# Maiden voyage for HSS724



## ThorBob (Dec 29, 2015)

First off a quick "Hello, great to be here"; I've been lurking on this forum the last month or so in order to help decide on a snowblower. Needless to say the forum has been a tremendous help, and I finally decided on a new Honda HSS724 with electric start.

I got the blower last week; the local dealer here in Halifax had just received a batch of blowers from Honda, and I was lucky enough to snag one of them same day it arrived.









Right off the truck, all nice 'n shiney..



And today we finally got some snow to play with. Last night it dropped about 25 cm's followed by rain. So this morning we had a nice helping of wet heavy snow, about 20-25 cm's worth, with a nice 80 cm deep EOD pile (yeah, the city's plows got an early start)

Quick impressions: 

- Started on the first turn of the key. Not a big surprise, its been in a warm garage. Still, nice!

- Very easy to maneuver. Turns more or less on a dime when the steering lever is pressed. Never played with a tracked unit before and came away very impressed with how easy it was to handle.

- Chute controls are very slick, really easy to place the stream where you want it (very nice when you are surrounded by neighbors and their cars)

- Height adjustment really simple. The gas assisted height adjustment was a breeze, so easy to set and re-set during operation. Great stuff!

- Threw snow like a champ. Clearly not challenged by the 20-something cm of wet snow, it just puttered along tossing the snow in a nice tight arc.

- Up for a curveball. Wanting to start off nice and easy, I saved the eod snow/ice mixture for last. Setting forward speed to slow, and with the bucket more or less all the way down, I figured I'd try and see how far I'd get before it would cry uncle. Well, that didn't happen. It ran slow and steady straight through the pile, not climbing but motoring straight through. The engine clearly working harder but all while tossing a seemingly solid stream of snow. YeeHaww! Repeated this 4-5 times and the full width was clear. 

- Only thing in the minus column was the rear skids. Nothing wrong with the skids as such, but side skids just seem to make much more sense to me. I now have a set of of side skids on order.









Remains of the eod pile.

Summary based on this brief test: Very happy camper! :wavetowel2:

Thor


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to the forum ThorBob


Very nice machine.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

hello bob, welcome to *SBF*, and congrats


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## tinter (Apr 20, 2014)

Welcome to the forum!


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## Advocate (Nov 29, 2015)

Welcome. Nice review. I felt the same about side skids. Ordered stock, but after reading a few more posts on this site, planning to order another set from one of the sponsors. They have a set up that looks like it will ride over uneven walk better.


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

Welcome to SBF. Glad to hear you were lucky enough to grab one from your dealer so quickly. Thanks for the review. Hope you come back and give us your long term impressions.


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## nZone (Feb 19, 2015)

You are very lucky. My HSS724 has become a trophy wife since middle of November.


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## AesonVirus (Aug 24, 2015)

ThorBob said:


> - Only thing in the minus column was the rear skids. Nothing wrong with the skids as such, but side skids just seem to make much more sense to me. I now have a set of of side skids on order.


I had the same first impressions with my 928. I honestly don't know why they put those rear skids on the tracked models. Mine was very difficult to keep in a straight line. I ordered a set of the Honda Commercial Side Skids and was able to get them for a little under $40 shipped. Decent price but I still feel like they should have been included.


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## Gnimelf (Jan 17, 2016)

Like you, I just got my new HS 724. First time out, the flyer delivery took out the auger shear bolt. But after a ten minute clear out and bolt replacement, it worked well with 6 inches of snow on an eleven car driveway. Tonight, however, it died after 10 minutes! cuts out and backfires. I'll have to look at it in the morning. Hope it something simple...


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to the forum Gnimelf


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## lsettle (Dec 30, 2015)

Great post, Thor !!!

Happy snowblowing this morning!

Lawrence
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia


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## Gnimelf (Jan 17, 2016)

Followup. Started the blower this morning. Only runs on low idle and cuts out when auger engaged. Still stuttering and backfiring. Took all the covers off to have a look, but nothing looks loose or sticking. Neighbour who is good with engines came over and offered that it did not appear to be responding to idle - perhaps a governor problem. I guess it's back to the dealer tomorrow!


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## chaulky45 (Jan 23, 2014)

My neighbour has the same new 724 like yours his was exactly same way, but it idled good,revved good but when we started trying it out it would die right out in a few inches of snow and cut out as the snow was deeper, start it back up and would idle fine, try it again, die and cut out, told him thats not the way its supposed to be, hes a 1st time honda owner, he brought it back to the place where he bought it and the mechanic said theres 5 more brought back with same trouble, However the dealer called Honda Canada said all the new blowers need a break in process where everything was new and tight ,sure enough we brought it back ran it steady for 2-3 hours and started working better but took time, after a few uses the next few days it started working fine however going through the deeper snow where the plow had snow plowed up at the end of the driveway she would still blow the snow but keeps dieing down a nice bit unless shes on a very low speed, my older honda 724s, one 5 years old and the other that was 10 years old worked way better and never ever died down like the new ones do today, thats why I opted not to buy a 2016 928 but a 2 year old 928 hss and dressed it up a little, this tank does not die down or lose power going through any snow at all at any speed pretty happy with it, I also have 3 buddys on my street with new 928s and theirs were dieing down to under load but since gotten better but dont come close to my older 928 as in snow throwing distance and power wise my stays revved up going through deeper snow faster as theirs tend to die down power wise and have to go a lot slower then I do


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

Trans aside, Chaulky, Theoretically, the new and ~old~ should be on par. The engines if I recall are the same from the former HS versus HSS models..


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## Gnimelf (Jan 17, 2016)

Thanks for the comments, Chaulky 45 & mobiledynamics. I wish it would run at any speed. It will only idle at the lowest speed, and as soon as the auger engages, blam! It does not just die down under load. I cannot believe a 'break-in' period would make this go away....We'll see what the service guys say.


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## nZone (Feb 19, 2015)

Too much engine oil? The dealer put 24oz in my 724at when engine spec stated 19oz. Might not cause engine to die, but I drained the oil and put in synthetic. No snow to blow, but I've been using it weekly...minimum throttle and maximum throttle idle...engaged auger and tranny. No problem so far.


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## Terrance (Dec 28, 2015)

That is one sweet-looking machine. Thank you for the demonstration. 

How about a video when the next 30 cm comes calling...?


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## Gnimelf (Jan 17, 2016)

nZone said:


> Too much engine oil? The dealer put 24oz in my 724at when engine spec stated 19oz. Might not cause engine to die, but I drained the oil and put in synthetic. No snow to blow, but I've been using it weekly...minimum throttle and maximum throttle idle...engaged auger and tranny. No problem so far.


The 724A only takes .6l and I checked to make sure it's at the right level. So oil is not a problem. Dealer is coming this morning to pick it up.


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## Gnimelf (Jan 17, 2016)

Just got my 724 back from the dealer. Purrs like a kitten. Choke was stuck. Appears to be a problem on new Hondas from what I can tell from other posts in other threads. Snow Saturday. We'll see how it goes.


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## mishkaya (Oct 25, 2015)

Glad to hear your issues have been resolved, and that it was nothing serious. :blowerhug:


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