On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:16:41 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

wrote:
(long and educational explanation snipped)

Wow- you folks up north sure do have a lot more choices than we do down
here, leastways if we don't want to take a weekday off to shop. I am
curious, what price does a typical 24" 2-stage run up there?

BTW, I didn't buy mine at the Borg. I bought it off Craig'sList,
essentially brand new, from a small-framed fellow who was pretty clearly
scared of it. 100 bucks cheaper than new, which was around 600 at the
time. I did do a lot of shopping around though, at least at the places
that were open on Saturday around here. Only difference between brands
seemed to be color and decals. The 'Fisher-Price' rubber-auger singles,
the 24", and the 26", all had a single model available. I'm sure that if
I was doing driveways for a living, it wouldn't hold up as well as a
thousand-dollar machine, but for my little 20x60 driveway, it seems to
be holding up fine. And my back feels a whole lot better in winter.

On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:16:41 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

wrote:
(long and educational explanation snipped)

Wow- you folks up north sure do have a lot more choices than we do down
here, leastways if we don't want to take a weekday off to shop. I am
curious, what price does a typical 24" 2-stage run up there?

BTW, I didn't buy mine at the Borg. I bought it off Craig'sList,
essentially brand new, from a small-framed fellow who was pretty clearly
scared of it. 100 bucks cheaper than new, which was around 600 at the
time. I did do a lot of shopping around though, at least at the places
that were open on Saturday around here. Only difference between brands
seemed to be color and decals. The 'Fisher-Price' rubber-auger singles,
the 24", and the 26", all had a single model available. I'm sure that if
I was doing driveways for a living, it wouldn't hold up as well as a
thousand-dollar machine, but for my little 20x60 driveway, it seems to
be holding up fine. And my back feels a whole lot better in winter.


Currently Canadian Tire has 2 24" blowers listed online. The Troybuilt
is 1149.99 and the yardworks is 999.99
Both use the Powermore 208cc OHV engine. The Troy has"power steering."

They also have a Yarworks with single speed - down and dirty cheapest
thing MTD could throw together, with the same engine for 769.95

Looks like with the death of Tecumseh the L-head engine option (the
old snow-king) is gone.
For the first time I also only see one HP per blower width - on 2
brands listed on their site.

Home harware has both a 26 and 28 inch TORO with 250cc Briggs. 24"
1599.99 and 28 inch with fingertip steering at 1899.99

Sears Canada has Craftsman 24" with 208cc Storm Force OHV (9 ft lb )
(6 HP) for 899.99
Also 24" 208cc Powermate engine for 999.99
Also for 1099.99 a 249cc 11.5 ft lb (8 HP) Briggs on the 24" blower.

Then they have both 27" and 30" with 305cc Briggs 14.5 ft lb (10 HP)
for 1699.99 eachIn the 27 inch size they also have 249cc briggs for
1199.99 and 999.99, as well as Briggs OHV 13.5 ft lb (9 HP) for
1299.99 and a Poulan Pro 291cc 12.4 ft lb (8.5HP)


So it is obvious they are still building and selling the same machine
with different engine options - both HP and valve configuration..

Looking at Briggs specs, the 205cc Intek OHV is 7.5HP compared to
249cc for the flathead 8HP.

The OHV Snow line has a 342cc, 20.85cu inch series at 16.5 and 15.5 ft
lb (10.6 and 11.3HP) as well as a305cc (18.6 cu inch) at 13.5 and 14.5
ft lb (9.25 and 9.9 hp), the 249 at 11.5 and 11 ft lb, and the 205 at
8 and 9 ft lb (5.5 and 6HP)


THe engines referred to as "power mate" are COLEMAN engines.

The "Storm Force" engine is a Chinese LCT engine.
The "Powermore" is also a cheap chinese engine - a cob-rough copy of a
Honda, used by MTD on their "value lines"


So, More than you ever wanted to know about SnowBlowers and engines in
Canada.