We’ve officially crossed the threshold into autumn, that time of year when the air is crisp, the leaves put on a dazzling display of color change, and the mercury starts dropping into sweater-and-jacket weather. It’s an inevitability when snow will wallop us and cover the ground in a thick white blanket, but luckily, it doesn’t usually start off that way. Instead, we start off with a light dusting or soft snow that isn’t too heavy, a snowfall that can be easily taken care of with a single stage snow blower. Because we’ve got an amazing price going on with our Toro single stage snow blowers now until Halloween, with fast free shipping, we’re going to take a look at the benefits of getting one of those machines to handle the lighter loads.
.
Price Point
Unless you’re getting a snow shovel — which is really designed more for your deck or other places where there’s hardly any snow accumulation — the prices don’t really come any better than this. For far less than you’d pay on auto insurance, and definitely less than what you’d pay for a used car, you can have an awesome single stage snow blower that’ll make clearing snow in the winter so much easier.
Take the Toro Power Clear electric start model 518 ZE snow blower, for instance. It usually sells for $469, which isn’t a figure that most of us have the cash equivalent of lying around in our pockets. But in the spirit of taking advantage of early opportunities, we’ve knocked $81 off the price so it actually only ends up costing $388. We know that once winter truly hits, you’ll want to take that money you saved and stock up on hot chocolate.
Snow Clearing Ability
Single stage snow blowers sometimes have a bit of an unfair reputation as not being able to clear as much as their two stage brethren, but that’s not quite true. A good single stage snow blower, like the Toro Power Clear 721QZE is one hungry machine, capable of throwing snow two to three dozen feet away.
.
It’s easy to get seduced by fancy numbers like 50′ clearing distance, but think hard about what kind of drive you have: do you park your cars on a tarmac-sized driveway, or is your driveway the average length and width as in most American homes? Chances are, you don’t have a driveway so wide, you can park 10 cars on it, side to side. A single stage snow blower will more than suffice.
Driveway Type
If you’ve got a gravel driveway, then a single stage snow blower probably won’t be a good choice for you. Why? When the augers inside the snow blower make contact with the gravelly driveway, it can suck up stones, whirl them around inside, and then blow them out — and possibly at you, or your car.
But if your driveway is paved in concrete or asphalt, then you’re golden. You’ve got nothing to worry about, as the snow will fall on a smooth, even surface and clearing it won’t be a problem. Of course, this goes for lighter snowfalls and not the kind we experienced in the Atlantic and Great Lakes region last year. Just keep one thing in mind: before you use your Toro single stage snow blower, make sure you’ve cleared loose sticks, toys and anything else that the augers could slice and suck up.
