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12-14-2014, 12:39 PM
#10
Melting Slicks
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Location: New fairfield Connecticut
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Today I picked up the HS928TA and headed up to our place near Mt Sunapee, NH. The plow guy had done the driveway so I just had some cleanup around the house and garage. It was about 6" of snow, with the first 4" very crusty and the top two inches more powdery.
The summary is no way I am giving Honda an edge. It's a good snow thrower but so far I am underwhelmed. There is many reasons why Ariens has a lot of market share.
So to demonstrate the design decisions made by the two engineering teams, here are the [2006] Ariens Pro 926 and the Honda 928 side-by-side.
So size-wise:
The Ariens has a taller, deeper bucket with a rolled leading edge.
The Ariens has 16" rakes compared to 14" rakes on the Honda.
The Ariens has a 14" diameter impeller compared to an 11 or 12" on the Honda - it wsas getting dark so hard to measure.
The output chute is 5" on the Honda versus 6" on the Ariens.
Ariens has a cast iron auger gear case: Honda appears to be aluminum.
The Honda handlebars are a little lower: how much lower depends on how much you tilt the bucket up or down.
The most obvious difference is the track drive on the Honda and I was very disappointed. I expected the track drive to give better traction in the hard snow, and allow me to keep the nose down better. But the tracks often slipped (so did the wheels) and because the Honda isn't too heavy, it still floated up on this snow. Angling it down even more and making a second pass worked better, but the wheeled machine did Ok on the second pass as well. (I should add that the Ariens has an optional 10lb weight in the bucket).
The Ariens has tall, fairly narrow wheels with the latest snow tread and I found the difference in traction to remain a question - not something I'm prepared to decide on after 15 minutes of use in one set of conditions.
The Honda motor starts easily and is noticeably quieter than the Tecumseh OHV in the Ariens. Fuel consumption TBD. I use Mogas (93 Octane, no Ethanol) to minimize carb problems.
When blowing a full swath of snow, the Honda makes a cool sound and the stream is very concentrated. The Ariens engine noise drowns out the impeller noise and because of the larger chute exit and chute, the output is less concentrated and may not throw as far. But the Ariens appears able to throw a lot more snow because of the volume. Again, TBD.
My son is 11 and at that age kids are excited to operate anything you will let them get their hands on. So at worst, I've halved my work.
The summary is no way I am giving Honda an edge. It's a good snow thrower but so far I am underwhelmed. There is many reasons why Ariens has a lot of market share.
So to demonstrate the design decisions made by the two engineering teams, here are the [2006] Ariens Pro 926 and the Honda 928 side-by-side.
So size-wise:
The Ariens has a taller, deeper bucket with a rolled leading edge.
The Ariens has 16" rakes compared to 14" rakes on the Honda.
The Ariens has a 14" diameter impeller compared to an 11 or 12" on the Honda - it wsas getting dark so hard to measure.
The output chute is 5" on the Honda versus 6" on the Ariens.
Ariens has a cast iron auger gear case: Honda appears to be aluminum.
The Honda handlebars are a little lower: how much lower depends on how much you tilt the bucket up or down.
The most obvious difference is the track drive on the Honda and I was very disappointed. I expected the track drive to give better traction in the hard snow, and allow me to keep the nose down better. But the tracks often slipped (so did the wheels) and because the Honda isn't too heavy, it still floated up on this snow. Angling it down even more and making a second pass worked better, but the wheeled machine did Ok on the second pass as well. (I should add that the Ariens has an optional 10lb weight in the bucket).
The Ariens has tall, fairly narrow wheels with the latest snow tread and I found the difference in traction to remain a question - not something I'm prepared to decide on after 15 minutes of use in one set of conditions.
The Honda motor starts easily and is noticeably quieter than the Tecumseh OHV in the Ariens. Fuel consumption TBD. I use Mogas (93 Octane, no Ethanol) to minimize carb problems.
When blowing a full swath of snow, the Honda makes a cool sound and the stream is very concentrated. The Ariens engine noise drowns out the impeller noise and because of the larger chute exit and chute, the output is less concentrated and may not throw as far. But the Ariens appears able to throw a lot more snow because of the volume. Again, TBD.
My son is 11 and at that age kids are excited to operate anything you will let them get their hands on. So at worst, I've halved my work.