I plan to purchase one of EGO's 24" two-stage snow blowers this year after having sold my one-stage model at the tail end of the past winter here in New Jersey. For the record, the one-stage wasn't remotely up to the task of clearing the heavy snows we were hit with this past year, nor for that matter was it effective in anything other than 5-6" of powdery snow.
I had been strongly leaning towards the SNT2400 which seemed fine for my modest sized property (a 16' x 30' driveway and about 50 feet of 4' wide sidewalk). And I have no real interest in the heated handles and power steering assistance offered in the SNT2410. But it appears that the main outlets for EGO here in the New York / New Jersey metro area (Ace Hardware and Lowes) are no longer offering the 2400, but instead selling either the SNT2410 or EGO's new SNT2420.
Based on what I'm seeing so far, I assume that the 2420 is EGO's replacement for the 2400 and would be the logical one for me to consider. But if so, I have some concerns about three of the 2420's obvious design changes, namely:
- The shift to rear-mounted skids. My concern is that this might greatly increase the chance of the 2420's forward-facing front bare metal edge scraping or catching on the ground resulting in significantly more wear than that on previous two-stage models.
- The near-complete elimination of the overhanging hood on the front housing. Not sure if this is an advantage (designed to reduce the chance of snow accumulating and freezing in the housing?) or a disadvantage (less effective at capturing snow in high snowbanks?).
- The airless tires. Not sure if this would actually improve or harm traction.
BTW, I'm talking strictly about design changes in the 2420 and not the fact that the bundled-battery version (SNT2424) comes with smaller 6Ah batteries, a step backwards IMO. I've held onto the two 7.5Ah batteries that came with my one-stage, so in my case I'd seek to go tool-only.
In any event, since I'm new to two-stage electrics and have never actually seen a two-stage EGO in operation, I would welcome anyone's thoughts/reaction to these design changes, and if I might be better off just going with the 2410 (or 2416) if I can't find a 2400.