So you're at the age when you've hung up the shovel and are perusing snow blower reviews, looking for the best product. If you grew up in the snowbelt, one of your chores might have been shoveling the walk. Maybe you even took your shovel from one door to the next, looking to make a buck. Good for you. You put in your time. Now it's time to let a machine take over before you pull something.

Blowers have two broad types. They can be single or double stage. If your home is someplace where the winters are distinct but not legendary, and the snowfalls rarely exceed four inches, a single stage machine should be fine for you. Fine one with serrated augurs and you can really hack through ice.

A useful yardstick for whether you need more than a single stage is not so much your seldom experiencing more than four inches. It's whether that's enough to shut the schools down and keep most people home. If it's rare enough to be a sensation, when it does come along you can probably afford to wait till it melts back to four inches.

The idea behind most single stages is to completely clear the ground, so their augers, usually rubber tipped, actually touch the ground. This can be bad news if the machine runs over gravel, because it'll pull it in and spew it out. However, this also means that the whirling augers lend some forward momentum. It's nice to have, though it won't help much if you're truly pushing uphill.

If your lawn has any sort of grade, your best bet is to find a gas-powered machine. Certainly, they're going to be somewhat more troublesome, because it has an engine and any engine needs maintenance. This particular engine is going to sit idle in your garage for over half a year at a time. It's better this than hurting yourself pushing a manual blower up a hill.

If home is truly in the snowbelt, with more than six inches a snow a regular event, a two-stage machine is right for you. They're good for eight inches, and there are high horsepower models that can handle more than that. The augers aren't rubber-tipped, and are designed not to ever touch the ground. This means they're good for both heavy snowfall and for gravel.

The chute itself isn't as unproblematic as the simple piece of plastic you might wish it were. Don't get stuck with a model with a chute that's tough to adjust. Your best bet is one that has toggle controls, so that you can easily change direction of the snowblast. Never stick your hand down the chute to unclog it. Find some sort of stick or handle and use that. Even then, be certain to turn the engine off first.

A halogen headlight might make a useful accessory, depending upon the size of your job and where your houselights are. It gets dark early, and light late, during the winter. If you're going for a heavy machine and you're not that imposing physically, find one with power steering. It also helps you maneuver if the wheels disengage one at a time, with the other still running. There's a lot to consider now that you've decided to read the snow blower reviews.

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