HUSQVARNA 12527HV
3.7
5
11
11
Wheels fell off
For the record, this snowblower is powerful and great, when its not broken. The drive system on this blower tore apart the key that propels the wheel, on both sides. $120 for each!!! new wheel assembly ( you have to buy the whole rim and tire.) Need to duck tape down the levers cause the bolts vibrate off. The power stearing broke. The springs that operate the chute breaks often. My older machines are more reliable than this one. Simpilar is better. This machine just has too many gadgets that just add to the list of things that are going to break and when it does it's expensive to fix. I like the brand I just feel more development is needed in real world applications for this to compete with the older simpliar more reliable designs.
December 5, 2011
First impression
I just got my 12527HV delivered to my home. Its November warm and 45 degrees so no snow removal report just yet however I have some other remarks. The machine looks beefy and sturdy on first look but once you get on you knees and take a closer look you see some things that leave one wondering about the durability of the unit. For instance, the plate under the gear box is made of plastic that does not appear to be very durable ans is held in place with two very flimsey looking screws and not bolts. I could not believe it. Even the most inexpensive junk models from Walmart and Home Depot have steel gear box bottoms. The belt cover is also plastic and appears to be very soft and not very sturdy and held on by two screws. Shifting gears was difficult at best and I had no reverse gear when the machine was first started. I had to spend a hour adjusting the gear linkage to get it to go into reverse. Top forward gear was almost faster then I can run which is quite silly for such a machine. I think that it has 4 forward speeds and two reverse however, sadly, the manual says nothing about this and lacks detail in other areas as well. Cotter pins on the gear linkage are tiny and delicate and one actually fell off already... not a good thing. The base of the shoot is also plastic which is odd since the shoot itself is all steel.
The 291cc engine starts right up and I like that there is no throttle control, just a choke control which is a nice feature. Be warned though as it has a very loud engine. Tires are large and they look like they will have very good traction. I do not like that the handles are bare metal, they should have some type of plastic or rubber gripping material placed on them.
The unit is very heavy however the power steering should make up for the weight when trying to maneuver the beast No one really seems to know what the actual weight of the unit is however it is very heavy. The metal handle bars sway a bit when dead moving the unit and almost appear that they will bend if one applies too much pressure. Because the unit is so heavy I believe that it should come with some plastic skids (like the new MTD machines) to make moving it around easier.
Well, that's it for now... there are almost no reviews for this and other Huskvarna snow blowers out there so I really hope that I have not spent a ton of money on a lemon. After the snow comes I will continue my report. Cant recommend or not recommend just yet.
November 26, 2011
Big powerful machine
This is my first snow thrower and it arrived from the dealer, fully assembled, the day before the October snow of 2011. The snow was very wet and heavy and the 12527 easily blew the ~8" of snow across my doulbe wide driveway. the machin is very heavy and can be hard to handle in tight spaces-it just wants to go!
I was looking forward to being able to adjust the chute on the fly, but found that trying to adjust the chute while turning was very hard to do. First it can only be adjusted if you turn Left, but being left handed, found trying to push down and turn the shute was hard to do with my right hand. If you want to turn to the right and adjust the chute, when you let go of the deadman switch on the left the machine stops dead. I hope as I use it more I learn some tricks to improve my efficiency with it.
Since I have only used it once, I cannot address its durability.
One last cautin with it set on the lowest ground clearance setting on my smooth paved driveway it leaft scraches across it.
November 8, 2011