By Juan C. Ayllon EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a reprint of a piece I wrote for www.ayllonmedia.com about a year ago. However, I am shutting down that site, so I am transferring this, along with several other pieces here for posterity. Enjoy! After a heavy, wet snowfall last winter when Belle and I had out of town guests over for the baby shower of our oldest son, Ryan, and his wife, Jen, it took four of us several hours to dig out our portion of our long, shared driveway. With another grandchild on the way, moving to Florida is out of the question; we don’t want to do this again, and since hiring a snow removal service may be costly and sometimes become backlogged in severe weather, we decide to purchase a snowblower. Initially, we look at places like Craigslist and Let It Go, but closer inspection reveals that many of the better models are several hundred dollars-off retail and discontinued models, at that.
Why Ariens, you may ask? “Ariens are the Mercedes of snow blowers,” Belle says after surveying people at work, and online reviews seemed to support this conclusion; Toro, which is also in the running, are viewed as reliable Toyotas, but not in the same league. Comparing online prices, we head off to Home Depot in Mundelein. A store associate, Don B., is helpful as we survey their impressive collection of steely beasts. A jovial, grey haired retired product distribution executive tired of watching General Hospital with his wife, he now walks six to seven miles daily in his orange, Home Depot apron, jeans and a pair of well-worn running shoes assisting customers in their expansive warehouse. He directs us to the Ariens Deluxe 28” and Deluxe 24” snow blowers as his top picks. Playing devil’s advocates, we ask, why Ariens? Don says, in his opinion, they are the best and adds that a smaller Ariens model out back used for clearing walkways has operated for five years without a hitch. “You can actually have it go under snow and it keeps going,” he marvels. However, we don’t want to spend $1,000 on a snow blower and, comparing the features of the Ariens Classic 24 inch, two stage snow blower (an auger gathers the snow and then a fan ejects it through a chute, hurling it faster and further away), we find that has the features that we want, such as electric start and powered driving in several gears forward and back so that my petite Belle can operate it if necessary. Classic 24” Features
Although it does not have the extra 46 cc engine displacement and headlight or the Ariens Deluxe 28” ($1,199) and Deluxe 24” ($1,099) or the extra four inch intake width of the Deluxe 28”, it is fairly robust with its 208 cc engine displacement (versus the Deluxe models’ 254 cc) and otherwise fairly comparable. Ariens’ website boasts that it “moves 58 tons of snow per hour…(and) gives users ease of one-handed operation.” Moreover, in addition to the four out of five star rating at Homedepot.com, Belle discovers that it has a 98 percent satisfaction and a 4.8 out of five rating on the Lowes site, so we are sold. Now, Home Depot carries the Classic 24, but doesn’t keep them in stock; you have to order it and can either have it shipped to your home for a fee or the store for free pickup. We choose the latter, as it will fit in the back of our SUV. While waiting for the clerk to process Belle’s new credit card application that saves us $50 on the purchase (they offer $100 off for purchases over $100), Don says, “Make sure to use premium gas in it, as it has additives in it that ensure an easy start. And at the end of the season, run it dry or make sure that you empty it of all the gas,” adding that gasoline left inside can have a varnishing effect on the parts, making start up difficult the next season. “Then, you need to use something like STA-BIL to start it up, but with premium gas, it already has that in its additives--and it doesn’t cost much more than regular,” he says with a wink. Combining the $50 credit card incentive with $200 bonus points from our Visa card that we use for everything and pay off monthly, our $800 snow blower costs us $600. With rising costs in Illinois and a projected cold winter ahead, that’s something we can definitely live with!
1 Comment
3/2/2023 04:03:50 am
Please tell me more about this particular snow blower. How good is it in the first place? And if I go for it, is it worth the money?
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Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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