Sharpening Tools - firesteel, emergency kit

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If you find yourself stuck in a place high up because zombies or some other form of danger is beneath you, you could lower yourself down with this paracord once the danger had passed or was eliminated. That is unless of course you weigh more than 550lbs. In which case you're probably awesome enough without the paracord considering you climbed to a high place in the first place. ROTHCO NYLON PARACORD 550LB 100 FT / CHOCOLATE BROWN

Bought 300' so far.....indispensable. Keep some in wife's car, truck, work truck, make lanyards outta it....tie down ANYTHING....use as boot laces(laces that will never break)...hang antennas from trees...or to tease the cats with......love this stuff....and it's the real deal...not some Chinese ripoff stuff.

I'll keep this short, but if you want the real military grade stuff, the nomenclature is MIL-C-5040H. MIL-C-5040 is different! Unfortunately I learned too late that many companies stock two different versions of Type III paracord. This stuff is ok, but please know it isn't the same stuff we use in the military. Real paracord has two colored strands in addition to the standard white to designate the manufacturer. The strands are also much tighter. If you receive paracord that has all white strands, then it isn't the same stuff. It's still paracord, and fine for normal use.

For those of you making paracord bracelets or skydiving, this stuff is not real paracord. If you compare this stuff with real paracord (the stuff you get at an army navy surplus store)it is very clear that this stuff flatens easily an has very little structure. Look Somewhere else.

This is commercial grade type III paracord and works great with the suggested light duty tasks from lanyard making to tying down tents, securing light gear (no more than 150lbs) and making fishing line etc. The sheath of this commercial parachute cord is braided from 32 strands and the core made up of seven two-ply yarns.



Military grade paracord is marked with the code "MIL-C-5040H Type III" and is usually available only in bulk (not always) and costs more. Type III 550 cord for military use must have between 7-9 core strands and they must be 3-ply each. It MUST have one or more unique colored threads in one of the cores to identify the manufacturer.

The title says it all. Though it appears to be quality paracord, it broke under a 290lb load, far less than 550lb breaking strength this stuff is supposed to have. The test I conducted was a single strand looped over a shop rafter and tied into a loop at the bottom. I hung a swing apparatus from the loop and gently started resting my weight on the swing. I almost got my full weight on it, but it snapped in the middle of the strand (not anywhere near the knots I had tied). No bouncing, swinging, etc. I just gently started resting more of my weight on the swing and snapped the paracord. Good thing I've got a padded bum.

Retired AF here. You can't hear it enough times that there's a world of difference between grades of paracord. This stuff is NOT true military grade paracord. The twisted coreds inside the main sheath are white vs the color of the outside and the material is lighter weight and a bit thinner over all than true military grade paracord. This material is fine for making knife lanyards and the such but if you're getting this for any kind of serious heavy use or survival packs, I'd pass on it and get the real deal. The supplier did ship quickly and it's okay material but the "commercial grade" para cord isn't the best.

I purchased (2) 100' rolls of this product. (1) was labeled "Rothco", this looks and feels like the real stuff.

The other roll was labeled "G.I. Plus" the same color and price, NOT the same stuff. It feels thin and flat.

Two DIFFERENT rolls.

I will buy from a military distributer in the future.

I'm not saying this stuff isn't useful, but what I received does not appear to be genuine military type parachute shroud line as claimed. I inspected what I received and it actually had eight internal strands (seven is normal). The strands were very loosly twisted and tended to unravel. The sheath was so loose it almost flattens out in your hand. I purchased some from www.bestglide.com and it has seven very tightly twisted internal strands and the sheath is tight and almost round. It is more expensive but I believe more authentic if that is important to you. - Firesteel - Emergency Kit - Fire Starter - Firestarter'

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glowsticks - glowsticks

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This product advertises nice and exciting. However, the product arrives in a small cylinder type tube housing all the pieces. All the glow sticks are very thin and frail. SO frail that when we manipulated them to form the suggested designs the sticks cracked and leaked all over the children. I will never puchase glow sticks from Amazon,com again. Glow Stick Party Pack

I was very pleased with this package of glow sticks and accessories. The glasses and balls were a huge hit at my daughter's birthday party. I was amazed to see that the next morning most of the glow sticks were still glowing and continued to glow for most of the next day!! - Glowsticks'

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Hardwood Floor Nailer - highly recommended, pneumatic

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I'm doing a hardwood flooring with 5/8" thick mahogany solid wood on a

couple of rooms. Because the rooms are not flat (both have a couple of

steps) it took 8 days to finish the flooring and renting was as expensive

as buying one. (checked HomeDepot $35/day and another rental company $30/day)



It looks like Porter-Cable FCN200 seems to be very popular, but over $300

made me hesitant. I seriously considered Bostitch MFN200 Manual Flooring

Cleat Nailer, but after a lot of questions to Bostitch and a couple of

dealers, I found out that it can be used only fo 3/4" thick floorings.



So, I went with this pneumatic floor nailer.



I ordered the one that can be used for cleat nails only, but what I

received was for both cleat nails as well as staples, which was a nice

surprise. People said cleat nails would be more strong in terms of holding

the panels to the sub-floor and I ordered bostitch nails at amazon.



Shipping was pretty quick - delivered in 2 days from the order - and the

tools is very solid. 3-4 panels had the nails bent between the panel and

sub floor, maybe because the nailer was not placed correctly. Otherwise,

it worked pretty well.



It has several pad that can be used for different thickness of the

floorings, which was really good for me.



Overall, at this price, this cannot go wrong at all and much better

solution than renting one. Akuzuki Top Quality 2-in-1 Pneumatic Hardwood Floor Flooring Air Cleat Nailers and Stapler

I just finished my hardwood flooring project using this nailer. It turned out fantastic. This nailer is solid and durable and during the installation of about 1200 sqft, never had a single issue of any kind.

I got this instead of renting one from a local improvement store. I knew I would spend more renting given my time constraints. I used it to lay about 200 square feet of red oak. I had two misfires, but they were my fault. I ran through 1600+ nails without a jam otherwise. The build quality is not the same as the $4-500 name brand units, but it's not bad, and for me it doesn't matter how the nail gets into the board as long is it gets there. The depth in red oak was perfect, I only hand set a couple where the angle was getting awkward in a corner, and I couldn't strike the head properly.



It was leaking air at first, but tightening down the bolts with the supplied wrench took care of that (several tools are supplied). There were no torque values indicated, so I used "common sense" torque to avoid warping anything. The shoe on the bottom is maybe not perfectly square, but it was never an issue. It would probably benefit from forcing on a bicycle handle grip for comfort, mine was wrapped in a foam tape.



I intend to use this tool for two more rooms, and I feel like it was a good value. It paid for itself in the first room for me, but again, I had only a couple hours per day window to work. I would recommend this item to anyone who wants to take their time without rushing a rental clock. It performed as expected, no complaints. I used 2" Bostitch L nails, but it can handle staples as well.



No problems with the order, the shipping was quick, everything was included.



4 stars instead of 5 due to build quality imperfections, having to tighten up bolts which should have been tested at the factory.

I just received the nailer and used it for the first time this weekend to install 5/8" T&G Bamboo flooring in my son's kitchen. What I received was the dual staple/cleat nailer. After putting on the right foot plate, it comes with 2, I test fired a 2" cleat nail and found it to be too long and risked tearing off the tongue of the flooring board. I went looking for 1 1/2 inch cleat nails locally & when I couldn't find anything but the 2" size, I purchased 1 1/2" staple. I loaded the nailer with the stapes and started the job. The nailer worked great! You need to test fire a few staples to get the right air pressure and tune you "strike" force, but after that it was effortless. I had used a manual nailer previously to install about 500 sq. feet of oak flooring and there is no comparison. The Bamboo was about twice as dense as the oak and using the pneumatic nailer, the bamboo went down at least twice as fast and with less pain! The thing you want to be careful with when nailing down dense Bamboo is that it is so dense and if you are close to the end of the board or edge, you will split it. Pre-drill for yore first 2 rows and the use the nailer. Instead of nails for the first 2 rows, I opted for 1 1/2" headless screws (you can get these at any home store). They worked great & you don't have to worry about dimpling if you use a nail & miss. I'm not done with the project yet, but so far I recommend the nailer whole heartily.

I am a wood-turner that until now has never installed hardwood floors. I had the occasion to help with an installation at a dance studio and decided from that to install a hardwood floor on an addition I had planned. While searching for a pneumatic floor nailer I found this one, and after reading the reviews decided to give it a try. I was happy I did. It performed much better than the one we used for the studio and at a portion of the cost. I would like to also mention the delivery time was great. I saved more than what it would have cost me to rent one for the job and I have it to help friends and family. What a deal.

I'm not sure what I was expecting at half the price of a name brand competitor, but when it came with a carrying case with a spare base plate I was already impressed. The nailer worked flawlessly and is solidly constructed. The bottom plate is slightly longer than other floor nailers I've used so you may have to hand nail an extra row of flooring to get started, but otherwise it's well worth the money. - Recommend - Hardwood Floor Nailer - Highly Recommended - Pneumatic'

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Blu Ray Player - 1080p, wireless network

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This Black Friday, Blu-ray player was on my agenda, I have a 46" Samsung LCD HDTV with internet options. I did not want to go for internet enabled Blu-ray player to play netflix or Picasa or Youtube as I already have it in my TV. I wanted a best to the price and awesome quality Blu-ray player which has a brilliant blu-ray as well as DVD upscale conversion for HDTV resolution.



I bought this LG BD530 and Sony BDP-530 at the same time because Sony had the highest ranking in terms on voting on many sites including bestbuy,com. After connecting both players to my TV i used Bly-ray and it played very well on both player, I tried same Bluray disc on both player couple of times alternatively and could not see the difference. Bluray played brilliantly



When i came to DVD playing, after couple of runs with same DVD on same TV (with same settings) I found that LG has a excellent DVD upconversion as compared to Sony, Sony pics were a little more blurr as compared to LG BD530. I tested 2 different DVD movies (lord of the rings and American beauty) to check the DVD quality and I have to admit, LG was awesome. Also somehow I felt the LG remote is much user friendly than Sony remote, but that's a matter of individuals preference.



After carefully reading Sony's review I figured out that it;s sony blu-ray players internet abilities which took it;s rating so high and not the DVD upscale conversion qualities. If you have an old TV with no internet on it and want internet connectibility to watch netflix online, then probably Sony is your candidate. But if you have a new internet enabled TV and have a huge collection of DVD which you wanna keep it for a while and wanna enjoy over and over again, then LG is your best candidate.



I am returning back my Sony BDP-370 player tomorrow to Bestbuy. I hope this review helps to reader.



Santosh Gaikwad LG BD530 1080p Network Blu-ray Disc Player

I got this at sears when it was $65, it will be on sale again, try walmart if amazon doesn't lower price. It plays all my discs and most of my multimedia files. It will not play wmv files and doesn't seem to like my AAC files (plays MP3's okay), but will play H264/mov files if you rename them as .mp4, a common trick with these cheaper players. It powers my two external portable hd's and will play one of my two pen drives, but not both. Its upscaling of 420p material from the usb side not as good as my WD or my PS3, but plays native 1080i/p files with very impressive results.

It does have the BD live function if you want to plug a pen drive into it since it needs external storage. It has limited internet options right now, who cares about accuweather? LG updates their firmware online and my other LG equipment has seen third party hacks that improve it so I look forward to when this is hacked to provide either Netflix, or better yet Playon support.



It did freeze on me at least once as other reviews have noted, have to pull the plug to reset it.

Only 4 stars since it did freeze for no good reason, and I too will need to keep my WD Media player for awhile, but it this had netflix would have given it 5 stars, as for the price it just can't be beat. I will update when I have played with it a bit more, only had it the week so far.

I have used this Blu Ray player for more than a week and it plays the following without any issues directly from Blue Ray disc as well as DVD, CD and USB:

DivxHD (Divx HD 720p and 1080p profile that create files with Divx extension) NOTE: DivxHD Plus profile creating mkv files seems not working

AVI ( I haven't tried all codecs but whatever I tried worked without any issues)

MKV

AVCHD

I was successfully able to play couple of 720p 4.35 GB mkv files with that's encoded with H264 & DTS audio with subtitle without any issues. Subtitle worked perfectly fine.

Files with DTS audio plays flawless directly on TV speakers without requiring any additional DTS receiver.

Very responsive remote control.

Played lots of MKV files of size 8GB and greater with h264 and DTS audio from an external USB drive and they all played very well. Subtitles were supported and no jitter in playback.

MKV playback is awesome and Up-conversion works great.I can clearly see the difference between regular playback and upconversion (the files I have used were IMAX HD documentaries and Disney Pixar movies i.e. quality of the original file was good to start with).



I tried Verbatim LTH some very cheap media from Meritline and Optical Quantam BD-R burned using IMGBURN in my LG WH10LS30 Blue Ray burner and everything worked flawless.

I tried about 20 of dirt cheap DVD media Dynex, Teon, Playo etc. which had avi files with variety of codecs recorded about 5-6 years ago and they all played without any issues.

Blu Ray disc loads really fast the picture quality is crystal clear. Also quality of You tube and picasa is great.

Overall, it's great inexpensive player that played many media from various sources. It played various file formats not even supported by Philips 5982 Divx player but I still can't retire my WD Live as its picky about codecs i.e. not all mkv files plays flawless and MOV doesn't work at this point.



UPDATE: I was successfully able to play Blu-Ray video files (m2ts) directly from hard drive via. USB connection. Menu is not supported but the files played successfully. - Blu-ray - 1080p - Wireless Network - Netflix'

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Graphic Arts - adobe, mac

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WARNING! Adobe out-sources its academic verification process for products like Photoshop to a privately held, six-employee company in Wisconsin that has terrible customer service and cannot be reached by telephone. If you purchase academic software from Adobe, be prepared for a long wait to receive the serial number required to use your software. And forget about contacting Adobe if you fail to receive the numbers. They will not help you. Adobe Photoshop Extended CS5 Student & Teacher Edition [Mac]

Great product, quick delivery from Amazon. Just make sure you have the student verification materials to send to Adobe so they will send you the activation numbers you need to install this program. It is usually a jpeg of your student's college ID or a tuition bill or both if the ID does not have a date on it which I believe is often. Our college student had all the documentation she needed and had no problem.

It took more than 2 weeks to get my software code so that I could install the program, including multiple calls and emails to Adobe's customer service. Very dissatisfied with Adobe's process - if identification is required, then it should be approved up front so that the customer doesn't have to spend hours tracking down their authorization code.

this is much the same as CS4 but with a few new features,but one thing you should know is that most plug-ins currently only work in 32bit,therefore you must start it in 32bit(double click on the PS icon in finder and "get info",then tick the box "open in 32bit").The problem here is that PS CS5 can only access 2gb ram max(because its been rewritten in cocoa as opposed to CS4 being written in carbon,and cocoa has a higher ram overhead),unlike 32bit CS4 which can access 4gb ram,so perhaps it would be wise to hold on to your cs4 until all the plug-ins are re-written as 64bit,most will be available in the next 3 months.apart from this its a nice upgrade! the previous review by Nathan Andersen covers the new features well,I subtracted one star for the RAM problem.

It was extremely difficult to get the serial number. I purchased the software from Amazon because it was $10 less than the Adobe site. I sent a valid ID that was issued in July 2010 for the fall semester. I recieved a notice that the date was not acceptable because it didnt have a start/end time period. I then sent the letter of acceptance from the school that indicated I had been accepted to the program for fall 2010. It was rejected also, they wanted more evidence. I called Adobe who said they couldnt help because the software was purchased from a retailer. They suggested I return the software and re-purchase from them. I couldnt return the software because I had to open it to get the information on how to get the serial number. In the end, I finally got the serial number but that was after much stress and time. If you are in college and have one ID that is issued and meant to last for the full 4 years you will need to submit more. At least if you buy from Adobe, they wont send you the product until after the verification process.

I purchased this product for my high school junior to use to develop her photography editing skills. I saw there was a criterion that had to be met to verify that this product was to be used by a student. Not a problem, I thought, I have a homeschool student. When I received my order there was a big warning sign on the box that said if we didn't qualify proof as an enrolled high school student (in a public or private school), college student or teacher then don't open the box. The product was not returnable otherwise. I didn't think that Adobe would block my homeschooler from using the product, but called their customer service before I opened the box to make sure we qualified. The customer service rep at Adobe began walking me through the steps to see if she qualified. Then he found out that I bought the product through Amazon rather than directly from them. He suggested that I send back the product to Amazon then buy directly from them to obtain an easier track to my answers. When I questioned the sense of that, he told me to use an e-mail through their website for people who purchase from "other means" to ask my question. There was NO phone number, only an e-mail form to fill out. The form said to fill out the form including the serial number (inside the box). I explained that I was hesitant to open the box because I wasn't sure my daughter would qualify. This was 3 weeks ago. I e-mailed twice and have gotten no response. I can't call because I didn't buy directly from Adobe. I still have an unopened box and a very disappointed student eager to learn this program. Amazon shouldn't sell a product that takes such a toll on the end user. I felt I was being punished for buying through Amazon.

I bought this for my son who is in high school, and this is what he has to say:



The Student-Teacher Edition discount (roughly 80% off of the commercial retail) is astounding. This version is the EXACT same version that non-students/faculty must pay around a thousand dollars for (you just cannot resell it). If you choose to upgrade in the future, you will have to pay commercial upgrade pricing, so if you are still a student, it may be cheaper just to buy the new version in Student-Teacher Edition.



That being said, for around $200, this is the most powerful photo-editing software available. I used Photoshop CS3 beforehand, and the user interface remains very similar, so it is very easy to adjust to CS5. Many of the new features are very useful. I find that the content-aware fill works well at removing unwanted objects from images.



The program loads much quicker than CS3, and I have yet to experience a crash (which was rare with CS3 anyway).



A previous reviewer mentioned that student verification was not easy and took too much time. Personally, I had no issues with verification. After purchasing the product, I followed the directions in the box (going to a website and submitting some information and a scan of my student ID), and I received my serial number less than 24 hours later. Quick and efficient.



Final thoughts: Adobe's CS series is no toy; it is made for professionals. Consequently, there is a very steep learning curve, and this program is not for those who are used to minor editing in iPhoto, etc. Adobe Photoshop Elements may be a better step forward for such users. For those who have prior experience with Adobe CS products, it will be very easy to get used to Photoshop CS5, and the program is the very best at doing what it is advertised to do. - Editing - Mac - Adobe - Photography'

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Door Handles

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Nice lock. Good looks and easy to install.(If old lock installed correctly)Bought this to replace old lock that had worn out. Installed in about an hour but that included fixing a bad installation previouly. Recomend and would buy again. Master Lock BAO0103 Ball Keyed Entry Door Knob, Polished Brass

What's not to like? This is a well built door knob and lock. It comes with easy-to-follow instructions and a couple of adapters to use for non-standard doors (you probably won't need the adapters). If you're just replacing an old knob, this is a cinch to install. If you're installing an entry door from scratch, more work, of course, will be required but again, the instructions are comprehensive. The polished brass finish makes the door knob look expensive. Add free shipping to this deal and Amazon, as usual, saves me from having to go to the home improvement store.

I installed a set of these locks on my tenants apartment's door and they failed within two months. I installed a second one after the first one failed and that failed as well. Why do people sell crap? I think I will go back to brand names for quality in the long run because these cheap products arent worth the headache.

I ordered two of these locks (two different orders) for two different tenant doors, only to find out after installing both locksets that the keys and locks were identical. I called Master Lock and was told how highly unlikely was the possibility of this happening.



Contacted Amazon and they promptly sent a replacement. I was surprised to open the package and find that they had sent two more locksets, ironically both with matching keys. Fortunately, it was a different key pattern so I replaced one of the originals and sent back the two I didn't need. Something of a hassle because if I wanted identical keys, I would have ordered the lockset pair which is offered with that specifically stated in the description.

4 Stars because of the duplicate key issue and the fact that, as others have noted, the instructions are not particularly useful. I've installed plenty of locks over the years and although this was changing out one 2 3/8" lockset for another, it still required chiseling and modification to the door and doorjamb.

The product arrived fast...and it was very easy to install although I do say this being aware that it took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to adjust the knob correctly...but that is my own fault for being so oblivious. If you pay attention correctly and if you're a beginner like me--read some directions--than you'll be just fine.



Amazon, once again has proven to be a very reliable company! =D

Took me over an hour to install this puppy, and it still isn't right.

It'll do until I have a locksmith check it out in the future, when

I have other knobs or locks that need work. I'm fairly good

at DIY projects, but not with with knob set. Knob on the inside

only works when I turn it to the left; from the outside,

have to turn the knob to the right.

I truly am not handy. I share my condo off and on with my college age son and wanted to lock-off my bed/bath while I travel so he and his friends didn't make themselves too much at home. This fits the bill perfectly. The trick was getting the old knob assembly off. I Google searched for how to remove the old door knob. I searched "how to remove an old door knob." I found it; there's a little button at the base of the knob I had to push in and never would have figured this out. After that, it took less than 10 minutes to install, including removing and replacing the latch assembly that I installed upside down the first time.'

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Snow Thrower - worx, electric snow blower

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I ordered the WORX snow thrower from Amazon last Friday afternoon -- arrived Tuesday with free shipping - amazing. Was easy to put together and I went out to clear ~5" of snow, including a 4' pile left by the plow at the end of our driveway. Had to break up the pile at the end a little bit - easy - and then the WORX cut right through it and easily deposited it over the 6-7'+ piles on either side of our Minnesota driveway. First time in my life I have been disappointed when my snow removal job was done. Is a small, quiet, incredibly powerful, well-built machine. Took about one pass to get used to the cord - be careful with that. I also own a battery powered WORX lawn mower (also purchased through Amazon) - just finished its second mowing season and has been perfect - I expect this new machine will be as well. Thanks to Amazon for the incredibly speedy, free shipping. WORX WG650 18-Inch 13 Amp Electric Snow Thrower

For a small electric snowblower, the WORX WG650 18-Inch 13 Amp Electric Snow Thrower employs a large ejection opening, which greatly helps but does not totally prevent, clogging of slushy snow. It is light weight and throws snow an adequate distance. I have had experience with three other brands and this seems the best of the four.

Bought this just before the recent blizzard conditions in NYC that left us with 3ft drifts around the car and against the garden walls on the sidewalk (we have an end house). Consequently, for the first time out of the box I thought this might be asking a little too much of this unit. I couldn't have been more wrong!



It does take a little bit of care to not try and make it do too much at one time, but you can either take out the bottom of the snow and let the rest fall down or tip the machine backwards a little and take the higher stuff first - either way the machine deals with it well. There is simply no way I would have wanted or even been capable of digging out the snow with a shovel but with this snow blower it took very little effort - slightly more than a traditional hand push lawnmower.



As it was going so well, I ended up going 4 houses down of my neighbors and clearing their sidewalk also.



It easily shoots fresh snow at least 20ft. More than enough to get it well out of the way of where you need to clear.



If you don't have a long outdoor insulated extension cable then make sure you get one. Trying to work with a shorter cable, while making it easier to keep away from the machine, ends up with you popping the cable off at the machine end. In fact, that would be my only criticism of this, that it is easy to unplug the cable at the blower end. Some sort of locking catch or strap would be a nice addition.



That small thing is no way big enough to mark this item down though. I have no problem recommending anyone to buy this.

Another Update :) : Used it today (1/27/2011 - Long Island storm: wet, icy on the bottom and power on top. 12" of snow). It worked great! Because the snow was higher than the 10" intake, I had to make two passes, like vaccuming. This wasn't a big deal because I usually do 2 passes anyway, to get the little left over. Despite the heavy snow, it still threw the snow far, didn't notice much of a difference from the medium/light snow. I even helped a neighbor (who usually gets help from another neighbor with a gas thrower) and he was very impressed. I started by apolizing that it was electric and probably not that powerful, but he said any help is better than nothing. Then he saw it at work and he said it was as good as the gas blower...if not better. Than he said "$250! are you kidding me, I'm getting one!". Don't get me wrong, there's still work to be done, but this machine totally saves your back!



Quick upate: I got a replacement and I think the origninal rod was defective, as the new one has welding spots that the origninal did not have. I also think I installed/assembled the crank rod incorrectly. You need to fully assemble the rod and fully insert it into the chute BEFORE attaching it to the middle bar. I've noticed some discrepancies on the throwing power/distance. Other then the obvious differences in snow weight, I also noticed that there's a big difference between aiming the snow straight ahead versus 90 degrees to the left or right. Straight ahead gives you very good throwing distance, like 30'. To the left/right and you get about half that. I still love this machine, especially at the end of the driveway.



Right off the bat, you have to make sure you're getting this blower for the right application. Because it's electric (i.e. extension cord following you around), you need to make sure your clearing needs don't have you going all over the place. For instance, my needs were just my front walkway and driveway. It's in the front and not a lot of landscaping to navigate through. Once you've made this determination and know that your clearing needs can be handled with electric (or gas), then all the comparisons, quality and considerations come into play.



Okay, so now I've figured out that I'm an electric candidate, now the pros and cons of ELECTRIC, not necessarily this model...which my guess is most of you reading this already know (so I won't go through them all).



Pros - easily stored (light and small enough to be hung on wall

- no maintenance (oil, gas, tune ups, etc)

- no need to store gas all winter long

- hundreds less than gas

- lightweight, so it's maneuverable



Cons - extension cord limits where you can go (for example, I couldn't just stroll next door to help my neighbor)

- can't have a lot of landscape to navigate, the cord will annoy you way too much

- costly heavy duty extension cord needed ($50-$100 in most cases)

- usually not self-propelled

- (Most people put lack of power here, but I'm NOT going to, as it appears technology has caught up a bit)



Okay, why I choose this model:

Simply put, I bought this one because of the reviews. All had 5 stars. I couldn't find a bad review...although there were only 20 reviews in total that I could find. That's it. All the electric blowers had the same specs and features, for the most part.



Now the review on the product itself:

I'll give you the bad, first. You have to be careful of the plastic deflector (piece that directs the snow). If you run over a hard item (like a small rock), you'll break the deflector (*note, if you use less of a right angle, the object won't hit the deflector with as much force and you may be okay). Also, I've read in a few places that you can reinforce the deflector with aluminum sheet metal. The rod that spins the deflector in 180 degrees broke the first day. It does take some time getting use to the extension cord. It's like vacuuming, except you really don't want to use one hand on the snow blower (although you can, because it's light). That's it for the bad.



And now for the good. It's is powerful and relatively quiet. It throws the snow (medium weight) very far...at least 20'. It feels sturdy (other than the parts mentioned above). I've used it on 3" of fresh snow and it had no problems and threw the snow very far, over 3 car widths (aided by a little wind). If you have a flat surface, it will get right down to the surface (especially if you tilt it forward a little). My driveway is a little wavy, so there were bits of snow left in the valleys, but not too bad. The chute rotation worked great, until it broke. Like the others mentioned, because the blower is light weight, you can put it on top of a mound of snow and let it do its' work. It also did a great job at the end the driveway were the town plows dumped a bit of snow.



Final words:

This is my first snow blower, so I really can't compare it to anything. I've always been reluctant to buy one because it didn't seem worth it for the number of times it snows more than a few inches in my area (Long Island, NY). But for $229, I thought it would be worth a try. I'm happy I did. It wouldn't have totally cleared the 24" of snow we got a week ago (might of), but it sure would've helped. If I had it to help at the end of the driveway alone, I would've been happy. Definitely worth a shot if your environment/application lends to it. - Snow Blower - Worx - Snow Thrower - Electric Snow Blower'

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