Cub Cadet (30") 357cc Two-Stage Snow Blower

Bought the 30" Cub Cadet Snow Blower which arrived the day before an 18" snow fall. Timing is everything! After minor assembly I cleared my driveway, sidewalks and then proceeded to clear several houses on the street. The deeper the snow, the more power it provided. Took the drifts with ease and blew snow 45 feet. I was amazed at the power this engine provides on demand. I couldn't be more pleased. It's a heavy machine but the finger turning controls make turning easy and the heated hand grips keep my finders warm throughout the job. Highly recommended. Service from Snow Blowers Direct was excellent.

Bought for my son who had shoulder separation on MC accident last June. Difficult to keep up with snow removal this year in MI. Worst year on record by March 13th. Cub Cadet 530SWE makes it manageable and good for neighbors too!

Received snow blower in good condition. It took about 1/2 hour to uncrate and assemble. Starts great, runs great. Had four 4" to 6" snows the last being heavy wet one and this snow thrower ran through them. Only thing is the chute control is hard to work, and the hand warmers don't work.

Received this unit a few weeks ago, late in the snow season, but still needed a new one.

It did a good job taking out the 2 fresh snows we had, plus got us back down to the concrete. I have about 135 feet of driveway, which I can now finish off between 15 and 20 minutes.

We have older piles of ice and snow left over from before we received this unit, that it won't take out, due to being relatively rock hard, but I don't expect those next year, since I'll be using this unit every fresh snow. I would explain that our old single stage blower just didn't cut it this winter, and I had someone plow us out after the 18" storm, leaving 5 foot high mounds of snow around the edge of the drive. I'm 57 and not the burly fellow of my youth, and this makes it reasonable to move all that snow.

The base of the driveway near the house is 45 feet wide as well, so we have 4 car parking in front of the garage.

The unit itself is pretty heavy, and the drive system works well.

I haven't decided whether the hand heaters work or not, since I didn't really notice much difference with them on or off. Might be because I wear thick gloves. But in either case my hands were not cold.

The only issue I had was my right hand cramping up while driving it for 20 minutes, hold the throttle down. But that is my issue. Results may vary based on the physical condition of the operator.

I'm glad I spent the money, and hope this will last through my retirement.

Just purchased this snow blower after a ton of research and highly recommend it. My first use of it was in 12" of snow. Worked extremely well. The engine and size of this machine is built to handle large snowfalls with ease and it did not disappoint. We got 12" of wet snow and the blower was throwing the snow at least 20 feet. The 357cc engine handled it with ease.

The power steering is a big plus and helps considerably in maneuvering this machine. I used a couple of my neighbors (who had an Ariens and Craftsman mid grade 2 stage blowers) to get a feel for theirs before purchasing this Cub Cadet and felt like I was working my a** off trying to work their 2stage machines that didn't have power steering. The 530 SWE is much bigger and wider than theirs and easier to operate because of the size of the wheels, size of the engine and the power steering. I was not fighting this thing at all when operating!

The second snowfall (and second use of this machine) was in 3" of snow a day after the 12". I cleaned-up my property in record time. I will say that in 12" of snow I kept the blower in 1st gear moving forward. 2nd gear was a little too fast and there is a big difference in speed b/t 1st and 2nd. But for the 3" of snow I was in 2nd and 3rd gear cruising with now problem. I do wish 1st gear moved just a tad faster, but I see why it's geared to pace slowly in order to allow the machine to throw the deep snow.

The assembly was straight forward and pretty simple--just read the instructions. The tax free and free shipping are big benefits that helped with my decision in buying this snow blower from SBD. That and the fact that we have gotten pounded this year with snow--we live in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Anyhow, I live on about 3/4 acre corner property with sidewalks and large two car wide drive way. I should have bought this machine 6 years ago when I moved in. Now that I'm approaching 40 it's just not worth the time and back breaking effort either shoveling or trying to use an entry level snow blower (which I had: a 22" craftsman). My Craftsman transmission went and when the repair shop told me that the part is made out of brass (and not steal) and made in China I then realized it was time to stop messing around.

I paid $1099 for this Cub Cadet. It was a manufacturer's sale being passed down. I was going to buy the new 3 stage Cub Cadet which was a few hundred bucks more, but figured this is one for the money was a better value for my needs.

I do agree with some of the reviews regarding the joy stick and trigger use. It is little bit of a challenge if it's really cold to press the trigger, but just take your time and you will figure it out.

Overall, really happy with this machine and definitely recommend it. Great quality, easy to use, really good value (even at retail for $1299) compared to other 30" brands, and throws snow 20-40 feet easy depending upon how deep and how wet the snow is.

The snow blower replaced a 4 wheeler plow because the plow could push the deep snow. This machine handles it easily. No complaints.

I've had one of the Cub Cadet 530SWE snow blowers for 5 years, and I have to say that it is the best and easiest to use snow blower I've ever used. A friend and I clear the driveways for 5 or more properties every time it snows here in Northern Idaho, so it gets some intense use.

We have up to 12 feet of snow per winter. I have used many other brands of snow blowers, and this one outperforms them all. The power steering makes it so easy to maneuver that it can clear more snow faster than bigger snow blowers. It is the nearly perfect blend of size and power to make it ideal for everything from sidewalks to parking lots. I've used it to plow through packed berms that were over three feet high after the snowplows came through, and it chews right through them.

Another plus is the exceptionally well designed drive system. After five years I just tore it down to do a complete maintenance and found that it needed nothing except some minor cleaning and adjustments to the cables. Compare that to my partners 28 inch Ariens snow blower which I also just tore down, and the difference is amazing. The Ariens was a mechanical mess, with some major work needed to get it running properly again, and a very poorly designed system for adjusting the mechanical parts. The Ariens was also filthy inside, with a lot of mud and dirt inside because there are many holes in the body of the blower that allow water and dirt to accumulate inside.

I can't recommend the Cub Cadet 530SWE highly enough.