It's not a lawn mower, but lots of us live in places where the grass don't grow all year, and we turn to other machines, namely snowblowers in the winter. So, with that in mind, here is a first hand look at the new line of 2 stage snow blowers that Honda is going to be rolling out soon.
Honda held their Honda Dream Garage event over a few days at the end of July in San Macos, California to show case their new 2016 products in each of their divisions. Among them, of course, were the new 2 stage snowblowers that robert@honda has been giving us glimpses of for the past few months and lots of folks here have been clamoring to know more about. Robert extended an invitation to me to represent snowblowerforum.com at the Honda Dream Garage event to get a first hand look at the new machines and to talk with the people at Honda behind their development.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
So, to begin with, as already stated, the new machines will be manufactured at Honda's plant in Swepsonville, NC. Since Honda's snowblowers have had such a good reputation for quality and reliability, I asked why Honda was changing the designs and features. The answer was that Honda saw that the features on the older models were getting a bit long in the tooth and felt it necessary to update them to stay in line with their costs, to make them operate better, and to give the customer a machine that meets their needs.
Honda will be offering what I'll call three model lines.
HSS724, with the 196cc GX200 engine
![]()
HSS928, with the 270cc GX270 engine
![]()
HSS1332, with the 389cc GX390 engine
![]()
Each are offered in either wheeled, or track drive, and each with recoil or electric start with recoil backup. So, four versions of each model to s=chose from. The exciting news about the electric start versions is that the electric starts are now battery operated. No more dragging a cord out and plugging your snowblower in to operate the electric start. Turn the key and off you go.
The controls are set up the same across the model line. The only difference is the new height adjustment control that has been mentioned on the track models won't obviously be on the wheeled models.
![]()
Looking from left to right, the drive clutch lever, the height adjustment lever next to the hand grip, throttle lever, transmission control lever, chute rotation and angle joy stick, and the auger clutch lever.
The operator can depress the auger clutch lever with the right hand, putting the auger into motion, then depress the drive clutch lever with the left hand, enabling the transmission to be put into motion. Holding the drive clutch lever down, you can release your left hand from the auger clutch lever freeing it up to operate all of the other controls.
The chute rotation and deflector angle is controlled electrically through the joy stick with actuates two electric motors that are actually from the Honda Automotive line. The are the same motors that operate the electric windows in their Civic automobile. One motor controls rotation, the other controls the deflector angle.
The height adjuster lever is conveniently located where it can easily be depressed by the operator's left thumb. Pushing it down allows the height of the auger housing to be adjusted up and down through it's entire range, not just the three positions of the old models. The change in height adjustment is assisted by a gas strut located below the controls, and operates super easy and smoothly. The height can be set to where there is actually quite a lot of downward pressure on the auger housing.
![]()
![]()
Perhaps the most exciting feature about these new machines is the "steering" controls.
![]()
Squeezing the right hand lever disengages the transmission drive to the right wheel or track. The left side continues to drive, making the machine turn the right. Depressing the left lever of course disengages the left wheel or track, making it turn the the right.
This may be the best part. So many people have complained about how hard it is to move one of the tracked machines when the engine is not running. Squeezing both levers completely disengages the transmission, making it easy to move without having to fire up the engine. I'd say it was almost as easy as pushing a shopping cart down the aisle of your favorite grocery store. Score one very big one for Honda with this feature!
More to follow in the next post.
Honda held their Honda Dream Garage event over a few days at the end of July in San Macos, California to show case their new 2016 products in each of their divisions. Among them, of course, were the new 2 stage snowblowers that robert@honda has been giving us glimpses of for the past few months and lots of folks here have been clamoring to know more about. Robert extended an invitation to me to represent snowblowerforum.com at the Honda Dream Garage event to get a first hand look at the new machines and to talk with the people at Honda behind their development.
So, to begin with, as already stated, the new machines will be manufactured at Honda's plant in Swepsonville, NC. Since Honda's snowblowers have had such a good reputation for quality and reliability, I asked why Honda was changing the designs and features. The answer was that Honda saw that the features on the older models were getting a bit long in the tooth and felt it necessary to update them to stay in line with their costs, to make them operate better, and to give the customer a machine that meets their needs.
Honda will be offering what I'll call three model lines.
HSS724, with the 196cc GX200 engine
HSS928, with the 270cc GX270 engine
HSS1332, with the 389cc GX390 engine
Each are offered in either wheeled, or track drive, and each with recoil or electric start with recoil backup. So, four versions of each model to s=chose from. The exciting news about the electric start versions is that the electric starts are now battery operated. No more dragging a cord out and plugging your snowblower in to operate the electric start. Turn the key and off you go.
The controls are set up the same across the model line. The only difference is the new height adjustment control that has been mentioned on the track models won't obviously be on the wheeled models.
Looking from left to right, the drive clutch lever, the height adjustment lever next to the hand grip, throttle lever, transmission control lever, chute rotation and angle joy stick, and the auger clutch lever.
The operator can depress the auger clutch lever with the right hand, putting the auger into motion, then depress the drive clutch lever with the left hand, enabling the transmission to be put into motion. Holding the drive clutch lever down, you can release your left hand from the auger clutch lever freeing it up to operate all of the other controls.
The chute rotation and deflector angle is controlled electrically through the joy stick with actuates two electric motors that are actually from the Honda Automotive line. The are the same motors that operate the electric windows in their Civic automobile. One motor controls rotation, the other controls the deflector angle.
The height adjuster lever is conveniently located where it can easily be depressed by the operator's left thumb. Pushing it down allows the height of the auger housing to be adjusted up and down through it's entire range, not just the three positions of the old models. The change in height adjustment is assisted by a gas strut located below the controls, and operates super easy and smoothly. The height can be set to where there is actually quite a lot of downward pressure on the auger housing.
Perhaps the most exciting feature about these new machines is the "steering" controls.
Squeezing the right hand lever disengages the transmission drive to the right wheel or track. The left side continues to drive, making the machine turn the right. Depressing the left lever of course disengages the left wheel or track, making it turn the the right.
This may be the best part. So many people have complained about how hard it is to move one of the tracked machines when the engine is not running. Squeezing both levers completely disengages the transmission, making it easy to move without having to fire up the engine. I'd say it was almost as easy as pushing a shopping cart down the aisle of your favorite grocery store. Score one very big one for Honda with this feature!
More to follow in the next post.