If your region only gets the occasional winter storm, you might be better off hiring a local plowing service to clear your drive or digging out with a shovel. But if you see more snowfall than that, your best bet is to find a snow blower matched to the volume of snow and how much effort you want to expend on its removal.
A new snow blower is one of the more calculated purchases you’ll make as a homeowner, but the right machine is out there. "Whatever size, price point and power supply fits your needs, manufacturers have a range of models to choose from," says Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. To find the winners in every catgory, the experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute road tested numerous models and pored through reams of specifications and test documentation. We also teamed up with Brad Ford, test editor at Popular Mechanics, who has reviewed dozens of snow blowers over the years, using dump truck-size loads of wet sawdust to simulate heavy snow; Ford also runs blowers at his home in eastern Pennsylvania, where 18-inch snowfalls are routine.
Besides helping us find the best snow blowers available this winter, Ford talked through the features that matter most, from headlights to heated hand grips, plus why it might make sense to choose from the ever-improving category of battery-powered snow blowers, especially if you want a greener alternative to gas that “won’t tick off your neighbors at 5 a.m.,” he says. Based on all those inputs, the following models earned a spot in our roundup of the best snow blowers:
