Snowblower Snowblower, between these two

[Freds]

I'm in the market (late) for a 3PH snowblower. The dealer I want to buy from hads two; a Provonost puma, 64" and a something (Ber-vac?) Blizzard in 74". He's trying to steer me towards the Blizzard to cover the 72" footprint of my L3130. He also said he's dropping Puma because everyone chooses the Blizzards between the two, but he will still service them.
The Puma is 1500. The Blizzard is 2200. 700 bucks is a pretty big difference.

I was thinking if worse came to worse, I could make some metal chutes for the sides to funnel in the snow on the 64" Puma. Really, what's 5"/side anyway? Either one is probably going to require a second pass to clean up anything that fell into the path, but I'm assuming not the multiple pass upon pass that a rear blade does....

Also, I am assuming that a snowblower is quicker that a rear blade, but none of the past posts I've been reading through today mention anything about one being faster than the other. That has me thinking that maybe you need to go slow like you do with a tiller?
Another concern is that I saw one guy mention that a blade leaves a driveway "cleaner" looking than a snowblower. Any comments on that?

I have a gravel drive with a slight crown if that makes a difference. It comes in, circles around the house and had a recangular parking area off the bottom that extends on either side of another building. There is a split rail fence that is alongside quite a bit of this. In other words, it can get a bit creative using a blade to get the snow to where I can start moving it off to the side and hopefully it won't be in the way before it starts melting in spring. This was getting to be a real problem with the snow we had last winter. Plus the multiple passes to clean up the ridges that spill from the blade.
And there's one spot it drifts so bad I have to use the FEL quite a bit because the rear blade can't touch it.

So, any thoughts or advice? This isn't a $20,000 purchase where 700 wouldn't be a noticeable savings in the long run, but I think it's a pretty big difference here, unless the 74" Blizzard is that much better.

Thanks for any help!

 

[JerryK]

Howdy, the snowblower is slower than a blade. You can only move as fast as you can get rid of the snow [but the blower get's rid of the snow for good]. Thus, deep snow=slower...light snow=faster. This depends on the rotation speed of your impeller, number of fan blades, it's diameter and it's depth. Design and quality of construction are most important in the impeller area, too. The auger doesn't do much more than gather the snow up for the impeller, and usually doesn't mater much more than that. So if the impellers on both of the blowers you are looking at are simular, then you could get away with the narrower one with added wings. Also, look into the quality of the PTO shaft that comes with each, etc.... Good luck, and enjoy your early Xmas present, Jerry.

PS: I plow my drive the first few snows, while packing down some of it to make a base for the blower. When the serious snow comes, I break out the blower. and throw the snow far away from the drive to keep from making drifts. Plowing is faster, and more 'fun'...but the blower works best for me the rest of the winter. My blower also doesn't require multiple passes to make the drive or wide areas 'look cleaner'. I'm sure it does a better job that my backblade.

 

[hazmat]

you want the blower to be at least a little wider than the tractor.

I'd go for the one that has the larger diameter impeller (assuming both are direct drive) - it will throw snow further.

I've always found blowing to be faster than plowing regardless of snow depth.

 

[WayneB]

I am not sure about speed with the blower over a back blade. It just seems faster as you are moving the snow a long ways from where you are working and you don't have it piling up like you do with the rear blade or FEL.

I have a Woods SS-60 and it works nicely for us, as lone asthere is enough snow. You will like the idea of having no snow banks to deal with.

I also have a gravel driveway and find it is important to set the skid shoes a bit higher until you get a good hard pack snow cover in the area.

My neighbor has the Puma 74 with the Hydraulic chute rotation option. It is a big machine and does a great job. The hydraulic chute is really a nice option and something you should check into.

Can't say anything about the Blizzard snowblower.

 

[shvl73]

Compare the specs on the two units. The Puma has a 20" fan. The Blizzard has a 24" fan. Fan drum depth, 6" vs 9". Cutting height, 24-1/2" vs 26". Drive chain, 60 vs 50.
See here: RAD Tech-Souffleuses à neige
PRONOVOST-PUMA SNOWBLOWERS
The Puma 74" would obviously be a more equal comparison.

 

[canoetrpr]

I'm not sure if I mentioned a blade leaving a driveway looking 'cleaner' or if it was someone else but I do think that there is some truth to this.

I've got a 68" blower for my L3400. It does quite a good job - but I do find that neighbours drives that have been cleared with a blade look cleaner. Just by virtue of the fact that my blower has skid shoes, I don't clear the last couple of inches of snow or so with the blower.

A rear blade is a more versatile tool. I've decided to bite the bullet and get one for the odd grading task so I will try it on snow and compare to my blower. My guess is that the blade will work quite nicely for the usual 5 to 6" dump we get and I will be happy to have the blower on hand if it is much more than that!

If I were you, I'd start with a blade. That's what I would have done if I were doing it again.

 

[canoetrpr]

Re-reading your post, I realise that you already do have a blade.

I'd go for a blower that covers your width - the 72 in this case. My tractor is about 60" wide with R4s and my blower is 68". I'm not sure I'd want one too much smaller than that.

 

[chipsndust]

You might find that using a blower along the split rail fence will allow you to maintain the full width of the drive, and you'll be less likely to have a close encounter. In a plow vs. fence post battle the plow wins. I seem to have more control when clearing snow close to obstacles with a front mounted snowthrower, and I can put the snow where I want it. Plows and snowthrowers both have shoes, I think you can get similar results by adjusting the shoes for the conditions. I have put "downpressure" on the snowthrower and scraped blacktop clean.

 

[hayden]

I wouldn't consider a blower that's narrower than your tire treads. It will be impossible to make clean edges. On my B2910 I had a 54" unit which was just a touch wider than the tires, and I still ended up with a lot of dribble along the edges. Remember that in turns the front wheels are tracing a different arc than the rear, and can be pulling a lot of snow back into the path that the blower cleared.

My new tractor has the Blizzard 74" with hydraulic chute rotator, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet (which is killing me, by the way).

 

[Freds]

Looks like the popular consensus is that adding wings to the smaller blower won't work as well as buying the blower that covers my tracks, even though it's only covering them by an inch on each side.
I wish I had started checking into these a couple months ago..... Apparently the dealers in my area don't keep a lot of these on hand once the fall rush is over. Not unless I want to pay 2700 for a Woods

Thanks for your input guys.