The Great Snowblower Showdown: Battery vs Gas

The plastic
one is smaller size.

The other day it snowed so hard it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be—half rain, half snow, and if it could’ve squeezed in another half, it would’ve been ice. A real identity-crisis storm.

My neighbor and I ended up having an unofficial Snowblower Showdown: his $1,200 gas-powered beast vs. my humble $275 electric blower (plus $50 for extra batteries I barely use because one set usually does the job).

The snow was about four inches of slush—basically a giant Sno-Cone dumped on our driveways. We both fired up our machines, and honestly, his kept clogging like it was trying to eat oatmeal. Mine did better, but I’ll admit I cheated and sprayed my chute with coconut or olive oil spray. Yes, my snowblower was moisturized and ready for winter runway season.

Then the snowplow rolled through like a villain in a disaster movie and buried both driveways in ice boulders. By morning it was chunks of frozen misery. Neither machine liked that. His gas blower did do a better job chewing up the smaller ice chunks—apparently metal skid plates beat plastic ones in a fistfight.

But when it came to attacking the real frozen stuff, both machines just shrugged. We had to shovel, chip, and shave the snow like we were making artisanal ice for cocktails.

The funniest moment: he shut off his gas blower for a second, went to restart it, and had to yank the cord three times. He nearly launched himself backward. Meanwhile, I pressed a button like I was turning on a TV. Instant power. I laughed. He did too—after catching his balance.

Sure, the gas one still has some advantages, especially with deep snow. But for an $800 difference, the little electric guy held its own. Not bad for the budget underdog.