20 Best Snowblower For Long Driveway (2023 Updated)

I have been using this blower for 3 years now and, for the price, you really can’t beat it. I purchased it on sale for 399 from Walmart online in 2018. The PROS: with the right adjustments, it can handle up to 20 in of snow, the engine is very reliable so far and always starts with relative ease, the controls are easy to use and it has a gas line shut off which is good for storage.

Assembly is straightforward. The CONS: my only issue was that this year in heavier snow I started to smell the drive belt burning. I took the cover off and saw it was wearing fast because it was set too loose.

Luckily by moving bolt and tightening the actuator cable, I was able to tighten the belt and, since then, no issues and pushes out heavy snow well. NOTE: if you notice burnt rubber smell or the blower struggling to push snow far out of the chute, make this adjustment as soon as possible.

Also, this blower could use some grips but nothing that can’t be fixed easily with padded grip tape. Again, if you’re on a budget, for the price, you probably won’t find a better blower out there.

When purchased all bolts and nuts were missing, but Customer Service had those in my hands in 3 business days. Easy assembly with basic hand tools. (about 30 minutes). with another set of hands to help.

Filled with gas and oil and started with one pull of the manual pull start. Unit runs great. electric start feature on this model is great. Actually looking forward to snow this year.

Assembly was a little bit of a pain, but for the price worth the time! Works great, and this is my second winter season using it. Starts right up (I had to prime the engine more than 3 pumps, about 10) and cuts through the wet, heavy snow that we received in Chicago recently.

I even plowed my neighbors driveway, sidewalk and my back yard without running out of fuel. Well worth the $470 it costs! I recommend tire chains if you have any deep inclines on your property.

Have a cabin in the WA Cascades. Neighbor convinced me to spend the money on this (twice as much as similar comps). Last week we got 42” of snow in 48 hours then three days of rain and freezing overnight, resulting in 3 feet of “cascade concrete.

” Too heavy to use a snow shovel. Each square head shovel weighs 10lbs. 14 houses on our road and everyone has a blower. Only me and my neighbor have been able to clear our drives. Cleared 30’x60’ in a little over an hour.

No other blower has been able to cut through it.

I’m a serious Honda customer, snow blower and lawnmowers. After 13 years of heavy work, this guys predecessor quit during a 37 inch snow fall and there was no near term service to be had. After a wide search, I found this in a neighboring state 33 miles away.

I was impressed with my old one but this blew, no pun intended, me away. It dug it’s way through 37 inches of day old snow, never hesitating and throwing it 30-40 ft. The steering is much improved as track drives don’t turn easily.

The tilt is another improvement. You can scrape down to the pavement but lift over gravel with ease. The continuous variable speed drive is the best available. Yes, Honda is expensive compared to most others made by MTD under a range of names but you get what you pay for.

I’ve had others and have always been pleased I bought a Honda product.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago and have had two storms to try it out. It moved the 6 inches in my driveway no problem and at a pretty good pace. Also good on the pile the snow plow created. The only short coming is it did plug up on some wet snow.

I was impressed how it went through a drift in back that was as high as the opening. The controls make this reasonably easy to maneuver and the joy stick is wonderful for adjusting chute position. It is pretty expensive but if it lasts 25 years like my Honda lawn mower it is worth it.

Got the 26 Inch Yardmax 2 stage gas Snow blower on 02/12 and had couple of snow that i was able to test it out immediately. The shipping came on time and no damage or missing parts. I would strongly recommend to have 2 ppl do assembly and also have 2 10 size spanner.

I was doing all alone with Single 10 size spanner almost took couple of hours to get it assembled. They also have oil included as part of the package so with Gas in hand we can directly start the test run.

It was able to throw the snow almost 20-25 feet away and cut thru’ snow easily. I believe I need to revisit my Gear control assembly as I can see it is not working properly. This could my mistake while installing it.

Overall very good so far on both snow days, I was able to clear up 10-12 inches of snow on a 6 car parking driveway in 15-20 minutes along with sidewalks. Also not leaving much of snow behind except for few strong black ices.

PS:- Check your tire pressure and fill it in as mine was not 20 PPI when it came and I guess that is set to manufacturing limit.

Nice unit, plenty of power for my needs. When putting it together remember to run the cable to the inside of the first handlebar you put on or you’ll be doing it twice like I did. Shipped with a bottle of 5w-30w to be put in the crankcase but instructions weren’t clear, stated that it may or may not be shipped with oil.

So I slowly put in what they sent so as to not overfill, it finally used the whole bottle and it was correct on the stick. Started easily with the pull rope after priming and choking. Electric start requires an extension cord so be aware that it will be unhandy if you don’t have a convenient outlet.

Overall very pleased so far, the handgrip warmers will come in handy, as will the headlight if you need to get snow moving in the dark.

Nicely built machine for the money. Solid. easy instructions great packaging (separate packaged hardware and coded on one board) ONLY thing I recommend is when putting on the chute that throws and direct snow, there are 3 small shoes that hold it in place when mounting (like a sandwich to set top piece) so it can maneuver back and forth when cranking lever to direct.

some person(s) say it broke, but it most likely was over tightened. DO NOT over tighten or it will be to tight to crank, hence may break. its a moving part, common sense says allow for movement but not loose to wobble (basically when bolts are tightened, make it snug and a bit extra).

other wise you just installed brakes (trying to give a visual). also the part it attaches to is pre greased, exposing this while working may collect dust, keep covered or use plastic wrap piece, then ADD a little more grease yourself (tiny bit, small tiny tube and rub around with finger) as depending on how long it sat for shipment and exposed, can dry out a bit.

this made mine move flawlessly when cranking directional. other than that no complaints, took 1 hour a 10 min to put together in garage. havn’t used mine yet, my friend has one. cleans nicely up to 20 inches deep (had 18 last year) and he did driveway 16 x 35 in 30 min.

and threw snow probably 20 feet. would give 5 stars, but thats not me, nothing is perfect (though this is right there), maybe the wasted heated hand grips. not much use, especially when auger and gears are levered down (in way of any heat distribution).

New update on this little wonder. I just saw a video showing how the auger drive belt is changed on a TORO Single Stage blower @ 3 times the price of Yardmax. OMG,, Auger Pulley was made out of PLASTIC!!! Plus everything else inside the Toro was identical to the Yardmax.

But Yardmax uses an Aluminum Pulley for the Auger which is a very high stress area. Nobody should be using cheap plastic where the Pressure is the highest! TORO is built cheaper than the Yardmax, lol.

Honestly you can’t get a better machine for the money and it should be selling for twice fhe price but to keep it competitive price wise they did some things a little cheaply but they don’t hurt the performance.

I had the Yardmax 2 Stage 22″ before this but sold it cause it was too big for our snow here in PA. Now this is a true story. Back in 2017 I think we got a huge Noreaster with about 2′ of snow at night.

This little bear of a machine blew right through it easily with two passes. On the first pass you should LIFT the front up slightly about an inch to clear any wet or packed snow then as the snow collapses around the machine simply pull it backwards and do a second pass.

I had NO problem with the 2+ feet of snow and was amazed at how strong the motor was. Only problem you will have with any single stage is hard pack Plow blockage at the street. That’s where 2 stage is excellent.

This is a simple but strong machine made to do it’s job well. Service and support were very good.

I havent used the snow blower yet but i can say even though they’re only a handful of parts, the wheels were the hardest to put on, not only because you had to bend down to put them on ,but the snaps that you put on the wheels aren’t very secure.

So you’re bending down for at least 5 minutes attempting to put the wheels on. The instructions are very vague. I would definitely recommend a different design or metal caps to put on the wheels.

It seems to run pretty good, started right up. As for it being light, it’s actually pretty heavy. The assembly was rather easy until it came time to put the handle on. I had to buy my own nuts on due to the fact that the ones that came with it are self tightening which made it really hard to tighten them up.

Storing it will not be easy considering the handle has four bolts and I will have to take two out and loosen the other two in order for the handle to bend, and each time I will have to use rench to do it.

Good thing I got my own nuts and bolts, because it would be rather hard to get the self tightening nuts off the bolts. Also the eye bolt did not come with it I called the company to see if they could send me one and never got a return phone call.

We have owned two other brands of similar snowblowers which only lasted one season so we had high hopes for this Snow Joe blower. It may have worked fine except for one fatal flaw. When we opened the box the axle and wheels were not installed, and nothing was mentioned in the instructions.

After searching through the bottom of the box we found two tiny c-clips that were not packaged in any way. Once we were lucky enough to find those, the installation was pretty obvious, but it turned into a nightmare.

My wife and I are generally pretty handy, but it took the two of us over an hour to get those c-clips snapped onto the axle. The process of getting them on expanded them to the point where they pop right back off, and of course are immediately lost in the snow.

This new snowblower is now a worthless piece of junk sitting in our garage. This unit should either be shipped with the wheels installed, or shipped with a much better system for assembling them. Too bad, we had great hopes for Snow Joe to be the brand that would last more than a season, but it lasted less than one day.

I got my 623E just over 4 yrs ago and maybe got 40 mostly light uses out of it. Last month it quit after it got increasingly difficult to start so I suspected the safety interlock switch. Luckily I got the extended warranty and I finally received a replacement unit after fedex took 2 weeks to get it to Idaho from NJ.

It did the job when it functioned and I guess for what I paid for it the blower was an ok purchase. Another problem I had was the cord becoming unplugged even using the jig provided to make a knot. The connection between the unit and the extension cord even on this replacement unit is just too loose.

I also just bought a battery blower from another brand so now hopefully with 2 blowers I won’t be without one that works after 16 inches of snow which occurred recently.

I live alone. I have a longer driveway and live more in the country. I live in WISCONSIN. At first, when I took it out of the box, I was like, what did I buy this for. This thing will never work for my snowfall.

WRONG!!!! Once I got the hand of working with the cord, I found this to be simply amazing. Even on larger snowfalls of 6-8 inches. I love this. Perfect for me and no messing with gas and oil. I honestly can’t say enough good things about this.

I would recommend this to anyone. Forgot to say the one nice thing is that it gets right down to the pavement too. I have told so many people about this. thank you so very much for making a snowblower that I can use with ease.

I bought this 2 years ago and it is awesome! It just makes clearing snow away so easy. This gas snow blower has definitely surpassed all my expectations and I have had no problems with it what so ever.

I would recommend it to anyone and I am happy with this buy. It is a very reliable and durable product.

Easy enough to assemble out of the box. The 1st reverse gear wouldn’t even move the machine and 2nd reverse was very slow so I made the two adjustments as per manual and it worked better for a while but then needs to be readjusted again.

These adjustments put too uch tension on the gear lever because now it is damaging the plastic gear selection notches.

We’ve had a number of early snows so far, so I’ve been able to try it. Despite being a ~350 lb machine, it is very easy to maneuver. In “wheel mode” with the “Auto-turn” differential, turning under power is natural and easy.

In this mode it has plenty of traction for light snows, without having to go into the more aggressive RapidTrak modes. For the end-of-driveway plow piles and deeper snow, the RapidTrak “track mode” and “dig-in mode” are very effective at pushing through in full control without extra effort or strain from the operator.

I really like the level of power. This machine is very effective and cranks through the deeper stuff without bogging-down. We average close to 200 inches of snow a year here and I will save a lot of time with this machine during some of our bigger storm cycles.

Great machine. Just couple of issues related to the futures. First, I did not realized that starter require 110v plugin to start machine. It is OK but not really convenient. I missed description when I was ordering.

Second, I did not realized that it will be so difficult to maneuver machine when wheels doesn’t have differential. I do not recollect this issue with my old machine. And last issue is related to switch the gears.

It takes real effort to do this. Especially reverse. I feel like I am going to broke cable, it so difficult to move handle. Other than this it works great, pick wet snow (the reason I bought this model), have nice light and I can even work at evening.

Bought this snowblower in September planning to be ready for the winter. Didn’t get much snow until late December and January. Used it twice and on the third time it blew the seal and leaked oil everywhere.

Contacted warranty and got the run around between the warranty and the service provider. finally after 2 weeks we got the snowblower back just before a snow storm. We got 30cm of snow and went to use the snowblower again and the seal blew again.

Didn’t even get the chance to clear the driveway. Had to be done by hand. Biggest waste of money. I would return the machine if they would take it back and I will never be purchasing their products again.

I recently purchased the Storm 2890. Two days after, we got 5 inches of snow with a layer of ice and sleet on top. I attempted to blow this mix, but it was like concrete. The blower tried to tackle it, but was not too successful.

One thing I noticed was the tires slipping not just on the ice, but on grassy surfaces also. My previous blower had rubber wheels with deep tread and it never acted this way. The blower also used an entire (1 gal) of gas.

I thought that was excessive for the time it was running. Everything else worked well. The electric start is great once you choke and prime properly. The slowest speed is still pretty fast, I would have liked it to be a little slower.

I think the lowest speed should be just past a crawl. The price was great. I bought it out of stock and it was delivered quickly. Over all, I like the machine and look forward to years of use with it.

It seems to be well built.

We’ve lived in the same place for over 30 years and have had a couple other snow blowers, this one is by far the best! Our first snow was only about an inch, but we tried the blower on it anyway, cut through it like butter.

The next snow was about 4 inches with ice underneath, also went through that with no problems, including the end of the drive where the city plow leaves all the chunks! It also clears a pretty wide path, so we get done much quicker than we did with previous blowers.

This has two ways to start it, either pliug it in and push a button or pull start. I was not strong enough to pull start it, but I can plug in and push the button with no problem. The 2890 blower also has radial turning levers, which make it real easy to turn the blower.

The chute crank is easy to turn and in a very convenient place. The only thing I don’t like about this blower is all the buttons to make it start are down below and behind the handle, would be absolutely perfect if all that was up on the handle where you stand, definitely not a deal breaker though.

If you need a beast of a snow blower, I highly recommend this one.

I wish I had the chance to use my 2690XP more but as luck would have it, we have had two mild winters since I took delivery. This past winter I got about 4 hours of run-time on it and it performed great ! I have a relatively steep driveway and the ‘hard molded tire’ snow blower (1980’s Toro 421) I had was not getting the job done any longer.

The 2690XP climbs the driveway without drama. The controls are intuitive and easy to use once you get used to them. The snow is thrown clear of your path, but for at least the two semi-wet snows that we had, I wasn’t impressed with the snow throwing distance.

Two nits: 1) The incandescent light on the front needs to be replaced witha much brighter LED unit with many more lumens. I imagine that you could easily integrate a voltage rectifier and a high output/low wattage LED.

At least offer it as an option. I have thought about doing this on my own. The parts are out there. 2) The photo online showed the unit with plastic polyurethane skids, but mine shipped with steel skids.

However, I did call the support hotline and the kind support technician expedited a set of poly skids to me. Bravo, customer support.

The Toro E26 was worth every penny. It is light, a turn of the key easy to start, quiet, and throws snow with ease. To put it in perspective, we had a 9-14″ inch snow at about 30 degrees F. The snow was moderately heavy and wet.

The E26 had no issues throwing that much and heavy snow 20′. Its throw power was very similar to my neighbors 30″ gas powered Ariens. Likewise, when with the plow piling over 3′ at the end of the driveway the blower was able to cut through and along the drift with several passes no problem.

The lightness of the blower caused it to want to climb the bank instead of go through it, but that ultimately helped get the job done. With 2 of the 7. 5 AMP batteries I was able to make two complete passes over my 1044 square foot slopped drive at an average of 10″ snow depth.

I was also able to do two passes along the front 200′ along the curb. Batteries took 3 hours to charge. For being a first year model, it only needs a few minor refinements to be perfect: – A standalone on/off switch for the lights.

– A warning sound for low battery. – Ability to plug-in to charge the batteries. – Removal of the safety trigger on the auger engagement paddle. – The setup instructions could be improved to include more detail on what screws and parts should be installed.

You can figure out, but it wastes time. – Add an additional 5 degrees for the chute to throw snow towards the back of the blower. – A fast charger for the batteries. Even with those minor refinements, there somethings that make the E26 stand out: – The chute control joystick simplifies moving the chute.

– No gas means no problems starting or gas system / carburetor related maintenance. – It sounds like a vacuum. – The anti-clog system really prevents clogging. – Though I don’t have a third battery, the option to have one is huge as I will be adding one so I can help my neighbors as needed.

– It is light. So easy to move around and eliminates the need for constantly switching between forward and reverse. – Throw power is on par with even beefier gas snow blowers. Without a doubt there is very few reasons to hesitate on purchasing this snow blower.

It simply helps you get the job done without fuss and noise of a gas snow blower.

I used to have an Ariens 28” Deluxe gas snowblower. While it was a very well built snowblower, this Toro electric is superior in every respect. Now I know I am comparing apples and oranges because the Toro is a much more expensive machine than the entry level Ariens.

I am sure the efi Ariens Platinum is a better machine than my entry level Deluxe. But some things are only possible with an electric Here are some features I am off the charts happy about 1. I’ve hit some rocks with the Toro and never sheared a pin.

2. It never bogs down like the carburetor Ariens. Now the fuel injected Ariens may be just as torquey, but I am totally satisfied with the torque of the electric motor of the Toro. 3. Even on Eco mode, the Toro throws snow plenty far away.

The county snowplow pushed a foot of heavy slush into my driveway while I was out of town. It froze in too big, hard chunks. The Toro went through it in ECO mode without breaking out a sweat. 4. Toro us not kidding when they say they have a patented way they throw snow more efficiently.

I have gone through heavy powder to wet slush, and never clogged the chute. The only thing I have to do is bring it inside a warm garage to melt of remaining slush in the chute and the roto- blades so that it starts clean every time.

5. Even though Toro says their 2 stage doesn’t clean all the way down to the asphalt, I have to say how impressed I am with the fact that it that it gets really, really close, even over tracks left from driving over it.

I know I should adjust my scrapebars a little higher than factory settings because my asphalt driveway is not all that smooth and I may be abusing the Toro hitting asphalt once in awhile, but so far the machine just shrugged it off.

So is this the perfect machine? Maybe.

I bought this after returning a Snow Joe two stage because it had multiple problems. The Toro is superior in most ways. This snowblower seems like a gas snowblower that has just had an engine-swap. It is an incremental evolutionary step from a gas blower, not a designed-from-scratch machine like it’s competitors, so it has some weird things like mechanical controls of electric engines and an also it is has an idle state! I’m happy with the unit and I’ll be keeping it to clear my corner lot in Minnesota.

I’ll will buy the third battery for it. Good: powerful, turns easily (some competitors have wheels that are locked together), amazing chute control vs all competitors, battery compartment keeps moisture out, external power meter.

Less Good: Assembly instructions did not match Machine in a few significant ways, find a youtube video to help. Also, you probably need a ratchet or ratcheting wrench. The light is always turned on and feels like an afterthought.

But it is bright! The left hand control is pretty tight to hold my hand gets tired and I’m an adult male in reasonable physical condition. I’ve had a bit of trouble getting the skid plates tuned in. They came mis-aligned (which is expected and documented in the instructions) so the machine pulled to the right.

I corrected them, but now it leaves a thin layer of snow on the pavement. I’m a bit concerned that I won’t be able to get it adjusted low enough so it scrapes the concrete, but high enough that it does not bang on ever pavement seam.

Toro should include a calibration wedge to help adjust the skids. It would be a very cheap part, you could even paint it red and put your logo on it. Also, Toro, PLEASE make a power inverter that lets me use the batteries to run 110v or usb stuff.

Now that I own $1000 worth of your batteries, please make ways for me to use them. Snow Joe has a pretty cool inverter, please something similar. I’d like to see a more innovative drive control. I want to be able to switch to reverse without taking my hand off the control.

Take a look at yamaha waverunners; they have great intuitive reverse and neutral controls. Why not be the first do do this? For some reason the two chargers that were sent were slightly different models which is sort of disconcerting.