Side by Side Comparison of: Briggs & Stratton vs Snow Joe

Good Product

Had to break down and buy a snow blower! Got to old for the shoveling! Price was awesome! Item does what is needed to clear the sidewalks and driveway.

The snow blower was delivered even before the promised date, which was good as we received 8" of snow. It worked very well although the electric start hasn't worked yet and the blower has to be manually moved into position. Once in position it will vibrate out but we think a washer will fix the problem. It seems to run very well and throws the snow a good distance.

Perfect exactly what I expected

Thing is an absolute beast in 24inches of snow.

I live in Northern Virginia (near DC) and last winter (Jan 2016) we got 36 inches of snow spread over 2 days. This was the first time I had a chance to put my new Snow Joe to work. I ran the machine after the wave of snow (about 12 inches). Overnight another 20+ inches came in. The federal government and all schools were closed. It was slow going but this machine just kept chugging and blowing snow until my driveway was clear.

I've owned my Snow Joe since Nov 2015. This winter is setting records for our area. More snow than ever before in recorded history. None of my neighbors had snow throwers. Well, that is until this winter. Watching me clear my 4 car driveway in just minutes while they slave away manually shoveling theirs. So, I began doing my next door neighbors driveway as he is elderly. Then have loaned it out to two other neighbors across the street. My elderly neighbor now owns a snow joe and my neighbor across the street ordered his today.
Pros: Really throws the snow, especially fresh stuff when the temperature is cold enough to keep it frozen.
Even though it's not self propelled, you can just about push it as fast as you can walk and it will clear the path in front of you.
I like the LED lamp and very torquey motor. Doesn't bog down unless the snow is very heavy.
Cons: Theres room for improvement. 1) If you have ANY imperfections in your surface over 1/8" the snow joe will catch it and stop so fast it will just about throw you over the handlebars. 2) The LED lamp is not really bright enough to help unless it is pitch dark outside. 3) The chute throws about 95% of the snow in the direction it is pointed, but about 5% of it shoots to the right. What this means is that if you begin at the right side of your driveway, it will constantly shoot 5% of the snow over swaths you have just cleared. This can be remedied by starting on the left side of the driveway. 4) If you use ice melt on your driveway after cleaning it, the snow joe will have problems clearing the next snowfall due to the slushy snow below. It's best to just not use snow melt if you want to use the snow joe to its fullest.
Summation: Look at the photos so you can see my snow joe in action, clearing 6" of snow from my neighbors driveway. I'd buy it again, but really wish they would fix the annoying issue with the unit snagging any imperfection in the surface and add a guard to the left of the chute so it throws snow in only one direction.

This is my second season using this snow thrower. Plug it in to a 100' cord and I can reach all my driveway and sidewalks...even get neighbors sidewalks (mostly). Love the adjustable direction so I'm not throwing snow straight ahead that I will have to run over again. Far more powerful than expected. Usually throws heavy snow about 10' and light snow over 15' to 20' depending on direction of discharge. Didn't think the headlights would be a big deal - I was wrong. Sun goes down so early in winter and having lights is extremely nice. Love it!!

Snowzilla dumped 36 inches on our area in NoVa. We cleared once when the snow was 4 to 5 inches deep and the SnowJoe was really great. On Saturday morning the cars were gone, drifts were over four feet and all we could do was wait out the storm. When it abated we started by clearing a path to provide some maneuvering room and we then began widening it. Again the Snow Joe was a fantastic workhorse machine but it was clearly not in this weight class of storm. The snow was so deep in spots the ejection chute couldn't clear the top of the snow. We came up with a solution that saved the day! Since I'm in my later 60's my daughter would cut down the snow into a previously cleared area and we would use the machine to throw it from there. It worked like a charm and we cleared a 60 by 12 drive and 28 feet of walk way in about six or seven hours over two days. The guy across the street has a 36 inch high intake on a Yard Machine 2 stage thrower and he was only a couple of hours quicker. I wish I had the cordless but for $199 the corded 15 amp thrower is a steal and proven that it can tackle snow beyond the specification threshold. It is a great product.

I am a disabled veteran and recently had cervical spine surgery (September 8th). I decided that I might need help in clearing my large deck when the snow arrived. This past Tuesday the snow arrived in southern Colorado with abandon (extreme winds) and it was piled much higher than the 12" that the Snow Joe was designed for. Well I wanted to get the deck cleared so I powered up the Snow Joe and went to work... remember I can't lift anything, since the surgery, over 8 lbs. The Snow Joe did a stellar job and I highly recommend it. I have attached a picture to show what I tackled on my deck in around 15 minutes. Consequently I highly recommend this electric snow blowing machine. BTW, this was not powder this was very heavy late fall snow.

I leave in PA and had a few heavy snow falls this winter. Got threw the heaviest snow with no problem, even cut through the snow and ice that the snow plows left around my car, exactly the reason I purchased the thing.

It is almost exactly what I expected, it throws snow and starts on the first pull, with just a couple of issues. Number one, the shute will not stay in place no matter how hard I turn the lock nuts so I am constantly moving it back into position. Number two, the auger stops spinning when I let go of the handle even with the motor engaged, so that I have to stop moving forward whenever I need to adjust the shute. This is annoying but it still gets the job done.

Does the job. What else you need. Shipping was a bit iffy as the shipper delivered it upside down. Oil leaked all over.

Machine works well. Its assembly requires "real" tools and the directions that come are not good. Online is very helpful. The speed control rod was warped so we ended up bringing it into a repair shop and a bolt came out of the handle after 2 uses. Once all these things were ironed out it performed very well in a LOT of snow. Overall I'd recommend it- just be prepared.

I went from using an electric snowblower (i called it a vacuum, rather then a snow blower) to this monster of a machine. Assembly was a little difficult (thats why only 4 stars), but the end result was definitely worth it.

I received this the night before a 5" snow storm. The storm was followed by freezing rain so by the time I got out to use this, it was a solid 4" of heavy wet snow. I purchased the yellow 12/3 100' extension cord with the blower, and I recommend you spend the extra money for the extreme weather version as the yellow one got annoyingly stiff and would not lay flat.

Anyway, the snow blower was easy to assemble in my living room (no oil or gas, so why not assemble inside where it's warm?) it is light weight and has a handle on top for lifting it into a truck or moving it over things in the garage. I was impressed with how it worked despite the heavy snow. I wouldn't recommend it for more than 4-5" of heavy wet snow but for powder it would chew through it like butter.

What would normally take me 2 hours of shoveling, was done in 25 minutes with this thing. And my back didn't hurt from lifting snow with a shovel. It is still a workout to push this thing through the snow if the snow is heavy though, but less time consuming and less work by far than shoveling. As with everything, I wish it had more power but 15 amps is the limit of what most people's homes can supply. I run mine using a 20amp adapter through the rv plug in my rv garage so this on its own circuit.

Get a cold weather flexible cord though, dealing with 100ft of stiff 12 Guage cord is a real chore during operation and when putting it away. All in all very satisfied, this will make a great non stinky addition to my snow tools.

Only used it for one day so far, but this little thing i champion. I do snow removal, and offer deck clearing as part of my contracts. for years I've been breaking my back clearing them with a shovel. This little blower f*#(*$ rocks!! light enough to carry up a flight of stairs, with enough power to clear 12" of snow easily. Only reason for 4 stars is the way the handle attaches to the main body is very flimsy. I replaced the one bolt it comes with with 4 from the hardware store and problem solved.

I had this for one season before rating this product.
As all electric units, the snow clearing effectiveness relies mostly on the muscles in your arms. If you can "push" the blower through the snow, it will clear it. Unlike most gas units which are self propelled (making it easier to clear deep snow).
Don't let the width of the unit fool you... You might be able to clear a wider path in one shot, but you'll have to "push" that much extra weight of the snow, specially wet snow.
I chose this unit not for the clearing width, but because of the horizontal bar handle. Most units have a single grip control for one hand, which can get tiring after a while,by his unit has the bar control, allowing the user to switch hands to rest, manage the extension cord, etc.
PS... Make sure you pick up a GFCI outlet or extension cord with built-in circuit breaker.

Snowpocalypse 2016 Report with SnowJoe: 8:50PM I just did my first driveway pass with about 8" on the ground, and it did a pretty good job. I would have liked a more aggressive scraper bar, but I think the blower's light weight is what really causes the scraper not to dig in. In the deeper plow made drift at the end of the driveway, where I was looking at very heavy 12-16" depths, the blower did an admirable job. Just be sure to go slowly and to not to bite off too much at once. In the deepest places, I took less than half the blower width at a time, and the job was done. I usually dig out a path for the dogs in the back yard for them to get outside and do their thing, and I gingerly used the SnowJoe this time, lifting the front edge slightly to not allow it to dig in and it performed flawlessly. I will update this review through the weekend, as it looks like we are going to get more than 2 feet of snow over the next 24 hours.

UPDATE, After the storm: So as I expected, the SnowJoe worked well with the rest of the snow we received. The deeper stuff was a challenge, but I kept up my technique of knocking it down with a shovel and then useing the SnowJoe to blow it away. All told this snow blower kept up to the task with 30" of snow. In 2010 by comparison, we received about 20" of snow here and it took me 8.5 hours to clean off my driveway by shovel alone. This year, with much more snow, I was able to do the same job in around 3.5. I'm still very satisfied with this machine, it is certainly adequate for the amount of snow we normally get in the mid-atlantic, and it is capable of making the large amounts much easier to deal with.

Bought as gift for daughter but she received a snow blower from friend so we kept it and it works very good only thing I wished we had gotton cordless but 100 foot cord works well with it and for the price it was a great deal

there were several problems the item came without assembly or operator manuals. There was no oil or any instructions on what oil to install in the unit.Missing several pieces of hardware needed to assemble the item. 1 tire was flat. Disappointed in this purchase. I have never experienced such poor service from Amazon before. Please advise what can be done to correct this situation

the engine is great but the rest of the snow blower is made cheap. it has cables where there should be solid rods to control movment and snow deflector on end of discharge chute .the control for turning the discharge chute is poorly made I dont think it will last very long ...the delivery time from amazon was horrable it took 18 days to get here.. the problem with the cables is moisture gets inside and freezes and they break ...it has a lot of power and did a good job throwing snow I have only used it twice so I guess we will see, My old machine is 31 years old MTD 5 h.p. briggs stillruns great.

It had some trouble with wet snow but did the job. I should have gone for the 250cc one. Also, getting spare parts is difficult. None of the local dealers have any spare part for this machine. I should have bought Ariens from a local dealer.

The oil dipstick had no lines for add/full. There is no lines at all on the dipstick!

Arrived missing the engine key. Spent 1 hr on the phone so they could look up the part. Should be on the way... can't comment on performance yet. Looks like Bridds & Straton bought Murray and this may be a rebranded Murray machine. I spent hours looking for backup parts; this is what I thin- belts parts 707585 drive and 797584 auger. Ordered from Sears. Shear pins 707555. My best guess.

Missing vital parts and no resolution offered except returning it and waiting for replacement. This item is not being purchased from the manufacturer but a second company. Wouldn't purchase again.

Used in our harsh North Dakota winter last year where we had repeated snow fall, but I needed something more than my darn shovel to save my back. This little guy did a decent job helping me clean up light snowfall, or at least stay ahead of big buildups where we were getting several inches over night. It will not work anything over 7-8 inches in front of the blade; it's simply too much to practically use. But that is indeed the trade-off. I should have bought a bigger gas-powered blower, but I don't plan on staying in ND forever, so this was a solid compromise.

CON: I could use a sturdier handlebar system, this one seems it might break if I keep pushing, so I'm constantly babying it.

Snow blower is decent for lesser accumulations of snow and mainly pathways. I purchased this to help out until we can buy a large gas snow blower. I live in NH and we get several inches of snow each storm so in order to keep up with the storm I spend a large chunk of time outside during the storms. If I wait until the storm is over it's it's very hard work (especially if the snow is heavy) to use this snow blower since it is not self propelled. So all in all if you have small areas to clear, less amounts of snow or don't mind spending a good deal of time in a storm, then this is a decent product. I keep telling myself that it's better than shoveling.

It powers through dry snow quite well but I find the shoot needs to be redesigned. It isn't tall enough to direct the snow properly without it falling all over the machine. The base part needs to be longer and the adjustable deflector shorter. This would create a smoother transition and direct the snow where you want it to go. Its very light and easy to maneuver and perfect for my decks. The price was right and I like it so far.

Machine appears well made and putting together was easy. Just my luck, this got baptized during the blizzard after 4ft of snow. It could not work its way thru that. But it worked fine with 2 inches of snow on another occasion. best for light snow removal

Just used it after storm Jonas and 30 inches of snow. Clearly this is not designed to cope with that depth of snow, so we used it 5 times over the weekend to chip away at the drive as it snows. It did a decent job, some things to consider:

It feels a little flimsy, it's not very sturdy/hardy
It throws the snow an 'ok' distance, however the chute doesn't move as much as I'd like to control the direction of blowing
Because it's light, it doesn't get right down to the asphalt like a heavier unit

So it's ok, if you get a light fall every year, go for it. If you get 2 or 3 bigger storms, spend up.

Not impressed with this unit. It works ok in fresh fluffy snow. I had a Honda single stage snow blower for years and finally decided to upgrade. Unfortunately this isn't as much of an upgrade as I thought. Power seems low and it won't drive itself through much snow. I was hoping for a lot more, it does start easy and hasn't vibrated apart yet.

A word of caution; since you only have 30 days to return, don't do what I did and wait for snow before starting. The engine started fine but the snow blower started moving away dragging the line cord without the traction handle being held down. The unit moved about 10' before I could turn it off. If it hadn't been for 10" of snow enabling the wheels to slip as I held on it would have gone further. Now all I need is a pickup truck to lug this to a dealer for repair-should be just about Springtime when I get it back

came with faulty settings and poor instruction manual.

Product arrived dented there were bent and broken pieces.

Blasts through snow fine but the auger housing is crooked. The attachment bolt holes are not slotted, so the scraper blade (which is not adjustable) contacts the driveway on one side but has a quarter inch gap on the other. My choice was to figure out how to repackage it for return shipment (no way to get it out of the box without cutting it apart) or re-engineer it myself. I made the bolt holes on the scraper blade slotted in a drill press so I could adjust that; got rid of about half the problem. Better but I don't like it. Will never buy something this big and hard to ship online again.

broke it the first use.

I was able to use this twice before it completely stopped working. Very disappointed in the quality.

I'm so disappointed. Just tried it in heavy snow. Anything more than 2-3 inches, and the spout repeatedly gets clogged. I would have to stop to punch out the snow, and continue moving very slowly. You also have to stop to adjust the angle of the spout constantly because the force of the snow coming out pushes the spout upward. Finally, assembly was kind of a pain, and it's just not well-made. One of the locking mechanisms just doesn't work.

this is great is 2-5in of snow. but anything more it gets clogged and stops working. If I could go back I would return and buy a gas one.

Beats the heck out of shoveling the wet stuff we get in central Virginia. It also seems to keep snow away as it has not snowed since I bought it.
Subsequent snows have revealed a severe flaw, the discharge chute is rough textured inside and wet snow of 8" is a clog producing mess. I dropped the review to 2 stars because of the flaw. Additionally the chute has two bolts that will not tighten and if the deflector is not upright the chute clogs immediately.

Works great... when you have the magic snow at just the right weight and depth. This machine is no match for March snow, at any depth. Apparently wet snow gums it up and stops it working. I got this so my parents wouldn't have to shovel, they've shoveled more than used the machine so far this winter.

Assembly and operating instructions did not match the shipped product. They were similar enough that it was still possible to figure out, but only after a few hours of frustration.

Did not ship with ignition key.

Buyer beware, I purchased this snow blower through Amazon because of the price and the Briggs and Stratton name. Unfortunately, when assembling it I noticed the Speed Control Rod was bent almost 90 degrees. I called Briggs and Stratton customer service and waited on hold for roughly 45 minutes. Once someone finally answered I simply asked how we can rectify this situation thinking that I would just send the defective part and they would send a correct part back. No, their answer was to go to a local "Diamond Dealer" and they would switch out the part. They gave me the name and the address of the closest dealer which is 45 minutes away from my house - 1.5 hours round trip (I don't live in a rural area - Philly suburbs). I decided to call the dealer and their response was "if you buy it online you void the warranty". So now I'm stuck with a fully assembled snow blower that's missing a speed control arm which basically renders it useless.
I should note that the box was not damaged in any way, please see attached picture.

Assembly instructions not a good as they should have been. Hard to turn. 2 inch snow and it only threw the snow about 10 feet. No grease zerts on auger shaft. Cheaply made. Sent it back and bought a Ariens Deluxe 24. You get what you pay for!

Briggs and Stratton has the worst customer service. Purchased this snowblower brand new, assembled it and there was a loud scrapping noise coming from the engine. Briggs and Stratton customer service could not assist and referred to 3rd party repair shops that would not work with B/S warranty. Ended up returning the item. Note, Amazon customer service was amazing and scheduled a return free of charge.

Missing 3 bolts from parts that were already assembled

finally got around to opening the box and assembling the snow blower. there are no hardware inside the box to mount the handle to the blower and the chute has no hardware either and also a broken plastic piece that holds the wire to the frame

Dead on arrival! Doesn't turn on not even the led lights turn on. I even tried a different extension cord rated for 15 amp and doesn't turn on at all. Not even the built on flash light.

The first one I ordered never made it to me. The second one was not operational. The price matches the quality you get...

Bought this at the beginning of the season and just had the first opportunity to use it. The chute clogged at every push and is nearly impossible to unclog- as a matter of fact, while trying to unclog the chute for the third time, the plastic diverter cracked. Not an item I would recommend and because I bought it 6a weeks ago, I am ineligible for a return- do not buy this. I had a smaller Toro for 10 years that I loved before it broke and unfortunately I chose this instead.

only good for fluffy happy snow. anything heavier will bog this thing immediately. unlike gas units, this won't propel itself. you end up having to repeatedly smash the thing into the snow to get anywhere. on packed or heavy snow kw, you're honestly better off shoveling. you're basically pushing an automatic broom.