People often tell us we have the best job in the world when we tell them we test tools. Really, it's more of a goal to inform people about tools and the capabilities. In this case, working to give everyone a reliable and accurate show of performance and runtime of the Ego Power+ 21" 56-Volt Snow Blower in august was a real challenge. Our testing needed to be much more than an unboxing and we defiantly did not want to follow what has been done before by blowing saw dust. Our goal was to show the true capabilities to people who might buy this unit in preparation for snow this winter. We did not want guessing. Our goal was a video that was able to show everyone exactly what to expect from this purchase that most will consider to be large.

First, the features and technology in this snow blower are awesome. This is the first tool from EGO that will run on a single battery or also capable of running off two batteries. EGO calls this technology Peak power and it is software that is capable of detecting the size of the batteries in the snow blower. Obviously, the larger the battery, or batteries, the better it will perform. We found that there is little difference between running the unit with a 7.5Ah single battery or two 5.0Ah batteries, but all of our testing were done with the two 5.0Ah batteries that came in the kit.

The largest benefit from a battery operated snow blower is the lack of pull starting, lack of buying gas, lack of changing oil and a few other issues that can be frustrating. The battery powered unit will run as long as the batteries are charged. It's also simple enough that it leaves little confusion as to how to operate the unit. Along with simplicity, there is a speed controller for the paddle to slow it down in tight or awkward areas.

The intake and area where the snow in brought into the unit and sent to the chute is all 8 gauge powder-coated metal. This is a big change over other battery operated units on the market and a huge selling point for us. Let's be real, a snow blower is really a small battering ram used to chip away at piles of snow left at the end of your driveway. The last thing we want to do is use cold plastic as our hammer to break up ice chunks. The scraper is plastic, but is also a wear item and designed to be replaceable. The rubber on the paddles is also a wear item and easily replaced.

Since this unit is belt driven and it is protected by a computer, there is no need for a shear pin on the paddles. Of you were to run into a newspaper or other item under the snow, the voltage draw from the batteries would spike and the computer would shit the unit down. If the unit did not shut down fast enough, the belt would slip, protecting the snow blower from damage.