Hi everyone, I'm new here on the forum and I'm looking forward to getting my first snow blower. Here are some relevant facts:

I use a temporary shelter during the winter and it is next to the path between the street and the house door, that means that when it snows I have to make my way to the street and then remove the tenth snow from the shelter that falls on the path that already was clean. This path is 10 meters long and about 80 cm wide (varying according to my disposition to take the snow manually) and is not asphalted (it has small stones and sometimes grass).

I also need to make way for the dog to do his / her needs and leave the basement windows accessible for fire. All this way is in the grass.

I did several readings here in the forum and I chose Ariens as being the best option for my budget (until 1900 CAD).

The last important fact is that I live in a rented house today, obviously this will not last forever, so I can not limit myself to a machine for the specific needs of today, I would like to know that the future machine will be good for other situations (I know it is impossible to predict everything).

I am in doubt between the deluxe models 24 / deluxe 28/24 with caterpillars (track). This last one seems interesting but it seems to have a weaker motor, I do not know if this is a problem.

I live in Terrebonne, Quebéc

Thank you for dedicating your time.

to SBF Wladson

Because you're mentioning having to clear off grass for the dog and fire egress from the windows I think I'd go with the tracked version. Otherwise the 28 with cross link chains would be a great choice.

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looks like a shovel would do the job pretty fast.

otherwise a used hs724 tracked Honda. maybe small enough for this job and big enough for down the road needs.

Welcome to the forum!

How much snow do you get per-storm, and per-season, approximately? What kind of snow is it? Someone getting 6" (15cm) of light fluffy snow per-storm, 2 times per season, has different needs that someone getting 18" (45cm) of heavy snow per-storm, 10 times per-season.

Are you also clearing a driveway, or just this path? If you are only clearing the 10 meter/30 foot path, you may not need a huge machine. If you are also clearing a long & wide driveway, that changes things.

Tracked machines can be easier on grass, or loose stones. You can often set the bucket (the snow intake) in a raised position, so that it does not scrape the ground, and instead rides a few inches/cm above the ground. That way the bucket does not tear up the grass, and is less likely to pull in the small stones.

With that said, I use my wheeled Ariens to maintain a path through my yard, maybe around 40 feet. I just push down on the handles, to make sure that the bucket stays up, and does not tear up the grass. It hasn't been a problem.

Thank you, I'm thinking of this line...

Unfortunately there are no honda used for sale in the region and nearby (I also looked for yamaha), true that I preferred a Japanese. The only available is 90's

I'll put some photos to illustrate the real situation. I appreciated your opinion

Good question! With concrete data the thing gets easier. Based on the historical average of the last 30 years:

Month / Amount
November / 21 cm
December / 56 cm
January / 58
February / 34
frame / 26
April / 7

It would give a total of 195 cm, last year that number reached 220. The average number of days with precipitation is 160 for the period of months above. In general in the month of March there are always two great storms that border the 25 cm

The biggest storms pour between 15 and 40 cm

The quality of the snow varies a lot, but we always have verglass and that snow wet. Last winter the snow was soft, but ice sheets formed on a verglass and as I had not yet removed the snow ....

The driveway I'm not cleaning, because I have a contract, but I plan to do it next year. Anyway the entrance is not that big (6 width x 8 meters length)

It would be a great point if you did not scrape the grass, but as you said, it is possible to get a result with some practice with wheels. I'll post some photos to illustrate better

Thank you for your consideration.

look at this last photo, there was a blizzard and then a freeze rain when I still had not taken all the snow, so it was compacted and solid, I could not remove it with a single shovel

This is not what you want to hear,
but you might as well invest in the Yamaha 824 if you cannot afford the 1028 as you will be much much better off with your snows. You could always trade the 824 in on a 1028 or sell it outright if you want to upgrade.

The other thing is wheeled units will tend to ride up on packed snow and the dreaded END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER.

the yamaha 624 is a dream, the dealer is offering financing without interest in 4 years, totaling close to 4,000 cad