I had hopes for this item because my husband and I both have bad backs (I have 4 herniated discs, fibromyalgia and chronic sciatic pain). We have a city house with only about 50 ft of sidewalk, and 10 feet of driveway to shovel since we park the cars at the end of the driveway. I had hoped that since we don't like gas powered tools and have such a small area to do that this item would be great for us. We got the snowblower delivered from Amazon a day before a 12" snow storm. It had been reduced the week I was considering it to 279 so I took it as a sign. Got free super saver shipping. I found it slightly tricky to put together because of the wires through the handle thing, but not as bad as some made it sound. I am a woman with a some mechanical knowledge (more than my husband who also had the flu that weekend). I used it three times during the storm, after each time about 4 inches had come down. It worked great, and was almost exactly like using our electric lawn mower. I was able to move the snow with a basic push pull motion which was SOOO much better than the bending, lifting and throwing of shoveling. The only difference was that the lawn mower still cuts while being pulled back, but the snow thrower only throws snow when moving forward. It pulls itself somewhat so I also didn't find myself having to work hard at pushing it at all. (we had bought the Toro snow SHOVEL which I stopped using years ago because of the effort to push it along). My husband was sick through this storm so I did it all and it was great. I could tell that alot of it was made of plastic so I didn't just go out there and ram it through the heavy stuff the plow left in the driveway. It definitely is not happy to hit chunks of ice and has a lot of plastic parts. It seemed to want to climb up over the icy stuff which was helpful in taking it down in thinner layers to avoid breaking it. I also ALWAYS chop up the stuff with a shovel before shoveling/snowblowing if its had time to freeze. You sort of want to hold onto the machine with two hands (there are two handles) to SHAVE it down where it is icy or full of chunks from the plow. The directions recommend this as well. At @35 lbs it was fine for me to do that. My neighbors looked envious. It took a bit of time, but not having to lift the shovel full of heavy, icey snow was great. I also liked what a open area it cut around the cars, which are parked in a narrow driveway between close houses. When we shovel it usually just slides down and its hard to dig out the cars. We also have uneven slate side walk and driveway that the toro snow SHOVEL didn't work well on, but this snow THROWER was fine on it. Of course my daughter did some clean up work with the shovel afterwards. I don't think any snow blower will get it perfectly clean down to the sidewalk/pavement. So, I only used it for one storm so far, but it saved me alot of back trouble. I would recommend it for those who have small area to clear, who are comfortable using an outdoor electrical corded machine(it does get stiff in the cold and you have to keep it clear!), and those who don't mind "taking it slow and easy" with a small machine that has a lot of plastic parts. If you're someone who demands power, have a large driveway, want to do over 6" at a time or want to be able to just blast through the heavy stuff from the plow, I don't think this is for you. I also am having trouble having the hood stay at a bent angle. Wants to just shoot up straight all the time. So I am working on that, probably needs different bolt/washer. But I really am happy with it so far.

This is my second winter with this snow blower, after coming in from using it just now I had to post a rave! So far it has saved me countless backbreaking shovelfuls of snow. It can easily handle 6" snow falls and can nibble and wear down up to a foot of snow for a few running feet. It even handles the heavy stuff that the snowplows throw up at the end of my driveway. (Sometimes in heavy stuff the output pipe clogs - it takes but a second with it not running - to punch the clog back down. No problem!)

I don't have a garage, and don't want to store gasolene in my basement, so this is perfect. Each storm I do have to haul it up the basement stairs, but it is light and has a handle right above its center of gravity so this is not a problem. Its light weight means that out in the snow I can manouver it easily - even pick it up and set it down in a different direction.

I don't enjoy snowstorms, but this little guy has made them much easier!

I love it!!
I give it 5 stars with reservations. I put this together in no time, had no problem with getting the handle to line up, just used a flashlight to help see the holes lined up. I find the extension cord be be no problem at all, its very lightweight and only 50' long, my driveway is 1 car wide, 2 car long.
It works great and beats shoveling.
I read all the reviews carefully before buying, knowing that sometimes you get a dud. The belt issue was worrying me, but i bought it anyway for my significant other for Christmas. Well, it snowed before Christmas so i gave it to him early. (We're in our 50's, so i didn't want us shoveling because of heart attacks etc, plus getting a small driveway plowed adds up moneywise). So..he had to work, i got to snowblow. It was fantastic!! Then the next snow I brought the blower out for him and he got 2 little pushes and it stopped! I took it apart and tried to put the belt back on myself, but it was too tight, the hardware store did it for me. So it snowed 2 days ago, i took it out, 2 little pushes and it stopped!! I was ready to cry. I pulled the side off it and was able to put belt back on (the way it was sitting, i think the guy put in on wrong) anyway, took it back out and worked like a charm! So, needless to say, i am still impressed with this toro, I will see how it works the next storm.

I purchased the Toro Curve snow thrower after seeing all the positive reviews and wanting an effective, more cost friendly alternative to a gas powered blower. I tried it for the first time today during a very cold powdery snowfall, and it works great when it's working, HOWEVER, the drive belt keeps falling off!! I had to remove the side cover and re-install the belt twice, which is a pain, and then finally gave up after the belt came off a third time. It seems this would be a great snow thrower when it's actually running, and I would like to increase my 2 star review. I'll need to bring it to a Toro service center and see if there's anything that can be done, otherwise it will have to be returned.

Purchased this thru Ace Hardware so I have a place to return it to and have repaired. I used it for 20 minutes before it quit working in a very soft , light snow. I had been reading the reviews and thought the belt was slipping but, I found out two the plastic nipples on one of the gears broke off. He had to order this and said it was very common for the Toro 1800. I will give it one more try and then trade up at Ace. In the meantime, the snow melted faster then Governor Blagojevich's approval rating.