Our trusty Toro Electric Snow Blower died during the first blizzard of 2015 that slammed us with 2 feet of snow. I originally thought I could repair it by replacing the broken blade, but unfortunately the motor had also reached the end of it’s usefulness. Fortunately, I was able to buy a new Snow Joe SJ621 Electric Snow Blower from a local hardware store before the next snow storm dumped a mere 15″ of snow.
I had originally expected to get 3-4 years out of our original snow blower and am very satisfied that it lasted 8 years. That said, the new one is awesome and has already been a life saver for 3 houses on our block.
Snow Joe SJ621 Electric Snow Blower
When you get 94.4″ of snow in a 30 day period, and more after that, there are just so many places you can put the snow and you have to keep piling it higher. Throwing snow onto a pile above your head with a shovel is back breaking and literally impossible when the piles start to get over 8′ tall like ours are.
The Snow Joe 621 is compact (only 18″ wide) and light enough to carry, which can be essential when you have to carry it over a 3 foot drift of snow to get it out of your garage/carport. The features I really appreciate for the SJ621 include:
- power – 13.5 A motor is really good at chewing up the snow and throwing it about 20′ (better than my old Toro)
- metal blades with replaceable rubber attachments – they have handled the chunks of ice and hard packed snow in the plow piles and can be replaced if/when they break
- head light – the halogen light helps extend the hours that you can safely move the snow
The only thing I haven’t been totally happy with is that the dead-man switch sometimes sticks after I let go of it.
Below are some pictures showing about 15 minutes worth of snow clearing with our new Snow Joe. What a back saver!
Happy Greening!
Jon
p.s. Yes, that much snow is truly unusual for where we live. Climate change has been causing larger, more frequent snow storms in the Boston/Providence area this year.
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I am impressed that a snowblower with an electric motor can do this well against this much snow. If I got this much snow I wouldn’t use a shovel either. This seems like the best solution. Thanks for sharing.