I bought this after our first big snowfall in December (07). Our gas blower crapped out on us last winter. In Wisconsin, we had our second highest total December snowfall on record. January is now over and so far we have had a ludicrous amount of snow. So my Snow Fox has been used extensively already. I would say a 4.5 star rating is more accurate. But you can't select a half star. We have an average size Madison city driveway and sidewalk. For snow 2" to 6", using the Snow Fox makes far more sense then using a gas blower. For 6" to 12" it still does a fine job. It's light enough to easily push with one hand. The other hand guides the extension cord. It clears the snow just as fast as a single stage gas blower. Mine hangs on a hook on the garage wall when I'm done.

You will have to experiment with the directions you take clearing your driveway. Getting use to the cord was annoying at first. But once I fashioned a loop out of a rope and hung it from the garage door so the cord was raised, there was no longer a hassle with the cord.

One huge benefit; I have an office job. It has been nice not going into work smelling like gas or exhaust fumes after clearing my driveway in the morning.

Bottom line....if you have an average house in the burbs, this is far more practical then a gas blower.

This product is better than I expected for the price. I have used it many times since I received it and its a real back saver even in snow approx, 8 inches deep. I would recomend this electric snow blower to anyone. Its a great product.
- MTD Snow Fox Snow Blower - Electric, 12 1/2In. Path, Model# 31A-040-800

This item works very well for cleaning snow from my decks and works as advertised. The price was much better than locally. The straight froward chute direction throws snow much better the the angled directions. Has sufficent power for light to medium weight snow.

Hi, another member of the "bad-back"club here, I picked up the SnowFox today and have used it only once, so I can't comment on long term reliability. However, blowing 3-6" of wet/dry snow (from two differenht snowfalls) worked better than I was expecting.
The Fox is light, easy to handle and seems powerful enough for the cutting width. When discharging to the sides, the snow won't blow more than 7-10 feet, but I did my 2-car wide driveway by starting in the middle (going length-wise) and that seemed to work good. The sidewalks were a breeze and kind of fun to do. As expected the chord is a pain to handle but that is an issue with every piece of electric outdoors equipment, not the fox's fault.
To re-cap, the fox works better than expected, is light, easy to handle and powerful enough. The negatives are the limited side discharge distance and the dance with the chord. I am pleased...

We only used this item twice in about 3 inches of snow and it kept shutting itself off. The auger that throws the snow seems very tight and hard to turn. It would only work for about 15 minutes and shut down. I think we must have received a defective product bacause all the reviews I read before making this purchase were excellent.
I had difficulty getting customer service help. I was given different phone numbers to try. We've had this item for 35 days. We have to drop it off for repair at a store that will service it in the next town over. Very inconvenient and dissapointing. We made this purchase to make life easier for my husband with back problems. Now its one more project to do.