" go big or go home"

" no replacement for displacement "

" better to have and not need, than need and not have"

I think I'm going to use an Ariens dealer in Fair Lawn. Depending on how much painful it is higher than Blowers Direct

 

Anybody have thoughts on their "compact". Versus next up models? The site says the cutoff is about 16 inches. I'm all for buying better quality but the price jump is not negligible. I mean how many 16" storms do we get a year?

 

I have a Compact 24LE Ariens.   The issue isn't 16" of snow.  Mine will blow into undisturbed snow over the bucket and keep on truckin.  The issue is EOD(end of driveway) or plow leavings.  I can still bite into and clear those but it's a slow go.  Push in, stop, let it clear it..etc.   I almost bought the bigger motor for mine last year but ended up buying a gun instead.   It really depends on how much you are clearing.    I have a snow plow for my truck, so I clear the apron EOD with that and do the rest with the blower.   Even the Compact 24 like mine is a great machine.. it shoots snow 40+ feet  most of the time.   I needed the small width for my pathways.  If I had a "normal" house, I'd probably buy the 28 deluxe.   If you have a LOT Of heavy wet snow plow leavings, consider the bigger engine...it'll drive right into without much effort.

" go big or go home"

" no replacement for displacement "

" better to have and not need, than need and not have"

" EOD"

updated

" go big or go home"

" no replacement for displacement "

" better to have and not need, than need and not have"

pretty much sums up my life lol

Jus sayen

Craftsman will service it locally, too, including onsite. They have a very strange plan called Smart Service Plan or something (I have to look it up). You wait for the damn thing to break, then you buy a warranty - not before it breaks or when you buy the product (at least not me).

 

Warranty costs were somewhere around:

 

riding Mower - $225 - never bought - will cover about $2500 repairs

Snow Blower - ? - Never bought

Dishwasher - $125 - covered $500 repairs two times

$700 treadmill - $80 - covered a minor repair first year.

 

The plan is good for like 1 to 3 years, I forget. Maybe you can buy more than one year, which is kind of dumb since you can just wait for it to break and buy a year. They even knew my stuff was broken each time I bought it. They will come to your house and will spend up to about 2/3 the purchase value of the item to repair it - per incident, no ceiling for the warranty period. If 2/3 the value won't fix it, they give you a voucher for 50% off purchase of another Craftsman model of your choice. They fixed my dishwasher 2x and one of the times the guy just started replacing everything he could to hit the $500 max so it would last longer.

 

I would look into it if anybody is considering Craftsman. You could PM me and I'll get my file to get the right name of the thing.

This is great info so I didn't know the engine size impacted the ability to slice through the heavy snow. That's great to know.

Craftsman will service it locally, too, including onsite. They have a very strange plan called Smart Service Plan or something (I have to look it up). You wait for the damn thing to break, then you buy a warranty - not before it breaks or when you buy the product

 

...

 

I would look into it if anybody is considering Craftsman. You could PM me and I'll get my file to get the right name of the thing.

So how is Craftsman branded items such as lawn mowers? I know back in the day they were best, but how about now, specifically for a push mower compared to the box stores?

I bought mine from Home Depot 12 years ago. I haven't had any problems with it, even after heavy use. Much like any piece of machinery, if you take care of it, it will be fine.

Same here, but mine is 17 years old. I got it a couple weeks after my sone was born and he's driving now. Been through 2 shear pins (damn newspapers) and had a tire come off the rim once. Other than that, completely trouble free.

So how is Craftsman branded items such as lawn mowers? I know back in the day they were best, but how about now, specifically for a push mower compared to the box stores?

I have a walk behind I got 10 years ago. Used for a few years then it started slipping a little on the wheel power on rough terrain. Its a small one, though. I got a 25 h.P. riding mower ~ 8 years ago that has been fantastic and I beat the crap out of it.