Not a frequent poster, but read the site a few times a week looking for new knowledge. Hopefully this quick review serves as a downpayment on what I have learned here
A few months back I posted a thread about my new 54" Snowblower. I had used the 54" plow last year and loved it! Some folks had asked that I post my thoughts (opinions) on the plow -vs- the blower. And I promised I would.
Of course we have not had any snow since I bought it until Tuesday, so I can finally give my first impressions.
Not much snow and it was very wet and heavy, about 4", the blower handled it no problem.
However, for this type of snow... I would have rather had the blade mounted. Since I was not worried about where to put the accumulation, it would have been just as quick to push it off the driveway. Also, I found it hard to get the blower skids adjusted so the blower was scraping clean like the plow does. There was a thin layer of wet slow on the driveway when I was done. It was melting so I didn't care, but if it were freezing... I would have put the blade on and cleaned it up better.
Another thing I noticed was, with the weight of the blower the tractor slid a bit when making turns. Not a big deal, but I was not expecting it as the tractor is usually quite nimble. I almost hit my truck in the driveway, I slowed down on the next pass
As with all things it seems, there is never all pluses or all minus when comparing them. I think it depends on the conditions. Had it been 10" of fresh snow, and more accumulations to come... I would be all over the blower. But if it is like Tuesday, less than 6" or so... and not a big concern of long term accumulation and where to put it... I would be more than happy just using the plow.
In short, I could live without the blower knowing what I know now... but I would never let the plow go.
Just my opinion.
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