Snow Joe 15-Amp Corded Electric Snow Blower, 22" Clearing Path w/Dual LED Lights, Steel Auger, 180° Adjustable Chute & Clean-Out Tool – High-Capacity for Large Driveways & Walkways, SJ627E

This is the second time I've had to use this snow thrower. The first was a big snow storm in NYC, that delivered about 10-12 inches of snow. This easily handled that snowfall. I own a Toro 1800, that Is over 15 years old and still works great. However, it's about 12 Amps, 10 inches depth with 18 inch width. During that December snowfall, I started with the Toro to see how it's fare. It was tough going, barely making a dent in the snow, especially with snow drifts. Then I switched to this Snow Joe, and it handled the snow much more easily. Man, was I glad I purchased this just before the snow fell. (Talk about luck, it actually arrived the night before the storm.) So, I was very happy with every aspect of this snow thrower. Fast forward to the Nor'easter that brought massive snowfall to NYC again. Started Sunday and ended Tuesday morning. In my neighborhood, it measured 18.5 inches. Plus some rain/sleet that fell on top of that level of snow. So the snow was that heavy wet kind. I won't lie and say this was as easy as the December snow clearing. I would clear about a foot or two, then go back and clip off snow, about 1/4 - 1/3 from the side of the snow thrower opening. This would break the snow 'wall' and the blades would funnel the wet snow into the output tube. It handled the job. It certainly saved my back. I did have to use more effort pushing the thrower, since the snow was not fluffy, and offered considerable resistance. Before I purchased this machine, I considered a gas powered snow blower. The cost was significantly more, which was expected. I was considering a 2 stage unit, so that I could avoid the gas/oil mixture, and just use gas. it's louder, heavier and takes more space. Since I had reasonable success with my older Toro, I figured that a more powerful version should suffice. For this snow, would the Toro have been useful? Not really, because it struggled with the December snowstorm. Would the gas powered machine have handled this snowstorm? Of course. A neighbor has one, and he slowly progressed without hesitation. This Snow Joe snow thrower, with some strategic tactics, ably handled the job. It might have done the job in 1/2 the time, possibly even more. In previous years, for a storm like this (maybe 8 inches or more, that would tax the Toro), I'd use a shovel to clear the snow. I recall one storm where it took over 6 hours to complete the job (Besides clearing my own driveway,sidewalk and walkway, I clear 3 of my neighbors' sidewalks and walkways, and one elderly couples driveway, just in case of emergency). I've attached some photos of the Snow Joe against the backdrop of the snow, some shots of sidewalks that I cleared. There's also a side by side photo of the Snow Joe and my trusty old Toro. Overall, this is a great machine. I was actually surprised how well it handled these two snowstorms. Again, today's use was no walk in the park. It required effort and took time. However, tonite my back feels normal, no aches or pains. I'm sure the job was completed in much less time that manually shoveling. For a price that is about 1/3 the cost of the gas powered machine, it's a considerable value/cost effective. If I thought we were going to have snowstorms in excess of 20 inches with regularity, I would consider purchasing a 2 stage gas powered snow blower. But, realistically, this Snow Joe snow thrower should ve a very credible and capable performer for the majority of snow events. I feel this machines merits a solid 4.75 star rating, with a very high level recommendation.

INTRO-1: I live up in the Pacific North West, and we are plagued by horrible winter storms. Most of the time we get very little snow, but on occasion, we really get the snow. I chose not to go with a gas blower for 3 reasons. (1) Gas blowers are very expensive! (2) Gas blowers require lots of maintenance, they have an engine afterall! (3) We rarely get enough snow to warrant the power of a gas blower. However, when you look at my pictures, you can tell I could have used a gas blower for the drift alone, but thats what a shovel is for lol. Like I said, most of the time we don't get this much snow, if we get any at all, so it made sense to save money, and go electric. INTRO-2: When choosing a snow blower, you have to think about the job at hand. How much snow do you get? Are you within 100-feet of an electrical outlet? Perhaps you want to skip corded electric and gas all together and go with a cordless electric? I watched video's online of cordless blowers, and to be honest, I am not really impressed. For one thing, they cost as much as a single stage gas blower, and they perform worse then a corded electric. So for me the choice was simple. I chose the 21" 15-AMP electric snow blower form Snow Joe. ASSEMBLY: Assembling this blower is very easy, all you have to do is attach the handles, wheels, chute control arm, and chute top, everything else comes already assembled. If your not sure, just follow the directions in the manual. Assembly can be completed within 30-minutes if you are slow at assembling things, or within 10-minutes if your quick. CORD: Because not everybody knows this, I feel the need to quickly mention that you must match the cord to the draw of the machine. This machine requires a minimum of a 12 gauge 3 conductor electrical cord. I highly recommend you purchase a US & WIRE Extreme cable sold on Amazon, as they remain flexible and easy to manage in freezing and sub freezing temperatures. Also make sure to get the proper length you need. Tiny driveways you can probably get away with a 50 footer. For average size driveways, you want a 100 footer. And don't get anything over 100 feet unless you step up to a 10 gauge 3 conductor cord. MOTOR: This snow blower uses a 15-AMP motor, which averages around 1500-watts of draw. A standard garage circuit or household circuit, has a 20-AMP max breaker capacity. This motor will draw 1800-watts peak power during motor startup only. Because of this, please make sure there is nothing else running on the circuit, otherwise you might risk tripping your breaker. This motor has lots of power for what it was designed to do, and it sure didn't disappoint me! BLOWER: The blower has a 12-inches tall opening by 21-inches wide. It is designed to take on no more then 1 foot at a time, however its pretty slow doing that even with fluffy snow. The blower seems to excel at tackling 6-inches to 8-inches at a respectful pace. Like I said, it will handle a foot of snow at a time, but it will be slow going. If the snow is over a foot tall, you will have to tilt the blower up to take off the top layer first, then come back again to take off the bottom layer. If your drifts are between 2-feet to 3-feet you can forget it, you will never tilt it high enough, and be able to push it through the drift. Your just going to have to grab a shovel if your in that situation and remove the top layer of the drift with a snow shovel first, then come back with the blower after that. I took a picture of the snow blower next to a drift that is too tall for the capacity of the machine. I just needed to shovel that top layer off there, then I could come back with the blower and finish it up. DRIVE: I want to remind everyone, that this blower is not self propelled. Your not going to find self propelled at this price point. This is a blower that you have to push. If you are a senior citizen, or someone with a disability, you might find pushing this thing difficult. However, if you are healthy, you can push this blower no problem, as long as you are not pushing it beyond its recommended limits. AUGER: This is a single stage snow blower, hence it has an auger, but no impeller. The auger spins at a blindingly fast rate, which grabs the snow via the rubber paddles, and throws it through the chute. The rubber paddles are replaceable, but I haven't seen any wear after a single use! On the left side of the blower is a panel that you can remove, to give you access to the sealed belt and pulley's, that link the motor to the auger. This was a good design to help keep snow away from the belt! The belt and pully's are also replaceable if they should wear out on you. CONTROLS: The controls at the operator position are very simple. You have the safety start button, the start bar, the LED headlight, and the chute direction control. In order to start the blower, you have to press and hold the safety button, and then pull back the start bar against the handle, easy! The direction of the chute can be operated remotely via the directional control arm, but the vertical up/down movement has to be done manually at the chute itself. The LED headlight has a on/off switch on top of it, so you can choose weather to run it or not, and the light position is adjustable. WHEELS: The wheels on this blower are not the greatest in the world, however, they are not the worst either. While I would have preferred pneumatic wheels, you won't find those in this price range. At least this blower didn't come with those cheap noisy plastic wheels found on kids big wheels. The wheels move over the driveway pretty well, so I am not going to fault them too much. But the reason I would have preferred pneumatic wheels, is because they are superior at moving over terrain. HANDLE: The handle itself provides a nice foam grip for your hands. It would have been nice if it were heated but again, not found in this price range. If you just wear a thick pair of winter gloves you will be fine. The handle doesn't seem to flex much at all, which really is a surprise considering the cost of the machine. I've actually been quite pleased with the handle, and I can even hang it up on the wall via the handle, so multi-purpose abilities are the way to go here. CLEANING: Cleaning up the blower is very simple, all you need is a small broom, and you just sweep the snow off of it, thats really the only maintenance you need to do on it! If it were a gas machine, you would have to worry about draining the carburetor of gas, and changing the oil for the next season. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this is a very nice snow blower. It tackles everything I need it to do, except for the drifts. It has plenty of power for what it was designed to do, and it gets the job done. I'm actually happy that I didn't go with a lesser 13-AMP 18" model, as that would have been a pain to use in this situation. This 15-AMP 21" model was surprisingly easy to use. And if your concerned with the noise factor, well, this electric machine can be run without hearing protection on, so it won't annoy your neighbors early in the morning either. If your looking for an electric model, I recommend this one!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I purchased this product through Amazon Prime and fulfillment and delivery was spot on time. The product arrived packaged in a sturdy and attractive cardboard box. Inside the unit was secure and well wrapped in protective plastic. There were no missing pieces or parts. My only disappointment was a broken extension cord restraint hook which I arranged to have replaced through SJ customer service. Assembly was a breeze as the product is mostly pre-assembled and only involves: 1) extending and securing the handle-bar and frame assembly, 2) Securing the crank rod assembly, 3) Loosening and locking the discharge shoot deflector securely onto the discharge hood. When assembled the product has a solid look and feel of quality. The manual is concise and well written and contains everything you need to know about safely assembling, operating and maintaining your Snow Joe. Take a minute to register your unit with SJ to activate your 2-year standard product warranty and to also receive a bonus 90 days of extra protection. FIRST RUN: The first run of my SJ went smoothly without incident. It was a light job of moving only 1 and half to 3 inches of light dry snow. Still, I am glad I got the 15 Amp version especially for clearing the bottom of my driveway for after the snow plow has gone through. Looking forward to tackling bigger and heavier jobs. I think and hope that my snow shoveling chores just got a whole lot easier. The biggest challenge was learning how to manage the cord while operating to avoid any accidents. Will post updates in the future to share the experience. I am giving this product an initial overall 4-star rating pending further review after I have used it over a more extended period. So far it has met all my expectations and made a strong positive impression. I hope and expect to upgrade it to 5 stars all around. UPDATE#1: My second outing with my new SJ was at night on 3 to 6 inches of moist snow. Again the SJ handled the job with no difficulty. I was being careful not to overload the unit going through the thicker patches. The 20 watt LED headlamp proved useful in illuminating the path directly in front of the unit. I look forward to testing the unit under heavier and wetter snow conditions. So far, so good. UPDATE#2: The day of the first big test arrived when 10 to 12 inches of heavy wet snow fell overnight. As I surveyed my 12 by 40 foot driveway and 32 feet of sidewalk, I could already feel the pain in my arms, shoulders and back if I had to do this job by hand. Fortunately, my SJ was ready to go. I first cleared a swath down the center of my drive, taking it slowly in small bites so as not to overload the machine. After this I was able to go up and down my driveway shaving off 12 inch swaths and blowing the snow to the sides. By being careful not to overload the machine, my SJ easily cleared the heavy wet snow. I was impressed by how well the steel blades cleared the snow right down to the pavement. The chute clean-out tool came in handy for clearing the discharge chute of wet snow blockages. Although it took a couple of hours to clear most of the snow, I was grateful for the pain and suffering my SJ helped me avoid. The ultimate challenge lay ahead in clearing out the 2 and half foot drift of heavy, compacted slushy snow left across the bottom of my drive by the snow plow. UPDATE#3: From the start I knew that clearing the drift left by the snow plow was too big a job for my SJ to handle alone. So my strategy was to use a shovel to break up the drift into bite-size chunks and create a 6 inch high swath for my SJ to clear. This strategy worked well and again my SJ had no problem in clearing wet snow including the heavy slush. Again I was grateful for the pain and suffering avoided if I would have had to lift and shovel all that heavy wet snow by hand. Three cheers for my small but mighty Snow Joe! FINAL VERDICT: After having tested my SJ under a variety of conditions from mild, medium to extreme, the SJ has met and even exceeded my expectations. It is definitely up to the task of handling the full range of all my snow removal challenges, using a measure of common sense in heavier conditions. Therefore I am upgrading its overall rating to 5 stars. This upgraded package with the 15 Amp motor, head light and chute clean-out tool is well worth it and should more than satisfy the needs of home owners with small to medium size snow removal challenges. P.S. I have attached a photo of my SJ hanging on a metal bracket inside my garage next to the main door and the electrical power outlet where it is always ready to go on a moment’s notice. As space is extremely limited for storage inside my garage, I really appreciate this space-saving aspect of the SJ due to its small light-weight design.

I am very impressed with this little workhorse. Powerful motor. Handles could be sturdier and longer, but it works well. Did a trail to my shed. Cleared my deck after removing snow from my roof.

Poor quality steel Bent a steel in one use

The good: On concrete, it does really well. We had a 5 inch dump of snow recently that was part fluff and part wet. It handled both just fine. Takes what used to be an hour and a half of shoveling a 100ft walkway and turns it into 20 mins. The wet snow can plug the chute often, but a light bump on the ground and its ready to go again. It arrived mostly together, and handle installation took maybe 5 mins. I really like that the unit is light enough I can carry it with one hand, bringing it up the stairs for storage in the mud room when im done. Being 15 amps, this unit thus far has been great and I haven't noticed it struggle at all. Neutral: It does not like rocks or loose gravel, which can be a pain as part of our sidewalk is a gravel paver mix. I wish it came with adjustable runners, but finding one that does, and is electric seems impossible. Careful where you aim the chute. Catch a rock and wow, can it ever flick it with force. The bad: The lights worked for maybe 2 mins when I started it up for the first time, and haven't worked since. Messing around with an extension cord can be a pain, but battery cant match performance of this unit. Also, plan to spend about another $100 to $200 on extension cords. Being 15 amp means you cant use cheap cords. 14 gauge or under. Instructions also say do not use more then 100ft of cord. Something to take into consideration when thinking about the length of your driveway or walkways. All in all .. im happy with my purchase. My back is happy as well.

Bought this for my elderly parents as it was light, 15A, and had decent reviews. I fully understood that I was dealing with a lightweight, electric machine that would never be able to match the performance of a gas unit. I even dug up video reviews of the machine working before I bought it. First snowfall arrives: approximately 4" of light, powdery snow on the ground. I get out my heavy duty cord (100' 12ga), grab the machine from their garage and get to work, stopping immediately; something is beating against the chassis when the auger turns and it sounds like the thing is going to tear itself apart. I unplug it, flip the unit upside down on the workbench, and turn the auger by hand to see if I can find what is hitting the machine but it's smooth as silk. So I flip it back upright and turn it again, discovering that the bottom of the chute flexes when the machine is upright and the flat rubber pieces are hitting. I unscrew those to see if they're adjustable (nope), and then file them both down until they are no longer hitting the chute. Rev the machine on the garage floor and it's not hitting anymore; score. Once the machine is back outside I start to push it and... the noise comes back, just as loud as before. The chute has so much flex to it that just pushing the machine over (light) snow causes it to bow enough to hit the auger again. Now that I know what is happening, I grab some hearing protection and get started. The machine throws the snow like a champ, easily moves it beyond the edges of the driveway. Except for the bottom inch or so; that stuff gets polished into a compacted layer of slick snow. Superb. By now the plough has gone by and there's a ridge of awful road snow at the end of the driveway, so I figure I'll see if this will at least help clear something like that. I ease the machine into it gently, and it starts to chip at it, but gave up almost immediately as I smelled the motor overheating. After that, I stashed it back in the garage and cleared the rest with a shovel, only slipping once on the polished snow left behind by this farce of a tool. Bottom line: yes, on a very technically-correct, syntactically-accurate, legal department-satisfying level, this machine throws snow. But so does a toddler when you play outside in the middle of winter.