Here's my Troy Bilt snow blower review and video of the Storm 2690 XP Snow Thrower. If you want to move snow, this snow blower does that nicely, even that wet heavy snow, as you'll see in the video. We have also done some other Troy Bilt reviews here.
At the end of my reivew on this machine, I've posted a video of this same rig by my friend Erin of The Impatient Gardener.
My Troy Bilt Snow Thrower Review of the Storm 2690 XP Snow Thrower
First, Troy-Bilt has been a regular sponsor of GardenFork, and this video is sponsored by them, but as always I will be straight with you about my thoughts.
This is a two stage snowblower, which means it has a large spinning auger that brings the snow you are clearing into the machine, and then a second rotating scooper in the back of the unit pushes it up through the adjustable chute and out of your driveway. Two stage snowblowers are much better than single stage blowers, especially for wet snow and storms with more than 4-5" of snow. For more specs and info here is the 2690 page on TroyBilt.com
Two stage system
This two stage system worked quite well for us this winter. It has been a wet one. Not a lot of big dumper snow storms, but weekly snow that has been wet. Often we would get a mix of rain and snow. The Storm 2690 XP did not fail to toss this mess 20' away. Nice.
Safe to say it will also take on much deeper snow. It has the power and the auger size to toss the deep stuff as well.
Since we all know I am not great at complete paragraphs, I'll list out the features here and some quick thoughts on them.
Snow being tossed nicely
The best feature that is worth the extra dollars here is the joystick controlled snow chute. You don't have to crank a rod or lean over the machine to turn the chute left or right every time you turn to make another pass on your driveway. Your right thumb moves the red knob and the chute turns side to side and points the snow chute up or down.
Chute Control Joystick
The electric start fired up the engine right away - you use a extension cord to start it - no battery. It also has a pull cord, which I used as well.
The heated handles were a bonus, I have never used a blower with those before and forgot this had them until I grabbed the handles to start working the snow.
Hand controls and heated handles.
Muscling a snow blower at the end of a pass is never fun, so Troy Bilt added two triggers underneath the handles to steer to make it much easier to control. Pull the handle and the blower turns. Nice.
Air filled tires
One way to make equipment less expensive is to use solid or plastic tires, and when you are moving snow, you want real tires, IMHO. I was wondering if this snowblower would do better with chains, but for my needs that answer was no. The air filled snow tires worked well. There's a few times where you will have to tip the snowblower back on its wheels to get more weight over the axle for traction, but I think that is a given with any machine.
Oil Drain Tube!
Attention to detail is something that I think Troy-Bilt does well. A good example is the oil drain pipe on the bottom of the engine. It can be a pain to drain oil from a small engine. The drain plug is usually in an awkward spot, and you will spill oil all over when draining the crankcase. But Troy-Bilt makes it a much nicer experience just by adding in this extension pipe so you can drain the oil easier. Simple = Good.
Also up by the handles, there is storage for two shear pins. If you hit a big rock, these pins break, saving the auger. Having two on hand is a brilliantly simple addition. Yes, you probably have some spare shear pins in the garage, but where?
I did not find any red flags with this blower. I'm not sure why snow blowers have to have 6 forward speeds, but that's not unique to TB.
Like most everyone, I like to think I can get good stuff at the inexpensive tool store with a nautical sounding name, and sometimes you might find a deal. But with snow blowers you get what you pay for, and I think this one is worth the price.
Here is Erin's video of the Troy Bilt Snow Blower:
The NY Times product review site, The Wirecutter, reviewed the 30" version of this snowblower favorably.
Some of the other Troy-Bilt equipment we've reviewed:
Troy Bilt Flex Review, One Engine Goes A Long Way
Troy Bilt FLEX Log Splitter, How Does It Stack Up? - GF Video
Gerald Coco
Your video on the Troy Bilt Snow Blower was nice and informative. However like any other piece of power equipment, you should never completely stop the engine after running it at full speed for a period of time. Turning the engine completely off after running at full speed is a good way to burn the valves in the engine. Rather one should bring the engine to a slow idle for a few minutes and then turn off. This allows the engine internally to "cool" slightly. I'm sure Troy Bilt and the engine manufacturer would agree.
I do this with all the outdoor equipment, whether it be lawn tractors or rototiller. I'm also a Troy Bilt fan. My Troy Bilt Horse rototiller with Kohler Magnum 8hp engine will be 30 years old this August and has had no engine work done on it, just regular maintenance, such as air filter, fuel filter, oil changes, and grease applications. Carry on....
Mark
If you have used this for the past couple winters, how has that joystick chute control held up? I've had to repair two of them this winter and wondering if it was a design flaw or just operator error.
Gina Sorensen
I bought a brand new snowblower 2 years ago. I filled it up with gas and oil, however, I did not use it much. SHould I empty out the oil and gas? How do you know when it goes bad? thanks