Customer Reviews

Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower #38025

5 star:		(475)
4 star:		(175)
3 star:		(43)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(80)

 

 

You only have to look at this 25 pound wonder to know its not a heavy duty snow blower. So don't think it is going to do the job of a huge gas powered rig.

Having said that - I have a 50ft two car wide driveway. It flings 5 inches of snow off that driveway in 10 to 15 min. I love it. I cant wait for more snow. It should have no problem with a foot of snow. its like a high powered snow vacume

You just plug it in and go. No gas, no spark plugs, no oil, no tune up. I am often done before the neighbor has cussed enough to get his gas monster (with head lights) running. I have full confidence in this rig.

I liked mine so much I purchased one ...for my brother...I have read people who are concerned with the power of an electric. The Toro has plenty of power and higher RPMs than a gas thrower. No blower works great in all condition. However in the snow we have had here in northern NJ it has no problem throwing snow 20 to 30 feet. I highly recommend this thrower. It is better than throwers in its class that and a little larger. But its not a match for a big rig. I have read some complain about small wheels. The wheels are just fine thank you! This blower will blow snow like crazy but It is not up to punching through the plow wall. I break up the plow wall with a shovel then blow it away. I calculate several inches of snow on my driveway weighs about 40 tousand pounds. This blower moves almost all of that and saves your back and heart for having fun in the snow.

Good Job Toro! Very convenient

I've been using this snowthrower for 5 years now, and it works ok, but has definite limitations. If you have a driveway that's longer than 30 feet, then seriously consider buying a gas-powered one. To me, the hassles of using this snow thrower is balanced by the relatively few days of heavy snow where I live, and also by my dislike of maintaining gas-powered tools. Recommended with reservations.

PROS:
- Lightweight and compact, so can be stored in shed easily.
- Electric, so virtually no maintenance.
- The electric motor is surprisingly powerful.
- Simple to set up and use.
- Works very well with dry, powdery snow.
- Quality construction, and zero problems in past five years.

CONS:
- Lack of torque and lightweight plastic construction means that it cannot handle compacted, icy, or wet snow. (This is when you feel like junking this tool.)
- There should be a mechanism that 'locks' the electric cord connection to the thrower, so that the cord doesn't keep disconnecting.
- The handle should retract and telescope for leverage and also to facilitate storage.
- The tiny plastic wheels must have come from a toy factory. They provide no traction and are merely useless appendages.

I live in NYC and I just used this snow thrower during the last nor'easter, in which we received 6 inches of snow. I just got home from work and there were my three neighbors: Mr. Nosey and Mr. and Mrs. Know-it-all half way done shoveling their driveways. "A lot of snow we got, eh, Crab. You got your work cut out for you!" With that the three of them started to smirk. Little did they know I had a secret weapon: The Toro 38025 1800 Power Curve Snow Thrower which I had sent to me under the cover of darkness away from their prying eyes. Tired, cold, hungry and scared, I plugged that bad boy in and off I went. Within 30 minutes, I plowed my driveway to concrete while my snoopy neighbors were still digging away. I guess I got the last laugh. There was no hassle,no fuss, no gas, no oil, no spark plugs. It's also light weight and I was able to lift it and plow a snow drift. It's so small and compact that it takes little space inside my house. Just a caveat: you should spend the 10 extra bucks for the 100' cord. My only regret is that I should have bought the Toro last year!

My neighbors are jealous. This is the little red engine that could. I've used it for 2 winters now in the Northeast with no problems. My driveway is 50' long x 20' wide. The sidewalks add another 25' on either side. I use extra long extension cords with no power loss. It takes less time to blow off my driveway than with a gas-powered, manly Ken snowblower. It cleared last winter's blizzard (the New Year's blizzard with knee deep snow) in less than an hour. Even though this little blower vanished into the deep snow, it blew it all out into huge mounds. Sometimes the cord is a hassle, but not enough to force me to buy a he-man snowblower. It is light enough that I lift it by its top handle to blow off the front porch. Because of its lightweight, I lift it to blow out what the city plows in at the end of my driveway by taking 'bites' out of the snow mounds kindly left at the end of my driveway. Before, I would call the city to come back and plow out what they plowed in because I had to do it all by hand (which they would do, I love my hometown). This Toro handles both light and heavy snow well. Assembly took 10 minutes for this Barbie, meaning a couple of bolts and snap-on parts. Instructions were crystal clear (pictures, no words needed). Wheel freezing is a problem, so I retrofitted some small knobby wheels on it, et voila - traction and problem solved. Light enough that it hangs from a hook in the garage. Thank you, Toro!

As the titled indicates, my Toro snow thrower just burned itself out after 2 years of light use. I did nothing unusual today, just plugged it in and started to clear my driveway of about 4-5 inches of snow when after 5 minutes use I smelled something burning. I pulled it into my garage an unplugged it before examining it for anything clogging or stuck in the "blade". I couldn't find anything wrong so I plugged it in again. When I pulled the handle to start it turning it ran for 30 seconds and then I saw a spark come from the end that contains the electric motor at which time it died. It never did a great job, especially on wet packed snow, and the electric cord was a pain, but I would have rated it a "4" on performance given its limitations. Very disappointing to shell out $300 for something I used so little but I'll take it to a local service center to get an estimate for repair. It probably needs a new motor but if the total cost is over $100 I'll just chuck it and borrow my neighbors gas snow thrower for the rest of the winter.

UPDATE: 2/29/2008, I removed the electric motor and found the armature to be damaged. The replacement part cost is $168 from a local Toro dealer. This cost is for the part only, no labor involved, and more than half what the entire snow thrower costs. The Toro dealer suggested I buy a new one instead of replacing the motor. Needless to say I didn't buy the replacement motor nor did I buy another Toro 1800 Power Curve. I bought this snow thrower because of the high rating it was given by many reviewers, not realizing that most of them were not long term ratings. I liked mine too, when it worked, but am very disappointed in its reliability. It would be interesting to see what other purchasers of this snow thrower say after 2-3 years of service instead of 1-2 months. Would they still rate it 4-5 stars?

UPDATE#2: 3/14/2008, After contacting Toro by email, explaining my problems and that I owned the snow thrower for about 2 1/2 years and thus outside the warranty period, they graciously offered to repair or replace it if I sent it back to them at my expense. So I disassembled it, packed it up in the original box and brought it down to a local UPS center. The cost was $38, but 2-weeks later I received my seemingly new unit from Toro. I assembled the unit and started it up with no problems. Now I need some snow to try it out. So although it was a time consuming experience, with some expense, I am very impressed with Toro's customer service and would rate them 5-stars in that area. The short lifetime of the original unit was disappointing but at least the manufacturer stood behind their product. We'll see how long this one lasts but I'm satisfied with Toro and would buy another product of theirs based on their customer service.

I live in the Greater Boston area and got the Toro Powercurve for my driveway. The snow blower is just right for the amount of snow that we get here. For other regions which have more snow, maybe more than the 2 feet that is the normal maximum for this place, a bigger one may be needed.

For upto 2 feet of snow this is good. What I did like is the easy setup, the instant start, long throw distance, the amount of power that is available (for the $$) and the ease of storage.

What is most annoying is the cable getting in the way. Would probably be asking for too much if I asked for a "cordless" blower though. My best advise on this would be to not buy a cable that is longer than your needs. My driveway is pretty short about 40 feet. I made the mistake of buying a 100 feet cable which is totally unnecessary - its a hassle to move the coil of wire around. 40 or 50 feet would have been great.

Things that can be improved:
1) A 30 or 40 foot cable could have been bundled.
2) The wheels are not too good and can be improved. They are almost useless in snow.
3) Could have been a little less heavy. Not that its too heavy; however its heavier than a snow-rake or shovel.

The most difficult part of snow removal is the edge-of-the- driveway-snow-dumped-there-by-the-city-snow-plough. This forms into a hard mass usually mixed with sand, stones and other dirt. This, the Toro does not easily remove. I had to manually shovel this. DO NOT expect the Toro Powercurve to remove this. You need a more powerful blower to remove the hardened snow.

In places with heavier snow, this may be used as a second blower possibly for the deck or sidewalk where carrying the larger behmoths would be difficult.

I have carpel tunnel syndrome and RTS, so I can't shovel. A snow blower was an obvious choice, but I was also concerned about a big vibrating machine. The lawn mower vibrations hurt my wrists also. I was on a mission to find a light, easy to use, powerful snow blower when I came across the 38025. When I received it, I'll admit I thought it may have been a bit cheaper in construction than I wanted.
But in the month that I've had it, I used it about 8 times, and it has *far* exceeded my expectations. It is light enough to lift and use that even my tired wrist don't complain. It is quiet enough to have a conversation while using. It doesn't smell since it's electric. And it has more power than I expected. I'm extremely happy with it and would recommend this to any one with the following caveats:

It's only 12" tall, so if you get a lot of snow, you either have to go out ever 8" of snow fall and throw it, or get a bigger machine.

The power cord can take a bit of getting use to, and the connection to the machine is a bit untrustworthy. But fix both of these with a extra long bright power cord, and some tape to hold the correct plug on.

I'

The positive reviews are right on the mark.

I have a single stage gas 2-cycle snowblower and got sick and tired of starting and running problems. Gas engines really aren't suited to sitting unused for 3/4 of the year and started for the first time on a really cold morning.

The gas blower can clear 21" at a time vs. the toro's 18" but would bog down and stall (even when it was running fine) so I ended up clearing only half that width at a pass. With this electric I can do the full 18".

I tested it on the 1.5 foot of snow that fell late last week. I cleared half of my larger than average driveway with the gas blower and got the rest with the electric a few days later. The two are designed the same: single stage with directional chute. Both threw the snow the same distance but the electric toro did a better job of going right down to the pavement. I cleared snow in compacted drifts that were nearly 2 feet deep in spots. Where the gas blower would be on the verge of (and sometimes past) stalling the electric displayed more torque, slowing down a bit but showing no signs of quitting.

The end of the drive was piled high from the plow and the slush had frozen into solid blocks of ice. I was concerned they would break the plastic impeller. Both blowers had a hard time breaking through the ice crusted shell in that high pile so I broke it up with a shovel and tried clearing it with the gas blower because it has a metal and rubber impeller. It did about 8 feet and stopped running inexplicably and wouldn't start again (yes, it had gas).

I used the toro electric and it cleared the broken up snow and ice easily. It rattled and got flung around when throwing the big hard chunks of ice but after inspecting the impeller I didn't find a scratch on it.

It doesn't need gas and oil to be mixed, doesn't produce an acrid cloud of gas and blue oil smoke like 2-cycle gas blowers do, and doesn't need a struggle to prime, start, adjust the choke, etc.

Everybody has complained about the wheels but they work fine for me. Under normal use they're hovering 2 inches off the ground anyway. Also, tightening the chute nuts needs a good set of pliers to grab the round head of the carriage bolt since the square hole in the plastic can't keep the bolt from turning when snugging down the nut. Doing that gets it nice and tight, and only has to be done once during assembly, but this is a design flaw, Toro are you listening?.

I found that managing the cord wasn't a hardship like it can be with an electric lawn mower mostly because the lawn has trees and shrubs for the cord to get stuck around (which is why I don't have an electric mower). In contrast, the driveway and walks are typically open space.

I used a 100 foot 16 gauge outdoor cord and it's fine. Whatever voltage drop there is isn't noticeable and the wire stays cold to the touch. Don't bother with thicker 14 or 12 gauge wire; it'll just be heavier and stiffer. I ran it on a 15A circuit that also powered the outside lights and the breaker never tripped, but the lights dimmed a bit when hitting really deep snow.

In summary, it works great. It's small and looks a bit like a toy but it's more capable than a gas unit twice its size/bulk. There's a feeling of freedom in not having the nagging worry that it might not start or run reliably, or run out of gas or 2-cycle oil.

It's also lightweight, clean and quiet (sounds like a muffled vacuum cleaner).

I liked it so much I bought a second one for a friend so he doesn't have to put up with his gas blower anymore either.

I have previously reviewed this product last month with a 5-star review, but felt compelled to write another review based on the OUTSTANDING performance of this little wonder during one of Boston's largest snowfalls in history this weekend. I live just north of Boston, where we got 36" of snow. I again admit that when I first took the Toro out and the machine sank in the snow so I could no longer see it that I wished I had bought a gas powered snowblower. Was I wrong...again!!! This little machine was able to completely remove all the snow from my 6-car driveway and all walkways. Granted, this machine is not designed for three feet of snow, and I often had to break the piles down with a shovel first. Still, this machine did 90% of the effort. What would have taken me 4+ hours before took 1 hour with this machine. It was funny to watch all my neighbors with their big gas beasts laughing at me when I first took out my plastic snow savior. In the end, I was the one that was laughing since I was done way before they were, and didn't have to deal with the countless stalls my neighbors did (and they have smaller driveways!). I also had a few people walking by asking me about the machine as they have never seen it before. Many people want an electric alternative but think the little Toro can't handle it. Hopefully I was able to change a few minds as well! If this machine can handle 3' of snow, it can do anything. I can't say enough about this machine, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I have kids so I didn't want to deal with gas, instead bought the 1800. This snow thrower is great for light to moderate weight snow up to eight inches deep. Heavier denser, wet snow would be tougher but it still gets the job done. In this condition I would shovel when it's around 4 inches.
The chute is great with 180 degree angle to throw the snow from left, right and anything in between, whichever works for you. Plus the chute has an height adjuster where if you're throwing the snow when it's really windy you could lower the throw so the snow won't blow into your face or higher up over a wood fence.
The cord doesn't bother me too much since I also mowe my grass with electric. Since it's electric I could store it in my basement with no hassle or fear with the smell/mess/storage/running out of it/fire hazzard of gas. I've been using the 1800 for atleast 10 years and have no regrets.