Worx WG650

Ease of Operation

Easy to manage, but chute handle is junk. The build quality of the Worx WG650 draws a few complaints; several owners say there's nothing holding the chute's crank lever in place, and the handle is prone to falling off completely. A few are also frustrated by "awful" assembly instructions. However, users love that the WG650 is so lightweight and easy to handle. At just 26.5 pounds, it's almost as light as the best-reviewed, 25-pound Toro 1800 Power Curve (*Est. $300). "I do not stink like exhaust fumes when I'm done and it's so light. I have it hanging by one nail on my garage wall," says one owner.

This basic snow blower doesn't have much in the way of features -- no heated hand warmers, no in-dash headlight -- but the crank-adjust chute adjusts remotely through 180 degrees of rotation as long as the handle stays on. As is the case with most electric blowers, owners sometimes struggle with the extension cord. "Wish there was a harness for it or a pocket cord," writes one on SnowBlowersDirect.com. Others say it's not much of an issue: "After about 5 minutes it's a natural reflex to work [the cord]." We found a stray comment that the machine's a bit loud, but other reviewers call the WG650, like most electric snow blowers, nice and quiet.

Snow-clearing Effectiveness

Best for lighter snowfalls. The Worx WG650 clears an 18-inch path, and the manufacturer claims it'll throw snow up to 30 feet; owner comments tend to place it more in the 15-to-20-foot range. The blower performs well on a few inches of dry snow, but because the intake is just 8.5 inches tall, problems ensue when you try to work through anything deeper. That's nothing a determined owner can't address with a shovel and multiple passes, which some actually prefer.

Patience seems to be the key when operating this or any electric blower. As one Amazon.com user explains of dealing with 12 to 15 inches of wet snow: "I had to shave off the top 5 inches or so with the shovel, and then it worked fine. The snow was wet and heavy, so it was kind of hard to push the blower through it. It throws the snow pretty far, which is great."

Performance on packed berms isn't wonderful, but if there's a will, there's a way: "I just chopped it up with a shovel and dug in. It was a mess of snow slush and ice chunks. The little machine just chewed away at it. A couple of times the discharge chute got clogged with slush but cleared easily with a stick," says a user at SnowBlowersDirect.com.

The Bottom Line

It works, but quality is a concern. Simply put, this snow blower isn't built for clearing large areas, but not everybody's looking for the ultimate in 30-inch-wide snow-clearing power. A number of owners say they want nothing more than a lightweight, easy-to-maneuver, maintenance-free blower that'll eventually get the job done, and the Worx WG650 fits that bill. As one Amazon.com reviewer points out to others leaving negative comments, "maybe you were expecting too much."