Dumb but relevant question (as a blizzard bears down on us yet again). You see 3 shovels: a cheap one that might last one storm ($15), an OK one that might last 2-3 years ($30), or an old school cast-iron flat-head special with a wood handle ($65). The last is so rock-solid, you could shovel coal with it. its a model you’ve seen in sheds in your area with little change in design since you were a kid & they last 50+ years easily (most times longer than their owners). So, which would you buy?
Assumes there are no garage sales, the kids who shovel are on strike, there is only this one store.
Depends on which design snow shovel I’m looking for. The coal-shovel types are great for heavy, thick snow or the end of the driveway where the plow but those gray boulders. They are a pain for light fluffy snow, then you want one of those pushers or at least a wider blade snow shovel.
I wouldn’t pick from the cheapest group, but I’d take the one from groups 2/3 where the design best fits the particular need.
Oh, man! I already bought a snow shovel this year, but I’m so tempted to buy one of these!!
As for the OP, I’d go with the mid-price one. If you go ‘cheap’, it may not even last this storm, and you’d just have to go buy another one, bringing the ‘cheap’ one up to approximately the same cost as the mid-price. If you go for the expensive one, yeah, it’s heavy like someone upthread already said. Also, if you don’t have a locked place to keep a snow shovel, IME, good ones are common theft items.
Here in NC, I just went for a cheapo shovel. In 5 years I think I have used it once.
Were I to live further north, I might go for the middle one, if it has a metal blade. Once in high school in upstate NY I was given a cheap plastic shovel to clear a sidewalk at work that had already been trampled on by a few dozen people. It was more effective to turn the shovel around and use the handle to scrape at the snow.
Because we rarely get lots of heavy snow here in da UP
Seriously, though, people really like those scoops. They don’t replace a snowblower (which most people have), but they’re pretty good for when you just want to do a quick clean-up and not pull the snowblower out. Or when the snowblower runs out of gas.
I’ve got a snowblower and a cheap snow shovel (plastic blade wood handle) that I’ve used for 8 years. More often than not I use the shovel just because I’m too lazy to start the sno-blower. It’s super light weight and the front edge has been worn down some but it still works great. I was thinking of replacing it with a better one this winter but all the mid-priced ones are so damn heavy.
Medium. I’d rather not have to either (a) be an asshole to any neighbors who ask to borrow a shovel or (b) worry that my heirloom-quality shovel won’t ever make it back.
Design is more important than price. I certainly wouldn’t buy the wood+cast iron one; that’s unnecessarily heavy compared to fiberglass+durable plastic with metal trim. Maybe you have extra-light snow where you come from, though.
I have a bunch of shovels and never paid a dime for any of them. They all came from other people’s trash. Spring time is when people throw good shovels out. Sometimes they need a minor repair, pop rivets or handle stabilization. I would never pay more than $10 for a shovel in any case. Price is not the key issue. If a shovel is poorly constructed, I would not even pick it up for free.
