Re: I'm getting a snow blower
I'd think a single stage would be adequate in the Muncie area in most cases.
BUT you've got to weigh several factors ...
1) Get a bigger machine if you have a long or very wide driveway.
2) A two-stage might be better if your driveway is not paved or blacktop -- a single stage will 'scrape' the surface better, but if it's not smooth, you'll end up throwing dirt or gravel, too.
3) If there's any terrain that might cause extra drifting, a bigger one might be better.
4) As noted, watch for end-of-season sales. Either single or two stage might be more heavily discounted. If you can get a better deal, or a two-stage for almost the same as a single, go with more power.
5) Finally, your location. If you know you're going to stay in that area for a long time, you know how much snow you normally get. For us, first in Ft Wayne then Kalamazoo, the single stage has been ok. For the blizzards of 78 etc that would not have been adequate, but those happen so rarely I'll risk it. Now if I lived further north where there's definitely more snow, I'd replace it with a 2-stage immediately. On the other hand, if all we get is an inch or so, I just use a push-shovel and don't even get the blower out.
As for leaf blowers, where we are, I consider them a necessity. Other places we've lived, we didn't have as many trees, so we didn't need them. Here, we have a suburban lot, approx 140' x 100'. On that lot are 8 fully mature maples, 3 fully mature oaks, and several pines. Our city provides bulk leaf pickup each fall -- just get the leaves to the street and the city picks 'em up and hauls 'em away to be mulched. Each pickup (that's 3 times) we have a leaf pile a car-width by 3 car-lengths by waist high. There's no way I could mulch that many leaves even if I had a place to use that much mulch. I burned out 2 leaf blowers (one a back-pack type) in 10 years before I bought a commercial-grade Shindaiwa backpack blower and Stihl hand-held. We also use them at the cottage up north -- blowers actually do a much better job than a rake at clearing the yard of acorns and small twigs.
