Yard Machines 31A-2M1A700 21-Inch 123cc OHV 4-Cycle Gas Powered Single Stage Snow Thrower

I bought this snow thrower about a month ago. The first day I got it, I opened the box and put it together in a snap. Actually, there wasnt much to it, just pull the handle up and lock it into place, put oil and gas in it and start it up. I think I had about 4" of snow on the ground that day. I started it up and went at it. Immediately I was surprised at how much snow it left behind! It was actually going right OVER about an inch of snow, almost like the blade was not touching the ground, but in fact it was. Not only that but when doing a row of snow when you turn around and stat to head back down the row again, it "spits" snow on the freshly cleaned area blowing it back on the area you just did. It does not handle wet snow at all! Trust me, not even slightly wet snow. And it is not light either, when pushing this thing through some heavy snow, it gets to be a real task after a while. This is a snow thrower for someone looking to use it on 3" or less of non wet snow. On the plus side,...Read more

I went out this morning in 5°F weather, and started the machine on the second pull. I then proceeded to clear 6 inches of snow from the sidewalk around my corner home and two driveways. It accomplished the task in about 30 minutes and didn't bog down. The trick is to use full choke on starting, along with 3-4 primes from the priming pump, then keep the choke on half to full to run it (more cold, more choke). When I first tried running it with no choke at about 30°F it would bog down. A quite large unit I operated did the same thing. With dry snow it goes as quickly as you can. With wet snow you have to slow down and frequently clear the chute. Again, a large machine I used required frequent clearing as well. Oh, you don't mix gas and oil with this model. It's a 4 stroke. Simple. It stores in a small space and does the job. I'm glad I didn't buy a bigger one. I payed $297 near the end of last winter.

After reading some of the negative reviews below on this snow thrower, I decided to add my own review of this product. I have had it for two weeks now and I am very happy with it. I just removed between 6-8 inches of hard-packed wet snow from my backyard brick patio (It snowed about 4 days ago and I just got a chance to clean up the yard). This snow thrower was awesome. It shot that snow about 15 feet away (good considering how heavy the snow was). It never bogged down once I had the engine warmed up and the choke in the proper position so the engine ran really smooth.
The engine started with the second pull and about 7 pushes of the prime button on full choke. I decided to put in Mobil 1 5W30 synthetic in it to offer the best protection from cold weather starts. Although the engine is small, it is well suited to this machine. I am not concerned with straining it because it went through really heavy snow today without a problem.
You must know how to use a...Read more