30SNC Wheeled Snow Pusher Shovel, Blue

Oh my goodness, this snowshovel is AMAZING!!!!I first heard of shovels with wheels only a few days ago. My reaction was like Veruka Salt in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- "I want one now!!!" So I pored over reviews on Amazon and ordered this one. It arrived on Tuesday, and several inches of snow arrived on Wednesday, so the timing was lovely.I chose this shovel because it has a wide blade, on a diagonal angle, and because the description said, "Assembles in 10 minutes." In particular, I wanted a diagonal blade and not a V-shaped blade because I figured a V-shaped blade would push the snow out on both sides and leave a trail that I would need to come back and clean up, while a diagonal blade would leave snow on just one side, so if I made a row of parallel passes with this shovel and planned them right, then there should be no left-behind snow to come back and clean up.When I went to assemble this shovel, I was daunted by the sheer number of pieces to put together. It arrives in 26 pieces!!! Plus, the instructions identify the pieces only by name, not by picture, so I found it difficult to figure out which pieces of hardware were needed for each step of the instructions. I would have liked a lot more pictures! The hardware arrives encased in plastic on top of a piece of cardboard that has drawings of each item printed on it, so it seems to me that they could also have printed the names and part numbers for each part. But I can assemble Ikea furniture, so I bravely waded in to putting this together. Before I started, I sat down with a permanent marker, the hardware, and the instructions and figured out which piece of hardware was which. Looking at the quantity of each item helped to match it up with the instructions. I used the Sharpie to write on the cardboard and plastic so that I would know exactly which step each piece of hardware was needed for. I don't think I had the same wrenches that the instructions said I would need, but somehow in 25 minutes I got the shovel assembled and ready to use, and I think I did everything correctly. I really wish they would assemble the whole thing at the factory, rather than making customers do it. I would have paid more for a shovel that didn't need assembling.Anyway, I have cleared snow with the shovel three times since then. It is SUPER EASY and MUCH FASTER than using a traditional shovel. The first snow I cleared was only about a quarter inch deep, but the two snowfalls since then were each about two inches of light fluffy snow. The shovel worked fantastically and very quickly for each of those. I don't know how it would do with snow that is deeper or more wet and heavy.In more detail: I expected the snow to slide off the diagonal blade of the shovel sideways as I walked, so that I could just walk straight up and down the sidewalk and clear all of the snow. Actually it doesn't work like that. You start out walking straight forwards, and you can clear a lot more in one pass than with a traditional shovel. But the blade of this shovel does fill up with snow -- it doesn't all slide to the side and out of the blade. So eventually I need to push the shovel in an arc over to the side of the sidewalk and dump out the snow. Before I tried using this shovel, I worried that it wouldn't be able to push the snow off the sidewalk and up onto the grass because the grass is taller than the sidewalk, so the shovel wouldn't be able to push the snow upward to get it to go there. But so far this has been fine -- I just push the snow to the edge of the sidewalk and leave it dumped either on the grass or in a line right next to it. Sometimes I use my foot to push the scoop over and dump out the snow onto the grass, and that works well. But I think that if there were big piles of accumulated snow next to the sidewalk then you would not be able to use this shovel.The blade of the shovel is super-duper wide, so I can clear a *lot* of snow in one pass. I really like that, but it does mean that at my house the shovel can be used only to clear wide flat areas (the sidewalk, the driveway, sometimes I clear part of the street, too) -- it is too wide to be used on the narrow path from my driveway to the front door. I need to use a traditional shovel to clear that part. But that part is small, and the part that I can clear with my Snowcaster is big and awesomely quick, so I don't mind using a traditional shovel for that one small part of the job of clearing snow.The blade of the Snowcaster does get stuck when I encounter bumps on the pavement, or cracks that line up with the blade. But so far I have been able to nudge the blade with my foot and get it going again fairly easily.I like that the Snowcaster can be hung on a wall and it hangs down completely flat. There is so much junk in my garage that I really appreciate that this takes up less space. You could hang it flat on pegs on the wall.You can very easily flip the blade of the snowcaster to be angled in either direction.It looks durable. I hope to be able to use it for many years to come.In case it's useful to mention this: I am a 5 foot tall female located in snowy Michigan.In summary:Pros:* CLEARS SNOW SUPER DUPER FAST!* EXTREMELY EASY TO USE!* Much better for the environment than a snowblower.* Won't throw snow in your face like a snowblower would.* Seems durable.* Doesn't take up much space in my garage.* Blade is angled, not v-shaped.Cons:* Assembly.Misc:* I am not sure that this would work with very deep snow or if there were piles of snow already at the sides of the area being shoveled. If we get that kind of snow this year, I will report back on how it went.----------December, 2017 update:My snowcaster is now in its third winter, and I love it more than ever! When there's light snow, I often clear all the sidewalks in my neighborhood, because it's as easy as just walking up and down the block with the Snowcaster.I have now cleared heavy snow with it too. I originally wondered how that would go, once the snow is too deep to push off the sidewalk onto the grass. As it turns out, I either leave the snow piled up along the edges of the sidewalk, or I push it out into the street and pile it up in a line along the curb. It works great and is SO MUCH EASIER than a traditional snow shovel.This is honestly one of the best things I've ever purchased.(For the record: I am a real person who paid full price for this snow shovel. And I do not work for the Snowcaster company or make any money if you buy one. I just really, really, really like this snow shovel!)----------February, 2020 update:My snowcaster is still working great to clear lots of snow. And it's still one of my favorite purchases ever!----------January 2021 update:Still going strong! This morning we had perfect Snowcaster snow - I could just roll the shovel along and the snow spiraled right off the side of the blade. I love that!

I bought this as an upgrade to my fixed-handle snow pusher. I do not expect to use this for heavy snow, but I have tested it with light snowfall and it has a much improved clearing speed over the fixed handle one.Strain: There is no back strain when using this device - the primary muscles engaged are the triceps for pushing, so that works as expected.Sturdiness: The blade, frame, and wheels are all hard plastic. The handle is a single metal piece. Time will tell whether they are durable enough, but I think that as long as the device is not manhandled it'll last a long time. The box claims that replacement parts can be ordered, so that's a bonus.Shipping: The items were loose in the box. Nothing was damaged, but some light padding with maybe a sheet of recycled paper would have been welcome.10 minute assembly: It assembles in 10 minutes IF you have the appropriate tools. You'll need a 13mm open wrench (can't use socket or 12-point wrench due to lack of space, see #6 on the product's assembly schematic picture), a 14mm wrench (this one CAN be socket or ratcheting) and a small adjustable wrench.

This works really great! I have an electric snow blower for anything that's over 4" thick, but when I need something that would save me from back-breaking shovel work such as 2" snow, this fits the bill! Assembles very quick and ready to go right away. I can clear my long driveway and my sidewalk as well as my neighbor's in a jiffy! Very easy to use: you just push and the shovel clears the snow away. The shovel is angled so you can choose which side you want the snow to be pushed; changing angles is as easy as flipping the shovel! Highly recommended!

Easy to use. Very effective on light snow, maybe up to 3-4”. You can clear a decent size driveway without a lot of effort. One is unable to lift snow with the blade. Only push it. I had to use a snow blower or shovel to “throw” snow I piled up with the pusher blade. Very sturdy and the right handle length to be effective. Easy to assemble as well.

A few points on the product before my review. First, the shovel is made of a heavy plastic, there is no metal edge, all plastic. The handle is held on to the frame with a single pivot point on both sides. So the handle pivots freely through the full range. In other words, there is no way to keep the handle up, when you let go of it, it will fall to the ground. I could not find any way to get the shovel to stand upright in the snow. I could rest it against the garage but that was about it. Regular shovels can be just stuck into the snow to hold them up when needed. The wheels are like lawn mower wheels, the all plastic type. The metal handle appears sufficiently strong for the job.One thing I could not understand from reading the detail on the web was, what are the wheels for. One review mentioned it made it easier to push in the snow, another said it took the weight off your back. I didn't find either to be the case for me. The wheels appear to serve one purpose, to keep the blade correctly positioned on the ground. The wheels and the blade are attached to the frame, so they are fixed. When you set the blade on the ground it remains in the same position regardless of the handle position. So a tall person or a short person would have the exact same blade angle to the ground. I don't see any further advantage, in fact I didn't even notice the wheels while pushing.Waited a while to get the chance to test this shovel. In my first use on a couple inches of snow it did not work well. The snow built up in the front of the blade and started pushing over the top. In addition, the snow did not work its way down the blade, like a snow truck blade. It was frustrating to use because the snow went left and right of the blade and over it. All this in 10-12 feet forward into 2" of snow. One other thing I didn't like is that when you get the snow up to the edge of the lawn, it is very difficult to push it onto the lawn. So another snow shovel is needed to move the snow up on the grass area.I went back to the videos on youtube to try to see why those blades seem to push the snow to the right/left without the snow coming over the top of the blade. It appears the user is holding the shovel handle at a slight angle, not exactly straight. So, on the next snow fall, we had about 1.5" on the ground at the time I started. I held the shovel at a slight angle, in addition to the fixed angle of the blade. And indeed this time the snow would move to the right/left of the blade, depending on blade position. And the snow did not come up over the blade. So the blade is not correctly angled in my opinion, but can be corrected by pushing a little more on one side of the handle. With this technique it was great to use, I moved a lot of snow in little time. I can almost shovel the sidewalk in one path, a second path is needed to fully clear it. Which is no problem since you have to come back anyways. I had little issue with the blade catching the pavement separation edges or cracks. When I did run into a problem I found I could grab the handle and push one side down and the other pull up to get over it. Once I knew where the stop points are I was able to get past them without stopping by angling the blade one way or the other across the section. The sides of the blade do catch the grass on the edges. Not sure why it is more noticeable with this shovel compared to my regular shovel. It took a few minutes to get a technique figured out, now I can move fast without that sudden stop on the side of the blade into the grass.The blade is a soft plastic but thick enough to be sturdy. After my first couple of uses the blade does show some wear. It will not last as long as a steel edged blade but perhaps it will last long enough. I attached photo of the blade wear after a couple uses. There is still plenty of blade left but it does wear easily.The negative points, the blade is not correctly angled but easy enough to correct. The shovel cannot be left standing up in the snow. The handle pivots so you cannot pull down on the handle to lift the blade, so basically you can only push the snow to a point then come back with another shovel to move the snow up onto the grass. The blade rides close to the pavement so it will not ride up onto the grass, it stops quickly.One improvement I think would be useful is a lower locking point in the handle to the frame. That way the handle could be used to tilt the blade up, perhaps to push snow up on the grass. Also an upper locking point so the handle can be left in the vertical position. Both of these would be easy to implement into the frameOverall, it greatly helps to have a wide blade that is angled when shoveling a typical 2 car driveway or larger. It really does make the job faster and easier. There is little going back to clean up missed snow. This shovel can be pushed straight without stopping for a long distance, this allows you to accomplish more work. There is no need to stop and lift the snow, just keep pushing and deal with the snow when you get to the end.