Toro 38361 Power Shovel 7.5 Amp Electric Snow Thrower
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List Price: Our Price: $79.00 You Save: $70.99 (47%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $48.95 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Toro 38361 Power Shovel 7.5 Amp Electric Snow Thrower
Customer Review: Something no one else has mentioned
Summary: 4 Stars
When my snow thrower was delivered I discovered a missing set screw that held the top and bottom half of the handle together. I called Toro and they sent me two replacement screws for free. Excellent service, no questions asked. I've use this on 1 inch of powdery snow and yesterday on 8 inches of heavy wet snow. Had the usual problems of snow blowing in my face but the thrower worked as advertised and I am very pleased with it and with a little practice I'll get the hang of it. I've cleared my 3 garage driveway twice and am anticipating doing so again tonight with 6 to 8 inches more in the forecast here in KC. The only thing that I haven't heard anyone mention in these reviews is the wearing away of the plastic skid plate at the bottom that protects the blade from hitting the ground. Most standard snow shovels have a metal strip on the leading edge but that will wear away, too after repeated dragging over a concrete surface. Most of the skid plate on my snow thrower was worn away by the time I removed the 1 inch of dry snow from my driveway so this part will need to be replaced regularly if you do more than your wooden deck or steps. It worked great on the heavy wet snow. No blowing in my face and it threw the snow a good 15 to 20 feet away. Because of the inch of slush at the bottom, it did little to wear away the skid plate. I had to shave each row by overlapping strokes at about half the width of the thrower to prevent bogging down the engine in the wet snow but it cut right through and worked great!!! The extension chord never really got in my way but I am used to running the vacuum sweeper in the house so I already had that technique down. Moving slow and steady in arm length patterns like you would with a vacuum sweeper worked fine. My neighbor across the street was asking about it the next day after he saw the how well it cleared the driveway. My back is not as sore as if I'd shoveled and had to lift a lot and it still takes a lot of strength to push over a large area and if you have to shave the snow down to 6 inches, it does get heavy picking it up. My back still hurt, just not as much. It's a keeper and I would recommend it to anyone.Customer Review: So Glad I Bought This!
Summary: 5 Stars
I live in the Chicago area, and have been a confirmed snow shoveler for 17 years. I just didn't want to hassle with a snow blower. Then I saw this cool product, a hybrid between a shovel and a blower. The Toro Power Shovel really works, and will save your time and your back!
The unit throws the snow straight ahead about 20 feet. You use it just like a shovel, but with no lifting and throwing. You can adjust the handle length and the grip position to fit your height, further helping your back. The only drawback is that it must be plugged in, so you may need a pretty long extension cord, or a couple of cords. It has a cord lock system, so you don't need to worry about the extension cord coming unplugged. The unit doesn't take up much space in your garage. It is a little over a foot wide. I have the handle extended all the way (I'm 6'2" tall), and the unit is a little under 5 feet high. There is no assembly required.
I just used it two days ago for the first time, and cleared my driveway in no time. It was about a 2 inch snowfall, with pretty wet snow. Be aware that the manufacturer says that this unit will only handle accumulations of up to 6 inches in one pass. In the Chicago area, it is almost certain that we will have more snow than that a few times per winter, if we're lucky. The instructions say that you just make a couple of passes. It will still be easier and quicker than shoveling. I'll update this review after a REAL Chicago snowstorm!
Highly recommended.
UPDATE: We did have a genuine snowstorm last night. The total accumulation was about 5 inches. The unit performed beautifully! There was a car on my driveway that had to be brushed, so the snow around the car was pretty deep, definitely over 6 inches. This little Toro just plowed through it all! My driveway is about 15' by 51'. It took me about 30 minutes to clear the drive, including brushing the car. If you're looking at a bad winter this year, and don't want to mess with the storage and maintenance of a snowblower, you will really like the Toro.
Customer Review: Works well in most circumstances
Summary: 5 Stars
In Helsinki, there's more snow than usual (avg. 60cm.) and the last days have seen continous light snowfalls. Just before christmas eve I had to shovel snow manually and was left immobilized for a week over xmas. My fiancee agreed something had to be done to avoid this in the future and a quick search in internet led me to an article about the Toro snow shovel in a norwegian internet magasine. I decided to go for it and found the importer, paid him and drove off to his warehouse to pick up the shovel.
Now I am almost enjoying clearing the snow outside the house. It isn't quicker in use than manually shovering snow, but it's much less physically demanding as you don't have to lift and throw the snow. This is an advantage particularly with heavy wet snow. I was concerned about how well it would handle wet snow, but tough it doesn't throw it as far as with lighter snow it works well enough. The manual warns about using it where there is gravel. On the road here they use sand to increase friction and some of it always end up on our property as the parking place for our cars is just next to the road. In practice this hasn't been any problem. It handles small amount of sand and gravel. Use protection googles if needed. What I like with this thing is that it actually gets the snow far enough away. Check out the winddirection as you otherwise will have the snow coming back at you and you don't see a thing, wearing glasses, that's a real annoyance if you don't have the ones Elton John has with wipers on.
It seems well buillt and reliable. Intuitive to use, but do read the instructions. Says max snow depth is 15 cm. Really heavy snowfalls are out of the question, but if you clear the snow often enough it should suit your needs well.
I have given it a full 5-star rating. I would have liked it to handle compact snow and ice better, but that is unrealistic. I just have to tell myself to get out more often to clear the snow and why not - it's a good time for reflection about things you are currently working on.
Customer Review: Great little workhorse, for the money
Summary: 5 Stars
I was skeptical about an electric thrower, but I thought for $100, it would be worth trying out.
Then the "Blizzard of 2010" hit us in northern NJ. We were in the Bronx that day and decided to just ride out the worst of the storm there. So when we got home the following day, we had nearly 3 feet of snow.
I thought for sure the Toro would be useless with so much snow. But I figure it's worth a shot and busted it out of the box for the first time and grabbed the new 100' extension cord (also ordered from amazon). It took all of 3 minutes to open the two boxes and take the plastic off the Toro. It actually took me longer to change into my snow gear than to unpack the equipment.
With 3 feet of snow, I decided to use the Toro and "shave" off layers at a time. Man it was great. The little guy throw the snow nearly across the street, almost to the other sidewalk. It took a while to shave 3 feet of snow, but I managed to get enough cleared so that there were decent paths to the essential areas.
Even with the snow being wet and having sat around for a day, the Toro went through it without a problem.
The best thing about this thrower is that I can change the angle and adjust the grip to almost any angle.
It is heavier than a shovel, so it will get tiring after a while, but it's still less strain on the back. The only other negative is that the snow only gets thrown in one direction, but because you can change the angle of attack, there are workarounds for most situations.
This is the best $100 spent so far.
Update 01/31/2011:
After several snow storms, the Toro has turned out to be an amazing purchase. Even with "wet" snow, this guy throws the stuff almost completely across the street to the other sidewalk. I actually need to be careful not to send the snow too far. I've found that it works best with 2-4" of snow, but using the "shaving" technique, it will handle pretty much anything.
Customer Review: Snow removal always a hassle, but this could help save your back
Summary: 3 Stars
Before using my Toro electric snow shovel, I bought a 14-gauge, 100-foot power cord. I came home four days after a foot of snow had fallen, so it had settled and packed. I found I had to keep shoving the shovel into the bank of snow in front of it (work for the pectorals, but fine on the back -- so, better than shoveling that amount of packed snow by hand). The shovel worked great and threw the snow in a long, fine plume exactly where I aimed it, although the telescoping handle would collapse back to the shorter position from time to time (I simply re-tightened the valve-like knob, which is a good size for a gloved hand). Also, since the power cord was stiff with cold, it would tend to uplug from the shovel's handle socket from time to time. I figured out how to hold that plug connection while using the shovel (with either hand on both 'trigger' and safety button). You'll want to change hands to avoid blisters -- though it's easier to use with the right hand on the trigger than with the left. Where street plows had left a dense bank with frozen chunks, I finished the last foot-wide swath by hand -- hand shoveling can remove a top layer and work down from there, which, of course, the electric shovel can't do (so more work for the user in hard-packed snow).
My recommendation is that the electric shovel is best used on fresh snow. As with hand shoveling during a major snowfall, you'll want to go out when the snow is only four inches or so, then go out when it's another four inches. The machine can handle more snow, but the user has to work to push it. Snow removal is always a hassle, and still is with this electric shovel (hence the 3 stars), but at least you can save your back (I'm 56, have a desk job, don't walk or exercise as much as I should).
This electric shovel works great, is cheap for what it does, there's no gas to run out or fumes, it's also pretty quiet and light enough to handle & store easily. Shipment (Amazon) was prompt.