Ames True Temper 1634500 Roof Snow Rake

I had about 2 feet of medium packed snow on the roof of my tall two story house. This roof rake with all extensions just barely touched the edge of the roof when I held it way up over my head. I needed to deal with the snow problem quick and no local stores had other roof rakes so I bought another identical roof rake and used the poles together. I was using up to six poles! It was very bendy. I could just barely raise it with four poles and then could add the others and needed to remove them before taking the rake down. It was an exercise in frustration and it was very hard to control, but I did get a lot of snow off the roof from way up high. I clearly pushed this product way above what it was designed to do and it did do the job. I think I will get another roof rake that is more heavy duty and is designed for 30 feet. If you have a one story house, I think you may be fine with this, but keep in mind it is not that long. Do your measurements first. If you have a two...Read more

I've had this hard to find item for the last month, throughout the blizzards of January of 2011, here in Connecticut. So far in one month I've had over 80 inches of snow in the NE hills. I couldn't be more pleased with this item. I've used it dozens of times and dozens of hours. I've used it on snow from 4 inches to 24 inches and it never failed to amaze me at its performance.

Pros: Easy to assemble. Performs great. Very strong. With all extensions making it 16.5 feet long it will bow-out but is very capable of supporting the full length with no problems. If it were heavier in design it would be impossible to hold out at the full length.

Cons: None.

I live in New Hampshire where we get a fair amount of snow. I bought what looks like this rake about 20 years ago. Its held up. The big problem is the flex when all extensions are used. Of course the flex rate is related to pole diameter. Increase the pole diameter and of course that increases the weight which results in more difficulty using the thing. Since its held up for 20 years (although the corners are severely rounded now), I'd have to say that it does the job quite well.