PowerSmart 24-Inch 2-Stage Self-Propelled Gas Snow Blower 212cc Engine with Electric Start, LED Light

Got it yesterday, so no long-term experience yet.Delivery & Assembly:Came in a compact cardboard box, which I simply cut open from all 4 sides, instead of trying to pull the machine out of the box or flip it over.Easy to assemble, if you have minimum experience and a few simple tools. I did not really need the manual, but I recommend reading it first, just in case.After finishing the assembly and putting Oil and Gas in, the engine started right away without any problem. I let it run idle for about 15 minutes. I normally would recommend breaking it in for at least 30 - 60 minutes, but it was freezing cold and I needed to get rid of the snow right away.Performance:It has 6 different forward speeds and 2 reverse. This is nice, as you can adjust it to perfect speed depending on the amount and the weight of the snow you are dealing with.It had absolutely no issues with about 13" of wet Michigan snow and it shot it out probably 15-20 feet. I have to admit it was kind of fun to see how easy it tackles the snow. The 2-stage system pays off: Even with frozen and heavy snow, no clogging. The engine is powerful enough, it was not impressed at all, when I drove it into a huge pile of snow.Summary:Again, I got it yesterday and I used it twice for about 45 minutes each time with frozen and heavy snow. I have no long-term experience yet and I don't know, how it holds up in a few years. But it seems to be pretty sturdy. The metal parts are durable and with some care at the end of the season and a dry place to store, I don't expect any issues.

Snowblower arrived requiring minor assembly, was easy to assemble watching the videos online.Lip of auger housing was slightly bent during shipping, but nothing that couldn't be straightened by hand. Easy to start and operate, although a single hand control would be nice.Blower easily cleared 13" wet heavy snow, just required about 15 minutes to get used to turning it.Only complaint is that the discharge chute wants to swivel on its own, doesn't like staying aimed where I place it. There is no clear way to tighten this, so will have to fabricate something to make the chute harder to turn.Overall, very pleased with the machine, and think it is well worth the cost.

Update: Customer support got in contact with me and went above and beyond. While the experience with the machine has not changed, I feel like customer support is a huge part of the overall experience, and I'm adding a star for this. Kudos!-----Original: The only thing it is great at is throwing. It throws spectacularly - we had two snowstorms with wet snow. It had no problem with that. You can choke it if you run it into a wet bank, but then I think you can choke an Ariens this way, too. Assembly was pretty easy and straightforward (follow a simple one-page instruction manual...). No complaints about engine, I only used manual start.The rest are not good news unfortunately. At least for me, who operated a 1978 Ariens for 8 years that I found on a curbside. When I compare, I compare to that machine, that I drove into the ground (no fault of Ariens). Some of the things I learned are something you can never pick up from pictures.-No onehanded operation. Also controls are flipped compared to Ariens. Takes time to adjust. Drive control is on the right. To redirect the chute you have to release drive with your right hand (the machine stops), and reach to the chute handle that is UNDER the left auger control handle. I mean it's OK, but being able to direct the chute while still moving was great with Ariens.-No differential. And it doesn't freewheel (I am not sure if it would be beneficial if it could tbh). Which also means you really have to push it when you need to change direction. No tight curves. Really hard to do tight spaces. Such a contrast to one-handed driving on Ariens, where you hold one pedal with your left hand, and can turn on the spot, while turning the chute at the same time.-It's really lightweight. But I put 3 stars for the weight because it turned out to be a disadvantage! The thrower wanders around constantly and doesn't go in a straight line on my (somewhat uneven) driveway. When the skates hit an obstacle, the wheels being pretty powerful, just throw the thrower to the side. As a result, when you cut a line it ends up being a zigzag. So you constantly have to push it, just not forward, but sideways to try and maintain direction.-Vibration. This is something that I didn't expect so much that I couldn't believe it after the first use. But as I'm typing it after the second use, my hands are still zapping from vibration. You can't quite tell that it's bad when you are using it, but when you turn it off, come in, take the gloves off and try to do something, you can tell your hands took a beating.-It's low. If you are 6'2", you'll have to bend over, and it's harder on your back than a much heavier but taller machine.It's still a very capable machine and gets the job done. I guess you get what you pay for.

After years of shoveling snow I did myself a favor and bought me this snow blower. It's been a wonderful purchase!! Built well, easily put together and works great! I have a long gravel driveway, so this being 2-stage was necessary for me. I live in Indiana and can have winters with lots of snow or winters with none. Shortly after receiving this it snowed... a lot. 10 inches. This machine paid for itself right away. I was anxious to use it and did while it was still snowing. With about 8 inches on the ground I first used this blower... the first and only snow blower I've ever used... and couldn't have been more happy. 8 inches of fresh/wet snow blown with ease. A bit later, once it finally quit snowing, I went out and used it again. What used to take hours of back-breaking work took minutes. I finished the second pass in about 30 minutes and didn't realize until I was done that I wasn't even wearing boots. I just cleared 100' gravel driveway and large parking area (40' x 60' - mostly gravel w/ some concrete) in 30 minutes wearing comfortable loafers.