# RedMax Snowblowers



## rogzballz (11 mo ago)

New to this forum, but not new to Snow blowers.

I know redmax has been a popular and trusted brand for other landscaping equipment, however I just recently came across their snowblower lineup and haven't been able to find much about them, such as reviews and even discussions anywhere. I've been meaning to go to my local dealership to check them out but wanted some 3rd party feedback before I head into a store. Just from pictures alone, they look like a rebranded husqvarna...

So i'd love some feedback about these!








Snow Blowers


Explore our range and find the right snow blower to suit your needs.




www.redmax.com


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## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)

Looks like those are made by Husqvarna.
Nothing special, mid level machine IMHO


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

i wouldn't touch one of those. i know husqvarna and a few other brands use those but i personally think those are junk and even worse than mtd machines as far as how they are designed and quality goes.


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## arienskids (Jan 26, 2018)

Definitely Husqvarna junk. I see they come equipped with Ez-Break plastic dashboard just like the Husqvarnas do. These are built worse then the mtd machines, avoid them at all costs.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

I understand the sentiments on the Husqvarna units, but I've been happy with my ST224P. Lots of features for the price and it works reasonably well for occasional use. I bought it for the same reason I often buy equipment, my nearby dealer who gives me excellent support sells and services them. They keep the dash and cables in stock, lol.


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## all3939 (Dec 21, 2014)

Darryl G said:


> I understand the sentiments on the Husqvarna units, but I've been happy with my ST224P. Lots of features for the price and it works reasonably well for occasional use. I bought it for the same reason I often buy equipment, my nearby dealer who gives me excellent support sells and services them. They keep the dash and cables in stock, lol.


If you need to keep the dash in stock that tells me a lot about the quality. In my book the dash is not a consumable.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

all3939 said:


> If you need to keep the dash in stock that tells me a lot about the quality. In my book the dash is not a consumable.


No disagreement. I knew about the issues when I bought it and I bought it anyway. And I like it and have had no issues with it. There's multiple considerations when buying a machine and I chose it over Ariens and Toro for good reasons that may not apply to others. My Simplicity dealer was out of stock of entry level machines. Otherwise I probably would have bought one of them.


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## Davejb (Jan 28, 2018)

all3939 said:


> If you need to keep the dash in stock that tells me a lot about the quality. In my book *the dash is not a consumable.*


I know you were making a point but that was funny... and you're not wrong.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

Davejb said:


> I know you were making a point but that was funny... and you're not wrong.


It does make it easy to cut additional notches in the panel for 2 gears below 1st so that you can operate it at a speed that the engine and impeller can keep up with though.


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## arienskids (Jan 26, 2018)

That dashboard is currently on backorder with a 3 month eta. "Good news sir your machine will be ready by mid April!" I have two waiting on dashboards they usually break on the shifter from all the tension at the hex shaft, the friction disc assembly has a big return spring and it simply puts to much load on this kind of plastic. Plastic is fine but if your going to use it it should be some sort of good quality fiberglass reinforced plastic like what my cordless tools use.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

arienskids said:


> That dashboard is currently on backorder with a 3 month eta. "Good news sir your machine will be ready by mid April!" I have two waiting on dashboards they usually break on the shifter from all the tension at the hex shaft, the friction disc assembly has a big return spring and it simply puts to much load on this kind of plastic. Plastic is fine but if your going to use it it should be some sort of good quality fiberglass reinforced plastic like what my cordless tools use.


My next door neighbor is great with fiberglass, carbon fiber and epoxy and I carry a variety of vice grips for clamping things back together. And if I have to I can get by without it. I've got a plow, 4 single stage units and a stick plow. 

But really, no argument here. They have a bunch of critical parts relying on plastic that as we all know gets more and more brittle over time.


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

Darryl G said:


> I understand the sentiments on the Husqvarna units, but I've been happy with my ST224P. Lots of features for the price and it works reasonably well for occasional use. I bought it for the same reason I often buy equipment, my nearby dealer who gives me excellent support sells and services them. They keep the dash and cables in stock, lol.


i wish you the best of luck but realistically they were not designed to last. it almost looks to me that they tried to copy honda but then cheaped out resulting in a very poorly supported auger gear box which puts a lot of pressure on the 1 bearing resulting in the gear box bouncing around when things get sloppy or if you hit too much. they have been built like that for years. all it would take is a silly bracket from the gear box to the bucket to make a much better machine but they have neglected to do so.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

crazzywolfie said:


> i wish you the best of luck but realistically they were not designed to last. it almost looks to me that they tried to copy honda but then cheaped out resulting in a very poorly supported auger gear box which puts a lot of pressure on the 1 bearing resulting in the gear box bouncing around when things get sloppy or if you hit too much. they have been built like that for years. all it would take is a silly bracket from the gear box to the bucket to make a much better machine but they have neglected to do so.


Like this?


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

Darryl G said:


> Like this?


ya that would work but i have yet to see a machine with one. if you look at all the machines the OP linked to none of them have anything like that in the pictures


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

crazzywolfie said:


> ya that would work but i have yet to see a machine with one. if you look at all the machines the OP linked to none of them have anything like that in the pictures


Okay, that was stock on my Husqvarna ST224P. It's a 2018 I think, maybe 2017?


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## Snow Knight (Oct 11, 2015)

Funny that some people here mention the dash panel. We just took in a Husqvarna snow blower in our shop that has a cracked dash panel. Fortunately we were able to get one in just a couple of days. We're a full service Husqvarna dealer, and there's a reason why we never stock or sell any of these snow blowers.


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## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)




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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

Ziggy65 said:


>


Excellent, thanks for sharing.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

Well, I just inspected my machine after watching those videos and you can add one more low hours machine a few years old to the list. I've only burned a couple of tanks of gas in it over that period as it's only used for a few sidewalks, garage fronts and lawn paths to sheds and heating oil/propane fills for big storms. It hasn't quite failed entirety but failure is imminent.


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## arienskids (Jan 26, 2018)

That’s how they all start. Like I said patented Ez-Break dashboard. It hasn’t failed yet but usually they fail on a cold day during a snow storm when you need it most, when it does you’ll loose the ability to shift.


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## rogzballz (11 mo ago)

Darryl G said:


> I've got a plow, 4 single stage units and a stick plow.


.. and if all those don't work, there's always a shovel


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## rogzballz (11 mo ago)

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I really appreciate the participation on this forum already! 
I agree with a lot of your sentiment about plastic parts and I also personally don't like that many cables and moving parts, just means more points of failure and things to fix. For a machine that sits in a Hot and Cold shed, the plastic will become brittle. I've had decent luck with all metal blowers such as the older craftsman/mtd models. I haven't used a Husqvarna but I hated the CubCadet I had. I've used all different Arien models and overall they're made simple and sturdy. So I think i'll avoid the Redmax as you've all showed concern about its quality.


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## harry398 (Jun 22, 2021)

thats just AWEFUL.

ps. Husqvarna...bought red max a few years back so they could get the badass ebz 8500 backblower they made. I own a redmax 8500 and its extremely durable and was the king of backpacks until just recently - in terms of airflow. I have run the dog crap out of it, and Nothing has failed. starts 2nd pull everytime.


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## rogzballz (11 mo ago)

harry398 said:


> ps. Husqvarna...bought red max a few years back so they could get the badass ebz 8500 backblower they made.


You're right! it says so on their website dated 2007


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

rogzballz said:


> Thanks everyone for your feedback! I really appreciate the participation on this forum already!
> I agree with a lot of your sentiment about plastic parts and I also personally don't like that many cables and moving parts, just means more points of failure and things to fix. For a machine that sits in a Hot and Cold shed, the plastic will become brittle. I've had decent luck with all metal blowers such as the older craftsman/mtd models. I haven't used a Husqvarna but I hated the CubCadet I had. I've used all different Arien models and overall they're made simple and sturdy. So I think i'll avoid the Redmax as you've all showed concern about its quality.


Wait, are you saying that you don't want your machine to look like this after putting a few hours on it?


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