Ad Blocker Detected
Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Do you want a new snow blower? MovingSnow is here to help.
Don’t know where to start? MovingSnow will help you decide.
[one_third] Seven Years Helping You Find The Best Snow Blower For You![/one_third] [one_third_last] Over 20,000 real people come here every day to read over 2,000,000 articles here every month [/one_third_last]
Hi, I’m Paul Sikkema,
Yes, my articles are called reviews but my goal is not to tell you which snowblower is the best, but which snow thrower is the best for you. Yes, I have my own opinions, but it is not my intent to sell you MY choice. It is my intent to show you the features and help you select the best machine for you.
I know if you are reading this you are an informed consumer. Someone who wants to know everything you can about the product you intend to buy before you purchase it.
You work hard for your money. Retailers, discount stores and dealers work equally hard to separate you from it. Retail and discount stores are shouting “lowest price,” others “best value.” Dealers are shouting, “I only sell the best.” Being a savvy consumer means looking beyond the sales pitch and assessing the true value of a product. It means deciding the best for you.
MovingSnow is Different: Like you, I read all the reviews and advertising on the web. But, I don’t trust everything I read. Like you I know that the advertising is intended to get you to buy THEIR product. It is still up to you and me to decide if the price asked is worth it. Like you I read the reviews and know that not all of the reviews are fair or accurate. Many reviews and discussions only focus on problems. Some reviews are biased because the writer likes one brand over another. Some reviewers are actually “paid” to write glowing reviews of a product.
How MovingSnow is Different: My goal is to help you find the best snow blower for you. All of the snow blower manufactures and snow blower brands sell many different types of snow blowers at many different price points. My goal is to guide you through the 100’s of snow blowers and help you decide for yourself which is the best for you.
Why You Can Trust the Reviews At MovingSnow:
[alert-announce] I do things differently than other review sites and publications. I feel that there are no “best” snow blowers. I feel that each manufacture makes a model that is right for you and I want to help you find the one that’s just right. Because of that I don’t have to “secretly” go out and buy snow blowers. Instead, each year the manufactures offer to send me snow blowers to review and I select only 2 or 3. I want the manufactures to tell me as much as possible about their machines (the features) and the new owner they intend the machines for (the marketing). Why? First, Because “independent” reviews can easily be skewed by the experience of the reviewer and I have found that the editorial staff of most publications have never actually used a snow blower. They are so intent on getting an article to fit on a given page that they cut out important information. Second, I am the only one doing the reviews. I don’t have a “staff” of editors. I don’t have a bunch of “interns” who have never seen a snow blower making lists. Third, I don’t have the time to “test” every snow blower on the market. There are not that many changes to to snow blowers from year to year. Engines change, chute controls, etc., but I don’t need to review every one each year. Last year it was Husqvarna, this year it’s Ariens, next year – it depends on what you want. [/alert-announce]
I’m not a professional writer: Yes, you are going to find grammatical mistakes and mis-spellings in these articles. I try to write the same way as I talk. If you don’t understand what I am writing feel free to ask a question in the comment section after each review. My goal is to help you find the best snow blower for you.
I own this website: There is no huge corporation feeding money, resources and opinions into my reviews. I write at my own pace. I don’t have a boss or an editorial staff telling me who should get the best ratings. I am not a dealer for any of these brands so my ratings are not biased towards one brand or another. My ratings are based on what I know and what you tell me. I know a lot about snow blowers and I can wade through all of the sales pitches and engineering magic to help you find the best snow blower for you.
I test these snow blowers: I have new Craftsman, Husqvanra and Ariens snow blowers in my shop right now. My neighbors and friends have Cub Cadet, Yard Machines, John Deere, Simplicity and Toro snow blowers that they let me use for comparisons. I know what works and will tell you what doesn’t. I test it on real snow, not saw dust or chocolate pudding. OK, Someday I’ll tell you how far one will throw walnuts.
I’ve spent years owning, using, and repairing snowblowers, snow throwers, snowthrowers and snow blowers. I have used them for personal use, for my lawn care company, and worked on other owner’s machines. I have owned snowblowers from the Toro Power Shovel to the Jacobson Turf-Cat hydraulic Drive. My father & I even toyed around with putting a snowblower on a New Idea Uni-Harvester. I know what worked and what didn’t for me.
I’ve also spent years listening to my mechanics and store owners brag, complain, and suggest which is the best and the worst snow throwers.
I talk directly to all the snow blower manufactures and brands: Husqvarna, Ariens, Briggs & Stratton, Toro, MTD, Craftsman, Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, Yard Machines, Power Smart and a dozen other smaller brands. I communicate with them by email, telephone and in person. I talk to department heads, vice presidents, advertising agencies and even to the supervisors on the assembly line. (I keep records of every person I talk with)
All the brands let me in on what’s new for the season and help me to understand the differences in their products.
My reviews are just that, an opinion. My real goal here is not to tell you what I think is the best snow blower…..my goal is to help you select the best snowblower for you!
This site is part of my ToolBoxHero Organization.
FYI: I go by ToolBoxHero on the web. You can find me at Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook, You are welcome to leave a comment, or chat us up.
ToolBoxHero consists of TodaysMower.com, MovingSnow.com, and ToolBoxHero.com Each site has a specific purpose, yet each site is part of my goal to help you find the right product for your home and how to use that product. I’m here to have fun and help you in the process!
Press Kit & Disclosure: The rest of this page goes over some information required by all websites.
Disclosure Policy for Product Reviews
As of December 1, 2009. the Federal Trade Commission is requiring that I disclose any relationship I have between a product manufacturer or service provider when I write about a product or service.
Here are the guidelines I operate under at Todaysmower.com, Toolboxhero.com and Movingsnow.com:
I am never paid to do a review. I never accept money to review a product or service. I invest my own time to review products. I pay out of my own pocket the cost to produce and post these reviews on my sites.
I don’t pay for products I test. If I do test a product I will be upfront with you and explain how and where I got the product to test. I do pay for products I review for long term use.
Manufactures Please Note: I will help my readers decide if your product is the best for their situation. I know you have spent considerable time engineering and producing a product. I know you feel you have a great product. But…I know your product is not a perfect fit for all my readers and no amount of advertising hype will change that. You are welcome to send me a product to review, particularly if that product is only available on the Internet and not readily available in retail stores. I will take my time and give you an accurate, honest review.
I don’t return the products after I test them. Once I have done adequate testing I will donate them to a select few local charities. Specifically tools are donated to charities that use the tools, not charities that resell items to make money. The company supplying the product is welcome to come and get it when I am done. It is their responsibility to come and get the product.
I will write reviews on products I have seen (and used), not products I have read about. Whenever possible I will demo a product I review or at least give it a good “look over” at the dealer. I have enough experience with this type of equipment that I can accurately give you my opinion based on the physical “look over.”
If I create a link to a product in a review, I sometimes get paid a commission if you purchase the product or service. In general I get commission from direct sales from companies like Build.com, Sears.com, Homedepot.com, Northern Tool and others. In other cases I don’t get any compensations ……. the owners of the companies I know and have a long standing relationship with. For example, I’ve known Gary at Acrease Mowers for years and have spent hours and hours discussing his product.
I will only send you to companies I trust and have done business with. I get dozens of requests every week from companies that want to sell their products on my sites, but as you will see there are very few that I trust well enough to recommend.
These are good rules and practices in today’s world. I want you to be sure that you can trust me. That my opinions are my own. And they are based on my experience ……… not how much I am paid. It’s important for you as a consumer to understand the relationship between a person reviewing the product and the manufacturer or service provider. If you don’t see a disclosure policy as part of a review of a product, that reviewer may be violating the law or at the very least the Code of Ethics.
“Any disagreements over the interpretation of the words on this website will be resolved through binding, informal arbitration. Both of us agree to hire a non-involved attorney, submit up to five pages of material to state our case, and abide by her decision.”