My choice for snow removal is a blower, no question... I currently blow our main drive (asphalt) a circular drive (gravel / dirt) the front walk (half asphalt, half lawn) and a path out to my tool shed and around the wood sheds (dirt)... I also open up a good bit of the street in front of our house and the neighbors, to make up for the lousy job the town contracted plow guys do... I will also frequently do at least a first pass on the neighbors drive (he does some of ours if he gets out first, and it's good for "tool borrowing karma") Operating cost, a gallon or two of gas and an hour or two per storm...
If we need to get out, I can get us out any time I want to...
We used to have a contracted plow guy - $50-100 per storm, might not get there till after the snow is done, and all he did was the main drive... Cost aside, the plow guy couldn't even think of doing most of what I do with the blower just because he wouldn't fit... We used to have to shovel out in front of the driveway, and just not have use of most of the rest of the area all winter.
With the blower, the only shoveling needed is the front steps, and I can keep all the cleared areas the same size all winter, where the plowed area used to get smaller and smaller as the plow guy ran out of room to put the snow...
Currently I use an ancient (late 70's) Ariens 10hp / 32" cut machine, and my advice is NOT to get a new machine, but to look for one of the old Ariens or Toro blowers - built like tanks, and last just about forever... My machine is all original except for "wear" items like shear pins, the drive disk, belts, and so forth... The Tecumseh engine on it uses a little oil, but still starts first or second pull every time (It has an electric start, but I never bother with it other than to make sure it works...)
Stay away from the Yard Machines and other MTD brands - they are poorly made and generally don't hold up well.
There are a few machines that had two output shafts, one from the crank, and one from the camshaft - avoid those especially as the engines are hard to come by. However any others can be re-powered pretty easily with either a similar engine, or one of the cheapo "China clone" engines from HF and the like...
These days you won't find Tecumseh, engines as they have gone under, however most Tec parts are pretty easy to get from the aftermarket... B&S is now what most of the companies that used to run Tecs are using.
Gooserider
