Small house and small driveway isn't quite descriptive enough.
Maybe he moved from an actual ranch/vineyard/orchard in Cali and the driveway was 2 miles long off the dirt road and now his house has a 'small' driveway that's only 500 feet long.
He might be in for some slim pickings trying to get a snowblower right now though. Some places around here only have like 3 snowblowers left by now.
Check
www.snowblowersdirect.com and see what they even have in stock and for some more info.
Generally, I suggest getting the biggest and most powerful machine that you can 'handle'. Space and $$ wise.
No one EVER said 'Gee, my snowblower is too powerful. I should have gotten the wimpy one instead.'
Choices:
- single stage versus two stage
- gas engine or an electric one (leaving out any industrial diesels here
)
- size
- wheels versus tracks
A 'bigger' machine usually has a bigger impeller which usually throws snow better and farther.
I suggest no more than about 3" of width per HP so that there is enough power to throw heavy or dense or deep snow. Especially the wall of snow at the end of the driveway where the street plow left a packed snow/ice berm 3' tall and 6' deep.
So, 8 HP = ~24" width. Maybe up to 28" width, but that is a little weak IME.
With major use, you will have to replace the paddles on a single-stage machine every couple of years. And the paddles scraping against the ground is what propels it AND throws the snow.
With a two-stage machine, there is a drive mechanism to propel the machine. Usually with multiple forward and reverse speeds. And then there is an auger to chew into the snow and feed it to the impeller that then throws the snow.
Brands? Honda is $$$$, so I'd look at a higher end Ariens or Toro two-stage. Not a fan of a single-stage, especially with 10-14" of snow.
Personally I don't care for the Ariens auto-steer gunk.
I used to have an MTD 8 HP 28" two-stage machine. It was just OK, and finally wore out the actual gears in the gearbox after about 15-18 years of use.
I replaced it 2-3 years ago with a much better machine with more power. Same 28" width, but ~14 HP instead of 8 HP and about 100 lbs more metal in it. Toro Power-Max. It has cut my snowblowing time in HALF. No shear pins to replace in the cold and dark. More power, bigger impeller that actually throws the snow instead of half-heartedly (or half-a$$edly
) flinging it around. The old machine couldn't even throw the snow across my driveway width, soo I usually had to throw the snow 2-3 times to get it actually OFF the driveway (even after adding the rubber-flap mod to it). I usually had to take half-width passes, because the machine just couldn't throw the snow out of the auger housing fast enough even on the lowest forward speed to not have snow spilling out of the side of the auger housing.
Buy once, cry once. More power is a good thing. IMNSHO.
