Living in Ontario Canada has its advantages, but we are cursed with some pretty cold weather and some pretty large snowfalls. Being the lazy person I am, I would rather flick channels than spending a second more shoveling the snow after the snowplow happens to shove half the snow from the street onto our driveway. I had bought a Noma Signature 8HP 25 inch wide snowblower but it wasn’t enough to tackle the big chunks of snow. When the snow drifts were big, the 13 inch wheels lost traction.

My desire to upgrade the snowblower was easy…buy the best snowblower to tackle the best our snowy weather can throw at us. For about $1600.00 Cdn, I could have bought a big 11 HP/31 inch Sears Craftsman. The Sears was similar to what I had, it was just a lot bigger. I dropped by a local snowblower dealer to see what a “brand name” snowblower would offer. There I spied my eyes on a sleek Honda model.

The Honda in question is the Honda model HS928TA. Price??? A whopping $2799.00 Cdn list price (!!!!!!). For you Yankees, it's around $1900 USD without the optional light which is included in the Canadian model. Well, I ended up buying that Honda. Let me describe what do you get for twice the price of the Craftsman.

Dual Track Drive
This is the feature which attracted me to the Honda. The track drive grips the road surface with a tenacity that wheels cannot match. The tank track like belts have cleats that enable the snowblower to move forward in the most slippery of conditions.

I originally thought that the track drive would be invincible, but in actual usage, the track drive will meet its match on ice and deep loose snow and start slipping. Otherwise, this snowblower plows throw the toughest conditions with ease. It definitely grips better than any wheel drive snowblower I've used. If the track does start to slip, leaning on the handles a bit will put more weight on the track belt and forward motion resumes promptly. Because of the track drive, the snowblower has less of a tendency to want to climb over (rather than through) the snow than wheel models. Since the track drive belts are large, steering the snowblower requires a bit of manhandling compared to a wheel model. You just pull up on the handles and pivot the thing around the front end. This is no problem when its moving or when the snowblower is on the snow, but it is always more work than a comparable wheel model. Also, since the transmission is engaged normally, you cannot just push this snowblower around once it’s turned off, you will have to keep the engine running to move it. You can disengage the transmission using a small switch at near the base if you have to move it around but it’s still VERY hard to move). The bottom line is that you want to run the engine to move this thing normally.

Hydrostatic Transmission
This is my favorite feature. This Honda has a continuously variable transmission that allows you adjust ground speed using a single lever. The lever has no fixed gears ratios and you can vary this from reverse to forward while the clutch is engaged. The infinite variability allows you to adjust the speed to barely moving to full speed and everything in between. This is a great feature and really makes attacking the biggest snowdrifts a precision operation. For instance, I was able to get the snowblower to inch forward literally at 1 centimeter per second speed when I had to plow a path into big snow banks. Being able to smoothly go from reverse to forward to reverse again without going into neutral quickly makes mincemeat of the snowdrifts.

Three Height Adjustment
You can adjust the stance of the snowblower by pressing on a adjustment bar at the rear with your foot. This adjusts the angle of the snowblower to either up to float above the snow, normal, or down to scrape the snow for hard packed snow. You interlocked or textured driveway owners take note. This snowblower is less likely to damage the driveway since the auger and scoop floats above the surface better than wheel models. Also, it’s similarly good for gravel surfaces because it won't dig into the gravel surface. For really severe deep snow, sometimes I use the high position to blow away the top layer of snow first. I did this when I wanted to make a fresh path on the grass to my backyard. It all works very well.

Other features and specs
My model is a 9 Horsepower model with 28 inch wide x 20 inch scoop. Some of the other features include ball bearing supported auger that turns with less resistance enabling this modest 9HP model to throw snow as far as more powerful competing models. Honda claims it can throw snow up to 49 feet! The snow chute can be swiveled 210 degrees and two convenient lever adjust the height easily and direction easily. However, my model does NOT have electric start (you have to buy the next model up) but I never felt this was a problem because Honda engines have low effort pull start.

It’s a Honda
Honda’s engines run clean, are very easy to start, and well built. Everything about the snowblower is quality, heavy duty plated or painted all-steel construction. The engine is noticeably quieter than my Tecumseh based Noma before. I can actually talk over it without raising my voice much. The snowblower has a two year warranty.

Other comments
This snowblower is pricey. But you get a great quality snowblower that laughs at winter. My only beef is that you can’t move it around when it is off. Steering is also a bit tougher without some kind of steering assist (some competing models have power assist that reduce the speed of each side to rotate the whole unit). Electic start should have been included at this price. Other than that, the machine should be a formidable tool to save me time and aggravation when winter throws its worst at me. I could have bought a larger Sears model for much less money but the Honda is the one that I can feel confident using many years down the road. Should you buy it? It obviously has a cool factor and extra features that almost makes shovelling fun. I like it because I can be confident that I am able to tackle any situation with ease, I can be sure that I have a quality machine that starts up with ease, runs smoothly. There is a certain satisfaction to know you bought a quality machine that will never let you down (that's the expectation anyway). Definitely worth it if you want to tackle some tough jobs. It's expensive, so I won't give it a full five star rating. But otherwise, it comes recommended from this lazy guy.

I've added some pictures of the snowblower at my web site http://www.geocities.com/ray_tsui/snowblower.htm

Recommended: Yes