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Or buy an electric one. The entire array of two stroke lawn tools are obsolete with electric batteries and electric motors that are more compact, higher torque

Or buy an electric one. The entire array of two stroke lawn tools are obsolete with electric batteries and electric motors that are more compact, higher torque, quiter, and far less polluting. Soon, they will be cheaper. Unfortunately EV based tools slotted in the luxury upscale segment, abut vastly declining battery costs still haven't trickled down to the consumer. High density lfp and sodium ion and solid state should change this. The other crappy thing is that the tools use their differing shapes and molds to lock in you to a single line of tools., so you can reuse batteries across tools only of the same maker (which enables you to have a second set of freshly charged batteries when the primary drains, and you can charge the battery will hold you use the second set) Emer really need formalized standards to force battery companies to use an interchangeable standard like disposable batteries, electric plugs, railroad rails, etc ...and while they're at it, please force the plastic tote business to use a standard lid

floatrock 2y ago
Electric lawnmowers and leafblowers are great, but everyone I know who's tried a (battery) electric snowblower complains it's either underpowered for anything more than a dusting or it burns out after a season. All for electrifying all the things and getting rid of as many polluting two-stroke engines as possible, but heavy wet snow seems to be one place where the energy density of gasoline is the right tool for the job.
- mikepurvis 2y ago
  Even electric lawnmowers can be a bit underwhelming power-wise. I share one with a few neighbours and it works well enough for our small downtown yards, but I would be pretty annoyed with it if I was trying to do a job any longer than about 30 minutes.
- hunter-gatherer 2y ago
  I don't know... I watched my grandpa hand shovel heavy wet snow until the year he died. If we really care about polution, we'd just buck up and use a hand shovel.
  - apercu 2y ago
    I have a diesel tractor and a 4WD vehicle. But I'd argue my carbon footprint is a hell of a lot smaller than most Americans (unless they live in a city, take public transport, don't own a car and don't travel by air often). I don't leave the house much, haven't driven to work for over 10 years, have planted thousands of native perennials and trees over the years, and seeded acres of native prairie..... I agree with you, mostly, but life is nuanced.
    - hunter-gatherer 2y ago
      Life is nuanced. I also own a 4WD truck that I spin up on the weekend to haul stuff (small farm truck). I get the impression though that everyone thinks the electrification of mechanical equipment will stop climate change and they give no thought to where and how this stuff is produced. Perhaps it is because I grew up in Utah and have watched entire mountains disappear for things like copper and gravel. I live in a pretty liberal part of town and I find it ironically distateful that my neighbors all claim to be environmentalists yet they each own and operate a snowblower to clear the 50-100 feet of sidewalk they have, purchase new cars every 3-5 years so they can commute 10 minutes to the University, and travel internationally for recreational reasons more often than most. Sorry for the rant, but something about snowblowers just sets me off for some reason. Good on you for trying to seed native perennials. I've also embarked on a similar quest and have found it more difficult than I thought do to a few invasive plant species in my area, but am making some steady progress.
      - apercu 2y ago
        Around here the worst "aggressives" seem to be the Teasel/Dipsacus (brought over from Europe because they were used in wool production or something?), Creeping Charlie (also Europeans), and Sumac. There are some native sumacs here but the fact that there are large chunks of sumac monoculture I think that some of the sumac in my area was introduced. I'm in SW Wisconsin these days.
- vundercind 2y ago
  We have and love a battery electric trimmer and push mower. They’re great. Way better than gas, and better than wrangling a cord. We were gifted a battery snowblower. It basically doesn’t work. Maybe there are better ones that do, but this thing was not fit for purpose at all.
- wffurr 2y ago
  Mine works great for my Boston sidewalk. Give battery tech a few more years on its growth curve and it’ll handle your 300ft driveway no problem.
brk 2y ago
Other than very small engines most snowblowers and mowers are 4 stroke engines. My last snowblower was 11.5HP, and it could take 90 minutes to clear everything after a decent snow. A battery approach wouldn’t be feasible at this point.
- vundercind 2y ago
  When one considers the difference in human effort between mowing a lawn with an old-school cylinder-of-blades push mower with no power at all, and of shoveling a driveway of snow as far as a snowblower throws it… it becomes obvious one task requires way, way more energy than the other.
czbond 2y ago
I use a corded snowblower and lawnmower. While not the best user experience over batteries, I know they always work and require little maintenance.
nsxwolf 2y ago
In the winter I have a driveway and 300 feet of sidewalk I have to clear, sometimes twice a day. Assuming any products on the market can even handle the job, I wouldn't want to have to manage the charging situation for my use case. Pouring in more gas is so much easier than realizing you forgot to charge the backup battery. And I don't even want to know what that would cost.
nemo44x 2y ago
Snowblowers are 4 stroke engines today, I'm not even sure anyone makes a 2-stroke machine. And they certainly aren't obsolete. An electric one is fine if you have a bit of light powder but no good if you're moving a lot of deep, heavy snow off a decent amount of square footage. And don't buy a gas blower than isn't at least 2 stages. I don't doubt the future will make them comparable and lower in cost but I wouldn't buy one today.
dboreham 2y ago
Hmm. I have three snowblowers. The smallest is electric, and it's the largest electric snowblower I could find. I use it to move snow off our wooden decks and to be honest it works extremely well for that purpose. It's light (when batteries removed) so can be lifted easily between deck sections, and it's sufficiently powerful to throw snow 10ft or so off the deck. The larger ones don't yet have an electric option available.
cpwright 2y ago
My snowblower is 283lbs with a 10hp engine. It takes about 30-45 minutes to do my 3000sf driveway for a normal snow. Adding the weight and expense of batteries is something I'm not at all interested in. Not all manufacturers have big batteries for power tools, but the ones that do like the MX fuel that is used to run concrete tools have prices that are >$500. You can't just recharge the battery overnight like you can in your car if it run out; you need to have the machine running to get out of the house - and filling it up with gas is just a couple minutes charging is going to take much longer. Even the smaller machine that I had before was 8hp (but had wheels instead of tracks) and weighed 150lbs.
apercu 2y ago
I have a pretty robust electric chainsaw, but it's not great for hardwoods at all. Of course, I have 5 chainsaws so maybe I'm not the one to take advice from, I might have a problem ;) For leaf blowers and weed trimmers I agree.
- KarlKode 2y ago
  Same for leaf blowers. I worked on a farm in the Swiss mountains where we used large Stihl leaf blowers to get the hay down the mountain [1] so we could pick it up by machine and electric leaf blowers were only used for cleanup jobs in the barn. Nowadays I live in the city but I still get sweaty flashbacks whenever I hear a gas leaf blower during the summer months. [1]: Similar to https://youtu.be/Rni8F0GFjW4?t=145 https://youtu.be/Rni8F0GFjW4?t=145 but just imagine the mountains/rolls of hay to be 2m high and the slope be >45°s
  - apercu 2y ago
    Oh, I hear you, every fall in Ontario (and now Wisconsin) the sound of gas leaf blowers and that high-pitch whine drives me crazy. I have an electric one to basically clear off the front porch but I feel like even that is noise pollution (much worse than a riding mower to my ears) and so I rake an acre of mixed hardwood next to the house by hand spring and fall and trailer the leaves a half mile up the road to compost. I'm sure it was hard work, but a farm in the Swiss mountains for a period of time sounds like a life experience!
    - apercu 2y ago
      Sorry, I should clear that up. I mulch (mower) as much of the leaves as I can and leave it on the ground, I only rake up what I can't mulch. And that's to protect the ground cover under the oak trees from dying under the leaves and turning everything in to mud/eroding.
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    Just curious: what kind of cows did you all have? (the dairy farmer near us has Simmentaler and Rotfleck)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
IncreasePosts 2y ago
The battery situation isn't as odious when you realize you can get third-party batteries compatible with ryobi, milwaukee, etc on Amazon for about 25% of the list price of the first party brand battery.
Loudergood 2y ago
I bought the Ego 2 stage one 2 years ago and it has really surpassed my expectations. I get about an hour of run time with 2 7.5Ah batteries with 6" of wet snow if I'm not going full ham with the chute speed(who really needs to throw the snow 50ft anyway.)
HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
I sit here with a variety of gas-powered vehicles and tools and I agree 100% with you. I was actually seriously thinking of buying a battery powered snowblower last winter, even though I have an ATV with a snow blade and a garden tractor with a snowblower. And I can easily buy ethanol-free gas at the nearest gas station. I'm just sick of the periodic maintenance needed with small, carbureted engines. I rarely even use my chainsaw anymore; I'd rather use the battery powered reciprocating saw with a tree blade, even though it takes longer. It's quieter and I don't to worry about how old the gas is.
sys_64738 2y ago
It sounds great to have an electric snow blower until you use one.

floatrock 2y ago

Electric lawnmowers and leafblowers are great, but everyone I know who's tried a (battery) electric snowblower complains it's either underpowered for anything more than a dusting or it burns out after a season. All for electrifying all the things and getting rid of as many polluting two-stroke engines as possible, but heavy wet snow seems to be one place where the energy density of gasoline is the right tool for the job.

mikepurvis 2y ago
Even electric lawnmowers can be a bit underwhelming power-wise. I share one with a few neighbours and it works well enough for our small downtown yards, but I would be pretty annoyed with it if I was trying to do a job any longer than about 30 minutes.
hunter-gatherer 2y ago
I don't know... I watched my grandpa hand shovel heavy wet snow until the year he died. If we really care about polution, we'd just buck up and use a hand shovel.
- apercu 2y ago
  I have a diesel tractor and a 4WD vehicle. But I'd argue my carbon footprint is a hell of a lot smaller than most Americans (unless they live in a city, take public transport, don't own a car and don't travel by air often). I don't leave the house much, haven't driven to work for over 10 years, have planted thousands of native perennials and trees over the years, and seeded acres of native prairie..... I agree with you, mostly, but life is nuanced.
  - hunter-gatherer 2y ago
    Life is nuanced. I also own a 4WD truck that I spin up on the weekend to haul stuff (small farm truck). I get the impression though that everyone thinks the electrification of mechanical equipment will stop climate change and they give no thought to where and how this stuff is produced. Perhaps it is because I grew up in Utah and have watched entire mountains disappear for things like copper and gravel. I live in a pretty liberal part of town and I find it ironically distateful that my neighbors all claim to be environmentalists yet they each own and operate a snowblower to clear the 50-100 feet of sidewalk they have, purchase new cars every 3-5 years so they can commute 10 minutes to the University, and travel internationally for recreational reasons more often than most. Sorry for the rant, but something about snowblowers just sets me off for some reason. Good on you for trying to seed native perennials. I've also embarked on a similar quest and have found it more difficult than I thought do to a few invasive plant species in my area, but am making some steady progress.
    - apercu 2y ago
      Around here the worst "aggressives" seem to be the Teasel/Dipsacus (brought over from Europe because they were used in wool production or something?), Creeping Charlie (also Europeans), and Sumac. There are some native sumacs here but the fact that there are large chunks of sumac monoculture I think that some of the sumac in my area was introduced. I'm in SW Wisconsin these days.
vundercind 2y ago
We have and love a battery electric trimmer and push mower. They’re great. Way better than gas, and better than wrangling a cord. We were gifted a battery snowblower. It basically doesn’t work. Maybe there are better ones that do, but this thing was not fit for purpose at all.
wffurr 2y ago
Mine works great for my Boston sidewalk. Give battery tech a few more years on its growth curve and it’ll handle your 300ft driveway no problem.

brk 2y ago

Other than very small engines most snowblowers and mowers are 4 stroke engines. My last snowblower was 11.5HP, and it could take 90 minutes to clear everything after a decent snow. A battery approach wouldn’t be feasible at this point.

vundercind 2y ago
When one considers the difference in human effort between mowing a lawn with an old-school cylinder-of-blades push mower with no power at all, and of shoveling a driveway of snow as far as a snowblower throws it… it becomes obvious one task requires way, way more energy than the other.

czbond 2y ago

I use a corded snowblower and lawnmower. While not the best user experience over batteries, I know they always work and require little maintenance.

nsxwolf 2y ago

In the winter I have a driveway and 300 feet of sidewalk I have to clear, sometimes twice a day. Assuming any products on the market can even handle the job, I wouldn't want to have to manage the charging situation for my use case. Pouring in more gas is so much easier than realizing you forgot to charge the backup battery. And I don't even want to know what that would cost.

nemo44x 2y ago

Snowblowers are 4 stroke engines today, I'm not even sure anyone makes a 2-stroke machine. And they certainly aren't obsolete. An electric one is fine if you have a bit of light powder but no good if you're moving a lot of deep, heavy snow off a decent amount of square footage. And don't buy a gas blower than isn't at least 2 stages. I don't doubt the future will make them comparable and lower in cost but I wouldn't buy one today.

dboreham 2y ago

Hmm. I have three snowblowers. The smallest is electric, and it's the largest electric snowblower I could find. I use it to move snow off our wooden decks and to be honest it works extremely well for that purpose. It's light (when batteries removed) so can be lifted easily between deck sections, and it's sufficiently powerful to throw snow 10ft or so off the deck. The larger ones don't yet have an electric option available.

cpwright 2y ago

My snowblower is 283lbs with a 10hp engine. It takes about 30-45 minutes to do my 3000sf driveway for a normal snow. Adding the weight and expense of batteries is something I'm not at all interested in. Not all manufacturers have big batteries for power tools, but the ones that do like the MX fuel that is used to run concrete tools have prices that are >$500. You can't just recharge the battery overnight like you can in your car if it run out; you need to have the machine running to get out of the house - and filling it up with gas is just a couple minutes charging is going to take much longer. Even the smaller machine that I had before was 8hp (but had wheels instead of tracks) and weighed 150lbs.

apercu 2y ago

I have a pretty robust electric chainsaw, but it's not great for hardwoods at all. Of course, I have 5 chainsaws so maybe I'm not the one to take advice from, I might have a problem ;) For leaf blowers and weed trimmers I agree.

KarlKode 2y ago
Same for leaf blowers. I worked on a farm in the Swiss mountains where we used large Stihl leaf blowers to get the hay down the mountain [1] so we could pick it up by machine and electric leaf blowers were only used for cleanup jobs in the barn. Nowadays I live in the city but I still get sweaty flashbacks whenever I hear a gas leaf blower during the summer months. [1]: Similar to https://youtu.be/Rni8F0GFjW4?t=145 https://youtu.be/Rni8F0GFjW4?t=145 but just imagine the mountains/rolls of hay to be 2m high and the slope be >45°s
- apercu 2y ago
  Oh, I hear you, every fall in Ontario (and now Wisconsin) the sound of gas leaf blowers and that high-pitch whine drives me crazy. I have an electric one to basically clear off the front porch but I feel like even that is noise pollution (much worse than a riding mower to my ears) and so I rake an acre of mixed hardwood next to the house by hand spring and fall and trailer the leaves a half mile up the road to compost. I'm sure it was hard work, but a farm in the Swiss mountains for a period of time sounds like a life experience!
  - apercu 2y ago
    Sorry, I should clear that up. I mulch (mower) as much of the leaves as I can and leave it on the ground, I only rake up what I can't mulch. And that's to protect the ground cover under the oak trees from dying under the leaves and turning everything in to mud/eroding.
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Just curious: what kind of cows did you all have? (the dairy farmer near us has Simmentaler and Rotfleck)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

IncreasePosts 2y ago

The battery situation isn't as odious when you realize you can get third-party batteries compatible with ryobi, milwaukee, etc on Amazon for about 25% of the list price of the first party brand battery.

Loudergood 2y ago

I bought the Ego 2 stage one 2 years ago and it has really surpassed my expectations. I get about an hour of run time with 2 7.5Ah batteries with 6" of wet snow if I'm not going full ham with the chute speed(who really needs to throw the snow 50ft anyway.)

HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago

I sit here with a variety of gas-powered vehicles and tools and I agree 100% with you. I was actually seriously thinking of buying a battery powered snowblower last winter, even though I have an ATV with a snow blade and a garden tractor with a snowblower. And I can easily buy ethanol-free gas at the nearest gas station. I'm just sick of the periodic maintenance needed with small, carbureted engines. I rarely even use my chainsaw anymore; I'd rather use the battery powered reciprocating saw with a tree blade, even though it takes longer. It's quieter and I don't to worry about how old the gas is.

sys_64738 2y ago

It sounds great to have an electric snow blower until you use one.