This is a great tool for its intended use -- clearing snow immediately after a snowfall. Works great for us in the foothills of the Cascades where we can keep up with the snow. We've had consistent snowfall for the last ten days, and I go out in the morning and clear up around 6" of snow each time. Takes about 15 minutes to do my driveway and sidewalks. The engine is electric (powered by an extension cord), so it's quiet and powerful enough for the machine. I was able to run it in the morning and none of my neighbors heard it. Quieter than a leaf blower, and way quieter than a gas-powered blower. I'd compared it to being about as noisy as an electric hair dryer. It doesn't do as well for higher amounts of snow. I think it says it can do up to 10", but that would be for light, dry, and cold snow. And I would not want to try it to get rid of snow that's turned to ice - I fear the blades might crack. Assembling it wasn't difficult, but a few pieces were confusing - the middle handle (lower part) has a cord securing device or dongle that has to face a certain way, and neither the illustrations nor the directions mentioned that. So I had to disassemble it and redo it -- but it wasn't hard to do. Also, the handle that moves the direction of the "spout" has to go into the machine deeper than you realize - there's a rubber sleeve somewhere inside the machine that the handle goes through that doesn't seem to want to accept the handle, so you have to really push it, which is scary if you think you might break something. The blades of the rotary "wheel" are plastic, but for light- to medium-duty, they're fine. It gets the snow off down to the pavement of my smooth sidewalks, and right close to the surface of my textured driveway. This probably won't work on a graveled driveway or a driveway that has a deeply grooved surface like cobblestone, but it seems to work fine on all kinds of materials as long as the surface is hard and somewhat smooth. There are a few downsides. One is its weight. Because it is super light, the temptation is to push it more than you should, slightly elevating the back wheels, and grinding the scraper part of the machine into the pavement/concrete. Which means it stops going forward. Takes practice to not be tempted to push it harder than you need to, and to go slower than you think you can. The other is the way you power it: it needs an extension cord. I find this reasonable because that gives the lighweight and *quiet* engine the power it needs, a good compromise between a battery-powered machine (less power, requires recharging) and a gas-powered machine (more powerful, but usually far, far heavier and more difficult to maneuver and store). But the cord is going to want to travel behind you, which means that every so often you're going to step on. You can try to use the little dongle to secure the cord to the handle, but if you're using a long extension cord (mine is 100'), you're going to need the thicker 12/3 and not the 14/3 cord -- which is too thick for the dongle. Easy enough to just wrap the cord once around the handle, but still -- the cord is going to be there following you. Not a huge thing, but be aware of it. So, over all, really and truly five stars. Works great, lightweight, easy to put together, easy to fold down and stow away. For my use, it's well worth the price.
