I normally like to use a product several times before reviewing it but we've only had one legit snowstorm in CT this year, so... we're gonna do this. A standard disclaimer I provide: I'm a military engineer so I'm not particularly gentle on things and tend to be a harsh critic on poorly designed crap. 5 stars = not poorly designed crap.
I ended up getting this thing about three days too late (my fault, not Amazon's!) We got a 16" dump the day I placed the order. It had formed a thick crust on my roof and condensed to about 8 inches by the time I got the roof rake. For anyone that's tried to move snow around, you'll know these are not ideal snow-moving conditions.
Some quick roof stats: my gutters are about 10 feet off the ground so it's a relatively low roof. It's also a steep pitch, between 30-45 degrees. These measurements were acquired via my calibrated eyeball.
The day I got the roof rake, I was hesitant to use it. Others here had commented about bolts falling off and things breaking. Once I saw the hardware, I understood why. It includes lock nuts, which are awesome, but need to be torqued on pretty hard with a wrench/ratchet/etc.. If you don't properly assemble this, expect to lose your nuts, so to speak. I assembled the rake rather quickly and was impressed with the robust design of the scoop. The handle felt strong enough even though the whole assembly was much lighter than I was expecting. I figured I'd give it a go.
I ended up having to chop through the crust on the roof using a modified wood chopping motion. I don't think it was intended to be used like that but it worked for me. Once I broke through the crust, I really leaned into the snow to pull down 5 foot sections at a time. The pole curved from the physics of the motion but felt sturdy and didn't break. I was impressed. After that, I pulled a similar amount of snow off the horizontal surface of my trailer without any issues.
At the time I bought it, it was the most affordable rake that didn't look like junk. In the end, I'd highly recommend this for low roofs. I'll be back here to update my post if I have any negative comments in the future!
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