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[QUOTE="MU in MKE, post: 4077227, member: 9984"]
If you want heavy duty, Ariens are beasts and great machines for both getting the job done but also lasting a long time.  The three stage is supposedly is a LOT more maintenance.

That being said, how big is your driveway?   The reason I ask is I get a LOT of snow too and replaced my smaller snowblower last year with a Toro 8hp single stage.   Yes, 8 HP!   That is massive for a single stage.   To my surprise, this thing cuts through every snowfall like it is nothing.  I never once pulled out the big 2 stage unit last year... even when we had 10 or more inches of heavy wet stuff or at the end of the driveway.

Now, it doesn't have heated handles and it doesn't steer itself and whatnot... but I find I can do my smaller/medium-ish driveway MUCH faster with this bad boy than I can with the 2 stage because it's so much more nimble and has ridiculous power for a single stage.     So in years past, one would usually consider how much snow you get and what type, with this machine you can think more in terms of area you want to clear because it can do whatever you need it to do, faster than a 2 stager if you don't have a big area.

Keep in mind, if you have a long driveway or huge drifts it can still do the job, but then you'd want to revert back to the traditional thinking.
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