I had the opportunity of using this electric snow blower/thrower last season when it came on the market. I'm surprised this is the first review. I have a short driveway, approximately 16' deep and 1-1/2 car widths wide. As this is not my primary residence, I was not there when the snow fell so I was unable to clear freshly fallen snow. The snow that I had to clear was 8-10" taller than the Snow Demon and was a combination of slush (on the driveway at the bottom) and then packed snow, a layer of ice (where the snow had melted and re-frozen)more packed snow and one more layer of ice on the top. I had never used a snow blower in my life and did not know what to expect. I got out my extension cord, plugged it in (there's a place to clip the cord so it does not pull out or fall, hit the safety button and pulled the handle to crank it up. It worked remarkable well from the gate. It is very quiet, very smooth (does not jump or hop around)and clears about 16" wide at a time. It shot the loose, slushy snow fifteen to twenty feet plus, as it was throwing it downhill. When the adjustable, directional shoot is facing forward, the snow is thrown a little further than when it is off to either side. The snow is easily thrown 12-15' when it is thrown 90 degrees to either side. The blades are a tough, flexible rubber that clears down to the ground. It almost squeegees the ground. The blades picked up small rocks, pine cones, pine needles and other debris. It is not made for that but tossed this dirty snow out of my way. The blades would occasionally get wedged with some of this debris, but letting go of the dead mans throttle would instantly turn the motor off. It was then a simple matter of clearing the blades and I was back in business. It comes with a short dowel for clearing, but I never used it. The only problem I encountered was with the type of snow that I was disposing of. Since I had a layer of ice in the middle, I had to "bang" the Snow Demon against the bank to chip away at the pile. This worked exceptionally well, although it took longer than if it was all slush, all powder, or all freshly fallen snow. I suspect that if it was ice free snow, the job would have taken my far less time than it did. I worked close to an hour clearing my driveway. This is how long it would have taken me to just dig a walkway from the street to the door with a shovel. The Snow Demon held up well. Nothing cracked, broke, chipped or came loose. There was virtually no wear on the rubber blades, so I believe that they will last for years. For the price (especially), design, functionality, looks and ease of use, you can not go wrong with this item. The handle and directional shoot are easily detachable for storage in it's original box. Derrik DuroStar SD1300 Snow Demon 16-Inch 9.7 Amp Electric Snow Thrower
I am very happy with the Model SD1300 Snow Demon. I purchased a model at the end of last winter for my cabin in the mountains and it did a great job of clearing my driveway and walk way. I put several hours of use on it and it worked well exceeding my expectations. The instruction manual needs to be improved but it was pretty easy to assemble anyway. We just bought a second unit to send to my father for Christmas. He has a larger gasoline snow thrower and has trouble maneuvering it so this light weight electric model should be able to do the basics for him.
I bought this snowblower as a backup to my old gas engine blower. I seem to always have trouble getting the gas blower to start up every winter and the noise bothers my neighbors. The snow demon worked great. It cleared my driveway and walkway and it was a lot easier to maneuver and carry up the steps to my walkway. I also like it because its lightweight and I store it by hanging it on my garage wall. I like the snow demon and I would recommend it to my friends.
This machine is very light weight. This can be a good and a bad thing. Yeah it clears the snow, but I have to lean it forward a little for the blades to really touch the ground. If you want it to really work good, you better hit that snow right when it falls. Once it packs ANY, the machine will go right over it. We had to go behind with the shovel in some spots. We only got 2-3 inches.
For this to be my first snow blower, I have to say I was disappointed.
We received our shipment on time and as expected. I had some trouble putting the machine together due to a piece of the plastic molding being in the way of inserting the lower handle bar. After a bit of machine surgery I got that part fixed.
A few days later we got our first snow of the season. After reading all the reviews prior to purchasing the snow blower I thought for sure we'd found the holy grail of snow blowers. Turns out this snow blower doesn't blow snow. Not even a little bit. I'd say we had maybe 3 inches of snow by the time I decided to go out and brave the weather. It was heavy snow, perfect for building a snow man. I fired up the snow blower, got about 3 feet, and it quit. I shook off the built-up snow, started it up again, quit. This went on about 5 more times until I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. I don't know what it was but this machine doesn't have the power to handle anything. I'm sure it'd be fine in the light, powdery stuff, but so would my shovel. I really thought this machine would help me but it did nothing but create a problem.
Now I have to figure out how to take it apart and fit it back in the box for a return. I'm disappointed.
I knew it was going to be cheap but I didn't think you could make a snow blower with that much plastic. It seems to work best with 2-3 inches of light snow. Used twice on 70ft driveway. Wing nuts can't keep blower in direction you want. No way it throws up to 25ft unless 30-40 mph wind. Does clear OK. Motor stuggles over 4in snow. Don't let snow get too deep.
I ended up returning this product. Maybe for extremely light snow it may work, but for upstate New York winters this simply does not cut it. Someone mentioned it cleared 18 inches of show; I had trouble getting it to clear 2 feet when we first got it, and even 2 inches after we got our driveway plowed. I was extremely disappointed with this purchase. I also think it was returned from someone else, as some parts were already put together and one of the screws was stripped. Guess we're back to shoveling for now. - Electric Snow Thrower - Snow Blower - Snow Thrower - Outdoor Power'
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