I have just spent WAY too much time trying to assemble the handle on this sno thrower. The central rod ends in a black gear with a white housing -- and turns the blower port when you cran it. I do NOT know how to get the gear and white plastic housing lined up with the rod. Bear in mind - this was shipped to me PARTIALLY assembled with with NO manual. My mechanical skills are very limited. ANY advice would be very welcome. Thanks -

I ordered this product, and received it in 2 days with free shipping!, and just finished assembling it. Very easy to do. It is very light weight and easy to manuver. My parts question is, what spare parts should I have on hand? I'm quessing the rotor itself, the belt, the scraper, and maybe the the handle and shear pin? Were can these parts be found? Sears has a appliance parts web site and a another site called repairclinic.com but what about a local Toro dealer or the Toro web site itself? PS: No snow yet so I cannot say how well it works.

I bought the Toro 1800 electric snow thrower last winter, and it performed well for me all last winter. I got it out of storage today to deal with our first real snowfall of the season, and it again worked great.

I bought it here at Amazon.com, which was a great buy and free shipping to boot! (Before that, I had been out shopping and noticed this same model for sale at Home Depot. I asked them if they would match Amazon's price, and they said no, that Amazon was not one of their competitors. I said, "Alrighty then", and promptly ordered it from Amazon; it arrived in a few days, just in time for the next big snow).

My only real complaint is that it requires a cord, and a long one at that (for my long corner lot sidewalks, that is). The cord really isn't *that* big of a deal...somewhat of a hassle, for sure, though.

Otherwise, it works great! It does what it is supposed to: clear lots of snow. No, this thing doesn't handle medium or larger ice chunks. But, I have found that it really does do a pretty good job even on wet/heavy snow, as long as it is not too deep. On lighter snow, up to around 8 inches deep, this thing is a breeze (and, it will work with deeper snow, but requires more effort and time).

I was very skeptical about buying an electric snow thrower, but for my current location, where we get an average of 50 inches of snow per year, this does the job well.

If you think you can handle the moderate hassle of using a cord, then definitely get this snow thrower. You won't be disappointed with it's performance!

UPDATE:
I just read one review where a woman said she had trouble assembling the handle on this thing, and was, in fact, unable to assemble it. That reminded me that I also had difficulty assembling the handle. It was quite frustrating, and I felt like I might be doing it incorrectly or might be damaging the cord. In the end, I was able to get it together with some pretty decent force and wiggling. In hindsight, maybe a little grease on connection areas of the handle bars would have helped. So, yeah, assembly, particularly the handle assembly, was a big pain. But, once I got it together, it worked without issue.

We just had our first snowfall in Chicagoland and this snow thrower came through better than expected. I was a little nervous as some reviewers said it did not work well on wet snow. We had 3-5 inches of wet, heavy snow last night and this thing chewed through it like the Klumps at Old Country Buffet. I cannot recommend this item enough!!!

I love this snow thrower. It is easy to use and I like not having to fill up the gas and pull the cord. I reccommend this to everyone.

I used this blower 2 times before the belt burned up. Took it in to have it fixed and it last 1 more time. Maybe the snow here in Califorina was too wet but do not spend any money on this!! I read all the great write up's that people sent in and can only thank some one in Toro wrote them.