The drum auger also regulates the amount of snow the 2 stage ingest, this prevents the machine from bogging down and gives it steady regulated throw. The closed drum auger is much smoother to run making the machine easier to guide near expensive property. The toro proved capable and I was also pleased with the amount of traction it has. The toro has a larger engine and significantly more torque leading me to believe the craftsman is overrated. The toro has larger wheels, larger impeller, and larger impeller chute(with no neck down at the throat like the craftsman). In general its barely adequate and would be annoying to use extensively but sure beats a shovel. Some things I like about the craftsman are, 6 speeds, scrapes the walks cleaner, the handles are slightly more ergonomic, the 24' cut is nice in the lighter snows. The gas tank is only about 1.5 quarts, it didn't seem to matter, I found the machine ran long enough for me to refill every other break. The 5.5hp tecumseh has a raspy exhaust by comparison, it revs quicker than the other machine, generally the engine feels smaller and overtaxed. The chute and shift controls are mounted lower causing you to stop then stoop to change speed of chute direction. It also uses an 'open' auger which causes it dance and swerve when encountering hard or varied amounts of snow, this is an issue for me because I use the machines around customer's cars. Its fine for clearing sidewalks but it most cases it does not do well clearing a drive and throwing to the far side. Travel too slow or fast and the chute clogs. Its underpowered giving it a narrow band of use. The chute is easy to clog, it does not throw well in wet snow or light snow. I clean the sidewalks and areas of the parking lot where people are walking.Īfter running both machines do NOT buy the craftmans if you are going to be using it for more than an hour at a time. I generally don't ask the blower to get to the bottom, I merely get off everything thats not firm. Very little of the snow I move is clean its always been walked on or driven through, it could be rutted, lots of time its been salted which forms a lot of thick ice. We worked 7 hours clearing the both apartment complexes christmas day. I also used my brothers craftsman 5.5 hp, tecumseh, 24', 6 speed. Its a 6hp tecumseh, 22', 2 stage 3 speed. I finally got the kinks worked out and now it seems to be a solid running machine. The controls needed adjusting, the governor stuck wide open, the gear shift wouldn't engage top gear, and the handle rattled loose. I finally got to use my new snowblower this last weekend.

Toro power throw 622