Snow Joe ION18SB-HYB 18-Inch 40 Volt Single Stage Brushless Snow Blower, Kit (Hybrid w/4.0-Ah Battery + Quick Charger)

This is an amazing snow blower and what I've always wanted. I think you have to go into this purchase with reasonable expectations though. I'm moving up from a shovel. I can't imagine you'll be disappointed if you're making that move like me. And if you're already a snow blower owner, think you have to make sure you aren't mistaking this for having as much power as something like a gas-powered model. It doesn't, don't think it ever claimed to, so expecting it to equal its power or effectiveness means you're setting yourself up to not enjoy this purchase at all. I'd highly recommend getting the hybrid model if you want slightly more power, as the battery powered part works great, and the electric gives you the option of a bit more oomph when you need it as well if you don't mind using an electric cord.In March 2018, we had 8 inches of very heavy wet snow on the East Coast. Now, the news called it heavy wet snow, but in my area at least, it was heavy wet snow in most parts, and other parts, it was a very heavy slush, it was entirely too water laden to call it plain snow or even wet snow, the consistency was like a heavy ball of ice not snow. The Snow Joe handled the heavy wet snow pretty well, but you need to take it a little at a time, and be patient as you use it. I used the battery the entire time, didn't switch over to the electric, though that would've made things easier on me this time as it draws more power and throws it farther. It still worked great. I think I have a 50 foot driveway and it's wider, can do two cars side by side. I was able to do the entire driveway and sidewalks on the battery even though it was wet snow and could've gone at least 15 more minutes. Taking it a bit at a time, I was able to get through it. I did spray the chute and blades with cooking spray prior to taking it outside based on tips from a forum on snow blowers, and I think it helped. I did have to clear it several times when I ran into the heavy slush portions in particular, but the majority of the time it just powered through as long as I wasn't rushing. When I rushed, it jammed, so I had to figure out the right rhythm and was good to go after that. Clearing the chute several times was no big deal to me and the alternative of shoveling all of this is why this was amazing. This definitely saved my back and body in general. I did have to shovel a few parts of my property, like my steps which are too awkward for a snow blower and the end of the driveway once the plows come through. Those 15 minutes of shoveling those small areas almost did me in, so I can't imagine the pain I'd have been in had I been forced to shovel the entire driveway and sidewalk without this snow blower.So, I highly recommend the Snow Joe. I love the absence of needing an awkward electric cord and easy maintenance is what I was after. And that I didn't have to shovel the entire property and also didn't have to pay someone 75 dollars to plow me out? I call that a win and this will pay for itself after another 2 larger storms when I would've contemplated hiring someone to do it for me. I think that's who this is for more than anyone else. If you want an easy maintenance option, if using an electric cord is a hassle, or if you just want a better option than a shovel, this is an excellent buy.Update: I think technique might matter when it comes to the battery. First trip out in yesterday's Nor'easter that dropped 12 inches of heavier here, the battery was almost completely empty when I was finished clearing, maybe 35 minutes. That time, I was starting and stopping often as I moved to start a new row. Next time out, I took different lines than the first and when I was moving around even over a cleared path, I kept it running when I was moving for the most part when I was moving around. Battery lasted for 45 minutes no problem, was only on the middle signal when I was done. Just a guess, but think the start might drain the battery the most, so if you cut down on that, you'll be able to use the snowblower for longer amounts of time.

UPDATE: Last year we just ended up hiring someone to plow the snow on the driveway. So this year we’re trying again. We did use the snow blower last year on some of the trails and on battery it failed but, on electric is has like 3 times the power and much easier to use. I plugged in the machine this year, and nothing! I tested the cord (same one I used last year) and it has no issues. I plugged it back into the machine, pressed the AC Button, pulled the,bar towards me, nothing happened. To make sure the machine works I put the battery in and it started without an issue. There appears to be no troubleshooting in the manual, or in the FAQ, I’ve earched the web and cannot find anything either. Because I bought this 2/26 this year and used it 1 month before I put it away there is no warranty because the warranty is on duration of ownership not on hours of operation. If anyone knows what the issue is, please reply. Evidently Snow Joe will not help over the phone because It is out of warranty. So my review is back down to a one star because they don’t have any support, won’t consider helping, and don’t stand behind their products after 90 day. Seriously think about spending hundreds for 3 months! If you’re fine with throwing away the snow joe after one season of usage then go for it, if you’re like me, then stay away.————————————-So I Yesterday I put the machine together which consisted of four parts that needed to be screwed together. It actually took two people to do this because the things didn’t line up well. The screws on the chute were the worst because they were assembled incorrectly from the manufacturer which took time to figure out then we had to figure out that you need to get the square part of the screw into the plastic to tighten it. There assembly instructions lacked the ability to communicate the instructions for assembly. There was also an issue with the clamps on the handle positioning and getting those to close, again instructions were no help. There was also an issue with getting the handle assembly inside the bars to hook it together; Not because of the lack of instructions but because the machine is so light-weight that the amount of force to squeeze it together required another body to hold the machine.That said, I popped the battery in to try and use it, the battery cover didn’t close. It is cheap plastic and I was afraid to put a bunch of force on it in freezing tempatures because it may break. So I went ahead to plow anyhow there are drifts 15” and some areas lower at just 3”. The weight of the snowblower couldn’t move through any of the snow, not even the 3 inches. I would pull the machine close to me and try to ram it into the snow and even that really didn’t work because the blade would just stop working. It was faster and easier to just use a manual shovel then this machine. After an hour with trying this machine I got about 20 feet done and was totally wore out. Now in fairness this snow has a lot of weight and is compacted with a thick layer of ice on top. So maybe it will do okay with the light fluffy snow, don’t know because we don’t have that. I had a couple of areas with only an inch or two of snow and with a shovel it was easy to just drag the shovel and move the snow, with this machine not so. This machine again the only way to move forward through the snow is the back and forth motion because it is so light-weight you need to use your bodies force to move it. The wheels are small, hard plastic with zero tread and traction to move through the snow so it is like dragging 40 pounds of dead weight. Last because the snow was so heavy it was unable to throw the snow more than a couple of inches. The heavy 200 lb gas snow blower blew through all this without any effort!I do not recommend this machine. It is too light-weight to move through the snow and it cannot work with heavy snow.

Went hybrid because I wanted the ability to plug in and clear the driveway, reserving battery power for the sidewalk.Tried it as cordless first, and it worked okay, around 8” of drifted snow (a little heavy) but with patience and less than a full load it would move snow.It made it around 10 minutes and quit. Light works, chute turns, but silence from the blower.Battery shows good charge.Finished with 110v and shovel for the area beyond a 100’ radius.On the cord, it’s spinning a lot faster.The battery was like 1/2 power.Is that normal?Waiting for a replacement hybrid unit- not interested in a cordless only for reasons I think are obvious. They’re out of stock at present.Update: Received unit #2, with a new series serial number. (2xxx.....) Cleared 1” of snow with battery, not powerful but sufficient. Ran down battery, well done.Next snowfall, tried to clear a 3” “drift” and it gave up. The 30-year Toro 2-stroke clears sidewalk again.110 works, battery drive does not. Calling Snow Joe for warranty again.Update 2- January 2022, have not seen replacements available. Last year, Snow Joe offered another year of warranty, great, but kind of worthless if replacements don't arrive. Used Unit 2 yesterday to clean 4" of fluff on the cord, which it does well. Still limited to the 100' radius.

I have been using my Snow Joe ION18SB-HYB Hybrid Cordless/Electric snow blower for over a year now and feel it’s time I write a review of this great product.I have quite a large driveway as well as quite a long strip of city sidewalk in front of my house that I need to keep clear of snow. In addition, I have a cement walkway that goes around my house and to the back, out towards the rear lane as well as my rear drive garage. So, I have a lot of area to clear every time it snows. I live in Calgary, Canada where we have a fairly dry climate, so our snow is normally fairly light and fluffy. However, this winter and last have seen much more snow than we’d had in previous winters. We had quite a large dump of snow last night and it is still snowing, but I needed to get out to clear as much as I could. There was at least 6 to 12 inches of snow on much of my driveway, and as much as 2 feet of snow on parts of my walkway where the snow drifted. As usual, my Snow Joe performed great! Because of the depth of snow it was a bit slower going than most days, but it cleared a tremendous amount of snow for me. Because it is still snowing hard, I will need to get out again this evening.I have only once ran out of battery power, and that was a day last winter where the snow was a large accumulation and it was uncharacteristically wet snow, so it was quite heavy. Otherwise, I normally have enough power to do my entire property, walkways and driveway, the city walk in front of my house, as well as I continue along and clear of the city sidewalk for most of the neighbours on my side of the street. I figure it is good exercise and since I live in an older neighbourhood, most of my neighbours are elderly so it’s nice to help them if I can. Today, I plugged in for a bit along my driveway, again because of the quantity of snow, but did the rest on battery and still had some charge left afterwards. I’ve got it charging now for extra duty this evening.I feel this blower throws the snow plenty far into my yard, and I like that the slower I walk, the less distance it throws the snow. That way, I can control spots where I don’t want it to go very far, and then just walk a bit faster when I need more distance. Most of the time, I am walking at a comfortable walking speed, throwing the snow well into my yard. I’ve never used a gas blower, but I can’t see any advantage where a gas blower could throw the snow any further than I would need in my yard. My yard is larger than most typical city properties, so I would think most people in an urban location would find this unit to have adequate power. It is somewhat more powerful plugged in than on battery, but I have never had any issues with power, and as I mentioned, no issues running out of battery power. One very huge advantage for me with this blower is that it is light enough for me to lift, and I do have some areas where it helps me to carry it. I don’t think I could do so with a gas blower as I am not very strong. Also, I love the ability to change the direction of the discharge by just using the thumb control - it is super convenient!All in all, I am extremely happy with my Snow Joe blower, I could not have gotten through the past two winters without it!

Mauvaise expérience car le feu a pris dans l'appareil, mais j'ai été remboursée rapidement.

Bought it for my Strata, shipping through UPS was a hassle so I had to pickup the item. so far it works when plugged in and on battery power. no snow this year to test it, may update my review when I can.

I have had this blower now for four years and it's still going strong. I love it. I have lived in places with lots of snow and this makes doing decks and pathways and roadsides, and even parking spots, easy and even fun to do. Battery has never died before I was done blowing lots of snow, so never had to plug this in. Highly recommended.

Shipping: since I wasn't home when it delivered by UPS, it was brought to a small UPS drop off (convenience store). I had to go pick it up after work, and it was a big heavy box. Just barely lift-able by one person.Here's the bad part: the item was shipped in its original box, and it arrived with a big tear down one side, and dirt, small tears all around the other sides. This was a gift to a relative to help her with snow shovelling, but the box looked so bad it looked like I'm giving her a refunded/refurbished item.That's not the main issue. When I took it out of the box, the big tear actually caused damage to the snowblower. One side where the wheels were attached to was bent. So the snowblower would not push in a straight line. this is un-usable. So I refunded itRefund: now I had to lug the big heavy box back to Canada Post store. Stand in line with a huge box and due to that, the staff couldn't weigh it to give me any receipts, and told me to just leave it on the floor next to the counter. So I left, with no receipt, not in a secured spot. I suppose its so heavy, no one would steal it. Thankfully, it arrived back to Amazon.So I learned my lesson of never buying a big machine from Amazon again, I went to Home Depot and bought the same blower. I used it for 4 times now.Performance: On battery mode: it did okay, obviously 1 stage snowblowers are for snow that's less than 6 inches deep. On about 4-5 inches, it did okay, not bad. But it is not self propelled, so you have to push quite hard.So i'm not sure what's better, pushing hard but no lifting (so your back doesn't hurt) or using a shovel (push easier but lifting a lot).With corded electricity: one day, I decided to plug this into the wall socket. WOW, the power was sooooooooo much stronger than battery powered.Battery powered was like don't stick your hand in the blade cause it will hurt. Corded powered was like RIP YOUR ARM OFF strong.So, if possible, always use the cord and plug it in. But it is a hassle to bring the cord out, then have to wrap cord back in when its wet (snow).In conclusion, buying a big machine from Amazon is a bad idea, the company should have protected my item better by using another box outside to ship it. Causing me too much work to refund it, minus 2 starsBut performance wise, this machine does work. If you can, use the cord and plug it in. If not, it still works, just not as powerful.