Review of The Toro Company 38272 Power Clear 180 Snow Thrower (reviews, deal, purchase)
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The Toro Company 38272 Power Clear 180 Snow Thrower
Rating: 5 out of 5
Currently 5.0/5.0
We live in New York state and catch some large snows. I always shoveled our walk or driveway in the past, but since I have retired, my back bothers me a great deal when I attempt to do much physical work. My wife has become afraid that I might slip and really get hurt, too.
Our son moved to the west coast so we don't have anyone to depend on to move snow except ourselves. That's why we decided to look at snow blowers or throwers.
Toro was my first choice because I like their lawn mowers, and I have a friend who sells them. He told me that the smaller 180 was all I should need because of the size of my yard. It's only about forty feet from the house to the street.
The Toro has a 4-cycle OHV engine, which is small but powerful. It was priced at a respectable $399.95, and that was less than I thought it would be. When I took it home, I cranked it up just to get a feel for the operation of the unit. It didn't snow for five weeks after we purchased it so I was well prepared when it finally came.
It cranks well just like the lawn mower and runs fine even in the coldest weather. It took some getting used to because I had never used a thrower before. The first time I made a pass down my driveway, I threw snow into my neighbor's yard, but he didn't mind since his drive was on the opposite side. The manual says it will throw snow 25 feet, and that's not an exaggeration.
Other than getting the thrower out and cranking it, there's not a lot of work to it. It pulls itself forward and you just steer it where you want it to go. I have a four foot wide sidewalk, and it usually takes three passes to get the snow cleared away sufficiently for traffic. This is based on how deep the snow is at the time, however.
I don't know of anything bad to say about the Toro. If a person had a lot of snow to move, it would be better to have a wider and heavier machine, but for a person with a small yard, this is an ideal piece of equipment. It only takes me a couple of hours to do my work. I give the Toro a perfect rating from my personal experience with it.