Honda HSS1332ATD

The HSS928ATD is the Goldilocks of Honda's track line and the model snowblowerforum lifers usually mean when they say 'just buy the Honda': a GX270 pushing 1,900 lb/min through a 28-inch bucket, hydrostatic tracks that hold a grade like a tank, and joystick chute control that owners describe as fantastic. Home Depot reviewers call it 'easily the best snowblower made,' and the engine routinely outlives the driveways it clears. Honesty file: this platform was at the center of the HSS wet-snow clogging saga — Honda's redesigned larger-opening chute (free under warranty, standard on current units) mostly settled it, but heavy slush can still slow the 270cc more than the bigger HSS1332. At about $3,599 it costs $1,300+ more than an Ariens Platinum 24 SHO and turns slower than Ariens' auto-turn wheels, yet nothing in the price class matches its traction or fit-and-finish. With Honda winding down parts of its US power-equipment line, grab one while dealer channels are still full.

This is the smallest of Honda's track-drive HSS line, and the one r/snowblowers points slope-dwellers to when wheels just spin: hydrostatic tracks claw up steep or gravel driveways, the auger height lever lifts the bucket clear of loose stone, and the GX200 engine is the same commercial mill that runs rental fleets for decades. Owner sentiment is near-reverent about build quality — 'Honda smooth' comes up constantly — but you must know the history: 2015-era HSS machines had a well-documented chute-clogging saga in wet snow, and Honda's fix was a redesigned, larger-opening chute available free under warranty (current production has it baked in). The other rub is price: at roughly $3,299 you're paying Ariens Platinum 24 SHO money plus a thousand bucks for a 23.8-inch cut, and Honda has exited single-stage snow blowers entirely in the US, so dealer support is the bet you're making. For deep-snow country on a grade, though, nothing this size works like it.

This is the machine the r/snowblowers flex threads are about: a commercial-grade 420cc AX engine, a 23.5-inch-tall Pro bucket with 16-inch serrated augers, hydrostatic drive, and Ariens' party trick — RapidTrak, a track system that flips between wheel-speed mode, full track mode for slopes, and a dig-in mode that rotates the housing down to shave hardpack. Owners describe standing at the end-of-driveway berm and simply driving through it while neighbors rock their wheeled machines back and forth; the hydro lets you feather speed to exactly what the snow allows, and it moves a rated 79 tons per hour with 60-foot throws. Reported warts: it does a poor job scraping packed tire tracks (the tracks ride up), a few owners have chased drive-skipping under heavy load, the track hardware is exposed to slush, and at 339 lb and $3,199 it's double the cost of a Deluxe 28 SHO that clears the same width. Buyers are steep-driveway owners, heavy lake-effect victims, and people who plow for elderly neighbors half the block.