Honda or Ariens. Both 9hp machines but the Ariens has a much narrower width. I obviously have abandoned my price cap. I am looking for something that will last forever. I am assuming both of these will.

fishon99

At this point why don't you just wait until spring, there will definitely be some good sales on left over models

mdrew9

Fishoff99,
We haven't gotten any snow yet. Its not too late.

bassarama

I have to agree with Formula233 on the Ariens machines they are top notch.

Originally, I bought a 28” cut (I believe 9 hp) Ariens, I ran it the first time cleaning my 250’ long driveway covered with 4”of wet snow, the machine performed well but at the end I wished I had more HP, so I give it a nice warm water bath, load it on the truck and exchange it for the big 32” cut 13 HP.
Even with a larger deck, this unit is better balanced and easier to more around than the smaller version (motor size/position?)
Let me tell you, this THE snow blower, I’ve moved 6” of very wet snow without clogging it, just using a lower speed and more rpm’s, the toothed augers are nice to clean freshly packed snow from my plowing.
Good luck picking one.

74Formula233

Honda makes their own snowblowers? Or is it another brand with a Honda engine? I found that most brands are just "sheeps in wolf's clothing" LOL

One thing is don't be sold on too wide of a machine.....take into account horsepower-width-auger size all together. A couple inches makes no difference if you can't process what you're biting. I would err on going a little narrower, you'll chew thru it so darned fast, and all you'd add is probably no more than 1 extra pass on a typical driveway, AND it would still go faster.

I do my 200' driveway, plus 6-car parking area, plus paths, etc in so short a time, it barely warms up LOLOL, even with wet snow

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mdrew9

Honda makes a great snowblower. Obviously their engines speak for themselves but the rest of the machine is well engineered. I picked one up last Saturday before Sunday's storm. It threw that mess almost 50 feet I could throw it right over my garage. Its a beast. Starts up first pull with ease, I think my mother could pull start it. I went over to check out some Ariens but they were sold out, I had already called to hold this blower and it was the last. I figured it was fate.