I have been watching this snow blower for over a year, and finally the price came down to its lowest point, not a huge discount, but this is Toro and this E21 never had reached this price point in the history.
For snowblower, you can either go with those cheaper snowjoe ones that will generally last about 5，6 years, or a quality Toro that can last decades.
Had a snowJoe 623E lasted me almost 7 years, not bad for Toronto winter, but it cannot tackle wet snow or icy snow situations and it has a cord which is a nuisance.
This Toro E21 is very strong, had it for almost a month and it can tackle hard packed ice(the one made by city snow removal truck at the end of your driveway) or icy freezing rains without much effort even in ECO mode, the battery is strong enough for a 3 car long driveway such as mine. The snow auger blade is made out of iron(unlike cheaper model such as snowjoe with plastic). No more messy gasoline, stabilizer or starting issues.
The specs of the snow removing capability is around 1750lb/min if my memory served me correctly, much higher than an entry level gas-powered unit(usually around 1200lb/min) and close to a midrange single stage gas unit(mostly around 1800~1900lb/min)
And don't forget Rakuten 1.0% cashback for HD
ETA: for those who bought it recently and wish to do a price match, simply had an online chat with a HD agent and they would happily refund you the difference. I bought it $899 + tax and just did the price match refund through HD:
Feb 16 Update:
This Toro handle's last night's heavy fall excellently, but however, due to the sheer amount of snow, one battery is NOT enough for my 3 car drive way, that I have to charge for another 1 hour to finish up the job. The charging takes very long from empty to full (3 hours+)
Anyone has any idea to secure an additional Toro battery? don't need as large as the original, a smaller one that able to finish up the left over job such as the aftermath of this heavy fall....
Nearby Home Depot locations:
Last edited by xuanzh on Feb 16th, 2021 4:56 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Interesting...Toro/HD are way out to lunch with their tool only pricing...Basically they're saying that you have to pay $450 for a charger and battery but they'll throw them in for $50 more (when not on sale) than the tool only price.
Basically they're saying please buy into our ecosystem but we're going to rake you over the coals if you already have batteries and chargers and only want to buy the tool. Thinking hard of replacing my single stage gas thrower with this though.
LttlScamp wrote: ↑
Interesting...Toro/HD are way out to lunch with their tool only pricing...Basically they're saying that you have to pay $450 for a charger and battery but they'll throw them in for $50 more (when not on sale) than the tool only price.
Basically they're saying please buy into our ecosystem but we're going to rake you over the coals if you already have batteries and chargers and only want to buy the tool. Thinking hard of replacing my single stage gas thrower with this though.
If your single stage gasoline unit worked, there is no point to upgrade to a battery unit. This is for those people like myself have no snow blower or the old one broken down.
You can always find used Toro battery somewhere on kijiji for a good price snatched.
I had used various brand snowblower/shovel for the past decade and I am very confident that this E21 is probably the best, performance is even very close to a mid-ranged single stage gasoline unit, the power of this unit is a bit overkill for Toronto snowy days.
xuanzh wrote: ↑
What's the lb/min ratings? Anything lower than 1000lb/min will struggle with icerain/wet snow.
The plastic auger blades on most cheaper unit I have used will likely to chip after a few years.
It is 1500 lb/min, I had my mind on both of these snowblowers for a while now. Both of them have positive reviews on youtube. Only thing is Ego power+ is much cheaper than Toro but mostly only available offline.
GurdeepSinghS59295 wrote: ↑
It is 1500 lb/min, I had my mind on both of these snowblowers for a while now. Both of them have positive reviews on youtube. Only thing is Ego power+ is much cheaper than Toro but mostly only available offline.
The cheaper unit I had used generally won't last as long as Toro, the internal belt wheel is mostly made out of plastic and people had them broken after only two winters, the plastic augar blade is easily chipped and the replacement parts are very expensive. But it's your call whether to replace a blower every 5~6 years, or a Toro and hopefully will last you decades... I have been through the former route and used several snowJoe/greenswork cheap units, they worked ok, but there are tons of anecdotes of snowjoe motor burned only after several use, had a snowjoe shovel that motor will bog down for slightly heavy snow. Another snowjoe 623E unit had the wheel house punctured a hole by an ice cube(it was made out of cheap plastic) and ice water began leaked into the drive mechanism and caused huge slippage and shaking).
For now I decided to go with Toro.
Last edited by xuanzh on Feb 12th, 2021 6:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
wow, they put batteries in everything now.
just be careful storing your batteries for this. cold = you enemy. very bad for batteries.
charge and store in your warm house.
chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
buy BTC + hold BTC (cold storage pls) = relax
xuanzh wrote: ↑
If your single stage gasoline unit worked, there is no point to upgrade to a battery unit. This is for those people like myself have no snow blower or the old one broken down.
You can always find used Toro battery somewhere on kijiji for a good price snatched.
I had used various brand snowblower/shovel for the past decade and I am very confident that this E21 is probably the best, performance is even very close to a mid-ranged single stage gasoline unit, the power of this unit is a bit overkill for Toronto snowy days.
I have the rest of the Toro 60V ecosystem. And already have two chargers and batteries because when I bought my trimmer HD still didn't carry the trimmer tool only. So naturally I would prefer to buy the tool only snowblower if they offered it at a competitive price compared to the full kit. My point is they don't seem to be making that an attractive option for people who have already bought into the ecosystem so beware of that before you start your way into it.
thank89you wrote: ↑
wow, they put batteries in everything now.
just be careful storing your batteries for this. cold = you enemy. very bad for batteries.
charge and store in your warm house.
You probably want to store it close to 0 Celsius for minimizing battery degradation.....only warm it before using/charging.
I generally store lawnmower battery in fridge during winter time and snowblower battery during the summer time.
LttlScamp wrote: ↑
I have the rest of the Toro 60V ecosystem. And already have two chargers and batteries because when I bought my trimmer HD still didn't carry the trimmer tool only. So naturally I would prefer to buy the tool only snowblower if they offered it at a competitive price compared to the full kit. My point is they don't seem to be making that an attractive option for people who have already bought into the ecosystem so beware of that before you start your way into it.
Maybe at the end of the season.
My battery system is now as follows from various deals that came with battery:
Lowers/Greenworks 80V batteries x2
Ryobe 24V battery x1
SnowJoe/sunjoe 40V battery x1
SnowJoe 80V battery x1
Toro 60V battery x1
and various other battery powertools that I don't bother to list here.
I don't buy into any of these ecosystem as most unit-only sales weren't as good as the deals with battery, I have a cabinet for all these chargers and a secondary fridge for storing these various batteries (and for food as well). UwU
basketball wrote: ↑
HD also got Toro gas units on sale too..
My last gas powered unit was a blacks&deck (not sure if I spelled the name correctly, lol) 2 stroke gasoline lawn mower and the shear amount of effort mixing gas&oil and pulling starting grew old on me..... I am sure the new gasoline unit all had 4 stroke engine, but heck once you went battery you will never look back to gas units.
Hopefully it ships, I placed order when it was on sale end October of last year. A month later they sent email saying your order has been cancelled. Guess they were having supply issues, my local HD has 0 in stock. I ended up getting the Greenworks on sale from Costco for $699 and it is a beast, I live in North Bay and it’s my go to, over my Craftsman gas powered one, I only pulled that one out once this year...
The metal shaft auger is very easy to bend and get damaged then it becomes louder than a gas one. The replacement parts are expensive. This happened TWICE to mine.
If I was to do it again I would buy the gas one 100%. They last forever and have a rubber auger.
This is a very good price for Toro E21. I bought mine from Home Depot for $830 in Oct 2020, and I love this machine!
I used to be paying $400/year for someone to clear the snow in the last 10+ years. But this year, I'm working from home most of the time, so I thought I would buy my first snow thrower. I'm SO glad that I did it (actually, I regret for not buying it sooner, lol!). I have absolutely no problem clearing the snow on my driveway this winter, including the snow bank at the end of the driveway. Having said that, we didn't have extreme cold winter this year, so the snow banks were not rock hard solid, and the E21 can handle it easily. I think the E21 might have problem clearing the snow banks if they're 100% frozen. I'll see.
The battery is very good too. 50% of battery could last me 3 times of snow removal (double garage driveway). It's lightweight, and easy to maneuver. Highly recommended!
This is a great price! I purchased this at the start of this winter from Markham mowers for 899 + tax IIRC.
This unit is good and surprisingly strong for battery operated.
I like how small/light it is making it very easy to maneuver.
I use about 55 percent of the battery on a heavy snowfall to clear a 4 car driveway with no sidewalk.
For the hard pack snow at the end of the driveway it does do the job but I need to only take a small bite at a time, kind of taking it by layer. If I try to plow through the whole berm it gets stuck.
I like this machine and I think I'd buy it again. In the past I've used a single stage Toro (I think 7xx) and a giant two stage at my parents house. This unit is almost as powerful as the single stage unit and WAY more usable than the two stage for a small driveway.
learsid wrote: ↑
Have this for 2 years... not in love with it.
The metal shaft auger is very easy to bend and get damaged then it becomes louder than a gas one. The replacement parts are expensive. This happened TWICE to mine.
If I was to do it again I would buy the gas one 100%. They last forever and have a rubber auger.
Do one have to be careful around hard icepack to avoid such damage? Nice to know it from people having it for over two years.
