Greenworks PRO 80V Cordless Snow Thrower

Just used this today, January 23, 2016, during the northeast blizzard, for the first time since I purchased it. I took a chance after seeing some reviews on YouTube and got it on sale for $300 at the end of October, 2015. I live in New York, about 20 miles north east of New York City. I put it together back in November and thought it looked promising. But I was concerned and I had that weird feeling you get when you purchase something expensive but you don't know for sure how it's going to work when you need it... November passes, then December, and half of January with no snow other than a flurry - not that I was complaining, but there was nothing to test it with! And now I'm well out of the return window with Amazon. I had been using an electric Toro, but the cord is such a giant pain - half the time using it was cord management. You always had to be aware of where it was and how it was laid out, especially around cars and in the street. You had to move it around constantly as you cleared areas, creating slack and reeling slack, throwing it this way and that way. So I really wanted this cordless snow thrower to work... Well, I'm happy to say that it works GREAT! I am extremely pleased with it. We got well over a foot of snow here... probably 14 to 15 inches in total, with drifts that were easily 2 feet deep. During the storm, I went out at 9:30am, cleared my front patio, front path, my driveway (a one car, small driveway), and some of the street in front of my driveway. Went back out at 4pm, did the same and cleared just a bit of one of my neighbor's driveway before the battery died. Went back out at about 8pm, cleared my patio & path again, my driveway and a different neighbor's entire front path, and part of their driveway and street (which had not been shoveled at all yet) before the battery died. I think my neighbors were impressed with the snow thrower, the battery life and the ease of use - I know I was. I'm pretty sure at least one of them is going to purchase one soon. After waiting close to three months for snow, there was a feeling of vindication and relief knowing that it works well! I would say that I did get a good 30 minutes of run time per charge. I would often stop the motor when backing up and maneuvering as running it when doing so would just waste the battery charge. And the battery does charge in about 30 minutes from empty (but you should probably let it rest a bit between using it and charging it, IMO). The snow thrower itself doesn't feel fragile to me. In fact, I'd say it's a pretty solid build, plastic and all. Although the control for the chute direction could be better, so far it works fine. Also, make sure you don't overtighten the knobs on the handles when putting it together - hand tighten them and stop once you feel resistance. The LED headlights are bright and work well, as I used them on the third outing, along with this BORUiT headlamp, which is super bright and it also works well (that is, once I resoldered ALL of the connections in it's battery compartment and charger because those solders were unbelievably bad on the BORUiT headlamp, (not the snow thrower)). So far, the only times the chute would clog was when the battery was about to quit and the unit didn't have enough power left to send the snow through it. At that point, you knew you were at the end. I realize that this was only the first snow storm where I was able to use it - although this was a substantial snow storm. The snow was well over a foot deep, especially in the drifts up against my house. It was also pretty wet, heavy and good for snowballs. I'll know more as the winter continues and I'll update this review as more data is collected. If anyone has any questions, leave a comment and I will respond. But so far, I love this thing. UPDATE: 1/24/2016 Today I cleaned part of my driveway that hadn't been cleaned yet, the plow ridge in front of my driveway, the plow ridge in front of another street parking spot, and the plow ridge in front of a neighbor's driveway - all on one battery charge. The plow ridge took a number of passes, but it really didn't have a problem with it at all. It was able to throw most of the snow over an area I had already cleared, though I did go over that area again. If I wasn't convinced before, I am now - this was plow ridge! I was dreading it thinking that there was no way I could use this snow thrower on that plow ridge... but now it's gone. This may be the best $300 I ever spent. Neighbor says he's definitely getting one. We'll see. UPDATE: 1/25/2016 This evening I did some additional snow cleanup. This consisted of an area of pathway that had not been cleared before and had been receiving snow previously thrown there by the GreenWorks - a total of approxmiately two feet. Two sunny days after the storm, the thrown snow on top was irregular and hardened, so much so I had trouble piercing it even with this excellent Suncast SNF2150, metal bladed snow shovel. The GreenWorks could not deal with it... at least not the top, packed, frozen layer. At two feet high, it was difficult to even get it into a position to attempt to skim the top layer off, though I did try. However, once I passed the area of the layered, packed, frozen top layer, it had no issue finishing the rest. Considering how hard that top layer of previously thrown, sun beaten, refrozen snow was, and the fact that it was much higher than the opening on the thrower, I'm actually not disappointed. I'm not certain that anything but a much larger, two stage gas unit could have done it. Still, I wanted to update the review with the info. UPDATE: 1/26/2016 So I just put the unit away for the time being. First, I inspected the impeller, and there was a little damage to the edges where I had run over a rounded curb transition the wrong way. There was just a little frayed plastic, but nothing that would affect functionality in the least. Using a blade, I trimmed the frayed area off - I'm literally talking about a few specks of plastic. I also charged the battery. The manual states that you should store the battery in a charged state and recharge it every six months. Don't store the battery in the thrower or the charger. It looks like I won't be needing the thrower again for at least a few weeks, maybe longer. UPDATE: 1/6/2018 The beginning of year three with my Greenworks PRO 80V snowthrower and... more snow. So we just had the "Bomb Cyclone" here in New York, and the Greenworks ate it up. I waited until most of the snow had stopped falling, around 5 or 6pm. Then I cleared my path, driveway and my street parking spot and then I also did my neighbor's street spot and driveway. The wind was just brutal and snow just blew wherever the wind took it. I have to laugh, because one of my other neighbors, whom I'm not friendly with, is out there shoveling his driveway... I'm just feet away clearing the snow in the street, as I've done for three seasons now, making it look like a walk in the park, which in comparision, it was. He's seen me do this many times, yet he hasn't sprung for one. Just makes me laugh. In November of 2016, I purchased a second battery that I got on sale for $85 and man, having a second battery just makes life so much easier. Having two full batteries to attack the snow with, then being able to charge one while using the other... it allows you to just keep going. It came in handy last winter and this winter already. But even when I had one battery, I could still manage fine, it was just that I had to stop and wait for it to charge if I needed to clear more snow. This past August of 2017, I was able to get a free Greenworks PRO 80V Cordless Leaf Blower for review in the Amazon Vine program. I used that baby in the fall for leaves, for which it worked great, but I've also been using it this season to clear light snow from my path, street, driveway and cars. It does an great job clearing light snow, especially the wiper and grille areas of my cars, because it leaves those areas, and the rest of the car, *completely clear of snow.* Of course, it only works with light, dry snow, not wet, compressed or snow that has been frozen over. But let me tell you, it works great if you get out there and deal with the snow quickly. It clears the path and ground completely clean, unlike shoveling. As the winter progresses, I have a feeling it will be less useful because the snow will be wetter, but I'm going to keep trying to use it as much as I can because in the right conditions, it works great.